All 414 All
An urban take on Milwaukee's hometown artists, focusing on the city's music and pop culture.
All 414 All
All 414 All Podcast Episode 34 W/ Allen Halas
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Episode 34 We open the show with an explosive live performance from StreetTeam Hektik!! We then dive into the story of the founder of Breaking and Entering and the Big Beat MKE Allen Halas! We learn of his journey as a media staple in the city and the ups and downs of all his curations!!
But you can never be a fear of mine. It's just me and really on this boat. It's just me and bottom with the boat. It's just me and no with the float. Stop stop letting me moat. You ain't a boat. Stop space. No, since the water was a month, I mean stop one of one. See one of the gold bottoms. Stick on treatment like a pool table. Sticky window with the head. The hottest one under the stuff. I need the wand. I just think I'm one of them once. I make the fun. Just stick your one that we use when I make it fun. Niggas is buns. My finger plate. Then it's back to moving up the illustrate. Meet my money now. Not a minute late. This woman shit when I demonstrate. They got me twisted, got me demonstrate. Man, everything I do be innovative like this. Street team today exit. I be showing love today, wet it. Niggas be talking blockin' they blessin'. I said, Street team today, exit. I don't think that they got to listen. Y'all ain't fucking with me. That's the message, nigga. Let's get it. Let's go. I had to read the last little eight bars.
SPEAKER_09Throw these fucking headphones at the cam type shit. God damn.
SPEAKER_10I know what it is, man. R414. God damn. Somebody check the temperature in this motherfucker. It's hot in this booth. Let's get it. Alright. Mike Check, you're now tapped into the R414R podcast, where hometown artistry isn't just a statement. It's a standard, as you very well have seen. Before we dive into today's episode, take a brief moment to hit that subscribe button and notification bell so you can stay updated on future episodes as we continue to bring you the truest talent our hometown has to offer. I am your host, the 414 Tycoon, more commonly known as Illy. And joining me as co-host is my lyrical brethren, the verbal executionist, as previously seen, Street Team Hectic. These episodes are brought to you out of the Third War Studios. And behind the lens, we got SG Films. Joining us for episode 34 is the writer for I'm Milwaukee, curator of the Big B MKE, founder of the platform Breaking and Entering. Give it up for Alan Halas.
SPEAKER_04Hey, thank you. Thank you for having me, appreciate it. Appreciate it.
SPEAKER_10This is definitely an episode we've been waiting for, bro.
SPEAKER_08Well, yeah, you know, you definitely one of the figureheads of some the the basis of what we are trying to do. Yeah I'm saying like the the when when we started this, I want to say maybe the first almost 12 episodes we were referring to breaking and entering for the weekly, you know, the weekly write-ups on who dropped what, who did, you know what I mean? Right. So uh I don't think a lot of people know how much work it takes for to keep up with the music thing. You know, like people might think we're a small market, whatever, but it's still a very lot. Like we got we could fill up this year right now off artist guests, easily, yeah. You know what I mean? Easily, and still feel like maybe some people might feel left out.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, oh yeah, no matter what, like no matter what you do, you're gonna miss somebody and they're gonna let you know. I'm gonna DM you about it.
SPEAKER_08You feel that all day, bro? You know, and not have people before like breaking the inner ring ain't write me up.
SPEAKER_10I'm like, bro, you know, not even only um filling up the year with just artists, but like really good artists. You know, like there's a lot of really good artists in this city, yeah, and they just they get overlooked, you know. And so, like he said, you know, we could fill the rest of the year up, you know, and I can only imagine how you feel. You cover a much more broader spectrum of artistry.
SPEAKER_04It's so tough between like, I mean, not only like hip-hop, but like rock and like pop stuff. There's this whole like weird little like EDM electronic scene and talking, hub step thing. Yeah, it's like it is literally everywhere. Um, the way I always describe it is like there was always like pockets, like little scenes all over the city, and like we try to exist to try and bring all of them into one spot. Okay, right. You know, and like like you were saying, you could probably fill up your year with like you know, a 52 artists or whatever for a year. There's probably a thousand different artists, bands, you know, entities, people making stuff in their basement, like whatever you want to call it in Milwaukee. Easily, I mean, it's yeah, because I mean not an easy task.
SPEAKER_08When I said the 52, I meant literally just who we know that we could think of off the top of our mind, you know. Right. And we could probably go to 20 2027 at this point, right? Just off people we know and seen and people we've stumbled across recently, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_04Like there's literally, there's probably like thousands of unread emails sitting from like submissions from all just people all over the water from over the years.
SPEAKER_08My my main question that I've never really asked you, or maybe I did one time, but I I've stopped drinking recently. So, you know, you know, Alan has definitely got me in the in the building, like ready. You know, like I know I'm not a drunk where I look drunk, but you know, I be tipsy. But uh do you do all of that by yourself or do you have a staff instead of the to research it all? Like all yeah, all the research, writing, all that shit on the online.
SPEAKER_04That's me, man. That is me. I have stuff that helps for sure. Like, um, like there's uh an app that finds Spotify that like can follow, like I can go in and follow a bunch of artists, and then it's gonna give me like your Spotify releases in order, like when people drop stuff, so I can like refresh that every day and see, you know, like okay, maybe today like 10 people dropped on a Friday, or like you know, three or four people might drop on a Sunday, but it'll show you by the day like all the new stuff from people you follow. So that helps. Um, definitely have like some stuff that like cure or goes through Bandcamp and finds like the newest releases from Milwaukee on Bandcamp, but even then I'm still missing people tricks of the trade, yeah. Yeah, then even then, I'm still missing like YouTube, like the whole like YouTube rap scene that exists. So I had to figure out how to like get stuff from there too.
SPEAKER_08There's a community of people who literally you gotta follow all the filmmakers, their yeah, domain as far as music.
SPEAKER_04Right. And then you're still getting emails from people that are sub, you know, submitting their music on top of it. So it's from literally every angle, and like take that, and then how do you find time to write, you know, four or five things a day or publish people's reviews of stuff, you know, bro. And that's just releases, that's not like doing interviews with people, that's not going to shows, that's not putting on shows.
SPEAKER_08Which is what I was gonna say, because like just looking at the website, it looks like a ton of work, just the website alone. Like, I could see that being somebody's full-time, just that.
SPEAKER_04Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_08You know, and then I see you, like you're saying, curating shows, yeah, curating beat battles. You're you're at you're you're a journalist for other things, so you're like at major tours, watching that, writing those up. So I'm like, Yeah, man, you got a tough job, bro. And and I've I have a thousand times more respect for it at this point because now we're kind of in it, and I come in here and Illy's like, you got the song for the week. And I'm like, bro, I I can't haven't even picked one song from somebody.
SPEAKER_04Oh, the early year, the early stuff. So like now I have all that stuff that kind of helps me like send, you know, send like curate things and find new releases. The early days I was doing it by myself while I was working my day job, actively seeking the yeah, like going to find stuff, but then also like I remember the early days being like, Oh, I gotta put a picture on everything, like every post so that it shows up on Facebook and so it shows up when you like tweet the link out back of the thumbnails and shit.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, all that matters, yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_04All that stuff. I remember like dreading that, and now I'm like, it is so much different. Like the whole landscape of stuff. Now you have to have everything ready for like each different social platform, and like it's yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_10It's a lot of that's how I feel right now. Like like he said, we just we're just starting this, so it's very uh, you know, we're one year in. Um, but like, you know, I own a business outside of this, so it's like, you know, I hit the gym first thing in the morning, I wake up, hit the gym. I'm already thinking about stuff for the podcast through the week. And then I go to work, you know, I lead a staff, you know. So I have my eight-hour workday, and then I'm in charge of employees and you know, making sure that that flows off smoothly and just everything that goes along with having my brick and mortar location. Right. And then after that, I got my family, you know. So it's like, yeah, and but I'm still throughout the day, I'm trying to find like little moments where I can like think about the podcast and like what do you need for the for this week? Am I gonna ask the guests this week? Yeah, you know, and then it's like sometimes it gets later and later into the week, and fuck, I don't even have a like oh totally, yeah, you know. So now that there's so many platforms, it's even harder to do it because it's like, all right, fucking, have I checked Facebook? Have I checked uh Instagram? Have I checked YouTube? Yep, you know, because right now I got like a list of artists that I try to check all their stuff because like you said, you found a way to like you know risk a little bit. Yeah, but me, I'm still like rolling old school where I'm like, all right, I'll go check their page, see if they release. No, they I'll move on to the next artist.
