Big things are about to happen for Alex Da Kid. The 26 year-old producer, who hails from London, England, currrently has the number one single in the U.S. under his belt, having produced Eminem and Rihanna‘s smash hit ‘Love the Way You Lie,’. This is just the beginning, though. He’s currently working on projects for Britney Spears, The Fray, Rihanna, and Nicki Minaj. Recently, Global Grind got to a chance to chop it up with Alex at his Univeral Music office, and after speaking him one thing is for certain – he is extremely dedicated to his craft. In fact, when asked whether he’s up to the challenge of being the next big producer in music, Alex said ‘Absolutely! I walk around my office every day telling everyone how much of a big deal I am. Because I really do believe in myself… I really do believe in myself and I believe that if I’m given the opportunity – I work hard, I don’t stop.’ This kind of talk would be taken as gross egotism if said by someone like Kanye West or Timbaland, but with ADK you get the sense that he really does work as hard as he says.
NEXT PAGE: HOW ALEX GOT HIS START…
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Like many of today’s producers, Alex started making beats in his house on his computer. ‘My friend gave my Fruity Loops 1, the first FL, people don’t even know that exists, most people start on FL3, but I had FL1 so I started on that, pretty much. Like, a computer program, just making beats in the crib…I only used Fruity Loops for the first year I started, then I kind of moved on to a Mac and started using Logic and got more professional. ‘ Alex feels his UK upbringing has made him more open to different forms of music, and had a definite influence on the music he makes today, saying ‘That’s the good thing about London, it’s like New York in that there are lots of different types of people and different types of music and stuff, so yeah its a great place to grow up and stuff. In terms of the music scene, it’s probably a little less corporate, there’s probably more opportunity for different things to work in England….it’s definitely a good place to grow up and experiment with different types of music. ‘
Traditionally, ‘crossing over’ has always been a hard sell for the UK artist, with only a few notables ever making that successful jump to the US market (The Spice Girls, The Beatles, etc.). Nowadays, things seem to be different, with artists like Jay Sean and Taio Cruz having breakaway success. The boundaries seem to be all but broken. ‘I think that’s mainly due to the internet.’ says Alex ‘I think people can really buy into the artists now, because before you wouldn’t even get the opportunity to hear a Jay Sean, and even if you did you’d hear like one song and that would be it, but now if you like it you can go online and check him out, check out his old videos, what he’s done in England, etc. So I think the internet is definitely going to bring more of that kind of stuff, not just from England, but from everywhere.’
NEXT PAGE: ON WORKING WITH EM, RIHANNA AND NICKI MINAJ…
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