Level 13 – 7th Boro Interview

I met these guys a few years ago. I’d see them around at shows. Nice guys, real humble. Just wanted to make contacts & make beats. Well, that’s exactly what they did. In the past few years they’ve built up a nice catalog that any aspiring producers would be proud of.

Spek27:  Start off by introducing yourselves & give us some of the highlights of your production credits.

Level 13: We’re Steve & Will, LEVEL 13. South Philly born & raised beatmaking duo. Worked with a few cats, biggest names so far would probably be G Rap, Chino XL & Cassidy.

Spek27: What would you say would be the placement that really got the ball rolling for you as producers?

Level 13: Tough one. I mean, Ras Kass would probably be the first cat with a name that gave us a shot. Working with G Rap may have been the thing to help get the ball rolling. Even if it didn’t feel like it was rolling then.

Spek27: How would you describe your style / sound?

Level 13: Man, it’s hard to tell. I know we most enjoy making hardcore boom-bap beats, but we definitely experiment. Like three of the biggiest joints we produced weren’t even really hard-core boom-bap.

Spek27: What equipment do you use?

Level 13: A 2008 Mac Pro, Logic, couple different drum sequencers. Trying to get on this Maschine more. Definitely interested in working more with hardware.

Spek27: With so many kids today making beats on their home computers & just giving them away for free, how hard is it to compete as legit producers?

Level 13: Man, never even thought of it like that. Those kinda kids were more in your face and in public on MySpace. We’re recognized as the thoro kids in our genres and skill level I guess you can say. The only other producers we even pay attention too are the cats that inspired us, and those are the dudes we were fortunate to produce on projects with. We’re working to get higher on their levels.

Spek27: For those reading this that might not have heard of you yet, what are 3 songs you’d want people to hear first?

Level 13: We’d say, “Youth Gone” by Adlib, featuring Slaine & Rite Hook, “Buried In Vocabulary” by Chino XL, featuring HorseShoe Gang & “The Meaning To Your Love” by Kool G Rap.

Spek27: Does being a duo ever cause any friction while making beats? Do you guys ever argue when you’re making music together?

Level 13: Nah, not really. Kinda wished we argued more about beats. Timing maybe the only real thing we struggle with.

Spek27: What’s the future look like for Level 13?

Level 13: A lot of new music coming out, Burke is putting out a video for “Makoiks” the joint we produced off his Ear Responsible album. Diabolic’s Fightin’ Words is dropping in the Fall I think. We have a few joints on there. Looking at a joint we produced on an upcoming Method Man project due to drop. Other than that, there’s some Pharoahs music we’re going to be apart of, spoke with Blacastan & Doap at the Boston show. So that’s ill for us. The year isn’t even half over so we’re still working & playing hard, hustling. Hope to do more work with the Pharaohs this year and maybe even land something on a major or two.

Spek27: Where can someone go right now to hear your work?

Level 13: We don’t really mess with Soundcloud or those sites. But you can probably search for LEVEL 13 and maybe certain emcees we worked with and find something.

Spek27: Last words?

Level 13: We’re just happy to be here and hope to achieve more in the coming months, years. Be on the lookout for Diabolic’s Fightin’ Words & Meth’s The Meth Lab on the way.