SPEAKER_04Well, and like in the early days too, like I was working at a bank when this thing started, right? So like I was working in their marketing department, and so I just sat in a cubicle and I could have had time to kind of scroll a little bit. Um, but then like I I moved into like actual media, worked for Shepherd Express, and now I work for Almawaukee. So like now I'm focusing on like and now I run the editorial department at Almwalkie too. So I'm like figuring out what our writers are doing. You know, we got a team of four writers and figuring out what they're doing for the day, how I do all their social, plus like the the thing that used to be the escape from it is now like the same job just twice, you know, just different stuff. Like we cover like on Walkie covers like food and you know, Milwaukee history and quirky stuff around Milwaukee and music. Whereas now it's not just music, so like dang, they brought the Brox and fucking pretzels and shit into it, bro. That's an article that would be an article that we would write. Yeah, so I have to figure out that while also figuring out the music thing, too. So it is like two jobs in one that's the same thing now, yeah. For right now, at least.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, that's what's up, but that's probably why you're so like good at what you do, you know, and like well, thank you. Why we hold you in such high regard, because like he said, now that we're into it, you know, I held you in high regard before because you've actually covered some of my music and we've had like phone call interviews and stuff like that, you know. So um, I was always like, damn, you know, like he's doing a lot of work. His the way he asks his questions is like super dope. And so that's always kept me like, all right, uh, I'm gonna keep up with the breaking and entering scene. And then once we started doing this, and like I really got to see like firsthand what type of work it's like, holy shit, this is what he's doing.
SPEAKER_04Like, yeah, yeah, it's not easy. And then I mean, like, you know, you're also dealing with DMs and stuff, people. How can I get how can I get on the podcast? How can I get whatever? Yeah, but then you're also trying to like promote it too, right? Like, you're also trying to be like, hey, we have this thing, because you guys are just starting. Well, I mean, you're 30 plus episodes in, but like at the point where you're still trying to like build an audience, right? So, like, how do you find time to also be like, hey, we have something over here? Yeah, like while people are trying to because people probably don't know what this is yet. Some people, you know what I mean? Like, there are probably artists being like, How do I get my music video on here? And you're like, We're not a music video channel, or how do I join your live stream? Like, people think breaking and entering is still a podcast. Like, we started in 2009 as a podcast.
SPEAKER_08Oh, really?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I didn't know that. This is very, very early on. We started 2009 as a podcast, moved to being a student radio show at Marquette, and then what happened was uh the guy that I was doing the radio show with, he was a psychology major, I was a media major, so entirely different worlds. He split off because he was super busy, and I kept the website. And then that's when it became like for a little bit, we were just gonna sell t-shirts, like Milwaukee T themed t-shirts, and our way to get people to the website was gonna be to write about Milwaukee music. And then they discover, like, oh, you have a t-shirt brand too. Well, then we just said fuck the t-shirts, and we just started writing about Milwaukee music because it was like the blog era of hip hop and music in general. So we just went that route. And like 2014 was when I was like full go, like, all right, I'm gonna try and make this my thing, you know.
SPEAKER_08That's amazing. This is why this is why I love doing the podcast, bro. Because that's some shit I would have never known. Yeah, I didn't know.
SPEAKER_04It was a very it was a very short time. We bought t-shirts from overseas that came to us three months late, and then uh we didn't sell like any of them. Like, they're sitting in a box in my house right now.
SPEAKER_08This this was pre uh pre-prime and and shit like that. Wait, pre-Amazon Prime. This is way like you just when you literally had to wait weeks for something to come in, like months.
SPEAKER_04Oh, we bought them off like the cheapest Timu wasn't a thing yet by any means. Like close, but it was literally like, oh, we're gonna buy sell them on big cartel at the time, and like even then, like we had to do all our own shipping. Never knew about that because we didn't sell any fucking shirts, so like they just sit there. It was our old logo, like which was just a cheap logo that I made on like some like free font builder thing until we actually got like my friend who's a graphic designer to do the real logo that we've had for since. Yeah, but yeah, it was it was wild, and then we were trying to like you know have the music be a way into it. We were doing one article a week, it was a Milwaukee artist of the week, and that was it. And then that's what drew the traction, and that's when I was like, okay, people want to be Milwaukee artists of the week, and then how do we write about other stuff that's gonna keep bringing them to the website? So I know how to make money off ads, I know how to make any I had no idea. Just learned down the flat.
SPEAKER_08So that being said, did you ever understand the weight of you being one of the few people in Milwaukee that was trying to be a part of the music industry as a non-artist? Did that make sense what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, uh did you ever like step take a step back and be like wow, like this is heavy shit. Yeah, at one point. You're a necessary uh thing.
SPEAKER_04It wasn't it wasn't immediate, but it was definitely kind of early on where I was like, okay, everybody's trying to be somebody and you know what I mean? Like I I also made beats for a little while. Like really, really early. I don't know if either of you guys remember a group called the Cranberry Show. Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. I made a I made a couple songs for the Cranberry Show. I did a song for Prophetic, um, a few people, but like this is like my space days, so this is way, way old. But I always also thought I could do this media outlet, I would have all the attention from the artists, and then I would sell them beats at some point. Never actually got to that point. I gave up making beats because people were like fucking classic, we're too good, honestly. Like everybody else in the city got so good that I was like, I can't keep up. Um still would love to do it, but I just never have time.
SPEAKER_08No, right.
SPEAKER_04But I like eventually I've realized that there's power in just like just being the media guy and not trying to be this and that, this and whatever. You know what I mean? Because everybody like, I mean, you guys are podcasters, but you're also artists, right? But like think about the people that are like, oh, we throw shows, but we also, you know, we got a clothing brand, but we also rap. And like you just immediately divert your attention three different ways, right? Because you're doing it.
SPEAKER_08Every person that you meet and you're promoting all three of those two, they're gonna pick one of those.
SPEAKER_04Right. And be like, I'm a or you're gonna ambush them when you talk to them. And like, what do you do? Well, I do this, and I'm I'm a rapper, and I'm a whatever. Yeah, and then immediately, like, my like signals up, like, okay, okay, like back up, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_08Like, I I think I'm I'm I'm more or less, I move on. Not that I moved on, but I'm more or less already on the pod, I'm a podcaster, right? Yeah, you know, in Italy, he'd be like, he's not me rapping, I fucking do all that shit.
SPEAKER_04I'd say, as we saw though, like don't stop fucking rapping. Oh, of course.
SPEAKER_08I'm just saying, I'm just saying, like, because I asked you that question because I understand the importance of that from an artist's point of view, like from somebody who feels like I am good enough to have my own space. Like, let me get my space to do it without everybody wanting to be right there with me. You know what I mean? Right. Like, and and it's and it's not even that you have to be in the background, you know, because breaking and entering is fucking a forefront in Milwaukee. Yeah, you guys are frontline. Like I said, our first few episodes, we were looking at your website to tell Ellie, hey, they posted this this week, the artist of the week, or whatever. Yeah, or the song of this person did this song on YouTube. And you know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_10Like, we'll check it out, let's talk about what you had um originally brought up and then our pers perspectives of it, you know, right.
SPEAKER_04And our thing too, like, I think one thing is like I I didn't know anybody when I started. You know what I mean? When I started making music, I just was like learning about people, but like I didn't have a crew of people to bring with me, you know. So like it wasn't gonna be like, oh, it's breaking and everything, but we're covering our 10 artists that we really like. It was like I'm gonna touch, you know, talk to everybody because that's the difference.
SPEAKER_08Real quick, real quick. Yeah, I'm sorry, bro. I'm not I got a lot to say about this. But uh that is another thing I was gonna say because like us being a hip-hop podcast, you know, I'm I'm not against having other uh genres on here and shit, but overall we we focus on hip hop, you know, rappers and shit, MCs, and we're kind of trying to set a line, you know, hey, this is a standard, yeah, so you know, and we want that standard to be met before we even consider having you on here, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, so that's so much different from you know, you're like if it's music and you're actively trying to be a part of it, and I see it and I I get the opportunity, I'm gonna put you on here. Oh, yeah. So that's way different from what yeah.
SPEAKER_04And I've totally covered stuff that I'm like, this is gonna go nowhere. Like, no one's gonna read this, or nobody's gonna listen to it. And not like in a bad way. I was just like, it's like something that's like too weird or whatever. Like for a long time, uh Ben Slowe was writing for us and he works for Shepherd Express now. Um, but Ben would write all the like weird, obscure EDM or electronic stuff because I just didn't understand it. Yeah, like honestly, like full full disclosure, just didn't understand. Like it was a whole scene on Bandcamp, and he was even more open-minded than me on stuff. So he would give it a listen and then he'd like still be able to like give some words to it. Whereas I'd be like, I don't know it, man. Just sounds like fucking weird computer music to me. Like, I don't know. Is anybody out there listening to this? Maybe, but that but that like we needed that too, yeah. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_10So and I always say that, like, um, just because I don't like your stuff doesn't mean it's not for somebody, right? You know, like and it's not gonna be like there might be somebody who's the polar opposite of me. I'm like, yeah, I hate that. And there's somebody else, like, what I fucking love that shit. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_08Exactly. So they talk about me talking about like fucking Nas and Jay-Z type shit. Like, yeah, they're like, what do you mean? This is the they fucking changed the the lane, the game of that shit. You're like, yeah, I had no idea, bro.
