From Tech Recruiter to Producer: Reasonable's Return

Esteban Candelario (00:03.453) Give me like five seconds real quick.

Reasonable (00:05.741) Yeah, that's cool.

Esteban Candelario (00:07.171) about just getting my dog because he's going crazy right now. I don't want him making noise in the background. You did? Okay, all right. Yeah, he's a puppy. So he just doesn't understand like, all right. Hi guys, what's up? This is another episode of the Producer Free Podcast. You don't know who I am. My name is Esteban. I am the host. Today we have Donald aka Reasonable. He's a producer who's landed placements with Lloyd Banks and Jay Stone. He's built strong client bases, both online and in person and brings a unique edge by producing and engineering for artists. Brother, how are you today?

Reasonable (00:09.536) Yeah, I heard him like growling or something.

you

Reasonable (00:36.429) Pretty good, man, pretty good. Thanks for having

Esteban Candelario (00:39.095) Love to hear that. So, I mean, just start us off like in your journey, man. Like when did it start and how did it go from there?

Reasonable (00:46.741) Yeah, so I mean I've always been into the music the music stuff, know say just in terms of like the producers and who was making the beats like I remember as a kid Whenever I would like get a new album I will always Like look through the credits and look like to see who produced what you know say even though didn't know how to make beats at time I thought was the most fascinating thing ever so fast forward to Shit 2010. That's when I started

primarily sample based, that's just based on what I was coming up on. This was in the middle of the blog era, which is my favorite era of rap as a whole. So my sound still reflects that today. And yeah, man, back then, wasn't really, no loop makers or nothing like that. At least I didn't know any. So you had to do everything yourself. You know what I'm If you were picking from scratch, you had to do all the sounds. You didn't have nobody sending you samples. least I didn't have anybody sending all this other stuff.

Esteban Candelario (01:35.968) huh. huh.

Reasonable (01:46.589) Um, yeah, man, that's why I really cut my teeth. Um, you know, when I was a kid, I was messing around with like MTV Music Generator and shit like that, but I didn't really start taking it serious until about 2010 when I was like, you know what, I should learn how to do this. So that's where it started and started on FL Studio, still on FL Studio to this day. And that's not gonna change.

Esteban Candelario (02:08.971) Nice. no, FL is like the backbone. think I don't know if it's a certain like generation of producers, but every producer I've spoken to, FL like for life for sure, you know? So what I mean, what was that initial like when you were starting off in 2010? What did you do and like what kind of like were you in a certain niche or certain genre or like, you what was that like for you?

Reasonable (02:18.153) Yeah.

Reasonable (02:31.358) Yeah, so it was just primarily hip hop, man. That's what I grew up listening to. So that's the kind of stuff that I wanted to make. you know, growing up, like my household wasn't really musical in terms of like people know how to play instruments and stuff like that. But just in terms of stuff they was listening to, you know, I wanted to bring a lot of that stuff back and like actually flip it. So that was the fun part for me. And, you know, I didn't learn about the actual like musical part of it until a little bit later.

I started learning how to keep them scratched and I'm glad that I did because it's still stuff that I used to this day.

Esteban Candelario (03:06.337) Yeah, and when it comes from cooking from scratch, when exactly did you learn that? Was that still in that little era in 2010, or how far after was that for you?

Reasonable (03:15.38) I say probably like 2012 is when I started like trying to learn how to kick some scraps. Before it was just like, let me just find how to sample and chop it up, loop it and whatever. But then I was like, you know what? I should start doing this other thing. And that was like harder for me because I have a musical background. I don't know how to play. I still don't know how to play. So in terms of music theory that I know, it came from a junior college course and a music theory for Demi's book that I still have.

Esteban Candelario (03:33.027) Yeah.

Esteban Candelario (03:45.123) That's hilarious.

Reasonable (03:45.388) but yeah, it's just a lot of practice and I'm not the greatest at it, but you know, I do okay from time to time.

Esteban Candelario (03:53.339) So going into like 2010 and 2012 when you were sampling and then learning just how to make your own sounds, what was that like grind for you? Was that when things start picking up or like were things going slow for you as a producer and what did the day to day look like?

Reasonable (03:59.381) Yeah.

Reasonable (04:05.835) Uh, it was, it was pretty slow at the time. I didn't really have anybody rapping on my beats. Uh, now that I look back on it, they were whack as hell. I thought they were good at the time, but this is not good. So, uh, it was pretty slow. Um, I didn't know anybody and, I ended up moving from Los Angeles to the Bay area in 2011. So that was like right in the middle of that time. So.

Esteban Candelario (04:14.773) Eww.

Reasonable (04:32.116) I was up in the Bay Area still making beats, but I didn't really know anybody. it was hard for me to connect with people locally. So it was definitely a challenging time and it was kind of just one of those hands down, kind of cooking shit up on the regular. Because I didn't know what else to do at the time.

Esteban Candelario (04:39.0) Yeah.

Esteban Candelario (04:46.531) So were you thinking early on that it was going to be a career for you or like what was that development in your mind?

Reasonable (04:53.643) Uh, not, uh, I mean, I was hoping, you know what saying? Like that's what I wanted, but, uh, my mindset at the time was way different. And honestly, if it would have happened back then, I wouldn't have been ready for everything that is required to do this shit. Like I would have flamed out. I would have made it. So I'm kind of glad it didn't happen then because, uh, now I know what not to do. You know, I know the kinds of things that I'm looking for and the kind of things that I want.

Esteban Candelario (04:57.795) Mm-hmm.

Esteban Candelario (05:10.307) Hmm.

sure.

Reasonable (05:23.051) And these are things that I didn't know back then. So if I would have got on back then, I would have fell off. I wouldn't have made it. already know. My mindset wasn't where it needed to be.

Esteban Candelario (05:29.079) For sure. For sure. Yeah, I don't, think a lot of people don't realize that like if it's not now, then maybe it's not the time for you. You know what I'm saying? So, I mean, then walk through that process, because some people quit and then come back to it, or some people try to stay consistent. Like, what was that like for you? Did you stop at one point or did you keep going?

Reasonable (05:37.651) Yeah, yeah.

Reasonable (05:46.838) Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So all the way up until 2015, I was grinding, bro. 2010, 2015, it's like five, I mean, six years, but five, like whatever. But yeah, I was grinding, bro. And then I stopped in December 2015. That's when my first daughter was born. So I remember I was at the hospital waiting for her to come out. And I was supposed to do a Red Bull Big Toon showcase that night. And I had my flash drive in my pocket.

You know, I was at a hospital in the East Bay and this event was in San Francisco. So I remember thinking like, you know, I guess I'm not doing that. But, at that point I kind of knew that it was it for me. Just one, cause I was getting a little jaded at the time with how things were going through. Nothing was happening at the time. and then to like, you know, the relationship that I was in at the time was terrible. And that really affects like everything else.

