Christian “ARIZONATEARS” Okano: Platinum/ Gold Records at 19, Drinking Arizona Tea & Making Music History.
Producing one of hip-hop’s biggest remixes of 2023, reaching 500 million streams worldwide with his ‘Lil Uzi Vert – Watch This (Remix)’, reaching Platinum and Gold awards ALL at the age of 19
ARIZONATEARS shares how quickly he’s taking over the music world, all while drinking Arizona tea from his Mililani home studio…
Who are you?
My name is Christian, also known as ARIZONATEARS, I’m a producer from Mililani, Hawai’i and I’m 20 years old.
What is your profession weʻre here to talk about today?
Producing. I make beats and what type of beats I make is rap beats.
And how long have you been producing for?
I’ve been producing for about 4 years.
Awesome, and why do you do it?
I love it. I love producing, it’s been my WHOLE life of just like loving music. And I just think that producing music is like an art form that has no boundaries where no one can just tell me what to do.
Digging into your come-up a bit, what was it like? Were you always attached to music as a kid? And if so, did that ever like lead you into wanting to be a producer as you got older?
Yeah when I was a kid I went to Kapalama Elementary School, and I used to like music. But I listened to pop music, not a lot of rap music. My Dad got me into more of the pop music instead of rap.
And what did you like about pop over other genres back then?
What I liked about pop was that it was more energetic. It just SOUNDS energetic…
How did you get into producing from there?
I got into producing just listening to like songs on SoundCloud. I used to just listen to like slow songs that people made and I didn’t like how people slowed down songs on SoundCloud, so I thought that I could do way more better than them. So I told my parents that I wanted to get FL Studio. Once I got that, I took the songs that I wanted to slow down and put em on SoundCloud.
Then from there, I wanted to make beats on my own.
What is FL Studio?
FL Studio is a program (also known as a DAW) where you can make music and produce.
How do you feel when you’re producing?
When I produce I feel free. Free of not getting told what to do, just thinking on my own and THINKING what I feel…
What would you say it takes to be a producer?
Discipline, consistency and BELIEVING in yourself.
Would you say that you’ve always believed in yourself as a producer?
There will be times where I would not believe in myself, and there will be times where I NEED to believe in myself. And if you wanna be anything, I think you need to fully believe in yourself. Not just being a producer but with everything:
Owning your own business, just with anything.
Why? What happens if you don’t?
If you don’t believe in yourself, shit won’t happen.
And have you ever seen that happening within your own work?
Yeah, I find that when producing in my daily life it is: Beatblock (Beatblock is like Writer’s block). You can’t just come up with anything you just don’t have any ideas popping in your head, you don’t have like a certain direction.
And sometimes I’ll be overcomplicating stuff, putting too many sounds in a beat. But I get over these problems by just looking at the plaques I achieved, the streams I achieved and how far I’ve gotten in producing beats.
In 2023, you blew up for your remix of Lil Uzi Vert’s remix of a song he had right! It was HUGE, I remember seeing it all over my Tiktok and recommended for reels, what was it all like to reach those heights?
Yes I did, I blew up with a remix I made called “Lil Uzi Vert - Watch This (Remix)” and it just went to the HUNDREDS AND MILLIONS in streams, it went to the billboard charts and it just took off!
Wow, and what came with that as it was blowing up!?
When it blew up, I just had MORE belief that my work, my creative thinking in mind is being heard by other people. People actually liked what I was making. That brought me hope that I should keep you know… keep making music for the people that wanna hear my music.
Did you get any messages from people who wanted to collaborate afterward or rap on your beats?
It was mostly people just wanting to remix their songs but there were people who wanted to hop on the beats I was making. I would get comments like “Oh yeah fire beats bro, would you give me some beats?”. That was pretty much it.
Well did you give em the beats?.. Nah nah.
*Laughs* They were mostly asking for my older beats, but my older beats were sampled. So if I were to sell it to them, they would get into copyright issues cause I didn’t clear the samples that I put on my beats.
Is Copyright a Big Issue in The Music Industry?
Oh yeah, Copyright is a BIG issue in the music industry and I think that sampling is just a way of you know: being creative. I think it should be less strict and it should be more easier to access and more easy to make a deal with the label’s artists so you can use the sample and they get like a cut.
Surprised they don’t do that already…
I mean they do, it’s just harder to reach the artists of what you’re sampling. You have to do a BUNCH… Even Travis Scott, he did his album ‘Astroworld’ and it had a ton of samples.
What made you really want to take producing far?
When I started wanting to take producing seriously, making music was like the only thing I was good at. I wasn’t really good in school, I would just think really negative about being in school and just didn’t fit in. I didn’t really fit in to ‘the school life’ ; thinking like I wanna be in school, and anything else with just being in a 9-5 job.
