I can remember bits and pieces of the very first beat I made on a friend of mine’s Akai mpc 60ii in 1990. I used a break from LL Cool J’s “Boomin System” and a sample from Patrice Rushen named “Remind Me”. The song turned into a song called “This is Love” by Freedom of Soul and was one of our favorites back then. I’ve always been a fan of sampling and listening to some of my favorite beat makers create new songs using samples that are unrecognizable. It’s such a huge talent to me. I’ve also always been a fan of beautiful melodies and progressions in every genre of music, as well as big drum beats that I grew up with in my childhood days in the Bronx NYC. On this collection of beats I’ve pieced together, I tried to combine the two types of sounds to create patterns and rhythms to make you nod your head and smile at the same time. I also wanted to go back in time sort of speak by using break beats to chop and put a little soulfulness back in the music with keys played my my friends Jonathan Huber and Daniel Steele. The album title 3D is merely just a title referring to the bubble piece drawn by friend Keith Kanagusuku here in Oahu, Hawai’i. The combinations of beats, graffiti and rhymes by my brother Taelor Gray are the ultimate 3 Dimensions that I love in Hip Hop! I wanted to honor it on its 50th birthday. I hope I did it proud. Here’s to 50 more years of Hip Hop!