Esteban Candelario (06:26.221) Yeah.

Esteban Candelario (06:41.559) Yeah

Reasonable (06:44.938) got going on especially creatively and then the third thing was I wasn't generating any money from it that I just had this baby so I was like alright I put that shit on the background and just start focusing on real life.

Esteban Candelario (06:57.879) No, I feel that. So when you put it in the backbone burner, just to clarify, did you stop doing it completely?

Reasonable (07:03.686) Yeah, so I stopped doing it completely. It was still in me, like I still had the ear, you know, I was still breaking down songs and beats the same way, but I just wasn't physically making it. I couldn't do it. I tried to open it and then after a few minutes I'd like, how did I sit here and used to do this for hours? I don't want to do this at all. Just stop doing it.

Esteban Candelario (07:09.591) Yeah.

Esteban Candelario (07:13.891) Yeah.

Esteban Candelario (07:19.069) That's crazy.

Esteban Candelario (07:25.507) Is it because you lost a passion for it? Was that just like...

Reasonable (07:29.494) Yeah, yeah, I think I was just, again, was just jaded with how things were going on. So in my mind, I'm like, I'm not good enough to do this shit, so why do I keep trying to do it? Because I did this for an X amount of years and nothing happened. And then again, I was in this terrible relationship and all this stuff was going on and I had this baby. So I was like, damn, I need to get money, I need to focus. This is just, nothing's happening. I need to give this shit up. So, yeah.

Esteban Candelario (07:37.901) Hmm, okay.

Mm-hmm.

Esteban Candelario (07:52.184) Yeah, think I mean that happens to everybody not just in producing I think it's just in life especially when they have something that's like a passion but they want to monetize it it's like the hardest shit to do it's like I mean that's like every entrepreneur is like you know what I'm saying biggest like issue with anything that they do so then walk us walk us through the process when you when you quit completely basically like what did you step into like professionally and like what were you doing to like I guess you know provide for your family and stuff like that

Reasonable (07:59.559) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Reasonable (08:05.778) Yeah. Yeah.

Reasonable (08:17.833) So I was working in tech, you know, I had a regular job as a technical recruiter So, that is what was paying the bills But interestingly enough what ended up taking that time when I stopped making beats was fighting so I ended up joining a gym and I started training Muay Thai and then Initially, it was just like something I wanted to do a few days a week because the gym was close to the job that I worked at and then I started going like five six days a week and was there for hours at a time

Esteban Candelario (08:44.051) That's crazy.

Reasonable (08:46.973) Then started doing privates with the instructor. it's like, shit, I started getting good at it. Then I started training to compete. that made me make yeah, I had six fights. Ended up with four and two. It's still in me. I still got it. I still can move. I just don't do it competitively. I'm too old at this point, man. And I can't deal with somebody in their mid to late 20s trying to knock my head off. I'm cool.

Esteban Candelario (08:53.655) But, wow.

Reasonable (09:15.009) And getting prepared for those fights is really difficult. It takes a lot out of you, so I just didn't want to do that anymore. So that's kind of what I stepped into when I stopped making beats. It's it's not an imperfect.

Esteban Candelario (09:18.157) I bet. I bet.

Esteban Candelario (09:24.899) Yep.

Did any of what you were doing, like the technical recruiting and like the Muay Thai, did it ever come into effect when you started producing again, like anything that you learned, or is that just something completely separate?

Reasonable (09:40.297) I think in terms of the Muay Thai definitely shifted my mindset because that was where I learned that how good you get at something comes through repetition because I had no fighting background whatsoever. When I stepped in there on that first day, I didn't know whether I was South Park Orthodox. I didn't know whether I actually had my left foot back and my right foot back. I started with my left foot back and then my partner was holding the pass. I kicked him in the balls like it's terrible. Like I didn't know what I was doing.

Esteban Candelario (10:07.203) That's crazy.

Reasonable (10:09.564) But then it got to a point where it was like, well, if I want to really get good at this shit, I just got to stick to it. I just got to suck for a while. And then it'll start clicking and then things will start getting easier and these fights will start slowing down for me. So that's how I approached it. And definitely just that kind of stick with it mindset is what got me to a point where I started competing. Like I went from, walked in that gym with no experience whatsoever. And by the time I stopped going, I had six fights. So it was like, it was pretty crazy.

Esteban Candelario (10:21.357) Yeah.

Esteban Candelario (10:29.281) huh.

Esteban Candelario (10:38.019) That's That's crazy.

Reasonable (10:39.291) to see. This was over the course of five years.

Esteban Candelario (10:45.667) So over the course of five years, because you stepped away 2015 and then five years later, did you get back into the producing and then what was that journey like?

Reasonable (10:50.31) Yep.

Reasonable (10:53.736) Yep, yep. you know, we had COVID in 2020. So, you know, everybody was in the house thinking about life and making beef or something that I wanted to get back into at the time, but I had been away from it for so long that I just wasn't sure. once we, you know, everybody was on lockdown and everybody was kind of stuck in the house.

Esteban Candelario (10:59.821) Sure, you're good.

Reasonable (11:22.216) you know, I started thinking about it more because I was working remotely. So I had a lot more time at home. So then I was like, Hey, like, I just, you know, get back to this. Um, so those thoughts started getting like louder in like the summer of 2020, but I didn't essentially like start making beats again until January of 2021. So I was like, let me just start at beginning of the year and let me just go from there. Yeah.

Esteban Candelario (11:45.74) Interesting so getting back into the process because earlier you mentioned at one point of time you tried doing it you're like Why like I don't know you kind of lost the sense and the passion for it So did you immediately like dive right back into it or was it like slow build kind of like the motor?

Reasonable (11:54.777) Yeah.

Reasonable (12:00.584) So I just, I kind of just jumped back into it because I'm like, I've done this before. I used to sit here and do this all the time. Uh, let me just try to, you know, let me just make it happen. But it was a disaster. Like I couldn't remember any other shortcuts. Uh, I couldn't remember where things were. I couldn't remember the names of stuff. So it took me just way longer to do anything. So it, even though I, you know, I jumped back into it, it was really frustrating at first. And then I started questioning it and I'm like, nope.

Esteban Candelario (12:12.599) Ha

Reasonable (12:30.791) This is the same thing that happened on Mojtai, this is the same thing that happened, you know, the first time that I was doing this, you you've done this before, because before I, before I quit the first time, like I kind of started figuring out my sound, but I didn't stick around long enough to develop it, because I stopped. So once I picked it back up, like that was kind of what I started building off, but it was a little bit outdated. So I just had to listen to a lot of what was going on, pay attention to a lot of the stuff that I liked.

Esteban Candelario (12:53.091) Mm-hmm.

