With his several production and writing credits on Kendrick Lamar’s latest album quickly introducing him to an even bigger fan-base, Taz Arnold, one-third of Los Angeles-based trio Sa-Ra, caught up with HipHopDX’s Justin Hunte recently and took us back to his own earliest and most important musical influences.
“I like to consider myself a byproduct, geographically and musically, of Brian Wilson and Dr. Dre,” Taz said in a clip that debuted as a part of today’s DX Daily. “Those are like two of my favorite producers. They’re not different from one another to me. They’re just in different eras. I grew up in the same area as them and I’ve been influenced [by both]. Dr. Dre is my mentor, he’s the person that put me in the music industry. He gave me my first shot in the late ’90s. Working with him was like, ‘Wow, I’m working with Michael Jackson at the time, even today.’ Especially back then, being from L.A. Dr. Dre and Brian Wilson, they grew up in that area. Pretty interesting area.”
In another part of the interview Arnold spoke about working alongside Kendrick Lamar in the studio and the Compton rapper’s sense of leadership in that setting.
“He directs people,” he said. “He writes his own material to a whole other level. He writes your material. He’s like, ‘Can you say these parts?’ He’s quite—he’s good to work in the studio. I was very impressed with his acumen and his skill set.”
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