Features

Your album The Death of Adam really works as a whole and it kind of defies this new idea that that every song has to be removed enough from the next so that it can be sold in a singular format in places like iTunes. Was that a conscious decision to make it a 'whole' album.

Yeah I definitely kept that in mind but I also kept in mind for the album, as far as iTunes is concerned, whether or not someone purchased a song off the album on iTunes then you'd get the little part at the end that was the segway piece where the story is being told. So i purposelessly designed it so instead of buying song by song, you have to buy the album to get the full part.

I definitely plan on releasing singles, for example Stay Up! (Viagra) the the lead single off the album. I dunno if you purchased it yourself or if you realise this, If you purchase the single version of Stay Up! (Viagra) not only do you get the artwork but you get a whole bunch of special treats. You get the acapella, you get the instrumental, you get a song that is not available anywhere else called Bout To Bus, and then with the Perspiration Pack of the single you get the official remix.

It's interesting that you mention that you're giving acapellas, what's your stance on, and I haven't seen it in a while, but remember when 9th (Wonder) took all the acapellas from Jay-Z's album (The Black Album) and used them to re-produce it. What's your take on that sort of thing with say, people coming in and maybe taking some of your production and acapellas and mixing them up?

Oh yeah yeah, I definitely approve of it and I hope that happens and actually it already has, I just got wind of this one producer; I'm not even sure of his name, or her name, you know in all fairness, but it's like just a remix floating around called the Stoney Love Remix I believe or the Stoney Black Remix. I like it so much I actually want to reach out to the producer and you know quite possibly feature it. You know full blown studio, full blown mix session and have em mix and match it on maybe a future single I put out.

You know the name of the producer?

Ah no, my manager's got the name, I got to check with him first, but you know, I encourage this stuff and you know in the event that this producer has never done anything before then this could be like their big break. I definitely plan on reaching out to this guy, this person and paying em for their work and stuff like that if I was to feature it.

I could imagine for you the idea of recognising talent and then giving it an opportunity when you've got the chance would kinda ring home and be an important factor because you've kinda come from a background where you had to fight your way into music, what with the adversity from your parents, getting an internship etc.

Yeah exactly and you just said the key word right there, the key phrase, 'giving it to somebody that I think has talent' because a lot of people you know...

Not everyone has talent...

Exactly, and it's true, not everyone does and a lot of people expect handouts and stuff like that. If a person expects a handout they, you know, they should at least have the talent to be worthy of the handout.

How do you think you get talent? Do you think 80% natural ability 20% hard work for example? What do you think the formula for talent is?

I would say 70, 30 of what you just said! (Laughs) Just working on your craft everyday, trying to master your equipment and trying to be the best at what it is that you do and ah but you know, it's definitely god given, talent, and it's definitely whatever god has in store for you.

For you were there any other interests that were jumping around and that grabbed you or was it always just music?

Un no, ah 1995 was the last time I actually had a 9 to 5 job and I only did that to make money and I guess you know, to stay on the path that my parents wanted me to go. You know, just study hard and stay in school and to make my own money and stuff like that. But the more and more I was getting involved with music, just on a recreational level, the more I was like 'oh okay you know I think this is what I have to do' because there were too many people telling me you know, outside of me thinking it myself, and with me thinking myself about it, it was very skewed, I didn't want to, I never thought of myself as somebody like who was a really dope producer at the time or as a dope beat maker at that time early in my career...

It's funny cause it sounds like you weren't like anybody that's up on MySpace these days.

(Laughs) Exactly! Which is why this question spilled over to the talent part of the conversation because like that's exactly what I'm talking about.

Yeah you get a message on MySpace in all caps saying 'come check my production' and then you hear a bunch of tin can beats. You just give up.

Exactly exactly and a lot of it is really bad. They're making it difficult for people who actually do have talent who really need to be checked out. Like you know it's kinda making it hard for them so I would say to all those people, before you put out your stuff thinking you the (next) John Blaze or you're like the next super producer like really really take into consideration, okay if I had to play this beat for like a Jay-Z, and you know Just Blaze had just played beats for Jay-Z, like can I follow anything of what he would play with my music?

I've read there was a period where your production fell out of demand after having worked with the likes of Mos Def and The Pharcyde and the sound of the moment changed to that of the likes of the Neptunes and the southern sound. During this period you stuck to your guns and just honed the elements of the hip-hop sound that you enjoyed. Would you say that that is an important thing to do for anyone honing their own craft?

Oh yeah definitely, that's what I would advise but you know it depends on what you're trying to do. Like for me, I could of jumped on the Neptune's vibe or I could of jumped on the Lil' Jon vibe and started doing 808 kicks and claps and the very sparring, I mean in terms of Lil' Jon, that very sparring production and stuff like that, and I could of got a check but I chose longevity over a check and to try to develop a cult following... cult is such a strong word, to try to develop a...

