I initially started this blog to sell beats on. I put my very first beats here. Anyone who knows producers knows that the very first beats, while they might show potential, are still very raw in terms of the sound: you’re a beginner, still lacking a lot of knowledge and experience with putting all the parts of the music together. For me, my problem with my first hip hop beats was that, although I understand music a lot, I still lacked an understanding of audio mixing and sound design. I always a much bigger sound than what I could produce.

Here is one of my first beats that I liked more, a trebly boom-bap beat coupled with a Twin Peaks-like synth and monotonic introspective vocals…

I recorded voice for this in my toilet (separate to the bathroom), which was very narrow and high, a sound with a lot of bouncing reverberation.

Since then, I’ve made new beats.

Beats are just one aspect of the complete production, which is not 44faced…

It’s Wystelands.

Wystelands is a complete production of voice and beats that power a message of what the world needs most today: peace, love, unity.

Wystelands is hip hop.

Hip hop was originally created to bridge divides in society, bringing together rival gangs in a spirit of creating a new, positively-connected culture. Instead of the anxiety world of violence, crime and drug abuse, hip hop aimed to elevate music, art, dance, people having fun together.

Now that hip hop has spread across the globe and become the most popular music style, it has also become a commentator of culture. That is, as society has become corrupt and divided, so too have the overriding principles and values of hip hop.

But hip hop, in its essence, is not a commentator on the world. Hip hop, in its essence, is not a passive, negative force that is used only to puppet a competitive self-interest-based value system.

Hip hop in its essence is a creator of a new world.

It is birthed from the unity of rivalries. Hip hop emerged as a creative, unifying force in society.

Therefore, because of its unifying essence, hip hop holds potential to bridge social divides and create a new and improved society.

As the world suffers the consequences—rising fear, anxiety, depression, loneliness, suicide, drug abuse, crime—of becoming increasingly corrupt, exploitative and emotionally detached from each other, hip hop’s roots hold the key to spark a connective impact between those detached nodes in the human network.

Hip hop has the potential to be a major influential force of positive change to a more peaceful, loving and united world.

It can help to raise awareness that it’s better to live peacefully, well connected and be loving to each other, than it is to retreat into our lonely individual worlds, where we try to make the most of it upon a constant gray background. Being emotionally detached from others is like being in a solitary confinement prison. The more we can raise the connected spirit of society, the more we will have happier, more confident and purpose-driven individuals.

That’s what Wystelands is about.

Check out Wystelands:

@Wystelands on SoundCloud

@Wystelands on Twitter

@Wystelands on Genius

WYSTELANDS.com