Interview to follow today at fromdabricks.com. Enjoy!
Free K-Def EP & Interview
Moderators: TheBigSleep, djfilthyrich
Free K-Def EP & Interview
OK, so I put this in 'My Two Cents' and got one reply, so although this is all NEW K-Def material, perhaps the T.R.O.Y. heads will appreciate this a little more. 6 tracks plus three instrumentals with MC Dacapo:
Thanks, on the D/L now...
Bad Cop mixes & music: https://www.mixcloud.com/badcop/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; & http://soundcloud.com/bad-cop" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Y@k Bollocks
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B. Ware tha Siniq
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bad-cop wrote:Thanks, on the D/L now...
Thanks for the EP though.
https://soundcloud.com/jay-beware/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I'm throwing up the interview so people can read it. Hope you don't mind:
So here it is: part one of an extensive interview I did with K-Def recently. A great interviewee, he sheds light on a whole range of subjects including projects from the past, present and future as well as getting into some of the intricacies of his production processes in what has to have been my most enjoyable interview to date. Audio-wise, as well as the link to the free EP with Dacapo, Iגve also included an unreleased remix that K-Def produced for Diddy. Get that mouse button clicking!
This first part includes discussion of the World Renown LP, the unreleased albums from both Sah-B and Deג1 as well as a K-Defגs feelings about the issues surrounding sampling in the contemporary game. In the second half of the interview dropping on Wednesday we cover his current production set-up, approach to digital downloads and even reminisce over his personal favourites from his truly slamminג back catalogue. To finish off the week, Iגll also be deconstructing one of my favourite beats from the Real Live LP. Celebrate: itגs K-Def week people!
From Da Bricks: Letגs start with some of the projects that youגve worked on that never saw a full release. Why did Warner decide to shelve the World Renown LP?
K-Def: Wowג¦ at the time I think Warner Bros was dealing with a merge and their rap department basically wasnגt doing that great. It was a subsidiary called Reprise, the urban department they had at Warner. It really wasnגt lifting off the ground, I think they had like The Bush Babees, a couple of other groupsג¦ When we had all the albums done, or almost done, I donגt think Sah-Bגs album got done but I believe Deג1גs album was pretty much done גcos I did a couple of other records with him that nobody ever heard that didnגt get released. What happened was that the Elektra/WEA system was shutting down and they were merging with Atlantic and a lot of other companies and at that time a lot of the independent subsidiary companies off the majors were all folding. Sah-B only had a single, but we were working on the album at the time, but eventually they just said that Warner was folding. Nobody really went into depth with it, but I donגt believe it was because of the projects because as far as Iגm concerned I really believe the World Renown album was a great album, it had a lot of great stuff and it was for that time. But I donגt know, I couldnגt really even tell you the full 100% reason why it didnגt come out, but what I do know is that the record label itself just went under.
FDB: The Sah-B album must have been pretty close because it states on the back of the גSumma Dayג/ גSome Olג Sah-B Shitג 12גג that the album was imminent.
KD: Right. I think Atlantic had something to do with it as well, from all the stuff that was going on. I donגt think they wanted Warner to be a rap label, they wanted to keep it more to the movies and the rock/pop stuff. Iגm pretty much sure that Marley Marl has everything in the vault still so the albums do exist so maybe at the right time theyגll be released one day. I released the World Renown on my MySpace and I didnגt have the full master copies of it, just an old tape of it. I cleaned it up as much as possible and just reissued it out because I was trying to get it from Marley at the time but we didnגt come to a conclusion on having it released. The year somebody comes around with the right paperwork and the right business maybe the albums can be released. I can definitely let you know that the World Renown was definitely completed, Iגm not quite sure if Sah-Bגs album was ever completed and Iגm pretty much sure that Deג1גs album was completed. As far as why they didnגt come out, I donגt knowג¦ Marley has it so I think it will just be a matter of when he lets loose.
FDB: With the internet it would seem like the right time to do it, wouldnגt it?
KD: I would think so. Thatגs whatגs selling right now, CDs and albums arenגt selling that much but downloads are of course really big, so I would think that would be the best way to go about it. Thereגs so much bootlegging and stuff going on, and I think thatגs the reason why a lot of stuff hasnגt been released yet, because you release something now and a few months later another country has got the record and is selling it too, so once they can change those laws and fix that, I guess a lot of vintage stuff that happened in the early ג90s will get released.
FDB: How has the World Renown album done on downloads?
