Broke Boyz From Fresno
Hey everyone it's Martin from the Broke Boyz From Fresno Podcast, my goal here is to entertain, inspire, and uplift our community. I'm all about keeping it real, sharing my daily struggles, and motivating others who might be going through the same. Join me as we navigates life’s challenges, supports one another, and builds a stronger, more connected community together.
Broke Boyz From Fresno
From Fresno Bars to Big Stages: DJ Freezy on craft, community, and carving a music career without a degree
We sit down at Lucy’s Lounge with Brandon “DJ Freezy” Freeman to trace a working music life across Fresno—multi‑instrumentalist roots, self‑taught production, and the power of showing up. Craft, community, and clean socials drive bookings while genre lines blur by design.
• Fresno upbringing and early school stories
• Choosing music without a degree
• Networking as the real ROI of education
• Open jams and rebuilding the local scene
• First instruments, practice, and restraint
• Producing a first song with purpose
• Deftones, trip‑hop, and neo‑soul influences
• DJ realities, requests, and beatmatching
• Reading rooms and creative transitions
• Cloudship’s new single with Hope Garcia
• Solo releases, algorithms, and marketing
• Social media curation that books gigs
• Fresno’s EDM ecosystem and community shoutouts
Follow him @brandonfreemanmusic
Follow us @ brokeboyz_ff on Instagram and TikTok
Intro Music by Rockstar Turtle- Broke Boyz (999)
Christmas Intro Song by Nico
Oh man, how are you feeling? Bro, this is wild. We're we're doing this again. Yeah, like live music music. Yes, it's crazy. Uh, but I love it, man. We're back at it again. Welcome back to another episode of the Broke Boys. I'm Marian. I'm DJ. And today we got another special guest. He's gonna be coming in right now, but we just want to say a quick shout out to uh all things. Shout out to her because she let this happen. We're right here at beautiful, beautiful spot. Beautiful spot. I mean, realistically, I never imagined us to be in a bar setting. Yeah, but I'm not gonna lie to you. We're out here in Tower District, bro. Lucy's lounge got it going on, bro. This is amazing. As a matter of fact, it looked like our special guest has arrived. Yeah, go ahead and hop on in, brother. When you speak, speak up into the Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Check, check. All right, we out here.
SPEAKER_03:We out here. Yeah, just make sure you speak to the mic because it's uh loud already.
SPEAKER_02:Oh no, for sure. Oh no, try. I'm a performer, baby. I know. I deal with people who put the mics down like this. I hate it. I'm like, yo. It just makes it harder than it. They'll be talking to me, like, yeah, my name. I'm like, yo, do this. Like, you know what I mean? It's like it works better if you talk into the mic. Absolutely. Go ahead and introduce yourself, man. Uh, my name is Brandon Freeman, aka DJ Freezy. Um, I do everything music. Uh, I play guitar, drums, bass, keys, uh, most mainly a singer. I'm also a DJ. Um, I do a little bit of everything, right? Production, all of that.
SPEAKER_03:That's amazing, man. You're one of the people that inspires me most. Being a producer and being able to master that many instruments is crazy.
SPEAKER_02:It's uh, man, when you've been playing instruments for as long as me, and I've got just like so much different musical background. Like, I listen to everything, man, like jazz, metal, hip-hop, you know what I mean? It's it's folk, indie, like whatever. So there's just been so many different things that I've always wanted to do. I've never put my eggs in one basket. Right. So it's it's always like, yeah, there's always been something around the toy with, you know what I mean? So it's uh, yeah. So I'm just always making, always making something, always doing something. What a blessing, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:It's crazy how creative minds come together, right? Because like, dude, like that that's multi-talented. Right. You do a whole lot of different things, like crazy. But I can't even imagine. And so before we dive into his story, let's go ahead and roll this intro.
SPEAKER_00:We done broke boys from the hood. We on the mesh is understood. We fly, we butterfly up to the sky. No way you catching us goodbye. All right, we welcome back.
SPEAKER_03:Uh so a huge shout out to all things Fresno before we go ahead and continue this one. Uh, please, we want we would like to know a little bit more about you. Let's dive into your story, bro.
