#100Trill: "Forever" (Feat. ShowYouSuck)
Fellow Chicagoans and Legion of Dudes members Grade Aplus and producer Mike Jaxx stay consistent with new material seemingly every week and today bring us the latest from their #100Trill collaboration, this time featuring another LOD artist, ShowYouSuck to spit a few bars over the Jaxx-production. "Forever" is the follow-up single to last month's "Sharkeisha" off the #100Trill's upcoming mixtape, Muzik to Check Yo Bitch To EP, due out in February. "Forever" navigates familiar territory for both Grade and Show, who traverse the recognizable pseudo-trap beat with clever wordplay and a catchy hook, "Forever I'm Ever Mackin'". With everyone in the Midwest trapped inside as Antarctica moves north for a couple days, expect plenty more heat to come out of the ever-working #100Trill duo. Listen to "Forever" streaming here below.
[Video] Cadillac Duke: "Pop Out" (Remix)
If you've turned on a radio at any point in the past year or so around the Chicagoland area, you were likely to be inundated with the catchy bop-anthem "Pop Out" by local artist Katie Got Bandz that cemented her name in the Chicago scene with the radio hit. Fellow Chicagoan and LOD member Cadillac Duke gave the track a once-over in this re-done version of the track, aided by the steady hands of producer Don Hulio. Becoming "Caddy Got Bandz" for the song, the MC adds a delightful spin to the banger. With his Dirty Bruce project slated for an early 2014 release, "Pop Out Remix" may be just the thing to get the people talking. Bryan Lamb (FragD Films) and Wisam of Four Stars Chicago shot and edited the video below. Pop Out!
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[RH First Listen] Jarred A.G.: "Play Around"
Jarred A.G. has been quietly working for the past year and a half to amass a strong catalog of music, he has been eager to release. During that time we heard tracks come from him and the Fifth Dimension Collective, piquing our interest for the up-and-coming local emcee. Now he is on the verge of releasing his debut project, The Luxury Tax EP, and comes through with the debut track, "Play Around" featuring Savemoney's Dally Auston and produced by Jarred's younger brother Smoko Ono. The smooth production picks up on a dope sample, adding mellow synths and some snappy drums to create the perfectly laid back base to flow over. Read on to learn more about the track and to catch a preview of our upcoming First Look on A.G.
RubyHornet: When was the track recorded and can you speak on the inspiration behind it?
Jarred A.G.: Play Around was recorded a couple months ago at LPeezy studios. Shout outs to Papi Beatz. Smoko first played the beat for me about half a year ago and mentioned how he wanted me to work with his friend Dally, this MC has was producing for, (go cop The Wood). The beat itself reminded me of a lazy Sunday morning in bed and that was the atmosphere I was trying to create on the song. Fast forward a couple months later and Dally came through to the studio, and we went right to work. After we heard it, it was like damn, we gotta do some more work together.
RubyHornet: How would you describe the collaborations that go on with artists from other sets then?
Jarred A.G.: It’s always good vibes. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with a lot of talented artists who all share the same passion for music that I do. The chemistry between Dally and I is natural, and he’s easy to work with. Smoko really brought us together through the music and we’ve continued to collaborate since. We’ve got a couple more tracks on deck. I don’t see the collaborations slowing down anytime soon.
RubyHornet: Any other Savemoney x FDC collaborations we should know about?
Jarred A.G.: There are a couple things in the works with Dally, which y’all will hear in the coming months. Shit is crazy, but I don’t want to give too much away. Shout outs to Ibn Inglor, Benny Nice, and Black Ralphy’L for doing their thing with us too, you can expect to hear some work with them very soon.
First Look: Doomtree
When you think of Minneapolis Hip Hop, you may first think of Rhymesayers. When you think about 9 member Hip Hop crews, you may first think of the Wu-Tang Clan. Well, the Doomtree collective have simultaneously added their name to both lists with their self-titled LP, released earlier this year. While the crew consists of people from different races, ethnicities, genders, and musical upbringings, they share a mind set that makes everything work.
"We all care about good music first and foremost," Doomtree member P.O.S. tells about the common thread running through the crew. "We want to do music and put out albums the way we want them to go, not necessarily the way they’re supposed to go," he adds.
Putting together an album with 9 different solo artists can be a difficult task, and in this RH First Look, P.O.S. gives us a rundown of the process, a crash course on the Minneapolis DIY mindset, as well as the skinny on a couple choice album cuts. Get behind the microscope below...