A sound fanbase?

Yeah yeah a sound fan base, over just getting a big check. Cause I always felt like eventually things would come back around to my style of production...

That was going to be my next question, it seems to me we're in the throws of that right now. There is a bit of a renaissance where there is this aspect of backpack music that is coming to the forefront again with dudes like Kid Cudi on the cover of XXL, Mickey Factz, they're a progression from earlier days say 93' 94', but they certainly owe a lot more to that kind of sound, or Lupe as an earlier example, they certainly play more homage to that sound than they do to say the Biggie's and the Tupac's. Do you think we're coming full circle?

Oh yeah definitely definitely, and the thing is it's really about time because like you can do what, so many covers over so many years of Lil' Wayne, or Ludacris on the cover, or Fifty on the cover, or even Kanye on the cover. You know, you gotta shake things up and put the new spirit out there and breathe life into this culture of hip-hop and where it's headed in the future.

Like not to say that the aforementioned are not hip-hop, you know Lil' Wayne is hip-hop because he rhymes, Kanye is hip-hop because he rhymes and he does hip-hop beats and stuff like that. But there is definitely room for more and there is actually people starting to take note and take opportunities to give the underdog if you will a little bit of shine.

Especially these underdogs that are really making a name for themselves, independent artists who are really making a name for themselves on their own merit and not because they're rolling with a particular company. Like Charles Hamilton is making a name for Charles Hamilton not because he was signed to inter-scope by Jimmy Lovine himself...

Which then means he then gets a cover on XXL... yeah yeah, It seems this new generation are coming up and the media are giving them time, not because, yeah they're on a major which has gone 'here throw this guy on the cover' but rather because people are paying attention to these people and the magazines readership are going 'we want to learn about these people, we want to hear more from them'...

Exactly, yeah definitely definitely. I mean it's about time, for me I'm actually getting played on one of the biggest radio stations on the east coast in America right now, Hot 97, I'm not exactly in rotation just yet but I feel like I'm a few steps away but they play my songs, or my song every day...

Now that you've got a song you can call your own, because obviously you've had your music on these stations before with the likes of...

Actually no man, I mean I've had stuff played on college radio and that's if I actually stay up late enough to listen to it...

I have to plead ignorance but I would of assumed that stuff you did like Champion Requiem or Speed Law... you never had those joints played on commercial radio? Your kidding me?

I've never heard any of those joints played on commercial radio in my life. Now we're talking American radio, United States radio versus Australian, I've never heard Speed Law or Love or any of that played on the radio, except for college radio stations.

That brings home how much there needs to be a changing of the guard a little bit in terms of... not even a changing of the guard but where we were talking about 70, 30 with talent and hard work it's almost like we need to apply the same formula to get a bit of an equilibrium between what's being played on the radio stations and what should also be played.

Yeah exactly, and I mean I can't even really blame the program directors or anything because they're just doing their jobs and following their program cause I think it's really up to the people to make their voices heard.

I've heard for years upon years upon years, countless discussions and countless complaints about, 'a man yo Hot 97, or the radio, I don't listen to radio cause they play the same 20 songs all the time' but thing is like, the people that are saying that don't realise why Hot 97 or a commercial radio station are playing the same Ludacris, Lil' Wayne, Kanye or Fifty Cent songs like 20 times a day. They have to look back at themselves, number one, they're playing it cause it's being requested and it's being requested because it's being sold.

You know like Lil' Wayne came out and did a million the first week, that was people buying his album. So for people, for the die hard fans of Little Brother or Mos Def who are complaining that their local station is playing Lil' Wayne 20 times a day that's because that fan of Little Brother or Mos Def downloaded the album for free so that doesn't count in sound scan or anything like that so it's just straight up lack of support. I say all that to say that purchasing albums or purchasing songs is a huge, big important part of that support...

It's like making your vote count, like people made their vote count in America and they got Barack Obama in... speaking which that must still be pretty amazing.

Oh yeah yeah, big time big time, a big shift for everybody both black, white, latino, asian everybody's feeling it

You think he'll bring that change?

Yeah sure of course, but again it's up to the people. He's a figure head he can only do so much by himself but it's up to the people to voice their opinions and to make themselves present for that to happen...

And you've got apply that same logic to buying albums and supporting good music... (Laughs)

Exactly... starting with 88-Keys! So go get that album! (Laughs)

88-Keys is a busy man, when not tending to every need of his beautiful wife and child and making making neck snappers you can find him tweeting away and also up on myspace... Oh yeah and make sure you cop that Death of Adam and that Adam's Case Files while your at it.