April 2024. Ableton had been sitting on my machine for a while and I had no idea where to start. A friend tried to walk me through dubstep — it just didn't click. The software felt overwhelming in a way that made me want to close it every time I opened it.

The Session That Flipped It

Then my cousin Bojangles found out I had it. He'd already been messing around with Ableton on his own, and we're both deep into hip-hop. The moment we started talking about it through that lens, something finally clicked. The genre matched the way I actually think about sound — the drums, the sample, the 808 doing the heavy lifting.

We decided to make an EP together — that became Fear and Loathing in Los Angeles. The energy of building something with someone completely lit me up. I even made the cover art. That's when I knew this wasn't just a phase.

"It was simple to get started once the right person was in the room. I just needed it framed in a language I already spoke."

Why It Worked

The lesson wasn't technical. Dubstep wasn't wrong — it just wasn't mine yet. Hip-hop gave me a foothold: I already had opinions about what hits, so the tools stopped being abstract and started being a means to an end. If you're stuck staring at a blank Ableton session, find the genre you already love and start there. The software gets out of the way fast once the music means something to you.

Written by Whyasmek · April 2025 The Full Music Story →