SPEAKER_04That's my approach to like booking shows too, though, now is like trying to do more stuff and like where can I experiment a little bit? Like last February, we did like a weird electronic show at a small little punk rock bar in Walkers Point. And I was like, I don't know if there's people that are into it. You know, we just did a reggae show at Cactus Club, who in Milwaukee has done like not to brag, but like an all dub and reggae show, like try it. And like that's the place that like maybe you know, it's a gamble. Like, we'll see if people are into it, but like let's find out if there's a scene for that. That's the only way you can do it is by making those things and like trying those things.
SPEAKER_10And that really like you really live up to the name of breaking in the end, you know, like you're you're like the I guess the threshold of like how to you're the gate, you know, like not in a bad way or like you're getting away. But like, you know, you're like you know, you know, you have to cross through this to get into this the town of this, yeah. You know what I'm saying? So it's like um before. Somebody is considered an actual artist, you know. As an artist, you're not an artist until somebody's like, hey, that's art. You know what I'm saying? And you're the person validated. Hey, that's art. That's crazy. You know what I'm saying? So it's like you value, you're that first point of validation that's for a lot of artists.
SPEAKER_04The word gatekeeper is a little like like has a thing for me. Uh, the first year that we did hip hop week, like we got in with the city of Milwaukee to do hip hop week. We did a little showcase, um, like right after their press conference. But Rico Love was there, and Rico Love was backstage, and we got to talk for like two minutes or whatever. And I was like explaining kind of what I do. And then as I'm walking out, he goes, Oh, so you're the gatekeeper, and walked off. And like Gonzalez Visuals was there, and he looked over at me and he's he called me the gatekeeper for like six fucking months or whatever.
SPEAKER_10Like, but I can see that, but it's he like I would say he meant it in a good way. Oh, yeah, yeah. No, totally.
SPEAKER_04I didn't I didn't have a problem with it. But it was just like every time I hear it now, I'm like, Yeah, Rico Love called me that.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean it that comes with the territory, yeah, and we haven't gotten too much of it yet, but uh, I know it'll come a day, you know, when we cycle through everybody that we know personally, or not even personally, like we're friends with people, but we know of them. You know, it's gonna come a day when we're cycling through them and they're like, Well, you ain't never fucked with me, you know what I'm saying? Like you gatekeeping the, you know what I mean? Yeah, it's gonna happen. I I I see it already. I mean, already people be kind of, oh, y'all ain't had me on yet. Ha ha, you know, and I'm right, right. You know, it's it's fine, bro. Like, we got a long list of people, don't worry, bro. We're gonna get to everybody that's dope for sure.
SPEAKER_04So yeah, exactly. And that's how I feel about like when we like write stuff up too, where like I'm like, okay, if we don't get everything on their release date at that point, I'm like, tomorrow's another day. We'll write something tomorrow, or we'll, you know, like my interview thing, like lately I've been trying to do a lot more interviews, and I literally just set like a a bot to like e like DM somebody on Instagram to be like, Hey, we want to do an interview with you. And I made a big ass list, and every day it pulls like three or four people to like say, Hey, I want to do an interview with you. Cause if I did it by hand, I would forget so many people. Yeah, you know, I just made a big list and I was like, All right, cycle through this, and eventually, like you're gonna get a DM. Like, I'm sure probably one, if not both of you have already gotten a DM from me being like, Hey, we want to do an interview.
SPEAKER_10I haven't that didn't come mad about it.
SPEAKER_04That didn't come personally, that didn't come personally for me. It was just a way to do it so that it would like get all the people that I don't think about or maybe haven't thought about in a little bit, you know what I mean? And like not you know, remember to talk to them.
SPEAKER_08No, that's a great idea because I have a big list of people, and I'm sure he has his oh yeah, I got a huge list of people in my notepad.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, that's a good way to um your use of AI is flawless.
SPEAKER_08Um Allen's box coming soon, all for all.
SPEAKER_04Man, if I could figure out a way to sell it, shit. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, all right.
SPEAKER_10So uh let's kind of switch lanes a little bit. Um, I wanted to talk about the big beat MKE for sure. Um, because that's like I recently just participated in my first beat battle. Okay, um, and I thought it went fairly well. You know, it didn't go as well as I'd hoped, but you know, I thought it was straight, you know. So we lost what you're saying.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, but for me, it didn't go as terrible as I thought. Not as terrible, because you know, I'm but Illy, I've you know, he's not a producer from for years back, you know. He just I was there when he started. He was like, Hey, I started making beats and shit, you know. For sure. Yeah, so then I was like, okay, let's see how this goes because he's going up against somebody that does it. Yeah, I went somebody up against somebody who's like one pin making.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I was gonna say, and it's like a whole different thing too. If you're a battle beat maker at this point, that's what I was thinking. Like battle rappers, too. It has become a thing. Like we're in our like seventh year of doing this now, I think. Um, and we took a couple years off because of COVID, but like, so maybe you know, in that nine years or whatever, like people have figured out the art of like how to make your one-minute round like battle really good. Yeah, actual battle beat.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, that's what I was telling Illy, but uh, he did you did shit, though. I I feel like he the he got out on the first round because I think they knew the other dude. And since he was seasoned, like you said, when it's a battle, you gotta kind of throw the little extra. You gotta transition every like four bars. But the beat by no means was killing his beat, you know what I'm saying? Right. They were neck and neck, you know what I'm saying? For sure, yeah.
SPEAKER_10And you know, dude was um, you know, he just had the he had the beat pad here. Oh, that always helps too. Yeah, that's how Met could be killing battles. You know, like but all day I know for sure. Like, I thought it was a shoe egg, because like my beat was like as far as like um liveness and crowd reaction, like yeah, I definitely had the crowd. And then the first judge was like, I'm gonna go with Illy. You know, that was that shoe was covered. I was like, Yeah, it's it's a sweep, you know? And then the other judge was like, Oh I'm gonna go with him. I was like, okay, this might be a neck and egg. And then the last judge was like, you know, like I really liked how he had his beat, and um, you know, I could really hear somebody like I think he said he could like hear somebody making a song to it or whatever.
SPEAKER_08And then he was like, and for I can't remember exactly how he said he said this right here. He said, for the sake of the battle, I'm gonna go with him because of the complexity of his beat. That's what he said. Exact words.
SPEAKER_04So like you won over one of the judges, though. So like that in itself is like, you know what I mean? Like to not get washed out is already something.
SPEAKER_08Well, and the judge that said that to him was DJ Payne won. So I mean, that's a really good person to have to be like, Oh, I'm gonna go with him. He he didn't just like right away, oh, it's him. No, he was like, This is a close one. I can't I love dog's beat, you know what I'm saying? Right because off the fact that the complexity of his beat, and then that's when he picked the other one.
SPEAKER_04That's dope. I mean, that's a good compliment from a fucking great producer.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, so I was like, Ilya, man. He's out here doing beats. He next breakdance battle coming up soon. This nigga be grinding.
SPEAKER_10I made all elements of hip-hop, every element illy in there, fam. No, but um, so with you having the big beat MKE, um, you know, I got to experience my first beat battle. Um, the last uh big beat MKE that you hosted at the rave, was that what we call the Big B the MK year?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it was it was with hip hop week. It was a hip hop week beat battle. But it's kind of like an offshoot thing of so big beat MKE is our main tournament. Okay. That's this year is gonna be um all four Thursdays in May, uh, starting May 7th at Cooperage in uh in the Harbor District, but basically between like Walkers Point and Bayview. Um but then after that, like we've been fortunate to be asked to do a lot of like exhibition battles or like short tournaments. So we did uh the whammy stage at Summerfest last year, and then we also did Hip Hop Week last year as like a two-night beat battle. Um, so the first night was at the Cooperage, and it had uh I'm blanking on the name. Oh my god, I wonder. Thank you, please. It is uh Ninth Wonder as the guest judge, and then uh the conductor as the guest judge at the rave for the finals, which hectic was so nice to MC.
SPEAKER_10That was nice, yeah. And that one I I had actually came to and I had you know brought the camera and tried to catch as much footage as I could for that. Um, and it was a dope, you know, it was a very dope event. I was like blown away at how live that event was.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, that shit filled up. Yeah, because like I for a second I thought it was gonna be like everybody's gonna just wait to come later for Benny, you know what I'm saying? Right, but then Benny the Butcher was afterwards. Yeah, they were there for the beat battle and everybody participated, and there was a few hundred people in there fucking going crazy about that shit. So yeah, that shit was dope. That's the biggest crowd I ever had a mic in front of, you know what I'm saying? That's so right.
SPEAKER_04I mean, that was our first time doing the rape. Sorry, go ahead.
SPEAKER_10How did the Big B MKE start for you? Like, what so accepted that idea?