RubyHornet: I want to start by talking about the things that link your collective together. I mean you guys are 9 individuals of different backgrounds, ethnicities, etc, what is that common mindset or vibe that you all share?
P.O.S.: We all grew up together. We all have a few solid principals running through all of us. A few of them being that we all care about good music first and foremost. When it comes to our stage show, you’ll never see us just standing around in our cool clothes. When it’s over, you’re going to see us covered in sweat, and ready to go to sleep. We’re not hanging out trying to be cool. Everybody wants to be cool, but that is not our main focus. That is one thing that definitely sets us a part in Hip Hop to start with, but also comes from our roots in different genres of music besides Hip Hop…Ultimately what links us is that we want to do music and put out albums the way we want them to go, not necessarily the way they’re supposed to go.
RubyHornet: You hail from Minneapolis, which in terms of Hip Hop music is best known for Rhymesayers and their approach to everything from creating to touring to marketing. I know that you all also have a relationship with them. My question is, when you were younger did you look to them as a model in anyway, and what’s it like to now work with them?
P.O.S.: My first year of high school, when I was in school with Mictlan freestyling or whatever, we all heard Rhymesayers. We all heard Atmosphere. We all thought it was cool, but I personally come from a DIY/punk rock background. Everybody in the group comes from DIY, we looked at the Rhymesayers collective before it was really cracking on a national level, and we didn’t know that. That was the first rap music that I ever heard that I was like, ‘this is from here? This is from Minnesota?’ I knew that it could happen, but I associated the whole Do It Yourself vibe with punk rock, so when I realized that there were people in Minnesota doing it with Hip Hop, that kind of blew my mind. It also blew the door open a lot.
RubyHornet: In terms of the DIY attitude, how is that reflective of Minneapolis as a city, and the people that inhabit it? Do you feel we can see it through your music?
P.O.S.: One of the biggest things is that we’re a major city to ourselves, but nobody moves to Minneapolis to be a star. Nobody does that. They move to L.A., they move to Chicago, they move to New York, Denver, Dallas, big cities. Our city is big enough, it does what it is supposed to do, but there’s no coast here. There’s no major record label, there’s just a longstanding history of music. So, the one thing we know out here is that right from jump there’s no record label. There’s no executives coming to the shows to watch you play. You know that from jump, you’re in Minnesota. It’s one of those things where if you expect to get anything done, if you expect to progress and advance as an artist, you got to expect to do that for yourself. Being located in the middle of America, our sound, not just Doomtree but Minnesota, the sound is made of various artist’s favorite sounds from every coast, every genre, every style. You take it to make it feel how you want, there are no rules. It’s one of those cities that has such a long musical history of people cracking out how they want, a lot of people who came out doing it how they wanted to do it and made a name. That’s one thing that keeps us going. When you’re a musician out here and you take it seriously, you think about the history of Minnesota music, you definitely don’t think, ‘what’s cracking right now? How can I make this? What’s popular? Should I chop and screw this cause everybody else is?’ We’re in the middle man, we’re in the middle top of America. We’re getting everything, mixing it up, and making it our own thing.
RubyHornet: What is going on there from a socioeconomic standpoint with the things effecting the country as a whole? How is that taking shape in Minneapolis, what are everyday people going through there?
P.O.S.: Man, same as everywhere else. Where are you at right now?
RubyHornet: I’m in Chicago.
P.O.S.: Yeah. You know what it’s like man…There’s the same amount of unrest in Minnesota as anywhere else. Maybe a little more so because we’re in the Heartland, everybody expects us to be one certain type of people and we’re not. Everywhere I go, and I’ve been on a lot of tours, everywhere I go, there’s struggle. It’s all America, it’s all American politics. And it’s all people that have a perception of you that you have to take their perception, deal with it, then show and prove. Whether it’s musically, whether it’s what you believe in, whatever it is, people don’t really take anything for face value these days. They assume everyone is on something.
RubyHornet: What was the project like in terms of constructing the album, and showcasing the individuals in Doomtree, and showcasing your strengths as a collective? Is it almost another skill of everyone in the group to work with each other and not let their egos get in the way?
