“Never thought hip-hop would take it this far,” rapped Christopher Wallace in 1994. 26-years-later, it’s gone even further than Biggie Smalls could’ve imagined. Trap music was once regarded with the same sort of disgust that purists have towards the current state of rap music. As a genre, it offered insight into the world of the South, but more specifically, Atlanta. Ironically, the forefather of the sound-- and the man who helped cement it as a regional sub-genre-- was actually a Bay Area native.
Mapping Zaytoven’s musical influences would take you on a cross-country road trip across the United States of America. Born in Frankfurt, Germany to parents who were in the military, Zaytoven spent much of his formative years in different cities and states. It was the local heroes that played a huge role in his development as an artist, whether it was Sheldon Herrington, the head organist of the church that would teach him songs, or JT The Bigga Figga, who gave Zay his first placement. These influences, plus a sprinkle of No Limit, make up the formula to Zaytoven's success. Even if the muddiness and imperfections of Master P served as a template for the gritty sound of trap music, it’s artists like Dr. Dre who’ve laid the foundation to Zay’s sustenance in the rap game.
Image via Artist, @shotsbyc3nturii
“Of course. Now, when you listen back to your music, you want to hear a certain quality and a certain perfection. When I make a beat now, it's like when I send this beat out, I know the artist gonna listen to it like, “Man, this is the work of art right here,” ‘cause I'm putting more time and effort into it. But that's not what really got me in the game. But that's what helps sustain me in the game. Projects like Beast Mode and stuff like that where I really took my time is what helps Zaytoven get to another level and be like, okay, he's great,” said Zaytoven during a Zoom Video call.
Even though every month is Black History Month, we spoke to Zaytoven to explore his influences and the artists, musicians, and producers that have shaped his artistry.
HNHH: I want you to take me back to when you were a child first getting into music. Who are the musicians and producers that influenced you? Because I know you come from a church background.
Zaytoven: Yeah. So from the beginning, man, there were always local heroes that inspired me. I remember in Grenada, Mississippi -- it was a real small place -- the head organist at the church, I'm watching him and I'm inspired. Like, you know, I wanna hang around him. I want to learn how to play ‘cause he's the guy. He's the one that's running the whole music. So, his name was Sheldon Herrington. He'll sit down and take time, and show me like, “Okay, this how you play this song, this and that,” you know what I mean? When I moved from Grenada, I moved to Jackson, Mississippi, and there was a guy by the name of Hugh Davis. The man can play every instrument you can think of. He runs a whole bunch of youth services and youth camps. And he used to take me with him everywhere he'd go. He would show me how to play songs. He'll take his time to come and show me how to play music, you know, certain ones. Another guy's name was Bernie Moore in Jackson, Mississippi. At the church I'm going to, he's the head musician. He's the one that gave me an opportunity to say, “You run this service you play this whole service by yourself. I'm gonna sit back and watch.” So, that was the guy I was influenced by early.
Talk to me about learning "I'm Available To You." To my understanding that's the first song you learned on piano. What does that song mean to you and what's the earliest memory you have of that song?
You know, back in the day, learning different choir songs, that's a big deal. You go to choir rehearsal, so this is something we're gonna learn to sing for Sunday. At the time, “Lord, I'm Available To You” was a big song. Was it the Mississippi Mass Choir that might've sung it? It is one of the mass choirs. This was a song that was popular. And Hugh Davis, from Jackson, Mississippi, he was the guy that sat down and showed me how to play it at my home piano. I remember just playing it over and over again until I just got every chord right. It's still one of my favorite songs to play.
So, my earliest memory of that song is me playing it for the first time and my mom doing a solo. She's doing a solo at the church, but I'm helping with the background singing. I had the -- what's the haircut that goes up like that? Like a high-right low-left? [Laughs] I saw the footage about two years ago. They had it at the church. I was like, man, I can't believe it. I had on red suspenders, I had a striped shirt on. I remember everything about it.
One of the key aspects of trap music, as you mentioned in our last interview, is the imperfections that made it sound so authentic and gutter. Who are some producers, or even musicians, that showed you the beauty in those imperfections?
I think it started with some of the music I started listening to. Like, I’ve always been into church music. I've always been into gospel music because of my parents. My mom's a choir director. My dad's a preacher. So, all I'm listening to is gospel music.
When I first heard rap, it was Dr. Dre’s The Chronic. You know, “Dre Day” and all that. So, I've always looked at music being so big and so far away. I just love the music. It sounded so good, but it's something [that I felt] I would never be able to reach. You know, it's like that's just so far away. I'm just a fan of it. It wasn't until I started hearing, like, Master P. Like, “I'm Bout It” and all his music. It was like, okay, this doesn't seem like the same music as Dr. Dre and Tupac. It was different. It was more rough. You can tell it wasn't mixed the same. He’s not rapping as good on this stuff. His timing is kind of off. The beats are kind of just like -- they seem like they [So So Def] beats but if you really listen to it, it's like, “No, these joints hard.” And that kind of started changing my perception of how the music has to sound. It almost made me feel like I can make music that sounds like that, you know?
