Moss

Just north of Toronto’s Annex neighbourhood is the Lost & Found record store. When asked to profile his workspace, Moss chose this location over his home studio because here’s where the work gets done. As he restlessly yet methodically drops and lifts the needle from a ‘70s prog rock platter searching for auditory nuggets, it’s hard not to believe him.

Moss has cultivated an impressive resume over the past few years, crafting beats for underground hip-hop luminaries — Black Moon, Slum Village and a pre-Slim Shady Obie Trice — but recent kudos are for producing "Kilos,” one of the standout tracks on Ghostface’s critically acclaimed Fishscale opus.

"I’m not the most knowledgeable guy when it comes to records,” he offers humbly, "but I’ve been buying records for like 16, 17 years. It’s just trial and error — buying things and realising they’re shit. Over the years you’ve heard so much you have a general idea of what might be good, what might be bad.”

Initially inspired by Ron Nelson’s seminal ‘80s community radio show The Fantastic Voyage, Moss began tracking down original records he heard sampled on his favourite hip-hop tracks. He credits Da Grassroots producer Attic — himself thumbing through crates at the back of the store — with changing up his approach. "Don’t always follow, try to lead,” Moss says, "because if you’re buying the records Pete Rock’s after, the odds are he already took the hot pieces. [Attic] showed me a different way to dig.”

The frustration over hearing someone else drop a sample Moss had his ear on leaves a sour taste, and its made him frugal in his crate-digging. "There’s a $20 rule. If the record’s more than $20 I’m not sampling it.” More than economic wisdom, it’s an approach that informs his aesthetic; his sounds cover a wide spectrum but the common ingredient is an unadorned grittiness. "I’m not trying to be funny here, but I buy a lot of shit copies of albums. That’s why my shit sounds like crap, ‘cos I’m sampling crap,” he says to laughter. "I can’t sit down and play a [Korg] Triton — I just can’t, I’m not musically inclined like that — but I can chop a record. So if the record’s dirty, I’m stuck.”

Moss’s set-up consists of an Akai MPC 2000 and a Polymoog. "That’s more if I need a bass line, something to connect the sample,” he says of the keyboard. "I like the Polymoog because it’s so analog, it’s got all the air in it.” But the MPC is definitely the focal point. "What I have at home is a [vinyl] crate or two of drums beside my sampler at all times so that if I have a sample and I have a certain sound of drum, I don’t have to get up and look for it. I can just go get it and then filter three different types of drum sounds. I think you never know until you lay it sometimes what certain drums will sound like over a certain beat. Certain drum sounds can make or break a beat. I’ve seen beats that were flops because of the drums and I’ve seen beats that were just decent loops but the drums basically fuckin’ killed it. It’s not always the case but I can guarantee you, if you have a shit snare, you ain’t winning.”

With the increased respect and attention he’s gained in the industry after producing for Ghostface, Moss is wary of changing up his work process, or of spending too much time in New York City, where manager Dan Green is vigorously shopping Moss’s beats.

"The benefit of being in New York is you’re in the thick of things. You’re meeting people but there’s so much industry that goes on there, it’s good to get away. If I was in the thick of things and people were like ‘oh we need this sound’ or ‘we need that sound’ I may be more tempted because I could see the money right in front of my face.”

Big cheques notwithstanding, staying at home suits Moss just fine. "I’m not trying to buy a car or anything; this is what I like. I like music. It’s not like I’m sitting here doing a lot of things that other people in Toronto aren’t. There’s a lot of talent in this city, this city’s full of talent, we got producers all over that I’ve got mad love and respect for. It’s just the breaks. I caught a break and I got lucky and I got lucky another time.”