Elyas – “On BS by Drake & 21 Savage is exactly the kind of hip-hop production I love”

In this exclusive interview with Studio Talks, we sit down with Elyas, a German-based music producer who has carved out a successful career working with some of the biggest names in the industry. Elyas has produced for industry heavyweights such as J. Cole, Drake, and 21 Savage. In this conversation, he offers a behind-the-scenes look at his creative process, early influences, and experiences navigating the music industry while based in Europe. He also reflects on the story behind the hit record “7 Minute Drill” by J. Cole and shares valuable advice for upcoming music producers. The interview was conducted by Andrej Aroch via video call on November 8th, 2024.

Can you share how you first got interested in music and then transitioned into music production?

I grew up around a lot of musicians in my family. The first time I really got interested in making music was when I was pretty young—maybe around five or six. My grandparents used to have a piano at their house and I would just go and try to play it whenever I visited them. Obviously, I wasn’t really playing, but I felt a strong urge to do so. My parents then ended up enrolling me in piano lessons, and I played for a few years.

Unfortunately, during my teenage years, it became harder to stay disciplined with learning an instrument, especially because I wasn’t playing the kind of music I wanted to play. I was learning classical music, which wasn’t really what I listened to at the time, so I eventually lost interest.

Around that time, I started to get interested in music production. My father, who’s also a musician, had a recording program on his old computer, so I became interested in what he was doing. I started messing around with it and made some basic drum loops. That was my first real exposure to production.

I didn’t fully dive into it until later, though. I got FL Studio as a gift for my 18th birthday, which was when I really started making music on my own. Before that, I would occasionally experiment with my dad’s setup, but getting FL Studio was what really got me started in music production, and it just evolved from there.

When you first started seriously making beats, what was your process of promoting your music? How did you find people to collaborate with?

Honestly, at first, I didn’t even reach out to people. I spent a lot of time just working on my own, watching others make music, and figuring out what I wanted to do. I think it was around 2017 or 2018 when I saw a workshop by OZ held in Stuttgart, Germany. I decided to go, even though I didn’t know anyone there. Through that workshop, I ended up meeting a bunch of producers, and some of them I stayed in contact with. That’s really where things started.

For those first few years, I wasn’t actively promoting myself or connecting with others. I just focused on learning and practicing. The workshop was kind of the turning point. I had a few casual contacts before that, but nothing really serious. At the workshop, there were about 30 people, so I met a lot of new faces, and from there, things just naturally progressed.