Tell me what was going on in your life around the time you first heard Master P and No Limit.
Believe it or not, man, I'm still in the Bay. I'm in the Bay Area and nobody's listening to Master P like that where I'm from, you know? My roots are in Georgia. My grandma, my aunties -- all of my family stays in Columbus, Georgia. So I would come and visit. And here -- I mean, they be having pull ups at the park where there cars are just out in the park. The type of music they’re playing is all Master P, Pastor Troy, and stuff like that. And I'm just looking at the reaction. I'm feeling the music. I’m goin’ to lil’ spots, almost lil’ club spots and I’m like, “Hol’ on. This music is different.”
"I'm in the Bay Area. So Tupac, Snoop Dogg, all the West Coast music is poppin’ and all the Bay Area rappers are poppin’. So, I got a kick out of coming to the South, taking music back up to the Bay and sayin’, 'Y'all ain't up on this. Y'all ain't never heard this Trick Daddy before.'"
I'm in the Bay Area. So Tupac, Snoop Dogg, all the West Coast music is poppin’ and all the Bay Area rappers are poppin’. So, I got a kick out of coming to the South, taking music back up to the Bay and sayin’, “Y'all ain't up on this. Y'all ain't never heard this Trick Daddy before.” I used to walk around school with my radio, you know what I mean? I used to walk around school with my radio now and I'm playing nothing but music they know nothing about in the Bay. It’s like, “Y'all don't know. This Trick Daddy. This Pastor Troy. This Master P.” And they’re like, “Man, if you don't get that music outta here. Like, that's the wackest music in the world.” And I think them saying that helped me get drawn that much closer to that music. Just because it was different. It's like, “Y'all ain't up on what I'm on.” And I feel like that's my type of music. It's underground music that everybody ain't really hip to, you know what I mean? It's not as popular as the music that everybody loves. But it has a certain edge to it because everybody's not really up on it like that. So, I was on Master P and them that much harder because where I was at, nobody was listening to that.
Just bouncing off your previous comments on local heroes from the South who introduced you to playing music at church. Who were the local heroes for you in the Bay Area when you were carrying around the boombox in the school halls?
Back then, it was San Quinn, JT the Bigga Figga, Mac Mall, B-Legit, Messy Marv. Some young guys I worked with called The Gamblers. You know, all the Bay Area guys that were around, they were like the legends. You get to work with them, it was like, okay, you’re doing something. And one of my first beats -- of course, my first beat came with JT The Bigga Figga because he was the one that put me in the studio first. But San Quinn was the star coming from where we were at. So, I remember him rapping on my beat for the first time and it was just like, “Oh, I feel like I made it.”
You mentioned The Chronic as an introductory project to hip-hop and then Master P helped shape what we know as trap music. What was it about Dre’s production style in the 90s and 2000s that resonated with you the most? Where do you think those influences informed how you approach production moving forward?
The Chronic was like my first time listening to rap music. I wasn't allowed to listen to that. My parents would go crazy if they knew that I was listening to in my headphones. But it's almost like a crackhead getting crack for the first time. Once I heard that, it was like -- man, you know what I mean? It was infectious. It was like, bro, I got to hear this all day long. I remember being in church and I had my Walkman. I’d sneak and put the headphones on because like, man, it was that dope to me. But I wasn't trying to be a producer at this time. I just started becoming a fan of rap music.
"'The Chronic' was like my first time listening to rap music. I wasn't allowed to listen to that. My parents would go crazy if they knew that I was listening to in my headphones. But it's almost like a crackhead getting crack for the first time."
It wasn't until around the Master P times where I started feeling like I could do this. Dre and them made it sound like, that's too hard to do. You know? I mean, they made it sound like it's so perfect. Like, it will take too much to do that. Tupac, All Eyez On Me, I'm just a fan because it's just great music but I'm not gonna be able to do that. Guys like Master P and Pastor Troy, they started coming out and started making me feel like I could do that. I start feeling like, I'm able to get in the game because I can make that type of music. This stuff is not as to the T as like, you know, Dr. Dre was.
Do you feel like now at this point in your career, you're approaching closer to a level of a Dr. Dre than the muddy sound that inspired you to get into production?
Of course. Now, when you listen back to your music, you want to hear a certain quality and a certain perfection. When I make a beat now, it's like when I send this beat out, I know the artist gonna listen to it like, “Man, this is the work of art right here,” ‘cause I'm putting more time and effort into it. But that's not what really got me in the game. But that's what helps sustain me in the game. Projects like Beast Mode and stuff like that where I really took my time is what helps Zaytoven get to another level and be like, okay, he's great.
Who else do you think inspired you or at least planted the seed in your head to make sure you're innovating your own sound while also carrying the legacy of those who came before you?
