Founder and Co-CEO of KrucialKeys Enterprises alongside Alicia Keys, Kerry "Krucial" Brothers is a Grammy award-winning, multiplatinum-selling producer and writer who has played an integral role on Keys' albums Songs In A Minor, The Diary of Alicia Keys and As I Am. He has also produced, written, arranged and composed songs that appeared on the soundtracks of Dr. Doolittle, Drumline, Shaft and Ali . In addition to Alicia Keys, Brothers has also worked with Rakim, Mario, Angie Stone, Nas and Keyshia Cole, and is currently working with Anthony Hamilton, Goapele, Robert Randolph and Brandy. This week Krucial checked in to give 24Hr Grind his advice on succeeding as a music producer and songwriter.

Listen to All Styles of Music
Don’t get caught up in 'this is what I do, this is all I do, this is the only way it is supposed to be done..' This ties into studying your craft. Really learn all types of music, that will help inspire you as a music producer. Listen to classical, music coming from the east, music coming from South America, any kind of thing that’s something different than what you’re used to. As a creative person it will always help make you more creative in what you do by being influenced by stuff you never heard. Listening to something fresh will definitely inspire you, so don’t get caught up in oh this is not my music, just find something that you might appeal to in other styles of music

I can say I was a person who got into the Beatles later in life, I never listened to it. Listening to Run DMC growing up they were dissing them, so I was dissing them too. Then I heard -- I think the record was "Happiness is a Warm Gun," I was like wow this is really incredible, what is this? Don’t just judge it because it’s this or that. There is so much out there that can really make you a better producer.

Greatest Moments in Krucial History:

Winning the first Grammy for "Songs in A Minor", having R&B Album of the year. Me being an engineer and producer for that album and getting that Grammy for something that was at first looked at as like ‘this is not going to be nothing, whatever’ after being on an earlier label that didn’t really believe in the project, to reap all these benefits and get the highest honor in music was like 'Wow, I guess I did study as well as I wanted to study to make it come off this well.' That was also a good moment.