Reasonable (12:58.192) figure out why I liked it and then start incorporating that stuff into what I was doing so I could be up to date with the time.

Esteban Candelario (13:05.623) Yeah, yeah, especially coming about it's like a five year, six year difference. Like music changes a lot. Like it just, it's insane. Especially, especially hip hop. Yeah, especially hip hop. So like, did you, did you have a plan? Was the plan like get good, get good at making beats again and then start selling it or just start selling immediately or you just doing it as a hobby? Like, was there like a specific plan for you when you were getting back into it?

Reasonable (13:10.776) Yeah, yeah, yeah

Reasonable (13:25.863) Nah, the goal when I came back the second time was to make something of this shit. Cause it was like, you know what? I gave up for five years, six years already. I got that shit out of my system. If I'm coming back, coming back because I'm a really do this. I'm not coming back just to, you know, make it a hobby again. I'm coming back because I came back for a reason. I still don't know what that reason is to this day. I don't know why I'm still here doing this. But I looked at it like, Oh no, I came back for a reason. So I'm a really try to do what I need to do.

Esteban Candelario (13:33.197) Yeah.

Esteban Candelario (13:42.915) Yeah.

Esteban Candelario (13:46.627) Yeah. Yeah.

Reasonable (13:55.526) to make it happen.

Esteban Candelario (13:56.004) Nice. Yeah. mean, I think when people start things initially, mean, who you were obviously in 2015 is not who you were in 2020. I mean, and obviously that came through the, you know, specific scenario that you went through. And also, I mean, it sounds like you are also figuring yourself out. You know, I think a lot of people are worried about figuring their sound out. You're kind of, you kind of went like the self discovery route first, which I find funny. So when you come back into it, like what's your plan and like getting clients and like, did, how did you go about that?

Reasonable (14:12.729) Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Reasonable (14:26.054) Yeah, so before I even started thinking about that, it was just more about just getting good at the shit to the point where I could make the process like repeatable. You know what I'm saying? To the point where I could like on any given day, just on an average day, I could crank out, you know, three to four beats without it like straining my brain like way too much. Cause I know for some people they're like, damn, three, four beats. Like every time you sit down, like shit, that's a lot how you do that. But like, I wanted to get to a point where like that wasn't like straining.

So that was the first thing. was just like getting good at the shit, getting the process repeatable, getting arrangement templates together just to speed up the process, getting my mix templates together so that it doesn't take me forever to level everything every time I make a beat. Like I could just kind of throw a in there. And I know the mix for the most part is gonna be decent. It's gonna be decent enough for somebody to wanna mix to it. So that was the first thing, is just getting my ear right. Because when I came back, like I thought,

Esteban Candelario (15:11.363) Reasonable (15:23.814) that my sound was like popping. And then I started like listening to what was going on. I'm like, whoa, nah, I need to work on this. So that first year, I wasn't really that focused on getting clients. I was just more focused on like trying to figure out my sound and also networking with other like producers around me. Because when I came back, you know, they had these things called loop makers and sample makers. And I was like, oh, so was dudes that like they like to actually make the music.

Esteban Candelario (15:31.171) Mm.

Reasonable (15:53.816) And then they send it to you, like a sample? shit. Like, this is cool. So then what I started doing was I started networking with really good sample makers that were around the same level as myself, just in terms of not being known and looking for other producers to work with. And a lot of those guys are still working to this day. So the first year, for the most part, was just about primarily building my sound, but also just building relationships.

Esteban Candelario (15:54.34) huh.

Esteban Candelario (15:58.147) Hmm.

Reasonable (16:20.834) And a lot of those relationships that I focused on building that first year when I came back, I'm still interacting pretty regularly with a lot of those people, whether it's producers, artists, managers, A &Rs, like whatever, just because I kind of understood how things work the last time that I did this. And I was older. Like I'm in my 40s, bro, so I don't approach this the same way as a lot of these, you know, like a 17 year old kid that don't have a job.

Esteban Candelario (16:38.518) Yeah.

Reasonable (16:46.134) For me, it's different. I've already lived my life. I'm just trying to do this because this is something that I know that I want to do. So it's like my approach is a little bit different.

Esteban Candelario (16:55.213) Yeah.

I feel that. And I mean, how did you learn your approach? Like, I mean, is there, is there anything you can share about your approach? Like, is it straight DMing, emailing and like, what does it look like when you, your first message, you know, to open that conversation?

Reasonable (17:08.353) Yeah, yeah, so it depends, right? Like if I'm trying to network with the sample maker, what I'll do is I won't even contact them at all. Like maybe I'll just find some of the samples that they make online, right? And then I'll sample one and I'll flip it into a hot ass beat. And then I'll send them that beat like, hey bro, I came across one of your samples. It really resonated with me. This is I did to it. And then I asked like, hey, do you have like a weekly list?

Esteban Candelario (17:32.607) Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Reasonable (17:37.442) or something because a lot of these guys, they have a list where they make samples and they send it out to the list every week or every month, you know, so many samples. So I started doing that. And again, a lot of these producers that I connected with and got on their list, I'm still on their list today. They're still sending me samples to this day. It's like my email is almost like it's too much in there. So that's like a good problem to have because again, these are not samples that are unspliced.

Esteban Candelario (17:37.783) Mmm, yeah.

Reasonable (18:03.587) These are not samples that are on these other sites. These are people that I know personally who don't really have a name but are super talented and they like what I do with the shit so they send it to me. Yeah.

Esteban Candelario (18:15.085) So I mean, you build your relationships, know what I'm saying? And then you kind of go about building, yeah. And then, so my thing is this, a lot right now, especially, like a lot of producers are always worried about like YouTube and BeatStars and building that up. Like, does that come into play for you or is that something you don't even look at?

Reasonable (18:19.138) Whoa. yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah.

Reasonable (18:30.232) Yes.

Reasonable (18:35.269) My bad, going up the stairs here. So in terms of YouTube, I didn't... I'm gonna go sit outside right here and I'm not gonna be moving, I promise.

Esteban Candelario (18:37.123) Nah, you're good.

Reasonable (18:51.406) So in terms of YouTube, I've tried the YouTube route numerous times. It just hasn't really worked for me all that well, just because...

Esteban Candelario (18:58.531) huh.

Reasonable (19:08.258) I don't know, I can't figure out the algorithm. Like, I feel like I gotta think too much in terms of every single post that I make. And then the biggest issue for me is I never know what the beats I make. I never know who they sound like. So like, you know how some people they have ASAP Rocky type beats and they can crank them type of beats out all day and upload those.

Esteban Candelario (19:12.578) Yeah.

Esteban Candelario (19:36.163) Hmm.