I was a huge -- and I know a lot of people don't probably even get into these artists like that, but I was a huge DJ Quik and MC Eiht fan. I probably listen to their music more than I listen to anybody in the world. MC Eiht and DJ Quik. I think it's because of their production style. It was just so -- it was music-driven. It's like you can tell musicians is the one that's really making it. This ain't beat programming. These are guys playing the piano. People playing guitars and, you know, people using certain sounds that stuck with me for so long that I knew that's what I wanted my music to sound like. And if you go back and listen to my music, and go listen to MC Eiht “We Come Strapped,” go listen to DJ Quik Safe and Sound album and stuff like that, you'd be like, “that's Zaytoven music. That’s where Zaytoven music comes from.” I didn't really realize it until a year or two ago, when I was really like, man, I'm making the same music I used to listen to not even knowing when I'm doing it. I don't sit down and listen to DJ Quik and say I'm gonna make something like this. Or listen to MC Eiht and say I'm gonna make something like this. But subconsciously, I've been making that music and I've been listening to it for so long.
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Can you describe to me where you were the first time you heard DJ Quik?
This is probably one of the reasons why I'm one of his biggest fans. When I was younger, my mom used to try to get me into acting and doing, you know, modeling type stuff. She was taking me to different gigs. Sometimes I might be on a Cadillac commercial. I remember doing a Michael Jordan commercial when I was really young. If you get the chance, look it up. It's called “What If?” Like, what if there were no sports, and what if, you know -- it was a black and white commercial. I’m in that commercial shooting a basketball into a crate that's tied to a tree. But my mom got me into that stuff when I was younger. So, we end up getting a call to do a video. And it was DJ Quik’s “Safe and Sound” video. And that's the first time my mom was like, “Where in the world are we at?” Like, what is this? Because we’re in the streets, like, we’re in the hood. You know, there's a weed smokin’. It's a whole bunch of people there like, “Man, what in the world is this?” But I ended up playing [the role of] DJ Quik and his friends when they were younger. And I remember just hearing the music, you know, since they’re playing the music in the back. It's like, man, it's so dope. So, I got into him. I went and bought the CD. And it instantly became like really my favorite album man. Safe And Sound. And it was the music that really just drew me. You know what I mean, and I've been stuck on it ever since.
Where do you think the influence on the Bay Area from Compton comes from? If any.
I don't know. I don't know if anybody else from the Bay Area was as much of a Quik fan as I was. Matter of fact, I don't know anybody else around me or anybody I know that's as much of a Quik fan. I think what helped me become a fan is the musicianship more than anything. Maybe, me, coming up in church and being a musician and hearing certain chords and certain riffs they were doing on the keys and all that is what drew me to him so much.
Is there a particular song that still sounds as fresh as it did when you first listened to it?
I'm an album type of guy, not a single type of guy. So, I like projects. Safe & Sound is always gonna be my favorite because it was the first one I heard him in. You know, that was the first one I bought, but then Rhythm-al-ism after that. I bought every DJ Quik album that came out, you know what I mean? Safe + Sound probably was my favorite, and “Dollaz + Sense” was like the song that made me be like, this is the hardest man in the world. He's the hardest. When he was dissing MC Eiht, I was like, man, he's super hard. That's probably my favorite.
As both a fan of DJ Quik and MC Eiht, you could understand the conflict die-hard Gucci Mane fans and Jeezy fans have had over the years. How did you find yourself appreciating their music compared to each other? Especially, when there’s real beef happening behind the scenes.
That's what made me like it so much. I don't know why I like it but it made me want to listen to their music that much more. DJ Quik dissing MC Eiht. Eiht’s dissing DJ Quik. I’m talkin’ ‘bout every album. And it's like they are both going so hard to me. It's like, this is my favorite. These are my favorite guys right here.
And their music is really totally different. Like, the approach is totally different. Quik’s music is smooth, fluid and jazzy. And then he rapped like -- DJ Quik rap like a rapper. MC Eiht’s rapping like a guy that can't really rap but he’s from the streets, for real. It's like he raps like a killer, bro. Like, why y'all give him the mic? But you can tell he is just authentic. He just sounded so authentic. And then the music behind them, it's like you at a Blues Club almost. It's like you're just hearing piano and they’re just freestyling. And I'm like, but what kind of music is this? When he was talking so hard and reckless, it was like, man, this is my favorite music.
Is it the sport of rapping that drew you in even more?
I think the sport is what draws us closer to the music. I just finished playing basketball. I like to talk noise. Even if somebody's better than me, I still want to talk noise. I want to be aggressive. It's a competitive type of thing. And I feel like with music, it helped draw us closer because it's like, everybody feels like, “I'm better than you. I'm harder than you,” and that's what makes the music come out a certain way. That’s what makes us listen to it a certain way. I used to listen to you know, the rap freestyle battles and all that. That's the essence of hip hop music to me.
"So, anytime Gucci had a problem with somebody, or wanted to say something to somebody, I'll pat him on the back, like, “go for it.” People wouldn't think that, but that's how I am because I'm a fan. I'm a fan of the sport."
So, anytime Gucci had a problem with somebody, or wanted to say something to somebody, I'll pat him on the back, like, “go for it.” People wouldn't think that, but that's how I am because I'm a fan. I'm a fan of the sport. It's a comparison type t
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