KD: For it to be 13/14 years for it to be releasedג¦ itגs not doing that great. If people know about it, but it just took so long that it was just like, גI want to get the album but itגs not my top priority now because it is what it is,ג you know? I had intended to put it out a few years ago, I was going to put it out with Marley, we had somebody that was going to put it out but that didnגt work out. After that, everything just tapered off and died off. I just got frustrated and was like, גYou know what, I got a copy of it I might as well go ahead and put it out, I know theyגll be a few cats whoגll buy it.ג Itגs not the best quality as if it came out the studio fully mastered but it is the full-length songs where nobody else really has it and anybody who does have a copy it sounds terrible. I figured itגs great for history for it just to be out. It sells, but it doesnגt sell a whole lot.
FDB: Am I right in thinking that Seven Shawn and John Doe are Marleyגs cousins?
KD: John Doe is Marleyגs cousin and me and Seven Shawn are cousins, on distant paths, but weגre related. Basically that was a crazy time right there, John Doe just got out of jail and he said he wanted to do ten songs and hook up with Marley and come out with something. We did ten songs, Marley heard the beats, but wasnגt really feelinג John Doe at the time and I started messinג with the Lords Of The Underground right from there. Long story short after that it was all over with. John wound up hooking up with Seven Shawn maybe a year or two later down the line and we started working on their album. Those were the memorable golden days, the mid-ג90s was a great, great time, it was really great.
FDB: So tell me about some of the projects youגve got coming up.
KD: K-Def is gonna have a lot of tracks coming out this year and itגs not gonna be through no majors, itגs gonna be all independent as far as Iגm concerned and itגs gonna be all great, hot material, none of this throw together stuff. A lot of stuff I have from the ג90s that was never heard before, those beats are gonna get released on certain albums. Thereגs gonna be a lot of great things going on. I got an album Beats From The ג90s that will be dropping which is like all the instrumentals for stuff I did in the early ג90s, stuff I did for Positive K, Artifacts, a lot of good instrumentals that will be appealing to the DJs to actually do blend mixes and have some of that old ג90s culture that people are still trying to make today. Iגm just doing a little bit of everything bro, Iגm doing a whole lot of everything. I got so many beats that Iגve been doing. I got sample stuff, stuff thatגs just strictly played with no samples at all.
FDB: Youגve mentioned there that youגre taking a range of approaches to composition now and sometimes playing over. Whatגs your approach to sampling now?
KD: The sampling that is going on now, I look at it like I really donגt try to change my style and I try to keep that same old sound, but use technology and engineering to make it sound clear like todayגs music. A lot of people are just using MPCs and machines and thatגs how I started at one time, but at some point you got to get older, more mature, you gotta use technology to your advantage and learn new technology. Thereגs a million and one records out there that still havenגt been used that you have to go out and search for, but a lot of these guys, nobodyגs really doing it, but Iגm doing it for sure. As far as what Iגm trying to bring back, Iגm trying to bring back that ג90s sound but Iגm trying to have it where it can go to mainstream because itגs so clear just like any other down south or mid-west record thatגs out: it can compete with sound quality but still actually have samples in it.
When I was doing records in the ג90sג¦ גFunky Childג had like five samples, but you know what, you take five samples that made a classic record for me but I never seen no publishing off it, I never ate off it, and I have to clarify this because people need to understand. If everybodyגs keen on that ג90s hip hop sound then there need to be someone to go to the lawyers and tell them that they need to make a new rule on publishing because in order for you to make those records that you did in the ג90s then you gotta sample like five or six records in one song and if you do the math, everybodyגs taking a percentage of your publishing and youגre not gonna eat. You get a whole lot of props but you ainגt making no money from it. Iגve been doing that for ten years! Iגve been sampling and doing what everybody wanted me to do for ten years on those machines and I didnגt make no money from it. You know why? Because I was just sampling, sampling, sampling, sampling, not knowing any better that thereגs a strategic way to sample. A lot of the new guys that I see now, in the last five or ten years, they been sampling, sampling, sampling and theyגre not doing it strategically where they can get away with doing it without clearing it. Itגs not the same how it used to be and you have to be smarter now, because I know already that youגre not making any money off sampling. There has to be a new law behind that shit, where if you sample somebodyגs record the publisher canגt take 50% of the record, they can only take say 30% and give the producer 20% because the producer did the work, you know what Iגm sayinג? Until they can come up with that law, itגs gonna be rough, itגs gonna be really rough out there.