SPEAKER_04The beat battle tournament um Big B MKE started out of um kind of like necessity for it, like it was always something that I really liked. Um, the Milltown beatdown was a beat battle that was in the Wicked Hop for 10 years, and they ran it was like one of the first like Milwaukee music events I could get into when I was 21. Um, it was Jordan from 889, Jordan Lee, and then DJ Bizon. Uh they hosted it and put it all together. Um, and it was three battles every night. There was no performers, there was nothing like that. But they did it for like 10 years in the Wicked Hop, and uh it was super dope. They stopped doing it after like 10 years because like, you know, life happens and people get busy or whatever. Um, and so like breaking and entering was kind of starting, like right as the Milltown beatdown was ending. And probably about two or three years into uh like into uh Milltown beat down being done, breaking and entering starting, like I was sitting at my desk at the bank, drew out a bracket, and was like, all right, we could feasibly do like one night is you know, two battles, one night is two battles, whatever. And then I started writing down a list of performers and I was like, we could bring back the Milltown beatdown. Like I could do that. I felt like I was in a place to do it now. So I called Jordan and he was like, Cool, like love the idea. Like, we'll give you everything, just change the name, was basically it. Um, and so Red Bull had Big Toon was their like beat battle thing that they did, and then the Milltown beatdown, so it became Big Beat MKE because it was the best of like 10 really bad name ideas.
SPEAKER_08No, no, that's what's up though.
SPEAKER_04So then, like, it was like, all right, let's bring it back to that same venue. Um, the GM at the time at the Wicked Hop was super down, you know, to do it. The first year, I don't know how we fucking made it through that first year because it was my like my audio mixer, and then I bought two cheap aux chords off of Amazon and ran it. I was like, okay, everybody just bring your laptops and like you're gonna play your beats into that. Those aux chords fucking sucked. Like that first year, it sounded so bad, it kept cutting out. Like, I was like, this is a nightmare. Yeah, and we had uh Topher at the time he was DJ Alpine, so I was like very happy that he was able to like come in and he's been our DJ ever since. Shout out to Topher. Yeah, and now uh now he plays all the all the bit like beats through his system way easier. Yeah, I don't know how we made it through that first year.
SPEAKER_10See, and uh the beat battle that was last night. It was um it was chaotic to say the least, as far as um, plugging our phones in shit, like you know, like they were having sound difficulties because they were swapping from the DJs, the DJ playing it, the phones playing it, or you know, just you know, yeah, it just sounds like a nightmare all the way around. Yep, yeah, it was crazy. I was like, I mean, I think for for who threw the event and like there there could have been more like rules and advanced information so that everybody could have at least sent in their music and had it all for the DJ to run, could have been coordinated for sure, but yeah, not better.
SPEAKER_04Doing this for as long as we've done this now, I've become a details person and become like a logistics person for sure. Now we have like if you're selected to be in the tournament, you get a Google Drive folder that only you and the DJ and me can see. And then you get a you gotta upload your files to there. You and if you don't, we're gonna email you, we're gonna text you, we're like, we have your contact info. Like that's all shit that like just doesn't happen. You know what I mean? Like, it's so much easier to be like, all right, here's your Google Drive folder.
SPEAKER_08You got it right already, right? The whole night's yeah, if you plugged up right there.
SPEAKER_04If you got your MPC, you got to tell us ahead of time so that we can do a sound check with you. Like, you gotta be here by this time so that we do it. Like those logistic things are things that I think set Big Beat MKE and just my shows in general, apart from a lot of Milwaukee shows. Not saying that they're I'm the only one doing because there's a lot of people that have put on great shows and do organized things, but like the details of being like, okay, how do we make this sound as good as possible? Right. If we have the DJ that's hooked up and we know his system works, let's play it through his system. Right. Don't fuck around. You know what I mean? Like makes sense, don't don't airdrop the DJ five minutes before hoping that your file transfer is over. Yeah. Like I hate when that happens. When people are like, I'm just gonna send my set, I'm just gonna airdrop it over. Like I get sometimes shit happens, but like, how can I do this like logistically that's gonna make sense and also put on the best show possible too in this tournament? Like sound matters, right? Like, yeah, if you're if you're a producer and you're making your beats and you are like, Cool, I'm gonna hook up my phone to this little shitty aux cord jack and make that thing go in from a quarter inch to an eighth inch input on the thing and hope that it just sounds good and that it's not a buzzy cable. Like, no, fuck that. Like just do it as good as possible, make it sound as good as possible.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, that's pure facts.
SPEAKER_08And then also, real quick, when you were saying like that you did the whole all the shit for online and shit. I now understand if anybody's ever been at an event and seen Allen in the back, bro. Like, when this shit's going down, Alan be in the back. Like, all right, we gotta you can just see it in his face, bro. You're like, he's like, bro, he's got a million things on his body. I don't have like it now. I'm like, holy shit, because he got the whole, you know what I'm saying? Like the workload is insane, bro.
SPEAKER_04Like, I don't have like a step counter on my phone or anything, but I probably put in a mile every night. There's like big beat. You need like because you see me, I'm running to the back trying to get people to stop fucking smoking on the patio, like come inside and watch this show right now. And then, like, while that's happening, I'm figuring out okay, who's in the next battle? Who do I need to get over to the stage?
SPEAKER_08Yeah, so that's that's where like that's that's what's funny. I was like, I remember just I remember who the fuck I think it was me and Rich P. We was just off to the side one night, we smoking and shit, and you came out there. I'm like, look at Alan, bro. He stressed the fuck out right now. No, it's never really stressed. No, you're just in it.
SPEAKER_04You're fucking yeah, I'm in go mode. Like, at once I get to that point, like usually when we're done, uh when we were done at Wicked Hop, we'd be done at like midnight. And like by the time I took everything down, I'd be done by like 12:30. I'd be out of there by one. That's enough time for me to catch the last call at the bar for like one drink, and that would be my like chill at the end of all of it. But like when you're in it and going, like, I don't even, you know, like I have to go and be on it now. So thankfully, we have like you know, Topher knows what he's doing, he's done this for forever. Um, shout out to Topher. We had we had Tuan Mac as our MC for the longest time. We had him, and then like now we've got Jeremy, uh unknown entity, like helping produce things too. So he's just as stressed as me. Now we've got two people running.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, now it's both of y'all. But he also at the hip hop at the Cooperage one. I remember at the end, Alan came out with a drink. He's like, Yep.
SPEAKER_04That's that moment that when you're done, that's the moment when you're like, okay, like nothing, nothing blew up, we're good. Like, our shit was done. We were on time. Yeah, nobody's mad, we're good. That on time shit is a motherfucker. On time, we have a rundown, we have a uh like a run of show. Yeah, you gotta how many shows have you guys done where there's been no run of show, no nothing?
SPEAKER_08A thousand, bro. And then they always try to put me at the end because I had the most people for a lot of them. I'm like, bro.
SPEAKER_04And you want to go on like third or fourth.
SPEAKER_08No, I mean, I just want to go on when it's when it's lit, and yeah, and I want people, you know, there were there was a point in time when my crowd, if if you put me on at the right time, you'll get them to stick around or be there before and we'll vibe. Right. But if you fucking stretch the show out and all we're just all sitting there waiting, yeah, by 12, 12:30, bro, all my people are like, bro, fuck everybody else. We just want to see you perform so we can get out of here. Yeah, totally. I've been uh but they're trying to retain, they're they're they're doing crowd retention. You know what I'm saying? They're trying to retain as many people as they can.
SPEAKER_04There was a show one time that I went to at the Miramar Theater. This is years and years and years ago, and somebody I wanted to see perform was like at 1 a.m. That was like they told me that was their set time. I think they went on at like 1 15. There's nobody in the crowd left. The host wasn't even like around, he was gone somewhere. He went off stage or something. The host, I gotta go. He finished his set and he's like, Where's the host at? And like literally, he's standing there holding.
SPEAKER_08They have nobody to give the mic to.
SPEAKER_04No, exactly. Like, that was it. I think he played music off his phone, but all right.
SPEAKER_10So I'm gonna set this here. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_04It was just like dead air at like 1 15 in the morning. We were like, All right, do we just leave? Like, what do you even do? Like, that's crazy. Yeah.
SPEAKER_10Um, so as far as the big beat MKE goes, is that is are you guys still accepting like um yeah uh participants for it or yeah?
SPEAKER_04So producer submissions every year open March 1st through March 31st. That's cool. So you can go to breaking and entering.net slash big beatmke. We got a form for you to fill out. Um, you uh send in two beats, it's got to be streaming links, so it's easy enough so that all our like our selection committee can hear it. Um, and then generally what happens is we have a selection committee that like we all try to meet up in one studio and listen to all the submissions and then they vote. So it's not just me picking it, like, and I think that gives it the most well-rounded because it's like it's literally artists, it's people that are like well known in Milwaukee, like music, um, personalities kind of thing, like some podcasters. Uh, last year we had the drummer from the violent femmes, John Sparrow, who's a good friend. He was a judge for like all the nights, but he also came to that selection committee. So, like, and he comes from like the alternative rock world, you know what I mean? So he's judging on something entirely different than like a Milwaukee artist is gonna be judging on. Yeah, right. Um, but like that gives you like a really good 16 to get to a tournament, you know? Right. And it takes the blame off of me too. So it can't be like Alan fucked me over. Like, I didn't do that.
SPEAKER_08Which is the point everybody should do that. If you're if you're throwing shit and you're in charge of shit, you should always have a committee so that it's not just you and in charge of picking people and shit. Right. But then everybody's gonna be like, fuck him, he didn't fucking pick me. You know, yeah.