SPEAKER_02:Were you born born and raised here in Fresno, California? Raised in Fresno, yes. I was actually born in San Bernardino. Me and my mom lived in Pasadena for you know a few years, but I've lived here since I was like four or five years old. So I'm a Fresno, I'm a Fresno dude. Like I'll say I'm from Pasadena if I need like plausible deniability. So you know what I mean? No, no, no, no, but I'm a Fresno brother, elementary school, junior high, high school here, college at Fresno State. I'm a I'm I'm a Fresno brother. Okay. What high school do you go to? Uh I went to I went to Edison actually, but um, I was on a transfer and uh I got in a fight. So they was like zero tolerance, you gotta go. I was like, oh okay, right. Okay. I mean it was one of those things where like honestly, it was it was worth it to me. Right. Like, you know, he he, you know, dude, dude said some really dumb stuff. Okay, you know what I mean? And I was like, Sometimes they deserve it. I'm like, I can't let it slide, man. I I can't, I can't. I made it to the end of that, I made it to the end of that school day too, because they called every other brand in, because he didn't know my last name. So they called every other brand into the office, and then finally, it was a last period of like 10 more minutes left in school, and they called me to the office.
SPEAKER_03:Should have lied, should have been like, I'm sorry who I did.
SPEAKER_02:My name's Alex. My name is Fabio. I don't know what you're talking about. No, no, no, no. They they knew it was me as soon as I walked in there because he was sitting in the corner all knotted up. I was like, dang, man, I did that to you. My bad. Not really, but whatever. Right, right, right, right, right. That's crazy. So growing up, were you the troublemaker? No, no, no, no, absolutely not. Like, I think like school fights, I've been in like two my whole life. That was the second one. The first one was in like eighth grade, but I'm not, I'm not a fighter, I'm not a violent dude. It was just like some stuff you just can't say, man.
SPEAKER_03:It is what it is, you know what I mean? But you had to have the pause on them, bro, because you had them all knotted up in the clock. Was he just he was just asking for it?
SPEAKER_02:It's it's weird because like I don't really fight like that, right? But I can't say I've actually ever like just like lost a fight outright. Like that's respectable. I have I just got a problem, man. Like, it's like if if you it's crazy, man. Like my part of my brain turns off. Right. You know what I mean? It's it's weird. Cause like, because I'm like, bro, I'm five six. You know what I mean? I don't have much incentive to fight fair, my dude. Right. You know, I really don't.
SPEAKER_03:It's it's all all it's understandable, bro.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, no, but I'm I've never been I've never been into that. Like, and I was in the gate program too at Edison, too. Yeah, so you were one point. I was I I've I've always been, I mean, I guess I've always everybody tells me I'm smart. Yeah. I'm like, all right, I'm gonna stop arguing with y'all, I guess then. Never enough people say it, but yeah, so but I mean it's always it's always been music. It's always it's always been music for me. It's interesting because my parents told me that I shouldn't get a music degree because it's not practical. You know what I mean? Oh, yeah, yeah. And so now here I am, a career musician without a music degree. I'm like, thanks, Dad. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like, it's not practical. It's not practical, but it's what I do for a living now. You know what I mean? Like, I make a little bit of money, like I live in a house, you know what I mean? I got two cars. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_03:Like, hey, you're living, you're living your your dream, basically. And you don't have to go to school to be successful. That's the stick, that's the sneaker.
SPEAKER_02:You don't, you don't, you don't. But with like with music and academia where they where they coincide really is the networking. Right. Like a music degree actually won't get you much. Right. Like you could, yeah, I mean you could go back and teach or whatever, you know what I mean? But that's it. It's really about the networking and the people that you meet through those systems. Right. You know, so that was uh it's always felt like I would I I had a little bit, I don't know, why do you say leg down? Not a leg up, but a leg down, you know. Yeah, go like I have a lot of homies who, you know, came up through the you know, educational music, you know, kind of like uh, you know, like pipeline, I guess, if you will, you know, and they're they're all but you know what though? Funnily enough, not many of them are doing much better than me. So I guess it's not really really that big of a deal, but it's definitely something I would like to have. Because knowing all of the music theory and stuff like that, you know, I had to teach myself all of that stuff. I'm getting better at it, but yeah, you know, uh like that's what I can say to anybody like go to school for whatever it is you're trying to do. Because it's not about it's not about the piece of paper, it's about the networking, it's about the people you can meet. And like networking is networking is key. I think that's the main thing that I've learned over the years, right? Is that that networking, like talk to people, tell people what you do, ask them what they do, collaborate, link up. You know what I mean? That's uh it's a really big thing, and that's what I'm trying to do with you know the Monday event.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_02:That's it's really a big deal for me because um so back in the day, um I don't know, y'all know strummers, right? Yeah, yeah. Okay, well, strummers used to be called Starline back in the day. And when it was still Starline, uh, there's a dude named Tommy Delgado, and he ran a Wednesday night like open jam. So it was an open mic, but for bands. Right. And yo, that Wednesday night was more like more cracking than any show that they ever threw. Right. It was hopping in there because people just wanted to be a part of the scene. It was about the local scene and the local musicians. Right. And I'm really trying to get back to that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Okay, well. So when did you learn your first instrument? That's what I'm curious about because you said you've been doing this for a while.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I've been singing since I was seven. Um, but my first instrument was junior high. I had a homie named Taylor and he played guitar, and I wanted to be in a band with Taylor. So I picked up bass. So bass was my first instrument.