P.O.S.: That’s the thing about us, we’ve all be really good friends for a lot of years. These are my oldest and closest friends hands down. So, when it came down to making the record, Lazerbeak, who is the primary producer on the record, and primary producer on a lot of Doomtree projects, he turned in somewhere between 40-50 beats. We all just sat down with the beats on repeat and wrote, and worked it out. Sometimes it was like, ‘everybody’s got verses, we’ll put the verses together, how do the verses work?’ Essentially it’s a lot of solo artists figuring out how to work together. We all know each other so well that it’s not an ego thing. We’re all 100% certain that if we’re not on this track, there’s another track being made tomorrow. It’s never been an issue of, ‘I want to get on that one. Let me on that one,’ or anything like that. It’s always been like, ‘You got a verse? Cool. Is the song long? It’s not too long, hop on? You got an idea, something we could add to this? Fix this chorus…’ All the ego stuff, and all the transitioning from solo artists to trying to work together, all that happened within the first 5-6 months of writing the record. Everybody was kind of holding back their best s**t, cause everybody wanted to save it for their solo record, and then, by the time the record started to get made, you see what everybody else is coming with and everybody just stepped it up. Nobody wanted to be outshined, or really outshine everybody else so it just melted and worked its way to where everyone feels like their shining in their moments. That’s why there’s not too many solo songs. We didn’t want it to be a label compilation, we wanted it to be a crew album. We didn’t want 3 P.O.S. songs, and 3 Sims songs, and 3 Dessa songs. We wanted it to be one solo song apiece and collabs on everything else. We knew that going into it, so there was no butting heads. It was actually way easier than it should have been with 9 people.
RubyHornet: I also want to ask you about your solo track, “Liver Let Die”. You say, ‘this is a little city, so twisted this village be, it’s a wonder nobody just ever told you leave it be.’ Are you talking about Minneapolis? Or is this a place that may exist in your mind?
P.O.S.: It is literally talking about Minneapolis being a small city, but when I wrote it, I was writing from a place of panic and the whole bar culture. I finished that song up and placed it in the wintertime in Minneapolis. The winter there is probably the same as the one in Chicago, your friends disappear. Your friends don’t disappear, but the people that are peripheral friends in your life, people that you know, but don’t know that well, the one’s you see and have almost exclusively bar conversations with, the people you’ve known 5 or 6 years but have never met sober…I’m not a big drinker, but I’m a musician, I’m in the bars, I’m out. There’s a lot of people that I know. That’s what I’m commenting on in that song. It’s like, this is a little city, but every city is a little city if you break down whatever scene and people you’re rolling with. It’s kind of hard to break out of that, no matter what city you’re in…Essentially what I’m saying is, ‘I don’t know what you guys are doing, but I’m working on something.’ That’s the general vibe. I’m talking about people in the bars, interpersonal relationships, and I’m just commenting on ‘I don’t know what you guys are doing, I’m not sure what you guys are feeling, but this is what I’m about. I’m about progress, I’m about moving forward.’ I’m just trying to say that in the most rapp-y way to make it fit in a rap song.
RubyHornet: You have a song with Sims, “Accident”. He says, ‘we went from primates to inmates of a mindstate.’ What mindstate do you think that is, and what do you see as your music’s role in perhaps freeing people from that?
P.O.S.: To be straight up, I don’t see myself, or Sims, as somebody who is freeing anybody from any kind of mindstate. All we’re trying to do in songs like “Accident” is point out where people are kind of just sitting and tell them to let go in the flyest way possible. When he says, ‘we went from primates to inmates of a mindstate,’ he’s talking about evolving communities, and then growing out of primates, monkeys, with inmates of the mindstate being the idea that ‘they’ are in power. This nameless thing that you can’t do anything about it so you might as well enjoy it…We spend a lot of time doing everything we can to not say ‘they’ and talk about imaginary rappers, imaginary situations. But we’re treated the way we allow ourselves to be treated, and every once in a while it’s important to call that out. The whole vibe of you watch TV or you listen to NPR and you hear what’s going on in the world and you hear it and you can recite it back to your friends of how f**ked up it is. But you don’t actually realize it’s happening to you…This is actually happening to us, all of us at the same time. It’s like, ‘oh man, everything is so f**ked up, dude.’ But there’s nothing to say or do after that. That’s kind of what we’re talking about. He’s got a lot of my favorite verses on the album talking about social politics and the way people are treated.
RubyHornet: Within the crew do you see everyone in the crew having their specialty as far as what they talk about?