I just don’t feel like I belong in a 9-5 job and for me, that MUSIC is the only way that fulfills my purpose in life.
What made you want to go with the “ARIZONATEARS” name?
ARIZONATEARS is my name because I like to drink Arizona, and Yung Lean, he made this song called ‘Lemonade’ and he mentions in a lyric in the song saying “Arizona Tears” 3 times and so I thought that name just stuck with me and I just went by ARIZONATEARS.
Do you want an Arizona Tea Sponsor One Day?
Oh yeah, Arizona Tea, sponsor me please. One day one day *laughs*.
Do you drink Arizona every single day as ARIZONATEARS?
No I don’t *Laughs*…
HE’S A FRAUD!
I don’t drink Arizona tea every day because I know it’s unhealthy if you drink it every day, I listen to ARIZONATEARS beats tho (bars).
His stuff is junk bro don’t listen to him.
Thank you bro.
Nah *laughs* I feel like some of them are straight-up trash.
*Laughs* Well it’s still good that you release them because even your trash shit could go viral. Even like Tyler, The Creator when he made Yonkers he made the beat as a joke like not something he was super attached to, he just made it in 5 minutes kine but it blew up to the point where he was the most known for that whether he wants to perform it or not.
Yeah even the Pharrell beats right? He was doing an interview and said that he downloaded a cracked version of FL Studio (Tyler) and then I think he was making an album? But he couldn’t save the beat because he was on the trial version.
Right I think I remember that! He ended up making the whole thing in one take so he could save it.
Yeah, true dedication bro.
Give us a day-by-day play on what a day of producing looks like for you.
A day of producing will usually look like me sitting on this chair and clicking and making melodies and drum loops, and then putting them on a website called ‘Beatstars’ where producers can put their beats for sale and they will sell for different prices.
And then they will also put it on YouTube just for extra exposure, then I would also try to promote my beats on TikTok and Instagram.
You said you can list the beats for sale on Beatstars, do you ever make sales on your beats?
Yup last year I made like $60 - My first beat sales *laughs*.
That’s HUGE, how did it feel when you made your first couple dollars?
I felt like a millionaire, or a billionaire!.. *Laughs* I don’t know. But it just shows that people LIKE my creativity and that people appreciate it.
Did you ever hear get to hear the ‘end product’ of when an Artist recorded on the beat you made?
I think they’re still recording it (probably).
I’m Amazed from Your Remix that blew up the way that it did. What were the accolades like that you received and strived for that you finally reached? As I know the song passed hundreds and MILLIONS of streams on the charts…
*He holds up a plaque he brought from downstairs alongside other plaques* So this plaque up here (on my wall) is my ‘Class of 2023’ that I got from RIAA: This is for acquiring/ getting recognized for getting Platinum and Gold. I also got nominated for being in a class with other artists who got their first-time like Platinum or Gold condition for their single.
That’s hard as HELL bro how did it all feel?
Bro… I was like there’s no way.
I was in TOTAL disbelief that I actually did this… Like I didn’t think I would get this until I was like 40 years old or something! But yeah, you just gotta believe in yourself.
Wow… what other achievements did you hit with the “Watch this (Remix)”?
So my Mom and Dad got me that plaque *points to another plaque nearby* when it was at 150 MILLION streams, and now it’s at 500 MILLION streams as of when we’re talking. Just in total disbelief that it actually reached that many streams…
Do you think that it gives you hope to produce when you produce now?
Oh DEFINITELY it gives me hope like - Looking at this plaque of recognition and getting platinum, I think that shows that the hard work that I put into many years of producing and it shows that I have to believe in myself.
I need to believe in myself and keep going. Cause if I just drop it this will be all for nothing, the plaques will be all for nothing, and I think that I gotta keep going. I gotta keep going with this man…
Would you say there’s any artists that you look up to when you make or when you listen to music?
Yeah, there’s some artists that motivate me like Kanye, Pharrell, Daft Punk, Travis Scott, Lil Uzi Vert and Playboi Carti.
Compared to living in the mainland, do you think that Hawai’i has a big enough Music Scene (Within your genre) to find like-minded people and producers or even hip-hop artists to produce for/ to produce together with?
Oh yeah. Making music and making beats in Hawai’i is more difficult - because there’s not a lot of artists in Hawai’i and there’s not a lot of DIVERSITY in making music in Hawai’i. I feel like if you were to move to California or Atlanta, or Chicago, there’s plenty of like people who are diverse in making music like me. There’s a more wider audience in the mainland (for my genre) whereas Hawai’i it’s more Reggae… *Laughs* there’s only 2 genres in Hawai’i and it’s Reggae and Hawaiian Music, whereas you know in the Mainland there’s MULTIPLE genres that grew from there. When I don’t believe in myself when I’m making beats, I see just the lack of consistency and believing what I think: you know, just failing all the time. And you gotta believe in yourself because if you believe in yourself more and more, things will happen the way you want them to go.