Reasonable (19:36.205) For me, I get to the upload screen and I'm thinking like, damn, I don't know who this sounds like. Because when I cook, I don't cook with like a specific artist in mind. I've never been one of those artists where it's like, you know, I make J. Cole type beats or I make Drake type beats or whatever. Like I just make what I think sounds good. So it'd be hard for me to label the beats that I make as a certain type when I upload on YouTube. So.

Esteban Candelario (19:48.471) Yeah.

Reasonable (20:05.186) I don't really focus on YouTube too much. I do have a page. There are beats up there, but they're like old. And then I do have a BeatStars. I do focus on that a little bit more. I do get a decent amount of leases, you know, on a regular basis, but it's nothing to like really live off of. But I haven't like spent any money on like the promote feature that they have on their.

Or anything like that. Honestly, I get most of my V-Stars traffic from my TikTok

Esteban Candelario (20:39.211) Interesting. then tell us, I don't know, walk us through like the process of your TikTok. Like what's it, I mean, what's your strategy on that to drive people to your funnel, to go to your BeatStars? Cause I think most people do is like they upload a YouTube and funnel that to BeatStars. So I would like to like understand how that works.

Reasonable (20:54.797) So with TikTok, I like to just post my beats just regularly. Usually it's just me vibing to them with a snippet of the beat and I'll have a little hook or whatever. I have my link tree in my TikTok bio. And in that link tree, the BeatStars link is like the first one in there. So it got to the point where whenever I get some decent amount of traction on beats, people are always hitting me in the comments. hey, where can I buy this?

Where can I find this? And I say, B-stars in my link tree, in my bio. And I get DMs, same thing. People DM me, yo, your B-star fire. Like, where can I check them out? B-stars. So, and I've noticed that like sometimes I'll see somebody like one of my posts on TikTok. And then like a few minutes later,

I get a notification from Beastars that somebody with a similar name ended up following me. I was like, so they heard the beat and then they went to my Beastars and they ended up following me. So that's how I know. So yeah, most of my traffic on there, even people that have leased has come from TikTok.

Esteban Candelario (22:14.667) Interesting. think, I mean, it makes sense, but I think you're the first producer that I heard that funnels from their TikTok to their BeatStars. So then, then walk us through like, kind of like, is that how you get your placements? Is it through people like buying your beats from BeatStars or is that like a whole nother like avenue?

Reasonable (22:21.641) Yeah.

Reasonable (22:32.096) Yeah, so in terms of placements, that's something completely different because these are people that I'm actively reaching out to. Usually the people that buy from me are people that come to me. But in terms of the placements that I have, the artists that I work with and the relationships that I develop, these are people that I'm actively reaching out to. Maybe I came across one of their songs on TikTok or YouTube or Instagram, or maybe I was working out and one of their songs came up on my playlist and I stopped like, who's this? And then, you know, check them out and then I'll...

Esteban Candelario (22:35.863) Yeah. Okay.

Okay.

Reasonable (23:00.811) go find them and hit them up. But yeah, usually all the placement stuff that comes from me like actively reaching out or sometimes like I said with the banks and Jason on situation, they both just may post on Twitter and I just hit to the email and they just like what I see.

Esteban Candelario (23:08.077) Gotcha.

Esteban Candelario (23:14.723) Hmm.

Yeah. And I mean, how easy was that? Like, did they, did they get right back to you as soon as you sent them a message or like, was there like, you know, them kind of delving you and you having to reach out again? Cause I think the thing that most producers do is they give up after the first message. And that's just like the first step. You know what I'm saying? So what was your experience like, and like, you know, how did you respond to that?

Reasonable (23:37.739) Sure, so with Banks, the first one, I sent him a pack. He didn't reply. And then I think it was a week or two later, I sent another pack. And then later that night, like a few hours later, I got a DM request from Blood Banks on IG. You know, it popped up and I said, no, this has got to be somebody just with the same name or using that name or something. And then when I went to go check it, it was him. you got some heat, brother.

Esteban Candelario (24:01.655) Yeah.

Reasonable (24:06.561) So he said, I said, oh shit, he must've got those beats. So then, you know, we went back and forth in the DMs for a little bit. was asking him what he was working on, kind of what he was looking for. And he said he was almost done with the album and wanted to join us that I sent over. You know, might potentially be for that, but ended up not being on his album, but they did end up releasing it because it was him and Tony Yale on there at the same time.

Esteban Candelario (24:32.577) Nice.

Reasonable (24:33.886) And then I had another record that he asked for the snows for, but that one didn't end up being released. Who knows if we'll ever hear it. I know it was mixed. know he rapped to it, but I never heard the song. so it'll probably never see the light of day. with that, but, but yeah, and then with Jason, I sent some beats over and then shit, I think it was like a couple of days later, I got forward from his.

Esteban Candelario (24:48.471) Yeah.

Reasonable (25:03.137) engineer and it was a track that he had recorded to one of the beats and he was asking me to extend the beat so he could add a second verse so I extended the beat but he never added a second verse and then it ended up coming out a couple years later on a DJ drama Jason Ohm collaboration like mixtape

Esteban Candelario (25:24.897) Yeah. Okay, so that comes out a couple years later. Like how do you or how are you aware like it came out? Do you just run into or do they reach out to you? Like how does that process?

Reasonable (25:34.4) Nah, so with Banks, I had been in touch with Yale, I had been texting with him, and he told me that they had it, because initially how they debuted the song was they did it on Funflex on Hot 97, like live, which is pretty cool. So he told me which day that they was going to debut the song or whatever. And then when they, and you know, we don't have Hot 97 here in the Bay, I had to listen to it on the internet. So when the song came on, I was like, oh shit, like, oh shit.

Esteban Candelario (25:53.699) That's crazy.

Esteban Candelario (25:59.748) You

Reasonable (26:04.032) This is my song, brother. This is crazy. And then, yeah, I think within a couple weeks or a week later, it was out on all streaming platforms. know, Banks tagged me and then that's how I gained a bunch of followers. There's a couple artists that found me through that that I still work with to this day.

Esteban Candelario (26:26.755) Wow, so that one placement got you a decent amount of opportunities. That's crazy. What was the feeling like hearing your beat on a radio? That must be insane.

Reasonable (26:31.219) Mm-hmm.

Reasonable (26:37.309) Well, I had tears. I had tears. That's when I realized, like, I can do this shit. I can do this.

Esteban Candelario (26:46.528) Yeah. Yeah. No, that's hilarious. So, I mean, talk about like the stages and like where you're currently at, like what's difficult for you now as a producer that you think you're still trying to figure out even though like you've had those like milestones.

Reasonable (27:05.46) Getting people to listen. That's the hardest part because it's not just artists. It's just people in general. You know I drop beat tapes and all that shit too. So, just getting people to listen and getting people to like give me a chance. That's like the hardest part because a lot of these artists, especially the good ones, they get impressed by producers all the time. I got high beats, I got high beats, I got beats. And then they send me beats and it'd be some bullshit. So,

Esteban Candelario (27:18.209) Okay.