SPEAKER_03:What'd you say out of all the in this the instruments that you've learned to play?
SPEAKER_02:Is the bass the easiest one? Oh no, definitely drums. People say drums is complicated, and I don't know why. Like, it just makes sense to me. Right. Like, I play drums and sing. People are like, how do you do that? I'm like, I practice. Right, yeah, right. Like, you know what I mean? I don't yeah, I don't know. I don't understand how people don't get that. Like, just practice, man.
SPEAKER_03:Like just take the time and sit there and we talk about practice. Yeah, practice? Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So when did you produce your first song? Ooh, I would say like the first song that I actually produced front to back would have been it was actually late, actually later in life. I want to say it was maybe like 13 years ago. Um, my boy Otis Reed, um, you know, and this was when a whole lot of messed up stuff was happening, you know, in the media and it wasn't, you know, a lot of a lot of black men were dying. Right. You know what I mean, and things like that. And he had a song about, you know, if I got shot by a cop today, I wonder what they'd all say. Right. Right. So I put together the whole beat and, you know, helped him record it and everything like that. I think that was my first song that I've produced all the way through.
SPEAKER_03:Wow. Wow. Wow.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Shout out to Otis Reed, by the way. Otis Reed is my favorite rapper. Not because he's my friend, not because I know him, no, because he is literally my favorite rapper in the whole world. Otis Reed.
SPEAKER_03:How does it feel being able to meet your I wouldn't say your biggest inspiration, but yeah, how does it feel to meet one of your biggest role models?
SPEAKER_02:I mean, it he he became that like while we were hanging out, you know what I mean? Because like when you're making music with people, you know, you hear the music that they make. Right. You know, like even when you're not a part of it, you know, and I was just always listening to everything. And we've done a lot of work together, too. Right, right.
SPEAKER_03:So he sort of became your mentor after a while. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I would definitely say so, especially like with the hip-hop, you know, things like that. You know, he he always, man, he always had the lyrics down, and like the thematic content was always so on point. A lot of people, you know what I mean, they'll just write verses and write verses, you know, and they'll just write whatever the hell they're talking about or whatever, you know what I mean. But he had everything always had a point, you know what I mean? It always was thematically congruent, you know, the hook and it was a actual song, right? You know what I mean? And it came together like that. So that was that was a big reason why I always admired him. Um, and so it's it was always nice to work with him. And now he's doing a lot of videography and stuff. Like if I if I'm making a music video, I call Otis Reed.
SPEAKER_03:Heck yeah, yeah, yeah. Heck yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So besides him, did you have anybody growing up that really inspired you? Growing up that really inspired me.
SPEAKER_02:Uh I would say um, I think my my favorite instrument, um, my favorite instrumentalist is uh Chi Ching, actually. He's the he was the bass player from Deft Tones back in the day. Uh I remember that was the first celebrity, that was the first celebrity death that made me cry. That was that was the first one, because that's how I learned how to play bass. So I was learning Deftone songs, especially when White Pony Head came out, and that was when I first started playing bass. And then the self-titled album came out when I was in high school. Right. And I remember I was uh we were on a band trip because I was in jazz band playing bass and we were on the way out there. No, no, no, no, no. We were on the way back, and my boy Bert, who uh he works at Tyoga Sequoia now, but he had, you know, he was back, yeah, he was in band with me back in the day. And he was like, Have you heard this new Deft Tones? I said, New Deft Tones. Yeah, yeah. Say, what? You know what I mean? So I listened to that all the way, and it was just like, yeah. And then I was um, I was up in um this place called the bug. It's near uh Yosemite. Okay. So it's like it's a it's a hostel. It's like, and it was really popular among like, you know, like foreigners who would come, you know, like they just traveling through California. Right. So they go to Yosemite. It's the cheapest place that you can stay, and they all do hostels because they're Europeans, right? Right. You know what I mean? So they had no problem, like they was good with it. So it and it was, you know, the homies would play music up there, and I was up there one night, and then we just all heard the news, and I was just like, yo, kill kill kill your boys whole night. Safe to safe. Safe to say that that was a tough one. But yeah, I would say Chi Chang, um, Chino, Chino Moreno for that matter. Um, I think everybody in Deftones, really. Right. Um Deftones is uh definitely my favorite band, if not Radiohead. And it's funny because people call Deft Tones the Radio Head of Metal.
