Today we welcome Raoul Lodder a.k.a Ra to the interview room. Tell us who you are and what you do..

My name is Ra, i'm from Zwolle, The Netherlands and i make beats. I also produce under the name Soundwave.

How did you come up with your name?

It are the first 2 letters of my first name Raoul. Around the time i got that name i was interested in Illuminati & Freemasonry, way before every rapper and everybody that can make a pyramid with their hands was in it As many may know Ra is the Egyptian sun god and is worshipped by the Freemasons and Illuminati.

I've got the name Soundwave from The Transformers series. He always was my favorite. Those old enough to remember know that Soundwave could transform into a tapedeck. In the new movies they just made him a car because tapedecks aren't relevant or something. My Soundwave beats are also the more "transformed" samples.

What do you use to produce your music?

To quote S.Dot: "I use the HATED Fruity Loops". That's all i've got right now, i use to have an AKAI drummachine but it broke down. I wanna get a Maschine though since it's got all the features of an MPC and more. You can even make it sound like an MPC2000 or a 1000.

How did you get in to producing music?

Don't really know, i guess just for the love of it. Ever since i started buying albums i was looking at the production credits, when i saw J. Yancey or C. Martin or something i knew i wanted it.

Who are your biggest influences?

I've got so many influences... From DJ Premier, J Dilla, Pete Rock, RZA, Ayatollah, Madlib, Marley Marl, Rick Rubin & Dre to new producers like Black Milk, Apollo Brown, 9th Wonder, Khrysis, Flying Lotus, Mr. Dibia$e & Beat Butcha. Also Dutch producers like Delic, Terilekst and a lot of 'underground' producers here in Holland and all over the world. There are a lot of dope producers on Soundcloud. And now i'm just talking about HIPHOP. I gotta give props to producers like Curtis Mayfield, Ennio Morricone, Isaac Hayes and many more too since they are the foundation of a (mostly) sampling producer like myself. I listen to so many different genres, my influences are found everywhere.

What encourages you to carry on with music?

The music itself in the first place. Most people in my environment support me a lot more than i support myself and so do a lot of other artists & producers so that's encouraging me to put some tracks out there and make some moves instead of just keeping my music to myself.

What are your thought about the music industry and hip hop at the moment?

INDUSTRY RULE #4080... Record Company People Are Shady... I've had a couple of offers for inhouse-production deals but i rejected them all. Just because the money is good it doesn't mean you have to sign that shit. An inhouse-production deal is fine if that's something you're going for but i know i couldn't express my creativity in that situation. Don't get me wrong of course it's possible to get a good deal but most labels and record companies just fuck you over. And even if you have a good deal, nothing is for certain, the "music" that gets the best promotion is mostly bullshit. More people can relate to stupid ignorant shit and it's supposed to stay that way. Some people are gonna hate me for this but look at what Dre did with Aftermath; he had Rakim, Busta, Raekwon, Joell Ortiz etc. and they were all put on the shelve. Only Busta dropped one album on Aftermath because he adapts to current music and gets away with it. They could've dropped an album somewhere else if they weren't under that contract. Meanwhile G-Unit & Eminem were controlling the industry at that time. From music to clothing, movies and videogames to energydrinks. That's the "music" industry. Then there was... The South... Independence. You can say what you want about the music but they definitely put some bullets in the music industry if not killed it. Independent music is the new music industry, not only in HIPHOP, more and more people are realising that the record company is becoming an unnecessary link in distributing your music. Distribution used to be the biggest problem for an artist, along with the promotion but nowadays you can get a hit on YouTube and sell it on iTunes or Juno or something. I think that's the way things are gonna stay in the future, and of course will develop even further, so i think the future is looking bright for independent artists and producers if they make sure they take care off their taxes, publishing, licences and everything that comes with it.

What have you been listening to recently?

I've been listening to a lot of instrumental music (hiphop, glitch-hop, dubstep) lately but it really depends on my mood, i f i feel like listening to soul or reggae i do that. It's also nice to just log in to Soundcloud and listen to whatever people uploaded or just dig for new music because you never know what you're gonna hear.

What is your biggest music achievement?

Hard question... i haven't really done that much projects. It was dope to represent The Netherlands on The World Of Beats beattape. I've got some dope placements (tracks i produced) coming up but you never know what will be released or not. At the think of it, just that is a nice achievement too, to be listened to by people you've been listening to for years. I also like the Dilla Tribute i did recently. That was something i've been wanting to do for a while since i've got a lot of beats laying around in which i used samples Jay also used. I finally got around to making some more beats for it and mixed them together.


Tell us about any big projects you have coming up

As far as placements i don't want to say to much because like i said; you never know what will and won't happen and they usually take a long time to eventually get released.
I'm definitely planning on dropping an EP in 2012, i don't know exactly when yet, i don't even know what it's gonna be yet. I've got a lot of material and concepts, it could be a Ra project, a dark Soundwave tape or i might drop some 8-bit shit... or i could drop like a Ra/Soundwave project and call it Solar Energy & Energon... who knows...

Any last words?

I'd like to thank you for the interview & everybody that shows support!!!

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Ra