When I first started out producing in CHH, I immediately wanted to know who was producing on a major scale in this genre. Before I heard of Tru-Life or Tony Stone (which are both a Pioneer Producer as well), Todd "Bang Theory" Elliot was my go to guy to learn my craft, thru listening to his albums etc. lol! Alot of younger producers may have never heard of this dude, but I will tell you this though, he is one the of cats that are responsible for what we do as producers in this movement. This is long interview but, it's well worth the read. Peep!

Todd Beezy U A Monsta!!!

M4M: Mr. Bangz! What's going on, brutha?


TBZ: All is well, fam. Growing in God, growing the family, growing the territory... Growing.

M4M: I hear that dude.

First off, I got to say this for the record. You are truly a Pioneer in CHH. I remember the first time I heard your music. It was back in New Orleans 2001. One of the dudes at church had your mixtape Underground Counsel Vol1. He turned everyone on to your music. As a matter of fact, we tried to book yall but I think you had something going on that weekend, a wedding I believe. You definitely encourage dudes from hood literally and God saved cats thru your music. I'm honored to be talking to right now.

TBZ: Wow... I'm honored and humbled. It's great to hear reports of God's hand working through my recordings. News like this never gets old and encourages me to go harder for real.


M4M: Amen dude. Now for those who don't know who you are {especially younger producers), please, if you will, tell them who Todd Bangz is.

TBZ: Todd Bangz is a man who'd received visions and songs from God to be carried out on earth. I'm a former secular rapper / producer who walked away from a promising career in the  world of entertainment to instead reach this generation's culture for Christ.
With that...God has empowered me to become a self-taught professional producer, engineer (well, I went to school for some of that), graphic designer, web designer, and now professional photographer and videographer.

His plan for my life was and is to own into the "industry" so no man or amount of money could sway me, nor could lack of knowledge or available resources halt the progress the Lord has for me in this. At the end of the day...neither contracts, ownership of masters, budgets or lack of budgets will stop me from releasing what God wants me to convey to his people.
Wow, I went way left. LOL
To sum it up... Todd Bangz is a minister to ministers- established and forthcoming. I'm a family man, a minister, a business man, and a record label all rolled into one dude,

M4M: AMEN! speaking of contracts, etc. There are a lot producers and artists that get mad discouraged because of not getting paid royalties from the labels, which aren't many. A lot of them that get caught up because they either don't have representation to go read the contracts with them and just don't read them and just focus on the upfront money and complain later. What's your take on that, fam?

TBZ: Reading is fundamental. It's a part of life and business on all fronts. Self empowerment is key if you're playing the "music game". It's a monopoly. And like the  board game, the more you own, the more you stack. Let's say I make a deal with you (contract) to buy your board walk for my railroads. Hey...you don't own Park Place so what do you care, right? So after the deal, I acquire Park Place, too, and stack hotels on both. Then the inevitable happens... YOU land on it. Now, as you sink back into your chair and consider what you "could've" made from the 4 railroads (advance money) you thought was a cash cow, your demeanor and tone change, you don't want to play the game no more, you might start yelling because I keep telling you to PAY UP or GET LOST, if it was real life, you may even want to run up on my office with something tucked in ya pants... My only response would be... did you read the instructions of the game?

If dudes are at a point of contractual agreements and still aren't affiliated with performance rights agencies, don't know what a PA or SR form is, don't know of or own as much as a DBA for themselves, but most importantly, not understanding their net worth to the industry and how the pay structure is implemented they need to take 3 months off and get caught up before they do any more business.

You can truncate as you must. Most of the time, I have too much to say.

M4M: Wow, what a way put it dude. So much knowledge right there. And I'm not gonna truncate nothing, fam. Dudes need to know what it is and how this work. I thank God for Reef, knowing the business and going over the contracts with me making sure everything is "good money".
I asked Tony Stone this same question...where do you see CHH 5 years from now if Jesus tarries?

TBZ: If we (HHH artist) don't find or tap into our own sound and continue to follow the trends... we'll be in the same place, facing the same obstacles. There are some marketing trends that could be beneficial to the individuals as well as expanding the message, but artists and or their team must begin to think like marketers and not like record labels.

As for producers... if we keep destroying the beatmaker/producer's economy with these "good deal" beat packages many within the next 5 years will have full time jobs being too busy to produce or will have jumped the gate into darkness to get that industry bread.

M4M: Aww mang! That's the one right there... depreciating the music... $50, $75, $100 sales. But I think artists cry broke so much producers just kinda fall victim to it. I myself have been guilty of that, also. How can we change that mind set?

TBZ: If we let them cry a bit longer, maybe they will actually take this thing serious, put some of that God given paycheck aside and be a blessing to a producer.
It's not like we can clock their sales in Soundscan, anyways. Even if these rappers sell 1,000 pieces at ten bucks each that's 8 stacks after material costs. Sell other merch with it and double that to 16+ stacks. Add honorariums for shows and what producers are asking should be well absorbed into the overall investment. But who's thinking that??? Dudes want it free upfront, and pinch on the return. Not fair... Not Bible :)

M4M: Todd, let me tell you fam a lot of artists won't even come to me 'cause they can't “jew” me on the price. And compared to some other producers I know, with the resume I have, I consider my price to be cheap. That's why I thank the Lord for the clients I have and I'm moving into trying get TV placements now.
Have you still been producing as of lately?

TBZ: Absolutely. I'm working on some projects and have kept my attention on keeping my production internal for several reasons. I have been developing my 2nd son Tahj to carry the production torch as I position myself in other areas. He's only 11 years old and is a BEAST on the MPC3000 and 4000. We beat battle all the time.

M4M: Like father, like son. Praise God.

TBZ: Amen...

M4M: You still on the MPC's it sounds like. Strictly hardware for making music?

TBZ: Yeah for now... I move very fast on an MPC. However, I just bought into the Mac world for my video production company and I'm liking what I'm seeing. I may be on an Akai MPC control surface, soon.

M4M: Yes, welcome to the family. Mac is the truth.

TBZ: Amen brother! Amen. Bout to kick a field goal with my Dell laptop any minute now...

M4M: Lol.Any last words to the readers, fam?

TBZ: Don't take Jesus out your music to be relevant. The message of Christ in it's rawest form is the most relevant topic in world history. If any of you reading this, being Christian, disagree with this, you probably want to be popular more than holy. God's Word...FOREVER!

M4M: Amen. Yo mang, THAAAANK you so much, Bangz.