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N.W.A. Alumnus and Hip-Hop DJ/Rapper/Producer Arabian Prince Relies on Reason for Music and Video Game Production

N.W.A. Alumnus and Hip-Hop DJ/Rapper/Producer Arabian Prince Relies on Reason for Music and Video Game Production

Portability On-The-Fly Enhances Creativity Anytime, Anywhere

Stockholm, Sweden (October 30, 2008) – N.W.A. alumnus, Arabian Prince (AP=X), has expanded his music work into video game production, working with 20th Century Fox and Vivendi Universal Games to create music and effects for over 50 game titles. A producer, rapper and DJ since the early 80s, he began recording his own tracks in the early 80s, and co-produced Bobby Jimmy & the Critters as well as doing live dates with the Egyptian Lover, World Class Wreckin’ Cru and the L.A. Dream Team. Early work with Dr. Dre and N.W.A. for 1988’s Straight Outta Compton earned him a solid reputation (the CD was named as one of the top 50 greatest albums of all time by Rolling Stone and Billboard magazines), and led to work with other artists like Unknown DJ, Ice-T, Egyptian Lover, The Taylor Brothers, DJ Pooh, DJ Slip and others. Over the past several years Reason has virtually replaced his vast array of MIDI analog gear, seeing use on a multitude of music projects including the forthcoming Professor X project on the Dutch label, Clone Records.

AP=X and friend, DJ Unknown, caught Propellerhead’s James Bernard giving a Reason tutorial at a NAMM show several years ago and were intrigued. “We were watching the demo,” he remembers. “We were saying, ‘Yeah this is just like all the other software, great in a demo but when you get it home you got to read a phonebook manual to get it up to speed, and be a rocket scientist to program a sound.’ Being the music critics that we are, we attacked James at the first available moment, trying to poke holes in Reason… Well, as you can see—5 years later—it didn’t work out as planned!”

Reason’s intuitiveness and ease of use in the studio was a key factor for AP=X in switching over from hardware, not to mention the fact that he was able to slim down his rig from six to eight synths and three drum machines, to a laptop and MIDI controller. Most of the sounds were just as good or better in Reason,” he recalls. “I use a Roland MC-808 drum machine a lot, and it has no way of saving tons of songs. In Reason, the ReDrum is unlimited and sounds just like my 808. Also, you can ReWire Reason to most other software if needed, which really opens up what you can do with it. I also like the fact that there is unlimited sampling. I use a lot of my own sounds from my old analog gear, so I need a lot of sampling power to capture those sounds. And layering in Reason is a breeze.”

As an artist who is often on the go, Reason’s portability is probably one of the biggest advantages for AP=X. Not only does it enhance his creativity on-the-fly, but allows him to work anytime, anywhere. “Reason has become an extension of my brain,” he laughs. “For the first time since the MIDI era, I have been able to work on my ideas and my music anywhere—on the road, in hotels, on the airplane… Even if I get a quick idea while driving, I sometimes pull over, grab the laptop and bang out a beat and a hook really quick. This allows me to be more creative, and as we all know, we really have no control over when that happens. Back in the day, I had to wait ‘til I got back to the studio, turn on all my gear, set up my MIDI clock and sequencer, and patch everything in before I could even get a sound!”

He’s also beginning to integrate Reason into his live DJ setup, switching up between vinyl and digital—and remixing older material in Reason for use in his performances as well.

So, what's in His Reason rack? “Two or three ReDrums and a lot of NN-XT’s”.

For more info on Arabian Prince (AP=X), and to sample some of his sounds, go to: www.myspace.com/arabianprince