Artist Spotlight
Los Angeles Producer ArjayOnTheBeat Is Pushing the Perimeters of the Music Industry
To stand out in music, especially a genre like Hip Hop, an artist has to have a presence not only the presence but commanding energy to them that makes you invest in their artistry, which they present for us to buy into. That separates an artist who you only give one listen to and who you start to keep up with. ArjayOnTheBeat brings that confident swagger to his approach that makes you want to stay connected, as he has been unfailing when connecting with his audience and executing vibrant and unique records from a career standpoint.
Arjayonthebeat discussed with us and answered our uncommon 11 Questions. Check it out below.
HONK: Let’s start by introducing ourselves. You know the basics, like name, age, and where you’re from, as much or little as you’re comfortable sharing.
ArjayOnTheBeat: Artist Name: Arjayonthebeat /Arjayonthebeat3x
Legal Name: Robert Dickson Jr
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
HONK: What’s the best advice you ever received concerning music?
ArjayOnTheBeat: The best advice I’ve ever received concerning music was about mixing. I was honored to have had a one-on-one session with a Grammy-awarded engineer, Leslie Brathwaite, who engineered Pharrell’s “Happy,” which headlined Despicable Me 2. He listened to my beats and told me, “everything was great, but one thing, your mixing.” He then said when it comes to mixing your beats, nothing should be panned to the center but vocals”. In other words, every sound in your beat should be panned between the left and right, never down the middle.
The best advice of my life…
HONK: What would you have done differently if you knew then what you know now?
ArjayOnTheBeat: One thing I would have done differently is take more of the presented opportunities rather than rejecting them due to being overly cautious.
HONK: What is still your biggest challenge?
ArjayOnTheBeat: My biggest challenge is finding an artist with the potential/ talent to take them to the top and team up. Until then, the search continues. Most artists don’t take it as seriously as I do. I instead get plaques/awards with one artist repeatedly than try to get one plaque out of multiple artists… if that makes sense.
HONK: What keeps you going when things get tough in the music industry?
ArjayOnTheBeat: My daughters (Indiyah & Xia) and my family are the ones I need to be successful. My goal is to leave generational wealth /money behind for them.
HONK: If you could open a show for any artist, who would it be?
ArjayOnTheBeat: Lil Uzi Vert, Chris Brown, or DJ Khaled
HONK: Could you talk me through your creative process?
ArjayOnTheBeat: When it comes to my productions, I never force them. I only make beats when I feel like it, so I don’t burn out my creative juices.
If I’m not working, I typically listen to various genres to get ideas on enhancing my sound daily. Every genre has something you can learn from…
HONK: How do you solve productivity/scheduling problems and reduce overwhelming situations?
ArjayOnTheBeat: I always try to keep the customer/ clients happy, mistakes can occur, so I’ll always offer something in exchange for the mishap to reach a positive conclusion.
HONK: What are you focusing your time on now?
ArjayOnTheBeat: I’m focusing my time on executive producing more projects rather than singles & building my artist (once they’ve been found).
HONK: How do you currently feel about the state of “Your genre” in general?
ArjayOnTheBeat: We need more substance in the hip-hop community and a different topic to rap about rather than hoes, guns, apps & negativity. I feel it’s time to switch it up, or else we won’t get as successful as other genres like folk rock & country music.
HONK: How can our readers follow you online?
Album Review
Cognitive Constellation Corps blurs humanity and technology on “Thank You for Your Feedback (I)” album
In a world of notifications and automated responses, algorithms, and feedback requests, Cognitive Constellation Corps finds something unexpectedly human inside the machinery. “Thank You for Your Feedback (I)” is an alt-pop exploration of connection, isolation, communication, and the increasingly complicated relationship between people and technology, transforming familiar procedural language into something else.
Created by Brooke Tamsin Clevenger, a Belfast-based artist, the project’s principal composer, lyricist, producer, and conceptual director, the album is deliberately constructed around what happens to human emotion when our lives are increasingly structured by systems that process information rather than necessarily understand feelings. The album opens with “Opening Loop (i),” which introduces that world through the idea of repetition, linking software loops to the habits we humans learn in modern life.
Followed by “Signal Received (i),” the track becomes more fragile, a mix of bubbling electronic movement and the promise of waiting for a response. It picks up the strange emotional weight that can be behind something as simple as a digital signal. “Thank You For Your Feedback (i)” examines the pressure to be constantly evaluated, and “Echo Chamber (i)” reflects on how digital interaction creates intimacy and amplifies alienation. “The Curve of Clarity (i)” is a road toward understanding where data and human realization begin to converge.
On the production side, the project explores electronic textures without allowing its technological concept to overwhelm its emotional core. “Threadbare, Threadshare (i)” turns the fatigue of constant communication into an interesting concept. “The Response Loop (You’re Still Talking)” injects a sense of urgency with a faster, more club-friendly beat that mixes early-80s electronic music with state-of-the-art sounds.
“Harmonic Distortion (i)” continues the album’s obsession with emotion that has been filtered, and “Always (i) [Sevahem]” is an appropriate closer, reflecting on organic feeling and ancient human knowledge through the prism of digital sound. “Thank you for Your Feedback” is a tech-driven concept that is always aware of the person behind the screen. Cognitive Constellation Corps is cerebral and electronic and conceptually ambitious while remaining emotionally accessible.
Artist Spotlight
Shawn Brown raises the volume on love, loss, and survival in “What a Way to Go”
Shawn Brown’s new single, “What a Way to Go,” is a guitar-heavy rock-pop anthem that makes doomed young love, instability, and survival something ferociously cathartic. The single, produced by celebrated musician and producer Grecco Buratto, fully embraces the scope of its story. Brown doesn’t turn heartbreak into a quiet, inward experience, but he energizes it, giving it drive and urgency.
“What a Way to Go” is a relationship against impossible odds, and the emotional tension is the clash between a world that feels like it’s falling apart and the stubbornness of two people who won’t let go of each other. That tension is what makes the song dramatic, but it also allows Brown to aim for a bigger, more explosive sound.
Recorded at The Trench in Portland with engineer Gregg Williams and the full Shawn Brown Band and trusted creative team, including Ben Landsverk, Jeff Langston, Ned Failing, Tiago Becker, and Juan Garcia Petri. Their combined presence adds to the muscular, expansive character of the single that one would expect from an anthem of this magnitude.
Brown handles the emotional commitment with confidence, true to its survivalist spirit, and pairs the guitars with a performance that feels immediate rather than remote. “What a Way to Go” is one of Shawn Brown’s most electrifying releases, blending raw rock power with the emotional openness of a love story that won’t go quietly. It’s raw, loud, passionate, and unapologetically alive.
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