Illmind came through for his first-ever VladTV interview, where he spoke about growing up in New Jersey, but having a strong connection to New York. He then spoke about J Dilla inspiring him to become a producer, and Illmind revealed that he copied J Dilla’s beats to learn how to make them and start producing. Moving along, Illmind opened up about 50 Cent’s “Make a Movie Out of Em” being the break-out song that he worked on, and he added that “The Morning” on GOOD Music’s “Cruel Summer” was another turning point in his career. After speaking about working with Little Brother, Illmind detailed getting a production management deal with G-Unit as 50 Cent was on top of his career. To hear more, including Illmind speaking about working with 50 Cent in the studio, hit the above clip.

In this clip, Illmind reflects back on signing a publishing deal that he should not have signed back in 2010. The iconic record producer states that the he signed the contract out of desperation because he needed the money. He also shares that anyone who intends on signing a publishing deal should get a lawyer first. From there, the New Jersey native reveals that he used to sell hip-hop beats for $25-50 before sharing that he now charges $50,000 per beat. This prompts Shirley Ju to ask the record producer how the track that he created for “The Morning” landed on the radar of Kanye West. To that, Illmind details the events leading up to the epic collaboration for the “Cruel Summer” compilation album and the doors that opened for him in the music industry afterwards. The 41-year-old then shares his feelings on Kanye West, the artist/producer before explaining why he looks up to him so much as a creator. Moving along, Illmind talks about being on one the first music producers to release his own brand of sound packs (back in 2012) for musicians to use with their production software. Lastly, Illmind gives the origin story for how he earned his stage name.