THE ONES & TWOS: FALA BEATS
The body of work music producer Fala Beats has amassed over the last ten years of his distinguished beat-making career is second to none in the annals of St. Louis based hip-hop producers.
A leading pioneer in the renaissance of Midwest-based music, the South St. Louis native has been at the forefront of two musical movements out of the Lou—The Ghost Coast movement with VIP Records in the mid-to-late 1990’s and the current campaign--The New St. Louis--a collective of rappers, emcees, deejays, producers, talent managers, reporters, publicists, fans and critics who all have the same goal in mind: establishing St. Louis as an credible force in the entertainment sector.
The Ghost Coast era championed credible work by VIP artists King Jacob, Chocolate Thai, Iceberg Slim, C’Mon and Paybak. Paybak had the distinction of being one of a very few rap acts from St. Louis to land on the Billboard Charts as an independent artist and King Jacob and Chocolate Thai would eventually land at Derrty Entertainment in 2004 as part of Nelly’s inaugural roster.
On the strength of his and King Jacob’s relationship, Fala was commissioned for tracks to contribute to Universal Music’s The Longest Yard Soundtrack in 2005. The result was “Stomp” by Murphy Lee featuring King Jacob and Prentice Church. The head-banging, pulsating track was used in the movie and on advertisement spots throughout the country for the film.
Riding the wave of that experience, Fala embarked on a project that would change the face of St. Louis music as it is known. On Tha Grind was a 17-song opus exposing the STL’s grittier rhyme-spitters. King Jacob, Lil’ Mont’ (who appears on Jibbs’ “Chain Hang Low Remix”), Potzee, Murphy Lee, Lil’ Wayne, Messy Marv and the International Player’s Clique (IPC) were among just a few hard hitters to bless the disc. Fala, Lil’ Mont and Potzee’s “Play My Song” also scored, securing a background spot earlier this fall in Episode 104 of NBC’s newest drama Friday Night Lights.
Lil’ Mont’ aka Young Birdie, stepped up and out for Fala, his beat-making- brethren, using his experience, rhyming ability and cool as the other side of the pillow swagger to secure spots on several nationally distributed projects including Mike John’s and Urban World Wireless’ Urban World Order Mix-Tape Series (Volume III, Hosted by Mike Epps), in which the Fala produced tracks “Trying to Get By” featuring M Meezy and “Big Thangs” with R&B singer Leandra were featured along original tracks by Busta Rhymes, Ice Cube, 50 Cent and other hip-hop mainstays. Both songs were local staples before making a push nationwide, which parallels Fala Beats’ decade-long ascent from local producer to a credible hip-hop heavyweight.