Reasonable (27:36.531) The hardest part for me is working through that. I'm at the point where I feel like I have a sound that's good enough. I know it's good enough. I big artists rap on my stuff and release it. So it's just about building my brand name up enough to the point where people will actually want to work with me even though they might not know exactly what I like.

not what I do in terms of like producer or whatever, but just like in terms of how I sound, they just know that, you know, I got some fire, it's just based on maybe what they heard from somebody else or whatever. So that's the hardest part for me is like getting people to like just listen and like just give me a chance because there's so many people doing this that it can be really hard to cut through. And then when you have AI and all this other shit, it just makes it even harder. So.

Esteban Candelario (28:07.916) Yeah.

Esteban Candelario (28:21.933) Yeah.

Reasonable (28:33.182) Yeah, that's the hardest part for me man. Just getting people to listen and just getting people to like just give me a chance. I feel like I really have this stuff and when people hear it they're like, oh, like damn this shit is fire. I'm like, I know that's why I'm trying to get you to listen. So you're trying to get that to happen more.

Esteban Candelario (28:44.653) Yeah.

Esteban Candelario (28:49.505) I feel that. like, mean, that begs the question, like, especially with AI, like, do you see it like helping producers? Like, for example, like, Suno, I've seen commercials for Suno and it looks cool, but I don't know if it's as good as the commercial I've never used in myself. So like, do you see yourself like, go like going into that or do you see yourself kind of like separating yourself?

Reasonable (29:08.646) I was never used to know. I'm not into it. I just...

Esteban Candelario (29:14.208) huh.

Reasonable (29:20.127) feel like if there's something that I don't know how to do, I'm either just not gonna know how to do it or I'm gonna learn. And I just, I know there's some really talented people doing some cool stuff with Suno, but I feel like in the majority of situations where I've heard it or like actually paid attention to it is just a crutch. It's like, I can't sing, so I had this thing.

do it for me and it's like okay well don't want to hear that shit that's not you singing I don't care if you wrote the lyrics and all that other shit I don't care that's not you singing you can't sing so either learn how to sing or just pay somebody else to do it for you I don't want to hear this thing that was trained on all this other copyrighted music illegally or whatever just to like I don't want to hear that shit so in terms of Suno and shit like nah we'll never use it I don't care

Esteban Candelario (29:58.391) Hmm.

Esteban Candelario (30:04.301) Mm-hmm.

Reasonable (30:12.926) producers tell me that they get the most fire samples ever out of it. do not care. I work with action humans that I think are some of the best in the industries. Nobody knows them. And I'm gonna stick to that.

Esteban Candelario (30:26.445) So I want to say this because now I want play Devil's Affidavit. So you mentioned like the singing part in particular. Don't you think that's what autotune was when it came out? Like people were probably saying the same exact thing. Or you can tell me if you think it's different. Go ahead.

Reasonable (30:37.022) you

Reasonable (30:41.693) Yeah, it's different because that's an effect. It's not singing for you. You're not typing a prompt in the autotune and then out comes this voice. You you still have to kind of know how to sing to use that shit. And if you can't sing and you use autotune, it's very noticeable. Like it don't mean that just because you put autotune on this shit, it's gonna sound good. No, it's still gonna sound like ass. It's just got autotune on.

Esteban Candelario (31:04.18) Yeah, yeah, yeah, true.

Reasonable (31:11.559) So I don't view them the way. I think they're completely different. I feel like that's kind of the similar discussion with like the Talkbox versus Auto-Tune. know, Auto-Tune is in effect. Talkbox is like an actual instrument. You have to know how to actually play that shit with the fucking, with the string, I mean the, you know, the thing in your mouth or whatever. Like it's not just, you know, so they're different even though they sound kind of similar. I feel like it's the same thing. So.

Esteban Candelario (31:12.663) Yeah.

Esteban Candelario (31:30.925) Yeah, two.

Reasonable (31:41.423) Yeah, I don't really see, I don't really equivilate or whatever, I don't use that word, like AI and like auto.

Esteban Candelario (31:54.062) So right now for you, cause I know you mentioned learning music theory and then like kind of, you know, quitting and learning a few things from Muay Thai and the technical recruiter role you had. Is there any other skillsets that you've learned to, I guess, like sell yourself more as a producer? Cause when I track, I used to mentor producers. So when I talked to them, I used to always tell them like, if you really want people to buy from you, you're going to have to bundle. Cause there's so many beats online, like beats don't matter. There's no value in that anymore. You're to have to learn how to mix and master, do cover art, edit videos. So like.

Is there any additional skills you learned to, guess, better, how can I say, build relationships, make people come out to you? Yeah, okay.

Reasonable (32:29.511) Yeah, yeah, song mixing. Song mixing, for sure. That has been the key for me. Learn how to mix vocals, learn how to mix and master songs. That has kind of changed the game for me because what happens is whenever I work with a new artist for the first time, and then we get a song together, and I say, send me the stems. I'm going to mix it. Then when I send them the song back and they hear how it sounds,

they just want to work with me more. Because they're like, oh shit, not only does this dude have fire beats, but now I know that whenever we record, he's going to make it sound good. You know, and I don't have to worry about, oh, now I recorded the song. Now let me find somebody to make some master of the damn song or, you know, an extra 200 or $400 or whatever. You know, so, um, definitely song mixing for sure. Uh, that's something that I lean on pretty heavily. Um, that's how I

you know, in 2025 and 2026, that's how I've been building the majority of my relationships. And I feel like that's what's gonna like get me in the door to like the next level of my career in terms of like really starting to work with like more known people.

Esteban Candelario (33:45.774) Why don't we do the process of you like learning mixing, you know, beats and vocals? Because I know you mentioned in order for you to learn music here, you had a book. So like what's the process of learning how to mix and master? And what's the difference to you? If there is, it probably isn't, but you know, the difference between mixing and mastering beats and then mixing and mastering vocals.

Reasonable (34:05.852) So, YouTube University, I'm a student of whatever I do. mean, shit, man, I taught myself how to speak Japanese to an intermediate level at 40 years old. So, like, I'm just a student of whatever I want to do. Like, it's not a lot of things that I'm really interested in, but if it's something that I'm interested in, I get really into it. So, for me, it was just a lot of...

Esteban Candelario (34:11.405) Yeah.

Reasonable (34:35.643) A of YouTube, a lot of Twitch streams with engineers. So a lot of these engineers, do like Twitch streams. They do like TikTok streams. It was a lot of just reading like a bunch of, I don't wanna say books, we read books in 2026, like, I know people read books, I'm bullshitting. Like PDFs, basically. Like mixing PDFs and stuff like that, so.