SPEAKER_04I don't even pick the lineup for everything. It's a committee, it's a it's a group decision to like pick like the performers and pick whoever. Like, I'm kind of the face of it, but like at at its core, it's not it's never just me that does that for this.
SPEAKER_08Right. I'm gonna need that list, bro.
SPEAKER_10I'm gonna go on and submit, man. I had fun doing my first uh beat battle, you know. I was glad that I was the first um battle of that night, you know, and then I got to be done and then you know, hop back on the camera and catch everybody else's stuff. Because that's the original intent that I went there with. I took the camera, I wanted to catch clips of just every artist doing their thing, but you know, I also wanted to be there to promote the All For One for All podcast. And I was like, what better way than to kind of and yeah, like I'd say 98% of the people that are in the music scene here in Milwaukee don't know that I can actually produce, right? You know, so like totally I was like, it it's a good little introduction, you know.
SPEAKER_04But and like one of the best things about Big Beat MK for me is seeing like because there's artists in the room, but then there's producers in the room. How many producers do you know that they just live in their studio? Yeah, you know what I mean? Like they just live in their studio, they don't ever get the shine. Like they make some dope shit, but they are in their studio in their house or wherever they are at, and like put their beats online and they try to sell them on like beat stars or whatever, and that's it. This was like, oh, the artists are talking to the producers the whole night, they're hanging out with them, they get to know them, they find you know, put a name to a face. And I'm sure that we had people that worked on tracks together that met at Big Beat. I don't yeah, like it's not one of those things I know, but like I'm sure that that happened. Oh, for sure.
SPEAKER_08Space space crime is the first one that pops in my mind. Space crime definitely has worked with people off of just just from Big B seeing them out, yeah, just being in.
SPEAKER_10Well, even like um, so like I see DeAsia all the time around now, and um, you know, the first time I met her was at Big Beat and K. And uh Yeah, now I see her all the time. Yeah, I see her all the time. You know, I give her daps, and then you know, like I see her talking to people that I seen her just meeting at some of those you know events, and I'm like, oh okay, and then they're like, Yeah, we we just did a record together. I'm like, dude, that's crazy how that came from just being at that event, yeah. Just being at that event, her just showing her face and you know, like going and promoting herself, right?
SPEAKER_04And she was a wild card too. Like when she showed up, like the first time I met her was at uh Charlotte Studios at uh Yoshi's studio. Shout out to Yoshi. She was just hanging out, and I didn't know her, just kind of met her, and then like was talking about the tournament with probably with Yoshi, and then I saw her submit, and I was like, okay, so we got a girl that's in that's you know, and it was dope. She was super fire. Um, same as like OA Beats that won it with one year. Like, he came to like three or four years of the tournament, and he was in the crowd every time, and I saw him, and I didn't really even like know his name. Sorry, OA. I didn't like I just didn't know, but like people were saying hi to him, and we said hi all the time or whatever. And then the year that he got in, he won the thing. The first year because he was his first year, yeah.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, because I've seen that motherfucker guy all that shit all the time. That's crazy. That's where I met him. He had been there for like three or four years. I didn't know that was his first time. That was his first time. He's a fucking beast too. Right. He's really clean with the beats, yeah. Not the OA beats.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. So that all happened because like he was in the room and eventually like got the courage to like submit and get on stage and then crushed it.
SPEAKER_10So yeah, you know, that's what's up, man. Well, kudos to you, bro, for just everything that you're doing in that field, you know, and helping those uh producers get the acknowledgement and recognition that you know they actually deserve. Because, like you said, a lot of times they're just in the background, and a lot of times the artists aren't even going out of their way to shout out the producers, right? You know, so it's like, but um, yeah, you know, huge props to you for you know giving them a platform to showcase their skill without needing us, you know, an artist on it.
SPEAKER_04Right. And I mean they're probably totally more introverted to start, right? Like they their thing is to just make beats, but like this kind of forces them to be a little bit extroverted and be on stage, and like good things come from it, you know, just being there.
SPEAKER_00That's what's up.
SPEAKER_10All right, well, let's go into a song that you had kind of showcased to us, um, and we're gonna see what the crowd thinks of it, and you know, hopefully it's a it's a dope record.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, this is Solange by Von Alexander. Let's go, Von Alexander.
SPEAKER_10I love the many shades of melanin in that.
SPEAKER_08All them fine ass women, bro. I need to get two models to my video shooting.
SPEAKER_10And what's crazy is a couple of the girls that I seen in the video there. I actually um have been seen at some of the open mics that I just started going to that's pretty dope.
SPEAKER_04That's super dope. Von is probably one of my favorite artists in Milwaukee, like of all time. Like honestly, I've known him since he was Vonnie Del Fresco when he was really, really young starting out. He's got albums that he's pulled off streaming that are better than some of the stuff that he has out there. Like he literally, he's so he's a perfectionist about things, but like to a fault almost, where like he's got so much dope shit, but it is like he just wants it to be absolutely like the best version of him at all times.
SPEAKER_08Right. He's super hip hop for sure. Every time I've ever seen him, he's been and his name been you know around. Yeah, it's been around.
SPEAKER_04Probably as long as I probably as long as I've been around doing anything. Yeah, his name was around for a minute. Yep.
SPEAKER_08Shout out to Von Alexander.
SPEAKER_10So uh before we head into the next portion of this episode, if you haven't already, take a moment to hit that subscribe button and notification bell to help us grow our audience. A like, comment, or share with a friend are also great ways to let us know you supported and watch the episode. Shout out to our sponsor, Illy Tense, for financing these episodes. If you or someone you know is looking to transform your vehicle, add privacy, or keep it cool by blocking those sun rays out, give us a call today at 414-326-7283 or stop by the shop in Franklin 8581 South 27th Street to book your next appointment. If you or your business is somebody who wants to um get on the podcast as a sponsor, go ahead and uh reach out to us either via um our all-414A um podcast at gmail.com and um you know let us know that you're looking to sponsor an episode and then we'll reach back out to you. Um also I want to turn it over to Alan, see if uh you got anybody you want to shout out or anything like that.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, for sure. Um so the big, like I said, the Big Beat MKE tournament May 7th through the 28th, every Thursday night is gonna be over at the Cooperage. It's 822 Southwater Street in the Harbor District. Uh, we are also expect accepting sponsors until April 15th. Let's go. So if you want to advertise your business there, send that over to Alan A-L-L-E-N at breakingandentering.net.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, I'm about to submit because I I want to uh you know get uh Illy Tense and all four one for all oh there we go sponsors and also real quick admin at all four one for all pod.com.
SPEAKER_08Hit that email because Illy got us looking like M Dodd. He just hit us with the breaking and entering. Hold on, hold on, we got one too, bro.
SPEAKER_04We got domains out here. Yeah, we got domains, fam.
SPEAKER_10Let's go. All right, so um, now that we got that out of the way, was that were you done? Oh, yeah, yeah. That was it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_10All right, for sure. Um, so I kind of wanted to jump into some uh questions for you. Um, give us a summary of who Alan Halas is. Oh man. Hallas. Hallas, my bad. Either way, it's all good.
SPEAKER_08Uh because I've been calling him that for I've called you that for years, bro. That's fine. Nobody knows.
SPEAKER_04I'm Hispanic, so it's just Hispanic in me to say Halas. A lot of people say it. A lot of people say it for real. Um, no, background on me, honestly, grew up a little skateboard punk rock kid and listened to a ton of music that way. That's how I got into like, I mean, it's really how I got into like a lot of the punk rock stuff I listened to, but then also that was my first exposure to hip hop too. Um, like I said, I made beats for a little bit, I was gonna be in a band, but then, you know, we didn't have enough people to be in a band. So then uh started making beats for a little bit, got into writing about music, always had Milwaukee music kind of around in that sense. Um, and that really is what led me into like my real career now, you know, being in charge of editorial at On Milwaukee, but then also keeping breaking and entering alive. I run a podcast called Hustling Sideways, where we talk about having a job and a side hustle. Uh, I did that with my clients.
SPEAKER_10I didn't know about that.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's we're not hustling backwards, we're hustling sideways, is what it is. So uh it's me and my co-host Jim Love. I went to Marquette with him. Um, yeah, do a lot of stuff, stay really fucking busy, still try to skate when I can. It doesn't happen. But you know, like that is that is me in a nutshell, is just constantly working on like whatever the next thing is, right?
SPEAKER_10You know, they say if you want a task completed, give it to a busy man.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's one of my favorite man, I'm tired of all these sayings today, fam.
SPEAKER_10Y'all killing me. I'm I'm gonna have to fucking research some. All right. So, um, what are some of your favorite early memories in the Milwaukee music scene?
