Photo: Brown Photography
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CONCRETE: Where are you from originally? Vonex: I’m from Nashville, Tennessee, Inglewood representer, East Side Cashville. CONCRETE: You have a new mixtape, Still Doing Me, Volume 1, hosted by Don Cannon. It’s all original production by you. Can you give an overview of this project? Vonex: It’s actually sixteen tracks. I got an additional track that I’m just talking on, but it’s like sixteen tracks. All production by me. I got two tracks on there that I got mixed and mastered by DJ Dev. But I mix my own stuff, produce my own stuff, record. CONCRETE: How long did that project take to complete? Vonex: I’d say about a year and a half. I already had songs that I wanted to put out. I just wanted to put out the right songs. I wanted to have the right music that everyone could relate to and bang and bump in their cars. But at the same time, I wanted it to be a fire ass mixtape. It’s a blessing. CONCRETE: How did you link with Don Cannon for this project? Vonex: Everything is a blessing. It worked itself out how it worked itself out. My manager came to me and was like, “You want to get a DJ to host your mixtape? We’ve got to get a hot DJ.” I like Drama, Cannon, I like Scream, I like Holiday, I like DJ Smallz. But my first option was always Cannon. I already I knew I wanted Cannon on my mixtape. I had seen him on MTV Jams where he had hosted Young Jeezy’s Trap or Die Vol. 2. I had heard it, and I liked the way he road the mixtape. So that made me want him. A couple weeks later, we were having dinner. Me, him and my manager were talking. He was feeling the vibe, and a month later we had a mixtape. CONCRETE: Since you write and produce songs, what is your technique for crafting a song? Vonex: If I do a sample track, I’ll listen to the original track about thirty times before I even think about doing the beat. I’ll figure out exactly what I’m going to sample from the track. And when I’m making the track I’m actually thinking about the words that I’m going to say on the track until I finish with the high hats, the kicks, snare and I put it all together. Then I can actually sit back, listen to it and think about the verses like I really want to. But when I’m making the track, I’m thinking, I’m thinking. When I get done with the actual production it’s like, “OK I got four bars. I can go on and get another eight or ten or a hot sixteen.” Even without a sample driven track, I might come up with a hook in my head. Just humming it. I’ll hum the hook while I’m playing it. Once I do the hook, I can actually lay it down once I finish the track. The verses and hook will naturally come.