Iגm keeping it real: I would love to do what I did in the early ג90s and stay focussed on that with MPs and all that, but I do this not for the money, but to get better at my artform and to let the world know that Iגm really good at what I do and that I have a great passion for it, but I still need to make money from it too because this is how I make my money and Iגve always been making my money like this since I was a teenager, you know what Iגm sayinג? I canגt do that anymore: you gotta change with technology and thatגs what K-Def did. As computers came onto the scene, I jumped right on the computers and started making music on the computers and I used that to my advantage. Now, I feel outta place trying to use an MPC again, it just doesnגt make sense. I canגt make a hit song like I did in the ג90s, because the first thing Iגm thinking is itגs going to take a whole bunch of sample to make this song and Iגm not going to see no money. Itגs a great record and itגs a hit record and everybody else who made the records in the ג70s that I sampled from, theyגre the ones that are eating from it and Iגm sitting here twiddling my fingers with nothing and I did all the work for it. There has to be some kind of way where that changes. I just feel that theyגre really hard on producers when it comes to sampling, but people still want to hear them because itגs what they love to hear, and yet producers are getting thrown into the shit every time!
Excellent - that track is heavenly. Seriously, play that joint over studio monitor speakers and just sink into the music.Dan Love wrote:For real. I'll be deconstructing 'Ain't On Love' on my blog later in the week: check it out on Friday.Y@k Bollocks wrote:Dope. Thanks very much. Listened to The Turnaround on Saturday for the first time in a while. Great album.
Part II...
'Ain't No Love' beat deconstruction will drop on Friday. All kinds of K-Def madness!From Da Bricks: Youגve spoken a lot there about new technology. How has using Logic and other digital programs changed the creative process for you? Did it take a complete shift in mindset?
K-Def: I can tell you this much. If I hadnגt jumped on the computer in ג98 I wouldnגt be doing tracks no more, I would have just been known as K-Def the producer from the ג90s that did these hits and thatגs it. I wouldnגt have did Ghostface, I wouldnגt have did the KRS One or the UGK or the Diddy, none of that stuff would have ever come out. I wouldגve given it up because the computer and Logic taught me how to play. I donגt know how to play a whole full song but I know how to program play. I can actually hear what Iגm listening to and replay it back which I couldnגt do when I was on the MP, it just wouldnגt allow me to do that. Now everything is keys and I get to hear music better now and I get to see my music better now and do complex things that I could never do on my machines. I love it, I love it to death. I feel like Iגm a Logic expert now, Iגve been on it for twelve or thirteen years now since it was version 2.5 and Cubase since it was version 3.0 and I just love the computers man. I love the technology, I love the virtual instruments. Theyגre making great, great sounds now, theyגre getting better and better and the more you learn how to play the instruments the better they sound when you record them so itגs really great.
That gives me all the happiness in the world to be able to turn on my computer and know that I can produce a track that day. I can have EQs, I can have compression on my tracks, edits, I can have it mastered and mixed. Those are things I couldnגt do when I was on the MP unless I went upstate to Marleyגs studio and get on the SSL board and waste a whole bunch of electricity, and all that just to make a beat that probably wouldnגt have ended up on nobodyגs album. There was a whole bunch of extra time that was being taken that I donגt have to take no more and I get better results than I did then. Iגll never go back. I use the MP for drums every now and again or when Iגm in the mood for an MP beat Iגll do it but anything that I produce is going to be pretty much on the computer. Iגm sold on that. That keeps me going, it keeps me happy and helps me not to have to rely on having a band or getting hired musicians. I got everything I need in my own little studio in my house and I can do anything that my brain tells me to do. I couldnגt pull that off before, Iגll be honest with you. It was just too expensive and too time-consuming.
FDB: Are you happy with the changes they made for Logic 8?
KD: Logic 8 is actually great. They did a lot of overhauls to it. Put it like this: the way it looks for a new user itגll be great because he doesnגt know, but for me, coming from the earlier versions, Logic 7 Pro is actually a lot more stable than 8, but 8 has the greatest plug-ins of all time. I did the American Gangster album through Logic 8 as far as the final mixing and mastering and it definitely makes a difference in sound. The sound is a whole lot better than Logic 7. The compressor plug-ins, the EQsג¦ they are fantastic, I love גem to death.