Esteban Candelario (34:43.213) Hmm.

Esteban Candelario (34:58.339) You

Yeah.

Reasonable (35:04.347) It was like I was in school, bro. And then, you know, I was working with an artist at the time that I met in early 2024. And it was perfect because I was making all the beats and then he was rapping. And what made me ultimately start wanting to learn how to mix and master was it was two things that happened. One, it was one artist, was one artist that found me from the Lloyd Banks placement.

Right, we did a song together and he hit me back and he said, yo, I recorded the song, I'm gonna send it to you. Can you mix it? And I said, I don't really know how to mix. And he said, oh, oh, don't worry about it. I got it. And you know, it wasn't really a big deal, but in my head, I'm like, damn. I'm like, feeling inadequate. So that was the first thing. And then the second thing was this artist that I work with pretty regularly.

Esteban Candelario (35:55.362) Yeah.

Reasonable (36:02.955) Shout out my boy in the rod. We had a song that we were about to drop. we had sir Michael rocks from the cool kids as a feature on there so we wanted it to sound good before we put it up and We went through three engineers trying to get that song mixed the right way Three engineers bro, and we paid for all of this wasn't like homie like free like no These are like actual engineers we paid for this and it wasn't until the third guy that we got it,

Esteban Candelario (36:11.747) Thanks

Reasonable (36:31.067) So after

Esteban Candelario (36:35.533) Mm-hmm.

Esteban Candelario (36:46.675) Yeah.

Esteban Candelario (36:56.611) If you don't mind me asking like what exactly was missing from the first two mixes that the third mix had?

Reasonable (37:05.934) The first one was live as hell. Like, I think that he's in there, like he was like a little younger dude. I think he was used to doing more like trap music. So he, and this wasn't a trap record at all. was more of like a soft, like a boom-bap record. And he mixed it like a trap record. So the bass was distorting and the drums were way too, it was just too much. And then the second dude went too far the other way. Too soft. The drums were like.

Esteban Candelario (37:08.456) Okay

Esteban Candelario (37:14.723) Mm.

Esteban Candelario (37:31.095) Hmm.

Reasonable (37:32.386) Not hitting like you can barely hear the bass and I remember hitting him back with notes like can you turn this up? Can you turn this up? Can you turn it like I was telling him to turn everything up? So he just was not hitting it then When he stood back and revision that was worse. I'm like, all right, know it and then the third guy He got the balance right every like it was for one. It was loud as hell, but it was clear So it hit it was loud. The vocals were sitting where they were supposed to

Esteban Candelario (37:49.347) Well...

Esteban Candelario (37:56.809) Reasonable (38:01.108) And naturally, I'm not surprised we got the best mix out of that one because he cost the most. So, yeah, he just he had everything right. And then interestingly enough, a year later, after I got better at mixing, I ended up remaking that song. And we took that version down that he makes it put up the one I missed because we like the best. Yeah.

Esteban Candelario (38:06.657) Esteban Candelario (38:22.339) That's crazy. That's crazy. So all in all, took you about a year to learn how to make some master or do you think you're still learning? you're always learning, but do think it's perfected? Yeah.

Reasonable (38:28.184) But I'm definitely still learning, but I'm a lot more confident now. Like now when people send me stamps, I'm like, I got it. But before, when they would send me stamps, I'm like, let me see what I could do. It was like, it was a different response.

Esteban Candelario (38:44.216) Yeah.

Esteban Candelario (38:48.203) Interesting. So what I want to understand, because I think right now for producers, every producer wants to quit their job and produce full time. That's every producer's dream. And that's so rare, even for successful producers who get placements. It's still rare. So in your experience, talk about where you're at. Do you personally see the stability in it? Is that something you're figuring out? And what's that process like?

Reasonable (39:15.513) I'm trying to get this shit down. Um In terms of like making money like from it Nothing's sustainable as of yet. Although that's the goal but

Esteban Candelario (39:22.691) You're good.

Reasonable (39:36.579) Based on how things are going, think producers are going to have to get a lot more creative with how they monetize things. And that monetization has to come from multiple different places. It can't just be off placements. you're Dr. Luke or Max Martin or something like that, then yeah, you can live off those because those are like millions of dollars places. But for the rest of us, nah.

Esteban Candelario (39:52.354) Yeah.

Reasonable (40:05.849) The way that I plan to do it is like so one it starts with the music that's what I'm best at that's what I'm good at that's where I got the most traction so it starts with that just building a brand so how I do that is you know I drop beat tapes pretty regularly and posting on all social media pretty regularly I'm doing beat showcases in person doing beat battles in person

If I can catch like any open mics or anything where artists are performing in person, I always love to go to those. I'm constantly sending music to like Twitch streams, TikTok streams, you know, sometimes you have these big artists and they have streams and you're listening for like newer artists and stuff like that. So always like doing that. Sometimes I pay to skip the line. You gotta pay to kind of get where you want to go. So.

And I think that's a big misconception with a lot of upcoming artists and producers. They're always like, oh, I don't want to pay for shit. I don't want to spend money. It's like, no, you're going to have to. But the thing is, you just have to be smart and strategic about where you spend it. You just can't spend it on everything. Like, some things are more worth it than others, but that's up to you to put the value on that and figure that out. So for me, it starts with the music. I want to get the music cool. Just want to have people really, really

Like enjoy that sound and then from there Like I was like I mentioned before I want to grow that you can't sit with his brand You know saying want to make it to where people want to buy it, but I don't want to sell But I want to make it hot enough to where people want to buy it You know saying and then how I was looking at it is like Instead of buying it to have people invest in right almost like a startup getting VC money

And then just because they believe in this, you know, these VCs, they give you startups money because they believe in what the startup is doing. And then it's up to the startup to do whatever they need to do to, you know, two, three, four, 10X that value to get these people their money back and to increase the value of the brand all at the same time. So I'm kind of approaching this with that kind of mindset. I just haven't figured out how to translate that into music terms because the tech route is something that I know because I was in it for so long.

Esteban Candelario (42:18.979) Mm-hmm.

Interesting. So you you talk about like different opportunities to grow your brand, whether it's online or in person, but then also like you mentioned your approach and wanting to grow into it's kind of like how VCs invest in startups. So like, where did you get that mentality from? where did, I know you were in the tech industry. So like, how exactly did you even like learn that concept?

Reasonable (42:42.308) Yeah, so working in tech, working as a technical recruiter. You know, as a technical recruiter, a lot of times you are a candidate's first interface with the company. So you have to be pretty knowledgeable about everything, like across the board, you know, because they're going to ask a lot of questions, especially if these are people that aren't looking for a job. You know, they're just talking to you because they want to see what you're offering. Why should I leave my job with them over there? So.

being knowledgeable just about kind of everything as a whole is kind of the first thing. I was going somewhere with that. Sorry, can you ask your question again? I had a good point.