SPEAKER_03:Right. Okay, right. So, what was the first song that you learned to play by Deft Tones? I think it I think it was my own summer.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, that was the joint, man. Hell yeah. Yeah, and it was so weird too, because like all of the notes, a lot of what they did was they would play notes that like were a little bit off just to make things like more intense. Yes, you know what I mean. And that became, I think, uh I think that became a device that a lot of people used more later. I mean, people were doing it then, you know, like like like Masuga was already out, who was another one of my favorite bands. Um, Thomas Haka from Masugas, actually, he's probably my favorite drummer. He's probably my favorite drummer. If not, him is Nate Smith, which is like worlds apart. Like those two drummers have nothing to do with each other at all, at all, at all. Like, but but yeah, so I mean it's just it's all kind of different influences that I had. But yeah, I would say the first song that I learned from Deft Tones on bass was My Own Summer. I think really like really the one that got me like just sitting down and listening to stuff though was um this album called Saturday Night Wrist. And that was the last one that he made, it's actually not the last one that he made with them. The last one that he made with them was called Eros, and they never put it out. They got a whole album. They got a whole album that they just sitting on and they'll never release. Like, I'm hurt. Like, I hope when I get like my big check, you know what I mean? I could be, I'm like, hey man, how much is it gonna cost me to hear Eros? You know what I mean? Like, like, like if I drop that one song to make a brother a million dollars, right? Oh, yeah, I'm gonna hit Chino, bruh. I got the cash, man. Just let me hear the album, dog. Just drop it on me, man. Please, bro. Like, yeah, but yeah, um yeah, yeah, Deft Tones, radio head, like I said. Um, you know what was a big deal for me for a while was a Lufe Fiaskin.
SPEAKER_03:That's the name I haven't heard in from Asberg. Yeah, I haven't heard that name. That man was that man had the early 2000s at a head loss. Yeah, he really did, he really did. Let's just say you are that was my joint, man. Yes, bro. Absolutely. That's crazy. So being mostly talented, being raised out here in Fresno, do you feel like you it was hard finding other people that were like-minded like you?
SPEAKER_02:Um it still is. It really still is because I'm into a lot of different kinds of music um that I think even Americans really don't listen to. Okay. Um I don't know why or what it is, but like I've never I've never really been into like, I mean, I was I was on some hipster nonsense at first. So, like, oh, I don't listen to popular music. You know what I mean? Like now, like you might catch me listening to Taylor Swift on a bad day. You know what I mean? Like, you never know. You know what I mean? But yeah, it was it's definitely I've always had music tastes that were a little bit outside the realm of the normal, you know, typical stuff. Right, you know what I mean. But then it all came back, though. Like, I grew up listening to music with my mama like everybody else, right? You know what I mean? You're sitting in the back of the car, you know, your mom feels like my mom's driving down the street, you know, she's singing along with everything. That's what inspired me to sing, actually. Because my mom always sounded exactly like the people on the radio that you were listening to. And I was like, I want to do that too. I want to do that too. So that's when I started singing. Like I said, I was seven years old. Um, yeah, I just wanted to be like my mom, and truth be told.
SPEAKER_03:Hey, yeah. With that being said, what were some of the like challenges that you had to face throughout the years that you've had?
SPEAKER_02:Living living in an apartment, having to learn how to sing. So yeah, so your boy's falsetto is on point.
SPEAKER_01:Because you gotta sing like that, so people are listening on the other side of the wall, baby.
SPEAKER_02:You know what I mean? So you gotta just chill that out. Yeah, you gotta chill it out. So, yeah, like lots of Maxwell. Yeah, I like a lot of Maxwell was really doing his thing back then. Yo, Maxwell is Maxwell, I think, is another one of my biggest, uh, biggest influences too. Um, yeah, Maxwell is one of those uh music soul child. Um, like a lot of a lot of neo-soul stuff like that. Like, that was a really, really big time in my life. Right. Like I remember when Baduism came out, and I was like, yay, tall, but you know what I mean? It was like, oh, oh, oh, oh, I'm feeling, you know what I mean? Like, so that was uh that was definitely a big that was definitely a big album for me. Like, yeah, Erica Badu, you know, like, but then you'd have you have her like her her contemporaries, like, you know, most deaf and common, and you know what I mean, the roots, you know, all of that. So but then that brings up your Jill Scotts and your, you know, like, bro, like I could, man, I could go on and on, you know what I mean? It's a lot of a lot of different influences, man. You never know, you never know what I'm bumping. You never know what I'm bumping. I could be bumping house, death metal, smooth jazz, like experimental RB, like whatever, man.
