Karen Civil: Civil Scope Interview With Tank God (Extended Cut)

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It’s not everyday that a biology student tops the billboard charts and receives a certified platinum plaque with one of our generations most successful artists. ‘Rockstar’ by Post Malone and 21 Savage has been killing the charts for the past 7 weeks, peaking at #1. The man behind the infectious beat is 20-year-old producer, Tank God.

Tank God was your everyday college student and creative with big dreams of being a producer. After taking his last final one school year, Tank opted out of getting lit with the homies and instead decided to get in the studio and work on his passion, producing. Little did he know, the beat that was birthed after a long week of grueling finals would land him a #1 record and a deal with Sony/ATV.

Along with peaking at #1 on Billboard, ‘Rockstar’ was also #1 on the Spotify Global Chart (55 million streams) and #1 (25 million streams) on Apple Music, making it the most streamed song ever in a week’s time. Tank God, Post Malone, and 21 Savage have made history with this record and it’s only the beginning for the young kid from the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.

We recently had the chance to talk with Tank God about his most recent success, being an up and coming producer, new and old projects, working with Swizz Beatz, education, and more. Check out our new Civil Scope interview below:

So ‘Rock Star’ has been number one on the Billboard charts for two weeks now. How do you feel?

I feel great. God is good.

Did you expect any of this at all?

Not when I made the beat only when we finished up the studio session. Like you know when you feel something that just feels great. I didn’t know it was going to all happen so fast, that’s God right there.

Now that you have a number one record under your belt has your mentality or your work ethic changed at all?

Well I’m always in the studio, but now I’m in there every day. Rockstar went number one so I have to top that and surround myself around great energy. I’ve just been in my zone trying to create as much as I can.

Who have you been working with?

I’m always working on Posts stuff he comes back from tour in November and some other people that I can’t mention at the moment.

What established producers do you look up to and why?

Timberland because he was the first person that I really saw take artists as a producer and really ‘break them’. Like with Aaliyah, he added his own vocals. It was like he was also an artist as well. I admired how he was also in the spotlight as an artist but he was also a producer. So it just showed me that producers that can have the spotlight also.

There has been a lot of talk lately about producers feeling as though they aren’t getting enough credit. As a producer with a number one record what’s your outtake on that topic?

I feel like there isn’t a lot of credit given to producers. I mean without the producer there is no song, it was just be acapella and that get’s boring. Just as much credit as the artist gets the producer should also.

What’s one thing that you have learned from working with legendary producers like Swizz Beatz?

I learned that you have to have a ‘bounce’. Everything that you create it needs to have a ‘bounce’. Swizz Beatz taught me that fo’ sho. So when you’re making a beat it’s all about that ‘bounce’, that’s what I try to give my beats. You want to make people move and feel.

So the circulating story behind the making of the beat for “Rockstar” is that you created it after a long day of studying for finals, what was your major and why?

Yea and it was Biology. My sisters close friend’s mom passed away. Before she passed, I went to visit her at the hospital I told her that I was going to be a doctor when I was probably like 15. So when she passed away I told myself that I was going to be a doctor and that’s what really pushed me towards majoring in Biology.

Recently, her daughter hit me and was like, “Yo, I’m so proud of what you’re doing with music and I know my mom would be so proud of you”. So hearing that made me feel okay with not doing Biology and leaving school. I didn’t like it that much to be honest.

So are you done with school for right now?

Yea, I was supposed to be in school this semester but I took a semester off to pretty much follow my dreams. This is what happens. I’m trying to let God guide me and figure it out.

What’s your outtake on creatives and finishing education?

It’s just real tricky. It just depends on the type of person you are. There are a lot of stories about successful people who haven’t went to college to learn the knowledge about being a manager or entrepreneur and there are also people who did and are also on the same level of someone who hasn’t went to college. So it’s tricky to choose if college is actually what made you successful or not but I definitely feel that if you’re dedicated to something that you really want to do than you should do it. I feel like college is not for everyone but there are definitely things to learn from college. Knowledge can be found anywhere. As long as you’re learning, that’s the most important thing.

What’s your relationship with the Comb’s brothers?

That’s fam right there. My boy Niko he’s Justin Comb’s brother on his mother’s side. I sent him a beat and he invited me over to his house and I didn’t even know he was related to them but when I went to the house I found out real fast, there were pictures everywhere. I started making music with him (Niko) and we dropped an EP, and then he started to bring me around his fam (Comb’s brothers) and I started to produce and work with them as well. Now we have a group called “CYN” and it’s a dope group of artists like Niko, Christian, Kye, Shaq, Tre and a couple other people. We’re all close, I was just with them yesterday.