SPEAKER_04Oh man, like the earliest stuff for me beyond like making beats, though, like when I was really, really starting out breaking and entering, straight out of college. Uh it's 2014. Paid money with my bank job and went to South by Southwest in Austin. Um and so the like we rented this Airbnb between the bottom floor was all the Unify Records guys. So it was like Dana Coppa, uh Dima, who's from the new state now. Um White Russian was his producer name. Yeah. Uh Speakeasy, I think, was there. And then the upper floor was like Ray Nitty and all of their people, like all of his like interns and whoever like he was there. Like we had a house in Austin. I rolled with the Unify guys, like through Austin, and got to go to like a bunch of different parties there. We saw Classic play for like in Austin, Texas on 6th Street. That was probably one. Then the next year we went with the band Gold. I went down there with the band Gold, G G O O L L D D. Um, they were like an indie synth pop band and like rolled with them every night. Went out and helped set up like their keyboard player uh would help them, you know, set up, but then like all sorts of just wild experiences from that. That's probably some of my favorite early stuff because I was like, Oh, this is like people are really trying to make something happen here, right? You know, um, first year that I got to get a press pass for Summerfest was 2014. That's when I felt like I kind of like had made it, like being able to submit it and be like, Oh, I can get into Summerfest every night. Like, I'm gonna write a review every night. And then um literally, I have only missed one night of Summerfest in like the last 12 years, 11 years, 12 years, something like that. So, however long since 2014. So, yeah, it'll be 12 years this year. That's what's but yeah, just went every night, wrote a review because I was like not taking this for granted, you know what I mean? Like, I'm gonna get a press pass as long as I can get a press pass for that sort of thing. So that's probably the best early stuff for sure.
SPEAKER_08That's dope. Shout out to Matt, bro. Let's go. Well, I'm trying to get back there too. You need help, bro.
SPEAKER_04I will tell you the backstage stuff, not as glamorous as you'd think. No, um at least not at Summerfest. There's not really a like a huge press area. I've done Lollapalooza since 2016. Um, they have like a whole media village. That's also, I guess that would also be a really big memory, too, is like I'm backstage for breaking and entering, but there's like a work tent, and then there's like tents for like Spotify and Rolling Stone, and like all the the Chicago stations, the Chicago Tribune is there. I'm like, and my little ass website from Milwaukee is here, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_08Like you be there. I'll be watching that every time you go to Lollapalooza, fam. Every time I'm like, bam heat.
SPEAKER_04I get to do it the bougie way. I couldn't do it any other way at this point.
SPEAKER_10No, at this point, like it's for me. I I don't really like festivals too much just because I I hate walking around the festivals like.
SPEAKER_04Oh, if you think Summerfest has been Lala's like festival size, is like it might be a mile long. It is crazy.
SPEAKER_10Like, I just hate slow walking. Like, I could walk on a treadmill all day, you know. Yeah, I'm gonna say, but as far as like slow walking, like when when there's people like cutting in front of you, and then you stop and start and stuff. I hate that shit.
SPEAKER_04Every day a Lollapalooza is a hundred thousand people. Dang, that's a lot of walking, that's a lot of slow walking for sure.
SPEAKER_10Um how did breaking and entering come to fruition? Give us a little bit of the backstory on what inspired that concept.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, um, well, the name itself is kind of like because we were gonna do this podcast, that was how we were gonna start. It was 2009. We were on a website called mypodcast.com, doesn't exist anymore. Literally recorded it out of my parents' basement on two like just vocal mics, like music mics. Um, but we were going into Marquette and we were like, well, we need a space to record, and we didn't think we were good enough to be on like student radio at the time because we're just two fucking 18-year-olds out of fresh out of high school, no experience whatsoever. So we called our friend who had a dorm room there, and she was like, Well, you're gonna have to call it breaking and entering because that's the only way we're letting you in our dorm to record your stupid podcast. And then we so we called it that, and we never recorded an episode from there. Say less, bitch. I'm not gonna be able to do that. Say less. Yeah, the name stuck. Oh, you think I won't? Yeah, that's we were basically we're like, best good name. It's great.
SPEAKER_08No, it's not a bad great name because that's not a bad I fucking well, you know, because the the meaning of both words together, right? You know, you you're breaking artist and entering into the industry, like all works out, bro.
SPEAKER_04Kind of took on that name, but yeah, for like the first few years, I was just like, Yep, that's what we call it. I don't know. It's hard to sell sponsorships with that name. It's hard to tell people to be like, Hey, will you pay money to sponsor breakingandentering.net? And people are like, What the fuck? What the fuck from Milwaukee? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_08So how many of those did y'all have last year?
SPEAKER_10Yeah. Um, what are a few things that you think artists could do to bring more unity to the Milwaukee music scene? And this is a two-part question. And uh, what are some ways artists could improve their music and stage performances? Okay.
SPEAKER_04Um, one thing that just is this is just a pet peeve thing of me. If you are booked on a show, and I see this with rock shows, and I don't see it with hip-hop shows all the time. And actually, not as much with rock shows anymore. If you are booked on a show, and there are other artists on that show, be in the fucking room when they perform. You know what I mean? Like, so many times do I see artists that like they know that there's a green room or they know there's a backstage or whatever, and they go up into that backstage area. Well, guess what? That's one less person that's out in that crowd for that person. You know what I mean? Like, or if you're a band, if you're four people and all four of you guys are hanging out drinking in the green room, go have a drink and go watch the band in front of you. Like, or the other bands that are on that bill, because then that makes it feel like there's more people here, like it's more exciting, right? You know, and I think it's especially true for hip hop because hip-hop's always been competitive. I'm the coolest, I make the most money, whatever the fuck. Like, if you are that person that you're like, I'm gonna go kill this show, like be a little humble and go stand and watch the openers because you also are gonna learn something that you don't do on stage, or you're gonna see something that you don't ever want to do on stage, right? You know, like you're gonna see somebody that sucks. You're gonna see somebody that sucks, and you're like, I don't ever want to do that. Yeah, or you're gonna see somebody that kills it and you're gonna be like, I need to do what they're doing.
SPEAKER_10Right. Or you might see somebody like heck lean on the front monitor and then almost fall. Feedback, and yeah, that front monitor is a little shaky, I'm not gonna do that.
SPEAKER_04Also, also good, yeah. Figure out the the logistics of it.
SPEAKER_08I have almost knocked a few speakers off stage, right?
SPEAKER_10What was the uh the second part of it? I'm sorry. Uh the second part is uh what are some ways that you think artists could improve their music and or stage performances?
SPEAKER_04Um, I think practicing, like that's another thing people don't practice. No rehearsals, right? No rehearsals. I mean, just wrap to a wall. You know what I mean? Like if you gotta, or like you know what all else to like professionalism. Honestly, like we talked about it with the the folders for you know what I mean? Like get your music to the DJ ahead of time, get to the venue ahead of time. If you can sound check, go do a sound check, and that's your chance to be on stage and figure out the speaker feeds back if I get too close to this side. You know, if I bring the mic too close to this monitor, it's gonna squeal at me. So don't do that when you're on stage. Like that all comes from just being professional about it and like working ahead of time.
SPEAKER_08I've I've actually just a little pushback on that, not to you personally, but professionalism has gotten me fucking shit in this whole scene, bro. Like, I usually try to be on time, I try to be, you know, do all the steps and shit, and it always almost certainly fucking backfires on me, bro. Because the person throwing it, not you. Like I said, not you. Every show I've ever done with you has been valid. But there's a lot of them that I'll do the show, I'll send my shit ahead, something happens, I'll get there on time. Now you're trying to throw me on. Like I did a uh a West Bend show, and Mike Jones is supposed to be there. Okay. And I know exactly what the setup is. I already know, I already know that I don't fucking really, you know, Mike Jones is cool and shit. Like you, you had an error or whatever, but you not somebody that I'm like, I have to meet Mike Jones, you know what I'm saying? Right. But I did it anyway, and I went to go be on time, be on time, be on time. And I paid for it. This is a pay to play. Oh, but not a lot, but I paid a little bit. You know, you paid. I paid for a section, yeah, to have like a table and shit. Gotcha. I get there, my sections like reserved, not for me. I'm like, what the fuck? I had to do that. Yeah. Then he's like, Hey, do you want to go first? I said, I absolutely do not want to go first. Mike Jones ain't even here, bro. Yeah, oh, totally. Oh, okay, cool. He gets up on stage. Hey, we're about to start the show. All right, first artist to the stage, hectic. I'm like, bro, I just said I don't want to fuck the property. And I was here on time, nobody was there, bro. Oh, yeah. There was people there, like in the crowd, okay, but like none of the artists were there. So like I was the only one there, and like you had to put me, you know what I'm saying? Like, so it backfired on me.
SPEAKER_04You had to go so because professionalism on both sides exactly because the promoter could also, you know what I mean? If they had they could fuck it all up, they could have the run of show. I've I've had my share of hey, could we work with you? That I'm like, I gotta say no. Cause you know, I've seen your other stuff. But I've been, I mean, how many shows have I been to where like shit is not on time, shit is not like not only is shit not on time, but like, okay, your your pay-to-play thing, like artists shouldn't ever fucking have to pay to play. No, I'll be right back. If you're bringing Mike Jones and somebody has to pay to play to be on it, you better have that money for Mike Jones before you even ask anybody else to be on that.