SPEAKER_03:On the other side of that, right? So we're talking about inspirations. Is there anybody out there that's barely starting out that you see has a lot of talent?
SPEAKER_02:People who are barely starting out that have a lot of talent.
SPEAKER_03:Anyone that you can think of that needs to be in the spotlight and deserves a little bit more uh grace in the platform.
SPEAKER_02:To be honest, I can't really think of anybody like that right now. Um you mean like in Fresno or just gotta be in general, just in general? Um, not off the top of my head, actually. Like I think I think I I'm not I'm not as tapped into the local scene as I actually should be. Um like but it's been it's been really hard to be as tapped in lately because you know I'm getting older. You know what I mean? So I don't hang out with a lot of the younger cats. Right. You know, like if I could you know who I could name? A couple of people, uh Mia May. Mia May is dope. Uh B hippie is really cool. B hippie is really cool. There's there's there's some dope artists around Fresno. Um there's a lot of good MCs. Like um Man. Yeah, it's hard. It's it's hard to it's hard to think of it's hard to think of many people right now, but that's I've been kind of I've been a little bit removed, which is what I'm trying to which I'm what I'm trying to fix. Right. You know what I mean? Because I want there to be more of a bridge between people. Right. Like, especially in the music scene, I want more people to be to feel like they have access to you know their peers and their peer group within the music scene. Right. And me, like I said, I got away with it because I'm a little bit older. Like I'm I'm older than I look, man. By like by a lot.
SPEAKER_03:I was gonna say, I was gonna ask you how old you were, bro. You look like you're 24.
SPEAKER_02:I look like I'm 24. Thank you for the compliment, my G. I appreciate you. No, uh, I'm 38 years old, man. No way. No fucking way. No, I swear to God. I don't believe that. No way. He's fucking with us, bro. I got you. Oh, y'all gonna hate this picture. I hate it.
SPEAKER_01:Yo, what? There's no way. No bullshit, bro. Wow.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, they was not lying.
SPEAKER_02:Nah, black don't crack. Hey, hey, hey, look, it really don't, man. It really don't. People still ask my people still ask if my mom is my sister. Like, so that's where I that's that that's obviously where I get it from, bro. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:That's crazy, brother. So So outside of that topic, obviously, inspirations, people you see growing up. Uh what's something you haven't dabbled into yet that you really want to experiment at? Producing house music.
SPEAKER_02:I really want to be a house producer. Like, I like I like if I could be like Chris Late, okay. You know what I mean? Or like DJ Snake? DJ Snake would be yo, DJ Snake, bro. Hey man, like that, that, that, uh, that uh theka song that he did. I don't know about it, go teck out, that got that. I'll just be walking around like that, got, that, that, got, that, like, well, you want to take it. You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_03:Nah, man, just don't worry about it. It's right, right, right. It's all up here. If you know, you know. Yeah, yeah. Which is crazy as hell because in the situation, it's like DJ Snake growing up, since like when I was younger, when I was in middle school, DJ Snake was dropping fire after fire after fire. Yeah, and in the year, rapid fire, yeah, yeah, repeatedly. Yeah, absolutely. And it's just like, I feel like DJ Snake didn't even get the love that he deserved. Nah, nah, definitely not. But house music is definitely a part of my I love house musical. I grew up listening to the idiom, a little bit of techno house back then. Yeah, and then growing up, I started to get a love for more like trap house. And I think the the terminology for it is um, it's like it starts with a T. I can't think of the word right now. It's like trip uh oh, trip hop. Trip hop, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Trip hop was my first like electronic music love. Like, I could go back to man, like sneaker pimps and trip rocket and tricky and port his head and massive attack and thievery corporation and like just all of those bands, man. That was a really, really big deal for me. Yeah, um, when Becoming X came out, like, yo, Kelly Ali was like just killing it, man. Like, what she was um she wasn't a part of sneaker pimps, right? Like, they came out with a couple albums before, or was it after? I don't know, but Kelly Ali only actually did one album with them, right? And then she just kind of fell off. But yeah, sneaker pimps were a big deal for me. Thievery corporation had this album called The Cosmic Game.
