Armando Diaz:
CLASS OF 1991
Montclair High SchoolClass of 1991
Montclair, NJ
Armando's Story
For most of my life I have done things that are musically related. When I was in the 8th grade, I started DJing parties around my way, and I did most of the really Jumpin' parties throughout my High School years.
I had made tracks back then as well, only I had no significant equipment, so the quality was very bad. I did have a lot of fun with it though, and I miss the days when being a DJ, or Rapper, or Producer was not what everybody was doing.
Well, like it goes for many folks, I eventually stopped having fun and started working full time. This was about a year after High School. I guess it was the way I was brought up, that you go to school, then you go to work, so that's what I did. It didn't occur to me that I would do anything music related after that, except listen. So, what I ended up doing was going to school for computer service. This was just after my first son was born, and so the pressure was on.
5 years would go by, and I ended up as a Computer Tech around my way at this spot called Computer Video Doctor. This was 1997, and it was the moment in time that brought me back to music.
The way it happened was, during a repair I was doing after I closed up shop, I noticed this Soundblaster 32 AWE in our parts cabinet. I thought it was interesting because it had slots for memory. I read the manual and discovered that i could load samples onto this card via soundfonts, and so I took it home on the low to experiment. It was amazing, I had sample time, and I even had some general midi i could use to play keys. Of course I returned the card asap, lol.
That week, I spent a few bucks and bought my own and I spent the rest of the year getting familiar with it. In 1998, I decided, along with a few of my partners, to put together a project, and so we worked on it for 3 months. That project was called "Da Raw Dirty" It was a combination Hip Hop and Spoken Word album, which we got a thousand CD's of. It became the first product of our newly formed company "Kat Klaw Productions"
For the next few years, I would go through the motions of producing various projects, and eventually recording my own albums. My intention was to become experienced and use that experience to help me with a career in music. I can honestly say that everything I did right and wrong counted, and it helped me understand things a lot. I cant say that it brought me riches at hat point or even really now, but it's all...Expand for more
relative, since I ain't done yet.
In any event, i caught a small break with a New line Cinema project called "Havoc" which was created in 2004, but released in 2006. Thanks to Minus P, a fellow artist, we got a request to put together some Spanish rap, and so we did that, and it made the film.
In 2005, I decided it was project time again, and i was hoping to go a little further. I had just done a song with B-Real of Cypress Hill, for his mixtape, and was doing some editing work for Treach of Naughty By Nature. I took the opportunity to reach out to both of them to get them on my new project. I reached out to a friend and got a hold of Rockness Monster of Heltah Skeltah, to host and appear on my project. Rock appeared on 4 songs, and was in part the subject of the DVD that went along with my CD. The project was called, Beat To Death Vol. 4. A play on words of course (Producer + Beats). It was the last of my beat CD series.
Beat to Death Vol. 4 was a special project because I had some heavyweight vets in the game on it, but I also got to show off my people like O.D., Drift, Skanless, Fatal Hussein, Coolwadda, Rhino CMZ, Stelth Bomber, Tex-1, Big Ooh, Deez, and others. I will always love that one.
Later that year, The New Line Cinema situation brought me into radar of Edmonds Entertainment's music director, Tara Razavi. It was Tara that helped me secure music for the DMX:Soul of a Man, College Hill, Fox Sports' "Crosstown Rivals", and David E. Talbert's "Stage Black".
In 2006 and up to the present, I've been working on kids music for a new kids entertainment/educational company called P.G.K. Inc. This is the project that I think will make my career. Seems strange, but in a very crowded market, and with the change in the business over the years, this kids opportunity has a unique value, and not to mention it's actually fun to do. You would think kids music is easy, and I suppose if you just re-sing old standards and don't innovate it is, but we're looking to build something different.
At this point the struggle for me continues. I want to become better and eventually see the full blown career I been after. Meanwhile, I make a buck or two pushing beats to indie artists and trying to secure new TV situations. I also do graphic design, edit video, fix computers, a.k.a. hustle.
I believe it is in the cards for me to succeed in this, and those who have faith in me will not regret it.
Register for Free to view all details!
Reunions
Photos