I use Logic for the more complex stuff, but then I use Cubase if I want to sound like my old stuff from my MP days. Cubase is more my analogue funk machine, whereas Logic is my digital composing machine. I use them both as tools, I donגt pick one over the other and I know them both on expert level. The best thing about Logic is that when I get my mixes done they really sound good compared to any other program, even Cubase doesnגt sound as good as Logic when I get to mixdown. Logic is my inspiration, but Cubase is like my tool when I want my drums to sound funky and MPC style, with quanitzing and the right fills and those really intricate loops where if I was on a machine it would take a lot of edits to get it really tight. On Cubase itגs just a case of warping or time stretching where it just snaps everything right to your beat where you donגt even hear it. Itגs the best. Cubase is my main program for making the hot beats. UGK was done in Logic, KRS One was done in Cubase as was Diddyגs גWe Gonג Make Itג, Ghostfaceגs גOverג was done in Cubase, Jayo Felonyגs record was done in Logic. It just varies: anything that came out was one of those two programs. Believe you me, Iגll never turn back man. They make me happy and wanna keep on making beats everyday. I donגt knock anybody who uses what they use but I just think that with technology that those two programs are the best of the best. If it wasnגt for them I would have stopped making beats a long time ago.
FDB: Letגs talk a little more about The Program project with Dacapo. How did you guys hook up?
KD: He came through from a friend and he was telling me his story; heגd be working with a bunch of guys and theyגd go into the studio and it would seem like it would never get to him when it was time to record and he wouldnגt get a chance to get his songs done. The first time I heard him he reminded me of Large Professor, this guy reminds me a little bit of C.L. Smoothג¦ he started reminding me of too many guys who I used to like and I was just like, I got a lot of soul records, I got a lot of breaks and a lot of stuff that would fit his style so we decided to work on something. We did a song and he sounded pretty good man and I thought we could do something together. For some reason, he just had an ear for the tracks he was hearing and was like גI want to do thatג¦ I want to do that,ג and my style of music just fit his style of rhyming.
We wound up doing an EP that weגre gonna have for free download and we have an album also that we just finished completing. Itגs looking really good and weגve actually started on another album as we speak, weגll probably be recording again this week. We just gonna keep movinג because I just feel like heגs a dedicated guy and he really loves his craft. You can tell heגs been into hip hop and the real essence of hip hop, the songs that made a real difference in his life and has influenced him as a person. All I try to do is just complement him by giving him tracks that make him sound the way he would want to sound and not somebody else dictating to him what he should sound like. Heגs got the freedom and the opportunity to kind of pick what he wants to pick and that gives him the chance to do it the way he wants to do it. Iגm really pleased with that, and I think in time heגs gonna get better. Heגs a young guy, this is new for him and hopefully with my guidance and coaching and him having the understanding to make a great record weגll have a couple of hits under the belt soon.
FDB: I think itגs great stuff. With the downloads you are obviously addressing an online market. Is that something that excites you or worries you?
KD: It excites me more because the physical products are very tough to sell now. I look at some of the biggest artists like Kanye and 50 Cent, and if these guys are not selling no more like thatג¦ Iגm not even on that level theyגre on. I feel like there has to be a better way where the music can get to the people without them having to physically go to a store and buy it. Those days of going to the store and going to buy vinyl and all thatג¦ the DJs are always gonna do it, but most people are lazy, everybody got credit cards now so pretty much everybody wants to sit at home and browse around on their computer and see what the can find and have it mailed to their house. Everythingגs got so simplified now.
I look at it that it should be a plus as far as Iגm concerned, because as far as selling CDs and vinyl through major labels, thereגs a lot of red tape involved in that and you have to wait a really long time to see any profit or money back from that, when everybody else is trying to get paid before you do. I think that there are just too many people involved in projects that have to get paid before you get paid and then if the project doesnגt really fly off then you donגt get paid. Thatגs the part that scares me more, dealing with those companies that donגt give you that 110% push where you can see a little profit and you can look forward to having a second or third album with the company. Itגs not like that anymore. At the moment youגre lucky if you come out with an album and if you do, theyגre only looking at pushing one song off the album. For me personally, if I got the digital downloads and people are buying it I donגt have to pay all these people out. If it only generates 5000 sales, thatגs 5000 sales that came to K-Def, not 5000 sales that came through the company and have to go to this person and that personג¦ by the time it gets down to you, youגre looking at pennies. I think itגs a better way to go and I think itגs only gonna get better because there are more and more big companies getting involved in it and I really want to take advantage of this moment before it gets too big and they figure out a way to rob the artists and the producers online. I donגt want to be on the outside looking in. Itגs hard to get into record labels now with deals and everything because theyגre not signing any groups or giving any deals out and thatגs destroying the future of hip hop and the music. Online is definitely the way to go.
