My world almost stopped spinning when it became known that Jay Rock had dropped a new jam. Now that's usually enough to make me stop whatever I'm up to and tune in, get all hip hop nerd and all that. So guess how I felt when it became known that a dude from Auckland was behind the monster of a beat, that was perfect for Jay Rock to spit all over. There was no way we were going to sleep on this, Top Dawg Entertainment are West Coast hip hop right now and somehow the much anticipated return of Jay Rock (after Follow Me Home and enjoying his comrades get theirs) was laced with Aotearoa rawness. Beautiful.

SmokeyGotBeatz, who are you? Where you from and what do you do? 
Just a beat maker from Omashu

To be honest, we're talking because you made one of the hardest beats of the year for one of the hardest rappers Jay Rock. How did a dude from Onehunga connect with Top Dawg Entertainment?
This goes way back to 2012! He posted up a tweet asking one of TDE's in house producers to send him some beats so I replied to that tweet and asked if I could send some beats through then he hit me back with an email and ever since then I just constantly sent him beats.

What was the process like? Do you just send a bunch of beats away and then get told if they're going to use one? 
Yeah that's pretty much how it went down. I sent Jay so many beats and he said yes to a handful of them but they didn't make the cut!

You gotta salute TDE for stepping outside the box and welcoming your beats, did you get to soak up some wisdom from Top Dawg or Punch?
Nope, Just been talking with Dave Free. 

Did you have to do anything to clear the samples used or do TDE take care of all of that?
Not really, They took care of all that.

Those samples were of Snoop Dogg, is that West Coast sound your signature sound or do you like to do a bit of everything?
West Coast is my all time favorite genre to create, I do like to make a little bit of everything and explore new sounds. But at the end of the day, It's West Coast music I like to make. 

What's your personal creative process? Are you the type who gets in the zone and pumps out the beats or do you just jump in the lab when you've got an idea?
Depends really, sometimes I just jump on Fruity Loops because there's nothing else to do but other times it's because I have an idea floating around.  The worst time is when I'm at work, I have a shit memory too so while I'm working I'm humming and beat boxing ideas then coming home sitting on Fruity Loops trying to remember what I had down. That's a beat makers struggle lol

What are your favourite production tools?
Fruity Loops 9 and my Midi Keyboard. 

You've got a fair amount of love for the Parental Advisory beat, what's next? Some twitter stalking suggests you've linked with Hit Boy as well?
Yeah, Hit Boy is one of a few I'm currently working with. Not saying much, I'll let 2015 do the talking.

The internet, would this have been possible without the internet? 
Hell no!! 

Where's the best place to get a munch/feed in Auckland?
Big J's takeaways and this other place up the road from my Nana's house. They got the 10/10 chicken wings!

What's your 'must have' when in the lab?
Silence and Wendy's....

Who are your production idols? 
James Dewitt Yancey

Any rappers you really want to work with? 
Trying to get some stuff out to YG! 

What else is coming out of Onehunga? You got your homies coming out with any music?
Just the crew '' SWIDT '' there's about 5 of us. Me, INF, Spycc, A$toney, Jamal & AZA. Spycc and INF are currently working on solo projects at the moment, they should be dropping their stuff early-mid 2015 and possibly a SWIDT tape or some shit. And one of the boys from way back, Julo Risky! Keep an ear out for him.