We caught up with Red Bull Big Tune winner Budo to talk about how to prepare for victory, his influences… and who he’d work with if he could master time travel.
Congratulations on winning Red Bull Big Tune in Texas… how does it feel?
Winning Red Bull Big Tune in Austin is definitely a big honour. I feel humbled to have been successful in the midst of such incredible competition, and with an audience that included many of the musicians that I look up to and consider as inspiration.
How do you prepare for such a thing?
Preparing for a beat battle is very different from preparing songs in a traditional sense. It’s impossible to predict how your competition will approach the event, so – at least for me – I think less about how to win and more about how to bring my best work to the table in a way that will emotionally effect the audience. Beat battles are about controlling the energy of the crowd with dynamic shifts and dramatic effect, so I work on bringing a range of emotion and transition to each song. Having a mere 60 seconds to play a beat may sound like a short period of time, but a minute can feel like an eternity if you’ve lost the crowd!
What are your main musical influences?
Musically, my main influences are pretty diverse. Growing up in Seattle [in Washington state, USA], I was heavily influenced by a lot of the music that came out – and continues to come out – of our city. Folks like Jake One, Vitamin D and Source of Labor provided my first introduction to a kind of hip-hop that felt like it belonged in a city that was seemingly dominated by rock ‘n’ roll kids, and inspired me to pursue this art form in full. These days, I’m incredibly lucky to consider my main inspirations to be my peers, from Grieves to Macklemore to Krukid to M.anifest to Ryan Lewis to the entire Rhymesayers crew. I hear new music from my friends almost every day that pushes me to create. That being said, there’s an amazing wealth of beautiful music that I hear as inspiration and influence everyday, from musicians like Charles Mingus and Thelonious Monk, to composers like Bartok, to bands and artists like Miike Snow and Erykah Badu. I could seriously go on and on…
'I try less to beat every producer at his own game and more to create support for my own sound'
What or who is your biggest inspiration in a competition like this?
In a competition like this, my main inspirations are the incredible artists that I compete against. Hearing and seeing folks like 14KT, QD Da Problem and Brainstorm play beats that make the crowd lose their minds is inspiration for me to try and generate even more response and positive energy!
Do you have any special tricks and/or tracks that you keep handy?
I do have a couple of beats that I keep in the back pocket for dire situations… a couple of Hail Marys! Generally speaking, however, I try less to beat every producer at his own game and more to create support for my own sound… I try my best to do me, and hope that the crowd the gets behind it.
What does the future hold?
I couldn’t be more excited about the things I’ve got on the horizon. I’m currently hard at work with Grieves on his upcoming Rhymesayers [Autumn] debut, and will be playing several amazing festivals across the world with him this summer. I’m also gearing up to release an EP with my guys A.R.M (Krukid and M.anifest) that features some of the craziest shit we’ve ever created. I’m halfway through an EP with a beautiful singer by the name of Evan Roman, on some Portishead-meets-Gnarls Barkley-meets-Coco Rosie-meets-Erykah Badu type of shit. It’s heavy. I’ll be back on the road for a heavy touring season in the fall, but this spring and summer is all about creating new things.
Who would you most like to work with?
D’Angelo in 1999 or Marvin Gaye in 1979, right after Here, My Dear came out. If I can’t f*** with a time machine, however, then I’d most like to work with Bilal in 2010.
Do you have any tips for any aspiring producers/ DJs who wish to follow your lead?
Make music to make music. The days of huge advances and free money in the record industry are pretty obviously over, so don’t kill yourself trying to be rich. Just make things for the sake of creating, and eventually people will follow…
Budo was talking to Ian Wade.
For more from Red Bull Big Tune at SXSW in Austin, Texas, see below, and check out our Music & Culture section for more great music content.
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