Marlon Price and J.P. Beats, aka Jimmy Paschal, the guys behind hip-hop production company Terminal 3, are nice guys — hard-working, polite, the kind of dudes you’d wish a happy ending on.

Their story goes something like this: They met online and bonded over the love of hip-hop, unexpectedly found themselves able to work together in Hawaii, drew the attention of some bigger fish and ended up creating the music for an album in national release.

"Terminal 3 Presents: The Academy" was released on Sept. 13. Executive-produced by Kurupt, who first broke out as a member of Snoop Dogg’s posse in the Dogg Pound, the album includes well-known rappers Raekwon (Wu-Tang Clan), Jadakiss, Kurupt, Pete Rock, Redman, Method Man, Canibus, Styles P and dozens more — 21 tracks, with more than 55 emcees in all.

The Future of Rap Music blog calls "The Academy" a "bi-coastal merging of the minds," praising Terminal 3’s productions "breakthrough soundscapes." The site says "the production value makes ‘The Academy’ the new standard in hip-hop excellence."

"It’s something that spun out of control," said Price, sounding astonished at the developments. "We really didn’t see this going as far as it is going!"

Two singles have already been released from the album.

"Everybody’s downloading tracks," said Beats.

The project has opened new doors for the duo. Release parties have taken place and are still planned in key cities, though Honolulu isn’t one of them. The fact that these musicians were brought into the fold despite their location across the Pacific makes this all the more notable.

BEATS had just moved into a gated condo development above Kahala when a reporter, photographer and videographer barged in on him for an interview. We found him and Price in a still-barebones living room studio set up with vintage and high-tech equipment, trying to act natural while lenses and microphones were aimed in their direction.

They were completely good-natured while we asked them to stand here and pose there. But when we settled down and focused on the story of how they came to be the production team behind the soundtrack to a record featuring some of the best-known voices in hip-hop — along with some rising stars — the mood turned earnest.

Price, a military veteran and sound engineer whose wife is still in the service, related that he’s in Hawaii because his wife’s orders brought them here.

In a lucky twist of fate, he met the man who would become his partner in music-making while still living in North Dakota.

Beats has worked full time as a music producer for about 15 years, after getting his break (as a bass player) on Dr. Dre’s 1996 album, "Back ‘N the Day." He’s lived in Hawaii for about five years after splitting his time between Japan and Los Angeles. His wife is a Japanese national, and Hawaii serves as middle ground.

The two "met" when Beats contacted Price about a piece of musical equipment that was up for sale. After sensing that Price was just as serious about music-making as he was, Beats began a correspondence with his fellow musician, and they became close, although they hadn’t met in person.

At one point, to signify his serious intent in working up some music with Price, Beats sent him $7,000.

"I couldn’t believe it." Price said. "But I came to understand that it meant I could trust him."

Price did what Beats had hoped: He found a rapper interested in laying some vocals over Beats’ tracks. Their relationship was cemented. But it was still a surprise when Price learned he would be moving to Hawaii.

COPYWRITE, aka Peter William Nelson, a hip-hop artist from Columbus, Ohio, who visits Hawaii once or twice a year, played an early role in getting "The Academy" off the ground and says he was "blessed" to be able to work with Terminal 3 on two tracks.

He called to talk about Terminal 3 last week, a few days after being honored in Cleveland as lyricist of the year at the Ohio Hip Hop Awards on Sept. 24.

Speaking in a deep voice, gravelly from performing, Copywrite said he showed up last June at the Waikiki studio where Beats and Price were working and heard some of the music they were making.

"I saw that he had really good beats — and he was not into playing games and all that extracurricular stuff; he’s just into making good music," the rapper said.

Copywrite connected them with Wu-Tang Clan-affiliated producer M-80, and M-80 brought the concept of a compilation album to Kurupt, who plays a role in hip-hop A&R.

"From there it was all magic, because we started working with a lot of people," Beats said.

Kurupt got Universal interested in the project, while signing on as an executive producer.

At that point, though the actual process took about a year, Price said it started to seem like everything happened "overnight."

"All of the music was recorded here on the island," Price said. "We sent it to studios, where the vocals would be recorded."

The first tracks from the finished product went up on iTunes on Aug. 12, and the CD went on sale the next day.

Singles posted online were downloaded more than 100,000 times in the first week, Price said.

"In my genre, when somebody tells you they do music, you kinda are waiting to be let down," Copywrite said, "but that was not the case with their music. I was wondering, ‘Why is this not out yet?’ I was really happy. You want it to be good, but it doesn’t always turn out that way."

As for the finished product: "I think it goes above and beyond what it was meant to do. I’m happy for everybody involved, because it’s doing well," Copywrite said. "They’ve got a platform to do what they want to do now."

You can hear an "Academy" track he worked on at www.copywritesworld.com. "Triple Seize" lives up to its name with a frenetic intro that will raise your heart rate. It’s a battle among three rappers, all throwing out over-the-top lyrics. Like the rest of the album, this is adult stuff, with heavy vocals and beats.

A REVIEW of "The Academy" on hiphopdx.com praises the album for bringing hip-hop stars together with "fresh faces," for its unexpected combinations and for the "predictable consistency" of the production by Terminal 3.

Beats said he’s now waiting for confirmation on a new project with a high-profile rapper.

With "The Academy" out, Price and Beats are set up in different locations but come together when it comes time to hash out a mix.

That’s not so different from the way they worked when they were putting sounds for "The Academy" together.

"We’re both very strongly creative people, and when you do create as much as we do, there’s always that flow," Beats said.