SPEAKER_08They don't, they're they're paying Mike Jones with what we paid.
SPEAKER_04If your business model is to get the artist to pay for Mike Jones, you're doing everything fucking better.
SPEAKER_08That's exactly what their business model is. That's what all their these people in Milwaukee business model is.
SPEAKER_04So, like, there that there's that many shows though that do that. So many artists don't know that they should be getting paid from the door, even if it's, you know, or they should have a guarantee set up, something ahead of time, like so that they are making money for performing. How many times I've gone to shows I had a seasoned veteran artist that has been around Milwaukee music for a very long time, ask me how much it was to rent the room at Wicked Hop when I was doing that. And I was like, We don't rent the room, like we you figure that agreement out ahead of time. Like, how like there are venues where you pay production, you pay for the sound guy, and you're paying like let's say Cactus Club costs X dollars ahead of time to you know, but that money is going towards the sound guy for the night, and that money is going to make sure that you reserve that date, but you're not renting the room and then charging against it. Like that also comes out of let's say it's $300 and like if you sell $500 in tickets, they just take that first $300. You're not paying out of pocket for that. You know what I mean? Like you got to know that logistics if you're throwing a show, but if your business model is, hey, we're gonna get these artists to pay for this one big name, you're doing everything fucking backwards because you're still not making money until after that guy gets paid and the venue gets their cut and whatever else.
SPEAKER_10You know, and it's like you know, a little bit how you mentioned earlier, um, it's not only the artists who have to be professional, but the people throwing the show has to be professional. You know, I always have stuck to the saying, I know you're like done with our SADs now, but how you do anything is how you do everything. You know, so like once I start seeing people like um they're not prepping for their performances or they're not like, you know, yeah, you can have a bad performance or not as good as a performance as you would have liked to have had, but like you could also tell when people are trying to rehearse in advance and shit like that. Like they'll know the majority of their lyrics and they might mess up on like one little part or something like that, but you know, like, well, they tried, you know, like and they try real, but then there's those people who like, you know, the vocals are carrying them to it. Yeah, well, not even that. Like, you know, I was like, I told you earlier, I was just at a show the other night, and fucking the artist is on stage performing, he's got the background vocals, and he doesn't know any of the words to his own fucking song, yeah. So it's like, what the fuck is going on here? Did you not practice before this? You knew this whole event was going on. Did you not practice the week or so leading to this event?
SPEAKER_04I'm always big on having a show mix. I don't care if you have something that cues you into your verse, or like if you have a bar that you know that you're gonna drop out and let the the track do it, but like don't give me, don't rap over your vocals. Like, yeah, that that I'm not the only person. I'm not I'm definitely not the only person that say that.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, you know we know Denku, bro. Yeah, he be on the ass, bro.
SPEAKER_10No, and uh speaking of Denku, I just seen him perform at the last open mic I was at. Um, me and him were two of the me, him, and son of all were like the only three rappers that just rapped over an instrumental. You know, everybody else, they had their background vocals and they were still messing up, and it was like, Yep, come on, you know, like what's going on here?
SPEAKER_08That's the rock star shit, bro. Yeah, I I I don't I can't pinpoint the year or like when it exactly happened, but I remember that shit when it started coming. Like I I don't care about the lyrics, I care more about jumping around and people seeing me and crowd surfing and shit like that.
SPEAKER_04So it's like and it's like not even a thing like you're rapping here and the bat the track is playing. Now they're not even picking the mic up to the case. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. Like they just stop, yeah. They're just being like they're dancing and shit.
SPEAKER_10They'll be saying something, and then you can tell when they forget the line and it'll be like this, yeah. And then the lit the lyrics are still going in the background, but it's like, bro, they're not even trying to hide it. Yeah, put the mic back up in front of your face, at least fake it, right?
SPEAKER_08Yeah, which reminds me, David Lopez did like a 45-minute set on Friday. Bro, I stand by what I said, fam. Yeah, like bro, you you you embody an MC, the soul of an MC all day, fam. Like, that nigga killed that shit, bro. He had that shit. And I seen him where you know he was tipsy, he was drinking, he had a cup in his hand, a whole fucking performance. Yeah, yeah. And I seen a couple slip ups, but because you know, but that's because that's what we do. But you think anybody else in there? Nobody would be able to, he was killing that shit, bro. Yeah, I was like, bro, shout out, shout out to Dave Lopez, shout out to Passion Park. Hey, Zeus, Passion Park, bro, Kieve. They did like this little group, the the song tonight that he played here, bro. Yeah, bro, that shit went. I mean, they do their own festival.
SPEAKER_04We just did a B battle at their festival, like to get any venue to do all that coordinating of like three three-day festival, yeah, and you look how many people are on it.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, I'm hoping to actually get there after this.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, they have been there right now, bro. Going down, fam. For sure. But shout out to him. I just wanted to point that out because he said that, but that that live shit get you real far, fam.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_08Or at least, like Illy said, if you're gonna fucking rap over your shit, at least practice doing that so you don't fuck it up.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, yeah. Just practice, rehearse.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, yeah. You separate yourself off. Yeah, facts. Yeah. And that's what we're asking. We're just asking y'all to at least try to come to this tier, bro. At least try at least. Attempt. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you try, it'll get like with me, a lot of motherfuckers that talk shit and do all this. Hey, bro, if you really just took a step back and just put a little focus on what we saying, and you just I fuck with you, bro. You don't gotta be the hottest naz rapping ass, you know, fucking J. Cole level fucking MC. Nah, but if you got your shit right and you doing it, you're paying homage to the fact that there's a process. That's all I'm saying. Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_10And if you do that, I'm fucking with you. Yeah. Um where do you see yourself in the next two years? I know a lot of people don't like this question.
SPEAKER_04No, no, this is a fun one for me because I don't know. Um I really don't. Realistically, I I think I'm in a position, and I haven't really told people this, haven't been real public about it, where like the media side of breaking and entering may change a little bit, may slow down, but like the event side will probably still take over. Um part of that is because like on Walkie, I'm I'm like I said, I'm doing the same job twice a little bit. Yeah. Um, so what the media side of breaking and entering is gonna be is probably gonna change to some degree. May slow down entirely. I don't know. I'm gonna figure that out within you know some time. Um there's some external factors that go with that too. Uh a very large company involved. But also, like doing what I'm doing with On Milwaukee, like Milwaukee music is still gonna be at the are you getting the exclusive on it? No, no, no. No, uh Milwaukee, like Milwaukee music is also always gonna be part of what I'm doing. So like there will also be at the same time, you know, if it's not on breaking and entering, more stuff sliding over to On Milwaukee and being able to use the larger platform and still talk about the artists that I want to talk about. You know, it may not be as prevalent as like every day, but how do I do that in a way that's gonna be like on brand with On Milwaukee and then still kind of be true to like everything that I had built for the last you know decade plus, right? So like yeah, just figuring out how to do that. Um I've been doing more stuff lately with just like the whole idea of like a personal brand, like my personal Instagram. I've been trying to like push me talking about music more there. Um we did a bunch of I've done a bunch of these like is it worse than Malort videos that are taking off? Yeah, yeah, I see that. Yeah, like those are taking off, so like I'm gonna do a million more.
SPEAKER_08But I was I was if I ever do, I'm gonna fucking come find you and see what that's about.
SPEAKER_04SD produces that I'm taking damage for the community, and I was like, that's that's a very accurate way of putting it. But like trying to just do more stuff to like push me as Alan Hallis versus ver like breaking and entering versus I'm walking versus whatever, just to be like more of a personality because that's what the media game is now, being you know, a personality. You guys know it. You're gonna make clips of this podcast and everything else. Like it's what it is. That's fine.
SPEAKER_10So and then uh my last question is how can the R414R podcast audience find your content?
SPEAKER_04Well, that would that would be one way is find me on Instagram at Alan Hallis. Um but also breaking and entering is still active, like we're still doing stuff. Breaking entering.net, beat battle, all of that stuff lives there. Um and then on Milwaukee.com too. Like they've been around for 25 years. 27 years at this point, I don't know. Something like that. Um so I'm a big part of that now too. And I cover music there, I review concerts there. Uh I will probably do some of my festival coverage there for like Lollapalooza this year. Um, as well as like Summer Fest, we're gonna be all over that too. Okay. So those would be the three places, but yeah, I mean you can find them all for my like Instagram and just Alan Hallis everywhere. I just try to claim my name wherever I can. You know?
SPEAKER_10Alright, so um we we actually ran out of time for some of the other things that we had planned.
SPEAKER_08Um we could do these episodes. I just can't do the topics, or we can do the topics and not those.
SPEAKER_10Well, let's actually do the music and not do the topics then. Okay.
SPEAKER_08So we'll yeah, we'll do, we'll run through that though. Because we got 20. I just when I said that, you know, I'm yeah. So yeah, we'll we'll do the uh the reviews real quick. Um, this is Alan's pick. This is Owe Me by Juke Marciano. This is another name that I I feel like I have I've met him.
SPEAKER_10Her.
