By Jay Williams

If you're looking for the perfect example of how to be successful in this game over the long haul, there are very few producers to look at.  In these days of popular ringtone songs and advancements in technology, you'd be hard pressed to find a producer with more than a few years under his or her belt in this industry.  

Such is not the case with Omen.  This native New Yorker caught his first credit on Memphis Bleek's first album Coming of Age, and he hasn't looked back since.  A firm beliver in moving forward, Omen has gone on to produce for artists such as Fabolous, Ludacris, Redman, Juelz Santana, and many others.

Being an innovator has led him to expand into producing his first full length LP to be released in the fall of 2008.  Omen, gives up the goods to the BeatDynasty.com community in this exclusive interview.  Read and learn. 

BeatDynasty.com: Tell me about the album and your new single that was released a couple weeks ago.

Omen: Basically, I had this album in my mind for a couple months.  I was working with a team and we no longer work together.  I had to  go off an do a lot on my own. I had this investment company come in called Revo Media and they were like ," You got a vision go for it."  That's where my whole album called, Be The Judge, came from.  I'm the type of dude to go off of concepts and titles, so the title "Overdose on Life" is saying that you have to get everything you can in life.  You have to OD, if you're getting money, you gotta get more.  If you're getting girls, you can marry the queen that you have or have an abundance of women.

"Overdose on Life" Featuring Mickey Factz, Drake, and Travis McCoy Produced by OMEN

 
BeatDynasty.com: That was a pretty positive song.  Does that mood continue through the entire album?

Omen: The album is going to be from a courtroom standpoint, and the audience is the judge.  At the end of the day, they are going to criticize anyway.  I wanted to have records that are feel good records, like misdemeanors.  Then I wanted to have the gangster, hard body, tracks and those are like felonies.  I'm definitely going to have a lot of controversy falling from this record.  But, I'm not into beef unless it's with the way people are treated by the government in the whole scheme of things. 

BeatDynasty.com: Lyrically, are you looking to get more features?

Omen: Of course I'm going to have more features.  I have Freeway in mind, possibly Ice Cube, and Joell Ortiz for a song called "The American Scheme."  It's the opposite of the American dream.  Basically it's saying you gotta hustle and get all you can, before the government gets you.  It's like a big scheme when people come to America and they think it's all good.  But it's not what it's cracked up to be. 

BeatDynasty.com:  That sounds hot.  Do you have any other notable people you're trying to get on the album?

Omen: I got a producer driven track where I'm going to collab with another producer. I'm trying to get Dr. Dre.  It's called "The Craft" and it's the art of how to cook up a hit. I'm trying to get Premier on the cuts, and Havoc from Mobb Deep, and Maybe Kanye on it. It's going to teach you how to make a hit record. My boy works for Luda as his personal chef. So he's going to break down the ingredients [of how to make a hit record] in the beginning. 

BeatDynasty.com: Is any of the content on the album derived from your experiences in the industry?

Omen: Yeah, It's going to touch on a lot of topics that a lot of people may be afraid to tackle.  I like to go against the grain a little, and go against the skeptics. 

BeatDynasty.com:  As far as production, what do you have coming up?

Omen: Right now, I put that on hold a little. But I'm working on Mya's next album and possibly the next Ludacris album, called Theater of My Mind.  Also I'm working on the next Redman and Method Man album called, Black Out Two.  Everything is in more of a submitting phase, but I still have the green light to go in [the studio] and do whatever.

BeatDynasty.com:  You produced on Ludacris' last album.  Do you feel like your style was perfect for his last release, because it was more moody.

Omen: That record really set the tone for his album. He had the "Money Maker" record, which was definitely a Luda record.  But the name of the album was Release Therapy, so he had to release and let people know what's good.  That record, "Tell it Like it is," set the tone for the album.

"Tell it Like it is" Ludacris Produced by Omen 

BeatDynasty.com:  You've also done work with Redman.  How did you get with him?

Omen: My boy was working with Redman as an enginneer.  He played Red one of my records, and Red was like, "Yo, I need that one."  I was just hearing it from my boy. Red said that I changed up the "Superman Lover" records because usually it was just him or Eric (Sermon) producing it. 

BeatDynasty.com:  What advice can you offer to producers to solidify themselves in this business?

Omen: First and foremost, you have to identify your sound.  It's like a doctor has certain specialties.  You could have a brain surgeon or a heart specialist.  To me production is like that.  You have to identify what your style is and what you can bring to that record.  You have to find an artist that could take that style and run with it.  Just like what Premier did with Guru and Dr. Dre did with N.W.A.  You gotta have a team of artist to showcase your skills. 

Beat CDs are cool, but now it's getting so overrated.  Beats are getting sold for fifty cents, or a dollar.  Right now, it's like you don't have to shop beats because people are giving away tracks.  Say 50 Cent is working on an album.  Why would he pay a semi-established producer a lot of money, when he could get a producer with no type of credit for three or five hundred dollars?

BeatDynasty.com:  Did the saturation of the market make you want to put your own album out?

Omen: In a way.  If I was to keep shopping tracks, I would have been just going backwards.  Even after you've experienced the industry life, the placements, and a few accolades from working with artists, it's like why go back when you can go forward.  It's now time to be that Quincy Jones or Isaac Hayes.  Then you'll have more value.  Instead of shopping beats, they'll just want your presence on the record.  To me , it's not beats anymore, it's value.  It's like to me a Jay-Z album will not be a classic unless Premo is on it.

BeatDynasty.com:  I agree. Anything you want to add ?

Omen: Peace to everyone who makes beats, and wants to be heard.  I gotta shout out Revo Media, and The Emperors Club which is a team I grew up with.  I gotta shout out the artists on the "Overdose on Life" record. 

OMEN will be writing a column on BeatDynasty.com to help producers with any industry questions they may have. Please forward any questions you'd like answered to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and Omen will answer them in a future column.  Please include your community name.

Omen Explaining how he came up in the industry