Esteban Candelario (43:26.627) Yeah, no, was asking how you learned about the concept of VCs investing.

Reasonable (43:30.673) yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. So, so, yeah, just working in tech, Robin in tech, I worked in tech for so long. and again, as a technical recruiter, you have to kind of know about the company as a whole, because not only are you a lot of people's first interaction with a company, but you also one of the last as well. Like if they go through the process, you're also making the offer to this person and you're trying to talk them through the offer and getting them to, join your company. So,

Naturally working at various different startups you kind of learn how the I don't know what you say. it's right here

Reasonable (44:15.923) Um, uh, what was I going to say? Uh, Oh, well, yeah. When you're working in these different startups, uh, and you're working as a recruiter and you have to be knowledgeable about so many different things. It's like you retain a lot of that information. Right. So it's like, that's how I learned all these processes, like working at these and a lot of these startups that I worked at when I was in tech were pretty early stage. So it's like, I had to win multiple different hacks. wasn't like I was just only recruiting candidates. Like I was.

Esteban Candelario (44:20.033) working as a technical recruiter.

Reasonable (44:43.701) not only was I recruiting the candidates, but I was like building the process that we had to use to interview these candidates. You know, I was sitting in meetings with VPs of engineering and directors of engineering and engineering managers, like building these processes from scratch. So it's like, you've done that so many times, you kind of understand how to build infrastructure to make things run smoother. And it's like, I take all that experience and try to apply it to what I'm doing now. And that's how

Esteban Candelario (44:49.377) Reasonable (45:12.438) It makes me think about, you can't sit with this and how I want to run it. almost like a tech startup where it's like, I just make the brand so damn hot. Just based on, you know, what I'm doing music wise, the artists that I'm working with, uh, to the point where people want to buy it, but I'm not selling it. And it's just like, Hey, well you can invest in it. And then I use that money that people invest with it to build the brand, whether it's marketing or I don't know. So I'm signing artists. That's how I like paying them in advance. I don't know. They're like,

There's of different ways or things that I was thinking about, but I'm not quite sure how to make the two crossover, but it's something that I think about pretty regularly.

Esteban Candelario (45:51.007) So what was the first startup that you worked at? If you don't mind saying like, was, yeah, what was the experience?

Reasonable (45:57.002) Zynga. Zynga. So, a social gaming company. This was in 2011. This was when they were hot. they had like Farmville, Cityville, Poker. Yeah, they had all those games on Facebook and shit. So, and that's when everybody really liked it. They really enjoyed that shit. It's not like that now. But, it was on a contract. So, and what's crazy about that role is this will tell you the kind of person that I am.

I took that contract role at Zynga, which was in the Bay Area. I moved up here from LA to work at this company and I had no friends, no family up here. And my first time in the Bay Area was for the interviews for the company. And then once they offered me the job, I said, fuck it, I'm gonna go. So I ended up moving up here, didn't know anybody for a contract role. This wasn't a full-time role. They could have fired me on the first day.

Esteban Candelario (46:55.885) facts.

Reasonable (46:55.957) Which would have sucked, but it worked out that way. um, but yeah, I just jumped in with both feet and I've been here since.

Esteban Candelario (47:05.505) Nice. don't, the games that you named, everyone's familiar with, especially like if you were on Facebook at that time. But was there any like any other like startups that like are notable that people like might know like, you know what I'm saying, for sure that you might've worked with?

Reasonable (47:19.221) Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. So Dropbox, that was the second company I worked at. I was there for almost four years. I joined Dropbox as employee number 79 when I left. They were like 1,500 plus, and now they're massive. And then I also worked at Stripe, which is like the biggest payment processor on the internet. I was there for a year plus, know, doing my thing over there. And then I also worked, the last company that I worked at was a company called Checker.

Esteban Candelario (47:22.529) Okay, okay, yeah.

Esteban Candelario (47:32.493) Holy crap. Yeah. Yeah.

Esteban Candelario (47:40.365) Yeah.

Reasonable (47:49.301) which is they do background checks for everybody. I don't know what the market share is, but I think it's somewhere in the 80s in terms of percentage. Companies using Checker as their background check mentor. So worked with some pretty cool startups, got a lot of equity in these companies.

Esteban Candelario (47:56.215) Yeah.

Esteban Candelario (48:09.944) Reasonable (48:16.766) That's how I'm able to, it's one of my dream, bro. That's how I'm able to do what I do and not necessarily have to worry about some of the other things in terms of finances and going to work every day and all this other stuff that other people.

Esteban Candelario (48:29.251) So a lot of people who are watching this are probably going to be a little bit too young to understand what equity in a company is. So like walk through that process and like what does that exactly mean?

Reasonable (48:34.462) Yeah.

Reasonable (48:39.324) Yeah, so equity is basically giving you a piece of the company that might not necessarily be worth a whole lot at that point. But the goal is that you grow, when you join the company or whatever you're joining, you help the company grow their brand so that that stake that you have in the company is worth more and more and more and more and more. And at the time that I was joining these startups, a lot of them were giving

lower than market salaries that they should be for whatever position you were joining but they were giving more equity. So at the time I really believed in what Dropbox was doing. So I took something like $20,000 less than what I should have and base salary but ended up getting four times that amount in equity at the current time. Remember this equity is supposed to grow in value. So it was a no-brainer for me and I'm glad that I did that because this shit changed my life. I'm still living off that shit to this day.

And I joined Dropbox in 2011 and left in 2015 or in 2026. So it's got, it should really change my life.

Esteban Candelario (49:43.492) That's crazy. That's crazy. I find it so funny, like the irony of the company that basically helped you is the same exact place that a lot of producers use when they need to send beat packs and stuff like that. It's crazy full circle.

Reasonable (49:55.638) And I use it every day I use I use Dropbox every day to this day and because I worked at the company for so long I constantly was getting free storage Bro, my Dropbox account is like 500 gigs or something. I'm never gonna fill that up. I'm never gonna fill that up I'm never gonna fill that but I use it literally every day every time I export a new beat I don't save it to my computer

Esteban Candelario (50:08.279) sick.

Esteban Candelario (50:11.651) Bro.

That's sick. That's hilarious. Wow. Yeah.

Reasonable (50:23.603) It goes to Dropbox. And then when it's in my Dropbox, I copy it to my files on iOS. So I have my beats saved in two places. So I use my Dropbox every day. When I send beats to artists where I don't have an email, because I see a lot of producers make this mistake. Producers, stop doing this. Stop asking artists, like if you get in with an artist and say, send beats, stop saying, oh, what's your email? Stop doing that. 90 times out of 10, they're not going to give it to you. You don't need an email.

put your beats in the Dropbox folder and DM that link. That's all you gotta do. You don't need an email, And if they want those beats, they're gonna hit you back. Cause I'm never gonna be like, they're not checking, these artists aren't checking Dropbox. Yes, they are. Yes, they are. So that was one of the things that I used to do a lot actually when I was sending artists beats through DMs on IG, like I don't need an email.