Have you ever deleted a beat on accident or messed something up that you couldn’t get back?
Mmm… I mean I haven’t deleted any beats but I posted beats where I thought those beats were trash and some of them actually blew up… ANYTHING you make can actually get somebody’s attention and they can actually like it.
I think music is subjective to anybody cause people have different ears for what they want to listen to.
Have you ever put out a beat and then found somebody rapping over that beat?
When I was posting beats with samples one of them went viral and there were like MULTIPLE people from other countries rapping on it, yeah it was pretty crazy. There were people like rapping in Korean, people rapping in Malaysian or Taiwanese. Mostly from like the Asian part of the countries who were rapping to one of my beats yeah.
That’s Awesome. What does your life outside of Producing look like for you?
Outside of producing, I like to go to the gym, play some Fortnite and Cyberpunk, and going on hikes, I like to do vinyl shopping.
Ah. Why do you like record (vinyl) shopping?
I like to do vinyl shopping because I think it just opens doors to KNOW other genres… and it just opens doors to get more ideas when you’re making music.
Do you end up sampling some of the records you buy at the shop?
Sometimes I do, sometimes I buy the records and sample them and sometimes I don’t - I just listen to them for fun.
What kinds of genres do you look for at the record shop?
Mostly like soul and just OTHER genres that I wouldn’t usually listen to, just to explore.
Do you end up listening to the records or is it more kind of just an aesthetic/ decoration depending on each one?
It’s like a half-half kinda thing, I buy them for the aesthetic *laughs* and sometimes I just listen to them, but mostly I just listen to them. But I love record shopping, it resonates and brings me back to producing.
Would you say that doing your hobbies outside of producing grounds you BACK into when you produce again? Or are you more like a Studio Rat type who can spend All Day every day Producing - Nonstop?
I feel like I can’t just be producing beats all day. I feel like I have to get out there you know just to reset my mind and get my creativity and thinking back. That helps me get back into making beats.
What’s the Final Goal you’re trying to reach wihin the Music Industry?
My Main Goal is to be A Mainstream Artist, and make it big… Make it big again, and inspire more people to believe in themselves.
And Drink Arizona Tea *laughs*.
What would you say makes you Delusional in your profession?
What keeps me Delusional producing beats, is knowing that this is the only thing that I’m good at in life and I gotta keep going with the achievements that I got. And, if I just don’t believe in myself, and drop the whole producing career, I will be nothing.
So I feel like, HAVING to be Delusional producing beats is the only way that I’ll be fulfilled in my life.
And you’ve already HIT those milestones once! The pure achievements you’ve made with the ‘Watch This (Remix)’ and just the consistency in your uploads, how you market yourself day after day with the exposure you’ve already gotten. Would you say that you’re on the way there already?
I think I’m on the way there but… not yet. There’s still more I NEED to like go FURTHER to get my name out there:
To be, ARIZONATEARS.
And is there anyone you wanna give Major Mahalo’s to for the point you’re at today?
I wanna thank my parents for always supporting me. They’re like the first ones to like my type beats videos on my YouTube Channel and always the first ones liking my posts, putting my promotion posts on TikTok and Instagram.
I just gotta say I love them for supporting me and especially my sister too, and with everyone. My friends, my family.
Outside of everything producing, how’s life?
Life right now, I’ve just been trying to find a job *laughs*. Tryna find a job and doing full-time beats but yeah I’m just gonna keep pushing until I get famous again. GO VIRAL!
Any recent beats/ pages we can promote for ARIZONATEARS?
Check out this new remix I just put out it’s called XG - Is This Love (Jersey Club Remix) IT IS OUT NOW On My YouTube Channel and Soundcloud, check it out, and then also check out my BEATS on my Beatstars @ ARIZONATEARS.
What’s ARIZONATEARS’ Final Message to The World?
I wanna say that you gotta keep going, no matter what. Especially, you gotta believe in yourself, and love yourself. BELIEVING in yourself and LOVING yourself is gonna be the most 2 important things you gotta do to get where you wanna be. To get the situations you want to get, and the life that YOU wanna give others.
I wanna leave a legacy of ARIZONATEARS of making people happy, and believing in themselves and loving themselves. That’s what I want to get out of this: Have the life I want, and give the life that people want, and…
Be Delusional.
follow arizonatears here.
Christian “ARIZONATEARS” Okano: Platinum/ Gold Records at 19, Drinking Arizona Tea & Making Music History.
“Looking at this plaque of recognition and getting platinum, I think that shows that the hard work that I put into many years of producing and it shows that I have to believe in myself. I need to believe in myself and keep going...”
- Christian “ARIZONATEARS” Okano