SPEAKER_03:Just blew my mind the first time I heard it, man. Well, if you ever dabble into making house music, I'm gonna be watching because I'm a huge house enjoyer. Um, yeah. I've been listening to a lot of UK Garage, which I feel like it's garage, garage is different. That's when you know the lore is deep, brother. If you know about UK Garage or just garage in general, you know you're too deep in Get Rush. It's it's Get Rush. But uh house music is definitely one from the soul for sure. So I can't wait to see if you dabble into it, brother. I'll be right here with you listening for it.
SPEAKER_02:Definitely. I've been I've been spending a lot of house because you know I'm I'm DJing. Yeah. Um so I've been I've been mixing a lot of house lately, but like I want to make my own though. Um I think I'm like getting like the format down, like the vibe of it a little bit, but it's it's definitely something, it's definitely something I have yet to like really fully get a grasp on. So that's I think the next frontier for me. Right, right.
SPEAKER_03:So what's like the hardest thing that you have to deal with as a DJ, a producer, or requests. Okay.
SPEAKER_02:Well, because I play in a band called Cloud Ship as well. So we'll do covers. Well, you know, like, hey, do you know any Santana? Like, nah, bro. I don't. I like I really don't. I'm sorry. They're like, oh, how do you not know? I'm like, bro, am I supposed to know every song? Like, you know, and I think people, what a lot of people don't understand is when you're DJing, you don't you're not on Spotify, man. Like you gotta have the songs on your computer, like you know, like you DJs buy music. I don't think people understand that. We're not streaming off the internet, right? And it's really messed up, like when you try to do those like conversion things like YouTube, because the audio quality is just nah, not it. So you gotta buy songs, you know what I mean? Like you could spend like you could spend several hundred dollars a month on music if you're a DJ. Like it's it'd really be like that. Yeah, it really be like that. So I think that's a that's a really big thing to me, is it's requests. Like, I want to put a just a big ass sign on the front of my thing that's like no requests, like leave me alone. Right. But you know, you gotta cater to the people, it is what it is, right? And make no mistake, I've downloaded songs like right then, right then and there. Right. So sometimes it's a song I feel like I should have. Right. And I'm like, you know what? You're damn right. I should play. You know what? Hey, I got you. Give me like give me like 30 minutes. I'm gonna figure this out. Yeah. Right, right. So sometimes it's not that bad. But yeah, definitely like as a DJ request. As a producer, though, it's just like knowing when to stop.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Like when you're building a beat, you know, you put your drum, you put your bass line, and then you put some, you know, your keys or whatever, and then you're like, okay, this needs something. But then you keep adding stuff, and it's like, I'm not sure if this is done or like what, you know. So that's I think a big thing trying to figure that out. Like when to just chill. Like, no, this is good. Like, sequence it, arrange it, you know what I mean, but don't keep adding stuff, you know. There has to be space and the instruments have to be able to breathe and stuff like that. So I think that's a big that's a big thing with producing. With singing, you have to make sure your voice fits with the music. Yeah. Especially when you're writing, you know what I mean? Like you can't like a person with a low-pitched voice, you know what I mean? You have to especially people with low-pitched voices because you can't be like clashing with the keys or the or the bass. You know, so there's always those things to where you know you make sure everything is cohesive. I think that's a really I think that's a problem that anybody has in any situation. Like, if you're trying to read a room and you got a bunch of people, you know, you try to keep a vibe, make everything. Yeah, I think cohesiveness is a really big thing that a lot of people have a trouble figuring out.
SPEAKER_03:Just being aware of the energy in the room or the energy of the song and how to match it. Right. Um, I think a lot of that is just recognizing vibes. I don't think everybody has that talent or that that tool to be being like, oh, maybe you should bring a higher pitch into the sound, or maybe I should kind of like make it a little bit more monotone because the beat is monotone. Some people can't recognize it. So unfortunately, you know, you'll watch producers, you'll watch rappers kind of come up, and I'm like, I don't know why it's not blowing up not blowing up.
