Meet Benjamin Kath

We recently connected with Benjamin Kath and have shared our conversation below.

Benjamin, thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with us today. We’re excited to dive into your story and your work, but first let’s start with a broader topic that might be stopping many of our readers from pursuing their dreams – haters, nay-sayers, etc. How have you managed to persist despite haters and nay-sayers that inevitably follow folks who are doing something unique, special or off the beaten path?
I love this question because I’ve really figured this out in the last year – not just with music but in everything. People that form wrongful opinions of people, or are just clearly out to attack – almost always have something they’re struggling with in their own life. It’s made me more at peace with receiving hate, realizing the person attacking me is working through their own struggles, and it’s actually not really about me at all, but them.

Also, I’ve learned it helps to ignore the negativity completely and not acknowledge it, which is a haters ultimate weakness. The “high road” is very much real, and our grandparents weren’t lying – people have known this for generations. I think social media and other factors in our current society have made hate talk much easier and accessible for these people going through internal conflict – they don’t need to be face to face with someone to do it anymore. That means it’s all the more important to not fester on this kind of culture; it’s best to stay in your lane and realize these comments or actions actually aren’t about you, but the person delivering the hate.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I go by the alias “Ben Jammin’ Beats” and I release both independent and label owned music on Spotify and other DSPs (Digital Streaming Platforms). I focus on the chill/instrumental genre, which can be called a variety of things depending on the listener (chill beats, lofi, chillhop, jazz hop, boom bap). I like to say I’m an instrumental music producer, as I don’t strive to fit a certain category, but I end up focusing on hip hop and r&b influences the most.

The reason for that is I actually started my career in music as a rapper in 2010. I installed GarageBand on my computer for college, and made some cheesy beats and rapped over them with my friend. I had gotten into artists like Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem and others the summer before, and had so many songs memorized that I was used to the flow by the time I started making my own beats. We were by no means good, but throughout college I kept at it and ended up getting shows in downtown St. Cloud where I was going to school. I took up playing keys around the same time, learning how to play my own content instead of relying on samples. I incorporated this into my live sets, throwing down keyboard solos in between raps and choruses. Needless to say it was out of the norm for the live scene, a scrawny kid rapping and playing distorted keyboard solos opening for funk bands or rock bands.

After a successful run, and an unforgettable experience out there in St. Cloud, I moved to Minneapolis after I graduated in 2015 and had no idea what to do next. I didn’t have any connections for live shows, and didn’t know anyone. I met my wife of now 7 years, and did end up making one last rap album and setting a show up at the Pourhouse in downtown. After that, I wanted something new. I didn’t want to give up music, but wanted a new focus.

For about 2-3 years, I experimented with all kinds of things like R&B, Techno, and even practiced singing for awhile. I finally stumbled across the chill beats scene in 2020/2021 during the pandemic. It was brand new to me besides some random YouTube live steams I’ve played in the background while studying. I quickly found it was focused around releasing on Spotify and other platforms, and I quickly started messing with the genre.

It came naturally to me, as I had tons of experience arranging hip hop from my time playing live shows and producing my own hip hop albums. I was instantly hooked. I got to focus on the “sound” and the “vibe” rather than the lyrics – and my piano skills and arrangements took on a whole new form. In September of 2021, I released my first track on a big label called “Candy Skies,” and the rest is history.

Since then, I have met so many amazing people, have had countless large releases and breakthroughs, and have accumulated more than 25 million streams on Spotify. It’s an amazing community of producers, housing friendly competition, and is continuously inspiring to me and fellow peers in the genre. Every day is a new journey and new experiment in my home studio, and I’m so humbled by my success and will never stop being grateful to where this passion has led me.

The next step has been 6 months in the making, a new “collective” of producers I’ve been slowly building this year. They are all collaborators that I’ve met along the way, and have formed amazing and priceless connections with. We recently announced ourselves to the public, going by the “Jam Squad,” and our goal is to show that this community is about more than just beats. We released a sample pack at the end of August, and are planning on releasing an independent compilation on January 19th of 2024, featuring a track from all 28 of us.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The first is something I’m still working on, and it’s be patient.

One amazing thing I’ve been able to do recently is start giving new producers in the chill genre advice on their music. It’s very common to want the quality and level of producing RIGHT NOW. People that are new to this wonder why they aren’t at the top of the playlists right away. One of the biggest pieces of advice I give is to slow down and work on the craft. Research what others are doing to achieve a certain level of quality, practice your instrument every day, listen to your influences and notice trends in their workflow. All of this is key to being successful.

Second is put yourself out there and be open to constructive feedback.

Something that has been super important in my journey is peer feedback. Sometimes you don’t know if you have the right level of production (or how to achieve it) until you reach out and ask for feedback. Sometimes you post or release a song and the feedback just comes to you (comments, dm’s etc). TAKE THIS FEEDBACK in as an asset to your growth. It’s very hard when you’re proud of something and hear there’s areas of improvement, but learning how to take this in a positive light instead of ignoring it or getting emotional is going to have a heavy impact on your improvement.

Third and last but not least, is to have fun.

One of the coolest things about this genre is that it’s “streaming music,” or in other words, music people play in the background to relax. This gives your releases a lot of potential in the way that a lot of listeners “accidentally” listen to you, and you have more opportunity to profit off of that. When you start making money doing anything, it can get in the way of the original goal of the passion, which is fulfillment and enjoyment. A place to be free from stress. When you start seeing the potential for monetary gain, leveling yourself and remembering that this is your passion is extremely important. I’ve seen many producers get stressed and overthink the tracks to the point that they’re not enjoying themselves anymore, and at that point, it’s just another job.

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
In March of this year, I had an accident where I passed out going up my stairs and ended up falling on my head pretty dramatically. I had a seizure and was rushed to the ER. I’ve never had anything close to this happen to me, and it resulted in a mild TBI (traumatic brain injury). I was out of work for 3 months, and have slowly been recovering ever since, and still am. The recovery has been both physically and mentally challenging, facing daily battles that I never thought I would need to be facing at this age.

This story may be a scary one, but the reason I told it is for a positive reason. What I learned from this experience has made me into a grateful person, as I was pretty much forced to slow down and take things one day at a time. I was forced to appreciate the little wins, and to be thankful that I’m even still alive.

The U.S. is in constant movement, and I’ve coined it a “fast life.” We need to be here at this time, we need to make this appointment or call or event; we feel that we NEED to rush and speed through things in order to check off boxes or stay on routine. Although some of this is impossible to avoid at this point in our culture, you can be intentional with yourself and the things you choose to do to find a softer balance. A “slow life,” one where you are placing your energy where you need to, and saving it for things that are most important (family life, passions, pets, etc.). The second you are giving your energy to the job or the drama or whatever it may be, is the second you give up your freedom and the ability to enjoy life.

So the biggest area I have improved in the last year is slowing down. Slowing down and appreciating what I have. I realized nobody missed my speedy tendencies, it was all an illusion and our fast life we’ve created leading me, instead of me leading it. There’s power in slowing down and looking around you – a lot of people come home after work and wallow in sorrow, not realizing someone on the street would kill to have that roof over their head. It’s all about perspective, and I’ve been exponentially happy ever since I’ve employed this method.

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