Christian Elie ’25 Makes Beats and Connections

Music production has been Christian Elie’s passion for the last four years. Watching music videos, he knew he wanted to do what he saw the musicians doing and asked himself, “How am I going to get there?” This question sparked his curiosity and drove him to explore every avenue of involvement, from setting the scene and operating the camera, to crafting the beats himself. Beat makers provide the foundation for a song’s structure. The decisions they make can impact the mood or feeling, and can make or break a track. 
Beat making has also become one of the most lucrative career paths for artists in the digital music industry. “I became obsessed with it, and I got to know myself in that process,” Christian says. “It helped me to really appreciate and understand all the aspects of filming and creating contemporary art.” 

Updates in technology have made it more accessible to those looking to try their hand at it. “I used GarageBand in the beginning so I could get an idea of what I was wanting to do, and then after that I started using FL Studio,” Christian says. Having a mobile setup also allows him to strike when the ideas are fresh. “Wherever I am and my laptop is, that’s my setup,” he says.

Christian understands the dedication and effort that’s necessary to make his dream become a reality. “The past three months it has been a lot of music mixed in with getting ready to go to college, but before that it was every single day,” he says. “I want to make it more of a habit, and at the end of the day, it’s part of my lifestyle so it’s something I have to do.”

This year, Christian says, he truly feels like he’s become a part of the Boston music scene, and he’s hoping his presence can inspire others. “As a kid that comes from two parents who are both from the Caribbean, one being Haitian and one being Trinidadian,” he says, “I think that I’m able to give people like me in Boston an identity through what I represent.” For Christian, beat making is about more than being recognized or making money: “Being a hip hop artist gives me a voice that I haven’t necessarily gotten from mainstream media. And being able to have a voice connects people,” he says.

As the president of Xaverian’s X-Represented club, Christian wants to make sure all students have a voice. “That might not just be minority students, but anyone who feels like there’s stuff that needs to be said,” he shares. “That’s what I’m trying to do with music too: blend cultures together and make something unique and something awesome at the end of the day.