P.O.S.: This is not our first record, but this is our first record. We’ve all been rapping for a longtime and have our own records, but now we’re all out as Doomtree. I got two solo records under my belt, and one coming out next year. All of us have releases that we’ve put out in Minnesota only. So everybody has the niche they like…We all have goals, we all want to be the best emcee that we can be, but it’s never been in our best interest to be the best emcee in the world. There’s too many emcees to try and do that. We want to be the best emcee that we can be. We don’t want to pose. We don’t want to posture for people, we just want to rap our asses off about s**t we care about. I can honestly say that about everybody in the crew.
First Look: 6th Sense
6th Sense is building a very strong underground buzz both on the mic and behind the boards. After peeping and posting a few 6th Sense joints, we linked up with the NYC emcee/producer for the latest edition of RH First Look. Get to know 6th Sense below as he speaks on his introduction to music, clears up how he got his name, and explains why he's the best emcee behind the boards...aside from maybe Q-Tip.
RubyHornet: What was your introduction into music like? Do you remember a moment that made you go, 'I want to produce/rap?'
6th Sense: I was introduced to music from the moment I was born. Both of my parents played music growing up. My mother played classical piano when she was young, most of it self-taught. My father was a keys player in a few bands in the 70s. He was a songwriter too, he wrote a song for the Stylistcs, but it didn't make the cut for the album. There's baby pictures of me maybe a few weeks fresh out the hospital with a walkman on. I grew up listening to everything under the sun. The Beatles, EWF, The Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder was one of my favorites. One of my first words was "Wondie" which was what I called him. Michael Jackson was the S**T to me. When I was 4 I performed a Michael medley with the band at my Aunt & Uncle's wedding, there's some footage of that somewhere lying around.
I can remember being 10 years old and hearing a verse from DMC that blew my mind away... "My name is DMC, the one you know / The all-time great gonna steal the show..." I spent all day transcribing the lyrics. I can remember being 15 down at the Nuyorican Poet's Cafe for the first time. That WORDS open-mic with Rocky f**ked my whole world up. I don't even think I got on the mic the first time I went. I had already been listening to hip-hop for quite some time and I had been writing as well, but I remember that night was the first time I said "yo, I LOVE hip-hop." The next month I tore it down.
RubyHornet: Your name is 6th Sense. I've read that it is a reference to the song by Common. Can you set the record straight here about your name and how you came up with it?
6th Sense: If you read that it's a reference to Common, all I can say is that you googled 6th Sense. I'm kidding. All I can say is I had the name before he had that song, and I even had the name before the movie. You have to remember I was a young guy at the time. I might have been 14 or 15 when I came up with the name. My reasoning behind it was that music is my sixth sense. I think it's cool that I've really grown into the name as I've gotten older. I can be completely sober and feel a genuine attachment to the name. I mean, s**t, how else could someone like myself be able to do what it is I do? Gotta be a 6th Sense right?
RubyHornet: On "I Wanna Tell Ya" Remix you say, 'the best emcee behind the boards, besides maybe Q-Tip.' That's a bold statement, let us know what gives you that feeling?
6th Sense: The whole best MC behind the boards is something you don't hear in hip-hop discussions. We've heard best producer on the mic all the time. And there's a ton of great producers behind the mic. You could say that the best MC behind the boards is like the reversal of that, the flipside.
In hip-hop you kind of have to be over the top and give yourself some real inflating titles. Cats do it all the time. It's something I've never really done. It's not my style. The truth is, there isn't much of the MC's behind the boards kinda thing. So I'm just kinda rolling with that. F**k it. Naledge was talkin’ a lotta pimpery smack at the end of the remix so I threw that on there. But I had to keep it on the humble and big up Q-Tip.
If you try to overanalyze it, what does best MC behind the boards really mean? You're a dope MC but make wack beats? You're a rapper that happens to make hot beats? Chicken or egg? Who's on first? It's silly. But word. I get very busy on both ends.
RubyHornet: On "I Won't Let You Fall" you say, 'stop, go, what is the attraction?' are you referring to your attraction to being an artist there? If so, have you figured it out?
6th Sense: A lot of times, with a lot of lines I'm talking about a lot of things. But more than anything, I write for listeners to have their own unique attachment to it. As relating to the actual song, it's kind of a weird song. Like, I sampled Chris Brown for crying out loud, and I knew there was something dope about it, I just didn't know what it was. Just before that line, I let the beat drop so there was a "stop." And after that line I say "I'm just trying to do my part like a fraction." It's train of thought meets what's going on in the beat meets life philosophy.
