Noah “40” Shebib, the man behind some of hip hop’s biggest hits, says you don’t need “fancy” equipment to create good music.
The OVO producer/engineer explained his position during a recent chat with FC The Truth, where he was asked whether Drake’s Certified Lover Boy opener, “Champagne Poetry,” was recorded on an iPhone.
“Yeah. So, OK, I’m always recording stuff on an iPhone just ’cause it’s easier these days and the iPhone sounds great,” 40 said. “So, like, yeah, if I have to record just like an instrument, I might use an iPhone, for instance.”
40 underscored his stance with a brief anecdote involving Travis Scott. The producer said he had met the Houston rapper years ago at London’s Wireless Festival. 40 recalled La Flame coming up to him and expressing gratitude for changing his life. Scott told the producer he had read one of his blog posts in which he pushed back on the belief that buying expensive, high-tech equipment was necessary to create music. 40 argued in the post that all you really needed was a laptop, some kind of program, a mic, and plugins. The producer said Scott ultimately convinced his mom to purchase the basic tools—and the rest was history.
“[Scott] is like, ‘Look what happened. Look, look, I’m here.’ I’m like, whoa, that’s fuckin‘ crazy,’” 40 recalled. “The point is, I’ve always been preaching that—don’t let people tell you you need all that fancy shit. When we sign artists, the first conversation I have with them is, ‘Yo, don’t get caught up in all this [...] You don’t need any of that stuff.”
40 continued by pointing out that great artists from the past didn’t have to rely on high-tech equipment.
“It’s not rocket science in this day in age. You just want to make music,” he said. “The Beatles didn’t have much to work with back then. Whoever it is—Marvin Gaye was lying down on a couch with an SM-57. So it’s, like, alright, so grab an SM-57 for $100 and lie on the couch in the living room and track a record and make it great, right?. There’s a way to do it at all times and I think people get caught up and lost in all the fancy stuff.”
40 acknowledged he now has access to an arsenal of expensive tools, but insists the equipment is a luxury, rather than a necessity.
“All you need is a computer of any kind. I don’t care what it is. It can be 15 to 20 years old,” he explained. “If you only had an iPhone, you could do it. If I was trapped with only an iPhone, I would make classics all day [...] It’s all about what your means are, and using those means to create greatness. That’s what, to me, the spirit of hip hop is to its core … All that fancy stuff is cool, but it’s not necessary.”
You can check out 40’s full interview below.