SPEAKER_08Her, my bad. Oh, I always do that too. That's all good. Every time I hear the name, I fucking get it mixed up with somebody. But I've met her before, but I don't personally like, you know, hey, what's up, Juke? You know, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I have seen a performance, went crazy. Yeah, absolutely. So let's go. This is Owe Me by Juke Marciano.
SPEAKER_01Uh yeah, yeah, yeah. Who the fuck won't work with the gun? If I'm pissin' niggas off, then I'm doing my jum. Strangely, I love the odds, and ladies love cool juke, lick my lips like I'm tumma. Who fake who it from? Nigga fuck them a little yumin'. I put that on me. She was in my bed, but I think she for the streets. I need weed and peace, can't fall in love with no free many in the free, gonna wig, ain't no capin' in my rippin'. They say young nigga break. No meat like I'm never TV root. I need bitch, I'm back up to the nigga in the room. I'm gonna tip the blood of my butt niggas, take me back. I'ma spirit with this like go still and move and I hit back. Niggas trippin', we be pullin' back. We ema' pullin' backs. I'ma flickin' head, one nigga, I'ma give a black. It was your turnin' now with mama, nigga. Relax, that's facts. The niggas ain't text when it don't fit with stay there. I could give a fuck if you'ma do, cause you gotta hear me. And I'ma know who the fuck I'ma in them to do, clearly. My only object is to make you niggas fear me. I'ma in a humbly, humbly, all these bitches owe me. So hit my line if you got that macaroni. If your edges got them baby hissed around me like a pony. About time that you niggas pay me what you owe.
SPEAKER_04Pay me what you owe. Juke is one of those people that like people more people in Milwaukee just need to know about Juke. No, no bullshit. The first time I saw her was uh I think Shlee Berry brought her out, and they did a song together, and like immediately I was like, Juke's got it. You know what I mean? Like every time I hear her rap, I'm like, Juke has it.
SPEAKER_08I've seen a performance and I was like, Yeah, let's fucking go. You know what I'm saying? Uh I got we gotta add her to the list, bro. I'm gonna write her on my shit. That was cold. She had the style too, where she like right, you thought she was about to go off of that and then came back. You know, I love when people do that. But uh, shout out to Juke Marciano, man. I I like that the beat was dope. Uh the picture threw me off. That's why I said him. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04I don't think you're the first person to do that.
SPEAKER_08No, yeah, because I when you said Juke Marciano, I knew it was her. But then I seen the picture, I'm like, maybe I'm thinking about the wrong person, bro. But yeah, shout out to her, man. Let's get it. So my pick was the F You Thought It Was by the Milwaukee Music Cartel. This shit is Chronic 2001 reminiscent as fuck to me, bro. Like, I heard this and I was like, I love it. Because whoever, shout out to D Scribe, uh OA Beats, uh Elite Tracks produced it, uh Godzilla's on it, Mystic Music's on it. Bro, this is cold, bro. Yeah, we're only gonna play like the first verse in the hook, but the the shit is cold. Let's go.
SPEAKER_00So these fools hit my line talking about. And the content's so facts. And I tell him, like, hey, it costs this much. Then he started talking to me about, oh, I'm the hottest in the city. And everybody know me. And when they hear me on your beats, you're gonna be on. But you know what's on though? These lights, motherfucker. And if I'm gonna keep them on, I'ma need my money.
SPEAKER_07After that, nine to five, yeah, I'm still on the grind. Nah, this shit ain't free with my mind on my money and my money on my mind. Lifestyle ain't cheap. Drip covered up in soft, yeah. You gotta pay that fee. When it comes to MMC, ain't nothing moving but the money for the food. Don't ever think it's sweet.
SPEAKER_06We gladly take a meal from my kids. They don't give a fuck what they do where they did. You take a full boil, we got up in your phone. I'm gonna take your pockets like the state of California.
SPEAKER_05We the best in this, cause we invest in this. Doublin' our money, nigga, hand over fist. Got me in a twist, tryna throw the monkey rip. When it comes to me, now you wanna penny pin. You ain't getting shit. Now you put me in by the hands of my tiny chin. 50 cents, many men. I'm gonna need them Benjamin. We don't do this for pretend. If you want some means of me, then I'm gonna need them dividends.
SPEAKER_07After that, nine to five. Yeah, I'm still on the ground. Not by the hair. With my mind on my money and my money on my mind, you thought it was lifestyle ain't cheap.
SPEAKER_08Nigga, that's that hey, when I heard that shit, I was like, hell yeah, bro. This is the shit.
SPEAKER_04The way they write is crazy because I was talking to OA, and it's literally like everybody throws out what the next line's gonna be. Yeah, so they don't write a verse like one person usually doesn't. I don't know if that I don't know if that's how that works, but everybody was like, will throw out lines ideas, yeah. Or they'll like they literally draw numbers to be like this person's gonna be on this beat.
SPEAKER_08Oh, I see what you're saying.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so that's wild.
SPEAKER_08I wonder if he had that little thing he had on the beat battle, like you're on this one, bro. Right. Because yeah, that's how he did the beat battle. He just had it like uh coming out of the fucking what is that called? The bingo thing. I don't fucking yeah, it's like a bingo.
SPEAKER_04The power ball, the power ball drawing. I don't know.
SPEAKER_08No, but shout out to the Milwaukee music cartel, bro. I fuck with that. Uh oh, there's a lot of songs on there. I don't know who the fuck the dude is on the hook. I don't know, like I know it was D scribe who was chinny chin, chin, mini chin, you know.
SPEAKER_04Might have been Godzilla. I don't know.
SPEAKER_08No, on the hook.
SPEAKER_04On the hook, I didn't know.
SPEAKER_08I think the fuck you thought it was was Godzilla, but whoever was like lifestyle ain't cheap. I don't know who that is, bro.
SPEAKER_10But that shit's hard. And that that just goes to show, too, that like just because the if you do the music right, just because it sounds a little dated, it still can hit hard. Go hard. Right. You know, in whatever it's like. And they OGs, bro.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, a lot of them are OGs. Yeah, you know, they're a little older and shit.
SPEAKER_10And that's the way that's quality-wise, it's still great. Big facts.
SPEAKER_08So all right, so shout out to this nigga, man. This is the nigga that made me rap today, fam. I don't really fuck with them. This shit right here, cold, bro. Nah, but yeah, this Illy, big bag. Let's go. Uh some ass shaking up in this. You got the coldest shirt in the game, Oliver.
SPEAKER_09It's like a real one. Little mama can a body and she makes it look real funny. She wanna boller with a whole lot of swag. Only way you tipping that is if you got a boot. It's like a real money. It's like a real money. She wanna baller with a whole lot of swag. Only way you tippin' that is if you got a bit. It's like a trash man. If you ain't throwing this in the club, it's a trash case. Throw the whole bitch away. A little killin' I'm supposed to be up in the club with a lingerie. On the street, I think they catch a number of me. Cities over there. Disagree to disagree. But it's better as a screen. You just had a funny one, stay the little to the meat. That's why they fuckin' with your boy. Everything includes masses. This type of shit that I enjoy. She got her hands on the knees. But if she make them bitches down, I'ma turn into a dollar tree. Make them wait for the cut queen. You walk on the fish. I'm the one who let it slap. Little bag, and she make that ass clap. Throw that ass like a real money. Throw that ass like a real woman.
SPEAKER_10She wanna be able to get a big out Amazon God Amazon goddess. Shout out SG Films always making it happen for me.
SPEAKER_04Nah, for real, bro. Every dude in this room just stopped what they were doing. It's like people were walking around and then people just like Hey you hey YouTube.
SPEAKER_08This is already on YouTube. Don't fucking don't kill us for that. We taking our shit down, but yeah, it's already on y'all shit, bro. Like shout out to Illy fan. That's uh having them uh them little uh twerk songs, fam. I've yet to make one, fam.
SPEAKER_10I will love fucking making ratchet music. That's my shit.
SPEAKER_08I'm gonna make a twerk song about not twerking, looking at all right, Alan.
SPEAKER_10So um, man, we appreciate you very much for joining us today. We ran out of time a little bit just because we got so caught up in um the good conversation that we were having, man. But it's definitely a pleasure. Um, I hope we get to have you back again.
SPEAKER_04Oh, awesome, yeah, for sure, man. Thank you guys for having me. Like, seriously, this is super dope what you guys are doing. So appreciate it. Love the production on it, love the whole setup. I know you're doing these edits, so thank you, man.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, appreciate it, bro.
SPEAKER_04That's not easy work.
SPEAKER_08It's not at all. That's what I'm saying. That's why I see I'm gonna be looking like you and shit. Like, oh shit, we gotta make sure everything go good.
SPEAKER_10All right, so that concludes this episode of the R414 Podcast brought to you by Illy, Street Team Hectic, Third War Studios, SG Films, and our guest for episode 34, Alan. Thank you, man. If you haven't already, we encourage you to take a moment to subscribe to our channel, like this video, and leave us a comment about the topic that interests you the most. Thank you for watching and come back for the next episode of the All 414.
SPEAKER_08And a lot of y'all are worse than Malort.