Tell us more about “CYN”?

It’s a group of us and everyone has their role. We have rappers, Dj’s, producers, creatives, ETC. We have so much music it;s cr and we’re just working on getting those things out to the world. We have a song coming called “Berry” (link: https://soundcloud.com/cynmob/berry-king-combs-x-cyn-kai-cah-shaqnlivin-k-wales-prod-cyn-tank) out that we just produced which is crazy, it has this old school Bad Boy feel. We dropped it on soundcloud but we’re going to do a bigger push on it real soon.

We want to show that groups are dope still. It’s dope to make music and just have fun yaknow? We’re just trying to show that young kids can have an impact on the world too through our music. People sleep on groups, but we’re like brothers and family. We want to show people that making music and being in the industry can be fun. I want to do a Vlog because you can see how organic our sessions are, it’s just fun. We just chill and bounce ideas off of each other and make fire songs.

That happens a lot in Atlanta, organic music making and studio sessions.  

Exactly, and you know what’s funny? There aren’t a lot of places like Atlanta. There’s not, like in New York we can’t all just come together and just create. People just don’t want to help each other and lift people up. It’s always like a competition but it’s like why can’t we just all be at the top? If someone’s dope why wouldn’t you want them to be at the top with you? I feel like in New York people would generally hate on somebody because their talented, it doesn’t make sense to me. I feel like I’m a story of that, a lot of people didn’t want me to do what I’m doing but it’s all God’s favor.

So you make this beat and then you go to NY to hang out with the Combs Brothers and you ran into Post Malone and asked him to listen to your beats, tell us more about that.

Yea, so I went into the studio for Christians session. We were all there chillin’ and I was taking a break from making beats with Christian and I went to the bathroom by the pool table in the middle of the studio and Post came from another studio and we kind of intersected. I explained to him that I met him in LA and he was like, “At flight club?” and I was like “Yea!” and I was like “Can I play you some beats?” and he said, “Yea, let’s get weird!”. So I went back to Christians session grabbed some beats. I went into his session and played him the “Rockstar” beat and that was it.

What made you go out on a limb and just approach him? Can you speak out on the importance of going for what you want and not being afraid in the music business?

You’re going to hear no probably your whole life so you might as well get used to it. If getting told “No” is the worse that can happen when you go for something then it’s definitely a risk to take. You’re going to hear it all the time anyway, there is nothing to lose.

So on Genius you expressed that you like to be hands on when it comes to making a song with an artist. You aren’t a fan of just sending your beats over and not being apart of the music making process with the artists after that. Can you talk more about that.

I want to be as involved as I can. I I feel like it’s very important. Making a record is like making a baby. You need to people to make a baby. The baby is the hit pretty much. How can I send an email and then make a hit? I don’t feel like it’s very possible at least for me because you need to be there physically and have a vibe and this energy in order to make a hit. So being in the session is where all that energy comes from, the vibe is created there.

How is it working with Post Malone?

He has a lot of energy and he’s really funny but he’s very focused. Sometimes we have to lock in, sometimes he’s focused on just getting the song done so he won’t leave the studio for hours. Everything is very organic with us. A lot of the people that I work with I like it to be organic, I hate it when it’s forced. That’s why I like Post a lot because you never feel like you’re working with him it’s just fun, vibin’.

If you could work with any artist dead or alive who it be and why?

I feel like it would be really lit to work with Biggie. That’s so cliche but I feel like Biggie was probably a dope vibe. I would also want to work with Travis Scott.

So what advice do you have to up and coming producers who want to get their beats heard by major artists?

I would tell them to never give up, even when you think you should because you shouldn’t. You never know what could happen. I’ve been at that point. Try to network, DM artists, find ways to get their email and send them beats, and then hopefully you get to build a personally connection with them.

What do you want the world to know about Tank God?

I want them to know that I’m here to motivate and encourage people to follow their dreams. That’s my goal for making music. I want them to know that I’m a living example of someone that is following their dreams, you should never give up on your dreams no matter what.

Anything else you want to add?

I want people to check out my Tank God project that dropped on July 7th, it’s on soundcloud

IG: ProdByTank

Twitter: ProdByTank

Signed,

"Pennie For Your Thoughts"