The Producer’s Voice: Shine [@pharoahshine]

Words By Miki Hellerbach

The Producer’s Voice is a new series for GUAP where we highlight the stories of instrumental crafters. We hope to bring their stories to the forefront instead of kept behind the artist they are producing for.

Shine is the man making moves with his Southern influenced but Baltimore shaped production.

Producer Shine was born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina and was surrounded by his family playing Neo-Soul and early Hip Hop in the crib. He started rhyming and writing raps which progressed into him making beats of his own and engineering which became his sure path. Shine moved to Baltimore, Maryland when he was 16, which he says pushed him to find himself and his “true sound”. The slightly heightened pace of the city compared to Raleigh and the blossoming art scene presented a space for him to embrace and explore his full potential. 

Shine eventually linked with Spillage Village emcee Jurdan Bryant and the two of them have become quite the dynamic duo. He has also produced for other Spillage Village members Earthgang and got a placement on the most recent past season of HBO’s Insecure for his production on the track “Seedalight” by St. Louis crooner Jordan Ward. 

I asked Shine to give the backstory of three of his top instrumentals. Take a read.

“Monday” by Earthgang feat. Mac Miller

“It was crazy that a beat I made in my mama’s basement ended up with a Mac Miller verse on it. I sent Earthgang some beats because I knew them through Jurdan. Next thing I knew they asked for some stems. Then a few weeks later I was at my job on break and saw it on my Twitter. I was like, “Are you kidding me?” That was the first time I thought I could do something culturally impactful. I liked that beat alot and it was a very simple track. The sample was one that I found on Youtube by The Paul Horn Quintet for the song “Here’s That Rainy Day.” Nujabes also sampled it before, which I didn’t know at the time. I heard just that initial loop and plugged it into FL Studio Edison and there wasn’t even a lot of chopping required. The drums that you hear just complement it and there are really only four or five sounds in the beat. Earthgang mixed it a bit how they wanted it to sound with their engineer so it fit with the vocals they laid a lot more.”

“My Life” by Jurdan Bryant

“That was one of the joints where I had the sample for a while in my library of samples I find. I made that one on the spot with Jurdan organically. The drums to me create the movement on the track, which I laid down first. I chose that sample because it fit over them. I pitched it down and time-stretched it. Jurdan started writing right there on the spot. It was really raw. I’m hugely inspired by J Dilla, Madlib, and 9th Wonder and that swing in the pocket that’s a little more unorthodox time signature-wise. I went into it thinking about that. I wanted it to knock.”

“Still Learning” by Shine feat. Jurdan Bryant

“I had that beat for four or five months before I played it for Jurdan. Lately I’ve been digging through Splice. That sample was something I found that I thought I could flip. I always time-stretch and pitch stuff down staying around 70 BPM. That drum loop I found as well and they both just fit together. I added some small synth lines, bass lines, and keys. Shouts the homie M who engineered and co-produced that joint. He helped out with some of the guitar you hear. When Jurdan heard it he was like, “What’s that?” The project was already almost done and when he rapped over it I was like, “This would be a fitting joint I could add here.” I’m inspired by Wu-Tang as much as I’m inspired by Erykah Badu so I want to implement all those elements into any song I do.”  

Listen to Shine’s full project As Beauty Became, here and follow him on Instagram & Twitter.