SPEAKER_02:A lot of the times it could be that really I think a big thing is it's like diving into your local scene and making sure people know who you are and what you do, right? Because like there's a um there's a uh an artist called uh Hotel Ugly. I know Hotel Ugly, brother. Oh my god. Yo, Hotel Ugly's music is so insanely simple, bro. Yes, it is, and just banger after banger of like basically him not doing much of anything, and it's like how, yeah, because it's just banging, but it's so good, so fire, bro. Just crack, bro. So yeah, like, yeah, that that that ugly duck album, man, is just crazy work.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, like I I honestly didn't know that a lot of these things, like for DJs and producers, it's not just simple as like, oh, I'm just gonna play a track, whatever it is. Right. No, there's a lot of science behind it. Yes, there's a lot of craft that you have to come into it. It's a lot, and I didn't know that. We we we interviewed different artists, DJs, EMCs, uh what's called uh MCs, MCs, like um for dog days. And when they were just telling us and explaining all this stuff, it was just like, wow, like that's a whole different world that I have no idea about. But just to learn about it, it's just like okay, there's way more things like learning the vibes, learning how to read the room, right? Making sure that everyone's having a good time, you know. Like it's just like there's a there's a science behind this whole thing, right? And then after you learn that and you go into a venue or like a show and you start remembering some of those things and being like, yo, like, bro, is not lying. Sometimes these DJs don't know how to mix. Sometimes you're listening to it and you're like, okay, this is all preset. You know what I'm saying? Yo, it kills me these DJs. I'm like, are you really not beat matching right now? Yeah, that too, bro. Dude, you have one job. AI is taking that job right now, bro. What's the other thing? Auto auto sync, the auto syncing, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yo, yeah, just auto, auto sync and and and free free put together playlists are killing me right now. And you know, like, there's no way that you can really there's no way you can really like compensate for that human element, yeah, especially with like creative transitions and creative ways to like put songs together. Right, you know what I mean, especially like like me. I I had this mix that I put together. I was doing um No One Knows by Um, what are they called? This Josh Home's band, um Queens of the Stone Age. Queens and Queens of the Stone Age, and I would go uh and I went from Queens of the Stone Age to um bum bum bum bum bum about the weekend. What's that something? Oh, okay, yeah, yeah. Oh, okay, yeah. Yeah, that's but like you go, like you go from one of those and people are like, How do you wait? Did you what? Yeah, like what how is this? Completely unexpected, yeah, yeah. So I think that's like I think that's been one of my main kind of things is trying to just keep it fresh, like do things that are unpredictable and that nobody would actually you know assume somebody would do. But that's hot right now, especially on TikTok.
SPEAKER_03:I've been seeing DJs do that on TikTok, and I'm like, bro, this shit's fun. And then you watch the live reaction too, and the DJ does it, and everybody's like, bro, that's a genius. I'm gonna be honest, if you keep doing that, bro, please, man. Please trying to make it work for sure, for sure. Please, man. So, with that being said, do you have any upcoming projects that you want to announce? Ooh.
SPEAKER_02:So Cloud Chip is recording a new single with uh the homegirl Hope Garcia. She's actually she's a part of the band. Um, we have a group of backup singers called the Believers. Hope is one of them. Okay. Um, but um, well, we've I've been writing more like solos for her. Actually, this last one, she wrote the lyrics for it. Like me and me and my boy John John Johnnapolis. We um, you know, we wrote this instrumental, right? Then they they you know they hang out a bit. I mean, we all hang out, but you know, one day he just sent me, he was like, So. Hope wrote this. I'm like, okay, and I'm listening to it. I'm like, okay. What? Oh, okay. You know what? No, we keep it in. We keep it. It's done. I ain't okay. I ain't writing shit, apparently. Like, you know, like you know what I mean? So that was that was really nice. So that that Cloud Chip single should be out, you know, winter time. Okay. Um, I'm actually working on a lot of solo, like hip hop oriented, RB oriented stuff. Um, I haven't put out a solo project in like over a decade. Damn, dang. Um, but this is a lot more, it's a lot more refined. And I've been working on it really hard. Um, just making sure all of the mixing and mastering and then everything is done. Um, so I have one song that I did with TA The Handful. We're we're working on getting that released. But you know, it's been a it's been a thing to where you gotta make sure your music is promoted correctly. And I've done a lot of research, and well, I'm not research is a bad word, because research is you going out there and you're learning the stuff yourself. Me, I've been just listening to other people, you know, what they know.
SPEAKER_05:Right.