Esteban Candelario (50:59.875) Mm.

Esteban Candelario (51:09.672) Reasonable (51:21.126) I would just send them a link to the Dropbox folder with their name on it. So, hey bro, I thought you would sound good on these beats. Let me know if you wanna fuck with any of them.

Have a good day. And then put a link to that folder and then send it. I don't have to have their email for that to happen. I'll get the email later if they like the beats and they reach back out. But if I don't hear anything from them, then just keep going.

Esteban Candelario (51:32.536) Yeah.

Esteban Candelario (51:44.13) Hmm You try to make the process rules real easy like on both ends like if they like it they like it if they if they don't Whatever what they do at least you know I'm saying you'll kind of start the relationship off immediately you know So I mean that's crazy so essentially like the equity that you made from these companies have like allowed you to be at home to make beats full-time and It's allow you to like grow as a producer and figure things out. I think

Reasonable (51:48.113) Yeah. Yeah.

Reasonable (51:54.769) Yeah. Yeah.

Reasonable (52:09.466) Esteban Candelario (52:10.529) The issue with a lot of producers is like they either they suffer because they have no job and they're figuring out the producing. Nothing's wrong with that. But of course, that journey is long. But the journey is even longer when you're working a nine to five and you're trying to do both. Like, you know what I'm saying? Because at the end of the day, like you're exchanging your time, you know, and especially early in your career, your time is always more valuable than the money you're going to make in anything like, know, which is which is the most ironic part, because like I feel like that's what the equity did for you. It's kind of like compounded and like

Reasonable (52:32.445) Yep, yep, yep.

Esteban Candelario (52:39.843) you now you're here today. So I know you mentioned like in the future, you want to like invest in building your branch and sit with us, but I mean, in the next like 10, 20 years, what do you see it being like as a whole? it kind of sounds like a label kind of sounds like a publishing company kind of sounds like all the above, like, you know, the next 10 to 20 years when you get outside of producing and you build more of that, like what is that looking like?

Reasonable (53:06.192) Yeah, so I want it to be something that almost runs itself. You know what saying? Because ultimately the goal for me is to sign people, not only just artists, you know what saying? But not only just music stuff, like videographer, photographer, graphic artists. Like I would, these are people that I would sign and give equity to and you can't sit with us, you know what I'm saying? Just so they could like, that's what we doing.

Esteban Candelario (53:32.845) Hmm.

Reasonable (53:34.721) So it's not only just artists, producer, although I would approach it slightly different way, a slightly different way that of course I would want to like sign artists and do all that stuff. But I would prioritize the producers and especially like ones that are unknown. You know what saying? And the way that I would do that is I have a whole idea for like a TikTok and Twitch stream that I would do. I already mapped it out. I've got the name of it. I've got the idea for it. It's just about

Esteban Candelario (53:50.696) huh.

Reasonable (54:02.001) Making shit cool enough so that people will actually watch it. They won't watch it right now because I haven't done anything. So I don't have a name but this is just one of a few ways that I thought about how I wanted to grow this. But essentially I wanted to be something that runs itself. And I only want it to be like music related. Like I would love to be able to sponsor a kids

Esteban Candelario (54:05.375) Mm-hmm. Hm. Yeah.

Reasonable (54:28.203) a you basketball team like intercity kids a you basketball team that can't afford to suck you know the outfits the uniforms and shit you can't sit with us like that kind of stuff so it's not only just music there are like multiple different avenues that i want to take this but i just i have to make the brand itself cooler before i start doing that

Esteban Candelario (54:31.462) huh.

Esteban Candelario (54:37.133) Mmm.

Esteban Candelario (54:46.883) No, I hear that. No, and things like that, you know, take time, especially with branding and marketing. It's like got to embed it in people's brains. But cool. So I usually ask, like this is the same question I ask everybody at the end of the interview. And my question is, if you can go back in time in 2010, when, you know, you were starting off, is there anything you would do differently that would help you get to where you need it to be now?

Reasonable (54:51.471) Yeah. Yeah.

Reasonable (54:58.949) Yeah.

Reasonable (55:05.317) Yeah.

Reasonable (55:10.801) Yes, I will be more open to working with other people. My biggest issue back then was that I had this mindset where I was like, I don't need to work, I can do everything myself. I can do everything. I don't need to work with nobody for nothing. That was my issue. That was my problem. And that's why I didn't do shitting. Because again, I thought that I didn't need nobody. I thought I didn't need no help from nobody. I thought I could do everything myself. And I quickly...

not quickly. took me a long time to figure out that that's not the case. So when I came back the second time again, remember you heard me talking about it earlier, like building relationships with sample makers and building relationships with other producers and other people. And now I've almost got this system where I've got people sending me samples like every day. I'm like, check my email and there's two or three new emails in there. And it's like, damn, it's almost too much, but it's a good problem to have because all these guys are really talented.

Esteban Candelario (55:57.289) Uh-huh.

Reasonable (56:06.641) and there's so many different vibes. And it's not always just samples, sometimes it's just starters. Some of these guys don't even make beats. They just play instruments. They know how to play the piano. They know how to play the guitar. So they'll put together little musical pieces and send me those. They don't even be structured for a song. It's on me to chop that shit up and add all the other instruments and figure it out. So that was my biggest problem. I thought I could do everything myself. I thought I didn't need no help from nobody. And that's why I failed.

Esteban Candelario (56:14.499) Yeah.

Esteban Candelario (56:35.75) I hear that bro and I love the perspective. So I just want to thank you bro for like kind of hopping on, know, walking through your journey to create the cool thing about this for me personally is like everybody's journey is different. You know what I'm saying? It's insane. Yours is a hundred percent different, you know? So where can they find you? You know, any social platforms, any ads.

Reasonable (56:47.15) Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Reasonable (56:55.456) Yeah, so it's at so underscore reasonable everywhere so reason so on tiktok ig twitter threads YouTube is reasonable on the beat But yeah, all social media accounts is so underscore reasonable. It's the same across the board. Yeah. Yeah, i'm pretty active

Esteban Candelario (57:18.221) Thank you bro, thank you for popping on, appreciate you.

Reasonable (57:20.836) Yeah, thanks for having me. I really appreciate you having me think about a lot of shit, even shit that I forgot today. yeah, really appreciate you doing that.

Esteban Candelario (57:28.866) to hear it bro. Peace.

Reasonable (57:30.158) Yeah.