FDB: What about your label Ghetto Man Beats, us that just a vehicle for you to release stuff or do you have other artists signed as well?
KD: Definitely. Itגs there to let people know that I have a company, I put stuff out and I love to do joints with other companies that are doing stuff. I take it seriously and I have skills that are just more than just making beats when it comes to the music. Me having a company solidifies that. Thereגs graphic design in this company, thereגs photography, music, DJing, editing, mixing, masteringג¦ pretty much everything involved in the music the company Ghetto Man Beats can get down and do. Thatגs one of the main focuses right now, having the company stand on its own and be able to do things other than just K-Def making beats for the company there are other things that can transpire from it.
FDB: Jersey is obviously your home and you still live there. How do you think it has managed to establish such a strong sense of its own identity regarding hip hop when it is in such close proximity to New York?
KD: Thereגs an old saying that states that although it started in the Bronx, hip hop made money in Jersey. Jersey was around the money makers and New York was more the culture end of it, you know what Iגm saying? The cultural aspect of it was New York bound and Jersey took that culture and figured out how to make money and a profit from it. Thatגs what Iגve been around. I was around the Sugarhill Gangs and I saw all that era and for me, Iגm not from New York but I got footprints all over New York. From day one when I was a kid when The Rooftop and the Latin Quarter and Union Square and all those spots was open I was a young kid and thatגs where I learned a lot as far as the culture. When I came back to Jersey I was looking at the bands and rappers coming in and they were actually doing records over that were really breaks at the time.
Now that hip hop has turned so big the way it is today, people forget that even though Iגm from New Jersey, donגt think Iגm country, donגt think Iגm corny, donגt think Iגm lame, donגt think I donגt know what time it is because me and my peoples were only ten minutes away from Manhattan. Going to Manhattan was just like going to another town: it was nothing. I learned a lot, you picked up your dos and your donגts, street codesג¦ New Yorkers feel like we were trying to be like them or better than them but I just want to clarify that Iגm from Jersey, but everybody from New York lived in New Jersey so donגt talk about it, be about it. If you gonna represent New York then go live in New York, I represent Jersey and I still live here. I think I know as much as any other New York guy with producing and DJing and everything else, I just happen to live in Jersey. I wasnגt dumb enough to stay in Jersey all my life, I did get out. Thatגs the difference: I got out when I was a kid. I got put in situations in New York where I was scared for my life, and from that point on it made me realise how seriously I had to take hip hop and the culture. I donגt think a lot of these new cats understand that. I was at the Raising Hell tour at Madison Square Garden where I saw people get cut and stabbed and beat up, and that was at a rap concert! I was there when KRS One threw PM Dawn off the stage at Sound Factory. Iגve seen a lot of things that show that the only way you get respect is not where you from but actually how nice you are doing what you do and where you at to do it. I felt like if I was as nice as I could be I could show New York that I could do it as well because I was in New York every other day, be it record shopping, being down in the Village, the Bronx, Queens, wherever it was, I was always a part of seeing how they looked at the culture. I vibed from that. Thereגs not a lot of people in Jersey who could be how I am. As far as Iגm concerned you might as well say Iגm from New York because I spent my share of time over there.
FDB: When you look back over the last 15 years or so, what do you identify as the best records that youגve made?
KD: The best records to me? I would have to say the Real Live album. The early stuff, I didnגt look at myself as a producer because I was young, it was going so fast and I was doing so many projects, and it was only when I did the Real Live that I got serious about being an artist and taking on a lot of the business responsibilities that I didnגt have to take when I was just making beats for everybody else. I would say that the Real Live project was a real good project. I donגt have too much to say about the early ג90s stuff because I really wasnגt paying attention like I am now. My mind wasnגt even set as like being a producer because I was under Marley Marlגs wing at the time and I was really doing everything for the company and not really for me. The Lords Of The Underground and Da Youngstas and the Tragedy, the Sah-B, the World Renown, I was just looking at it like whatever, to be honest with you. It was only when Real Live came into the picture and you know, Jayo Felony, the Ghostface and all the newer stuff I was doing gave me more seriousness in making it happen. I felt good about everything I did after I left Marley Marl. I felt good about those projects because I was on my own two feet doing it by myself and it felt better having been underneath somebody else for so long and not getting the full recognition that I should have got. The Real Live made me feel good because Iגd never done a full album except that one.