SPEAKER_02:But um, there's a dude named Jesse Cannon, and basically what I learned from him is nobody can stop you anymore. There are no gatekeepers. The algorithm doesn't care who you are, the algorithm cares about traffic. Right. So if you're able to drive traffic with your songs, then it'll get pushed, right? Period. Like you don't have to wait for LA Reed to give you the green light. You know what I mean? You don't have to worry about, you know, you don't have to worry about the AR for Universal or Sony or Def Jam or whatever. Like, you don't have to give a dance. Right. Is it a little bit easier if you have those people's ends? Yes. You know what I mean? Because they can afford to take like a playlist curator out to dinner or something and be like, hey, by the way, we got a couple of songs for you. You know, how's the filet mignon? Is it good? Is it good? Okay, okay, play our songs. Like, you know, but so I can't do that, but it's all about making dope music, which not for nothing. I know I do, so yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Here we are. Well, I'm excited to hear those upcoming projects, man. Like I said, once you start dabbling in the house music, I will let you know. You got my ready, you got my ear for it because I'm ready, bro. I need some new house. There's a lot of and I say this because growing up, I didn't have a lot of homies that listen to EDM or just dubstep or house. So hearing somebody actually creating, yeah, it's like, all right, bro, yeah, I'll be right there at the front stage. I'll if even if I'm the only person in the building, let me hear it, bro.
SPEAKER_02:And like EDM goes like way back for me. Like, I remember like Daru came out with Sandstorm, bro. You know what I mean? Or like Alice DJ, bro. Alice DJ, like, do you think you're bad? Oh my god. I was like, yo, that's still my joint. Yeah, that's still my joint. Staples. Staples, yeah. Staples, yeah. So Sammy, those songs don't die, right? You know what I mean? So, yeah, like it's you know, EDM was a big thing back in the day for me. Like, I was listening to like infected mushroom and like airbase and like tunnel trance, so like weird crazy shit, man.
SPEAKER_03:Tunnel trance is different, yo, different, different, big different well. Other than that, man, I mean, bringing you in here, being able to interview you, it's been amazing. It's been a it's been an honor, man. Thank you guys. Thank you all for having me. I appreciate it. Absolutely, bro. Um, hey, shout out all things for Lucy's Lounge. The vibe here has been amazing. It was, I'm gonna be honest with you, it's been so hard not to sing along to the songs that were moving.
SPEAKER_04:I heard Chris, bro, I heard Neil. Bro, yeah, I was trying so hard not to stop and just sing to that shit.
SPEAKER_03:But uh, regardless, thank you so much for being a part of the podcast. Thank you all for having me. Absolutely, man. And uh, where can we find you on your socials?
SPEAKER_02:So you can find me at Brandon Freeman Music on Instagram um or at Cloud Chip Music from my band CloudShip. Uh, our our website is cloudshipmusic.com. All of our shows are up there and whatnot. I'm in the midst of like revamping all of my social media because I have so many different projects. Like, social media has really been a big thing because I had to clean up my grid. Right. You know what I mean? Like you're just posted, uh, oh, I made this cool sandwich for lunch. Like, nah, man, like do that, put that somewhere, like put it on a story or something where it disappears. Right. Because what I found is when you clean up everything so people know what you do, you have a good representation of yourself. Right. It's already made me money. Yes. It's already made me money. Like I sent somebody to my Instagram after I did a free gig over there at the Broadway park, and then they hired me for a conference. And then the other their cohorts looked at my Instagram and they were like, wait, he does this too? Like, can he do both of these things? So they paid me separately for two different acts at the same event. Wow. Because it's just right there. You know, you ain't gotta you ain't gotta scroll through a bunch of nonsense. No, like right there at the top of my shit, right, is everything that I do. So yeah, at Brandon, Brandon Freeman Music, um, Cloud Chip Music, Cloud Chip Music.com. Um, and yeah, man, like all of my people, um, all of my people are easy to find, like T8 Handful, Otis Reed. Um, yeah, man. Shout out to shout out to LMC, man. Mikey Rimovic is my my big brother, my dog. He always looked out for me, taught me like, taught me so much. And um, he's like the the LMC LMC presents as like the king of EDM right now in the uh in Fresno. They put out, they put all the big shows. I think they had Valentino Khan and like Green Velvet. Right. Like, I think I think they had Rufus Dussoul come through here. Oh, yeah. Like some, yeah, some crazy shit, man. So we we we're really we're really trying out here. We're really trying out here. And I got a lot of friends. Um got a lot of friends. So yeah, just like if everybody just keeps looking for shit, you know, we're we're easy to find. We're easy to find.
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely. Hey, shout out Fresno. We got a lot of talent out here, as you can see.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, we do.
SPEAKER_03:Um, a lot of stuff coming up. So, I mean, if you're sleeping on us now, we're gonna get FOMO later. Oh, yeah. Big FOMO, big FOMO, big FOMO. Yeah, well, thank you, Brendan, for being out here, man. I really appreciate it. Thank you all for that. That was incredible. I appreciate the love. Absolutely, brother. Yeah, and don't forget you guys can go ahead and check them out on all platforms. We love you guys. Much love. Peace.