It's all simple s**t, but at the same time there's some depth to it. It can mean whatever the listener wants.
RubyHornet: That track features you rocking over Chris Brown, is there a certain type of beat that especially drives you as an emcee? On the flipside, do you feel there is a certain type of beat that you are becoming known for as a producer?
6th Sense: I can't really say there's a certain type of beat that especially drives me as an MC, because I like to experiment and rock over a wide variety of music. If and when I get the chance to put together a solo album on a grand scale using other producers, you're going to hear cats that make music with their productions.
A few examples, I'm talking about Organized Noize, DJ Quik, Ryan Leslie. There's so many times where I'll put on the YouTube of Ryan Leslie making "Addiction" just for inspiration. We kind of make tracks the same exact way except he's got an arena and I'm playing ball with no shoes on. I'd even holler at Krewcial Keys & Alicia. I know if I went in the studio and they played me "Superwoman" just without Alicia singing, I'da taken that in a heartbeat. And of course, I'd have ?uestlove producing stuff, or The Randy Watson Experience, or the Yessirs, WHATEVER he wants to call it.
On the flipside, I don't know if there's necessarily a particular type of beat I'm getting known for. I can say that more than 3/4s of my stuff is sample free. People are noticing a lot of my synth work and synth lines. I don't know why, but people love it. I added keys to Snoop's "Think About It" on the platinum album Blue Carpet Treament. Ha. I think that because I come from such a long history of doing music with samples and loving that whole style, that I'm able to do keys and synths in a way that sample heads can still appreciate.
RubyHornet: Talk about Notherground. Is there a common philosophy or mindset that everyone involved shares? If so, what would it be?
6th Sense: You got to be willing to artistically not give a f**k, and take chances. You have to be able to GO. You have to allow yourself to exist outside the box and mind frame of the music industry. You have to be different.
Notice I didn't get into the musical aspects, because Notherground is bigger than just musicians.
RubyHornet: You were one of the first artists to come out with a pro-Obama song. A couple weeks ago various outlets asked if Hip Hop could potentially harm Obama's campaign because of such strong endorsements. Do you think there is any danger there, or that Hip Hop being behind Obama may put off some potential swing voters?
6th Sense: I made a pro-people song. This election ain't about Obama, it's about the people. The people ignite the people like Obama. I wish I could ignite the people like Obama.
The media and people need to be careful when exploring the affect of hip-hop's endorsement of Obama on voters. I feel there's more undertones of racism than what someone's taste of music is. If the media's going to pose the question then they have to think about the answer. If you think that hip-hop's changing a swing voters mind, that's ridiculous. Those are the folks that are probably not voting for Obama because he's black. I don't want to go deeper regarding all of that.
That's why I feel "Ignite The People" is special. There's no cursing in it. It's for all people, it's not just for the hip-hop audience. When Ludacris does a freestyle on a mixtape, that's obvious it's for the hip-hop audience. I appreciate that you called it a pro-Obama song as opposed to a hip-hop Obama track. We went all around the city, from the Apollo, to Central Park, Union Square, Times Square, Grand Central Station, the NYC subway and it was the entire human spectrum that we connected with.
"You ever think you'd see a white rapper endorse a black president?" That's the line right there.
RubyHornet: In your mind is there a difference between rapping and being an emcee, between making beats and being a producer? If so, where does that line lie and at what point would you say you crossed it?
6th Sense: The line between rapping and MCing is fuzzy so I don't really know. There's a definite line between beatmaking and producing and I crossed that line the second I started getting behind the boards.
RubyHornet: What does the rest of '08 and top of '09 hold for Mr. 6th Sense?
6th Sense: A lot. I'll be dropping a mixtape in a few weeks called It Is What It Is, which will be a collection of tracks that have already come out as leaks, a couple remixes, guest appearances, and some other stuff. The incomparable DJ Dub Floyd is doing a whole blend CD of Notherground. I hit him with a ton of acapellas, I cannot WAIT for that to drop. You're going to see me producing a lot of stuff real soon, so just look out for that.
Me and Wildabeast as a duo go by "Both Nice" and we're dropping an album before the end of this year. It's extremely experimental but at the same time it's very hip-hop. A lot of times when you see cats making experimental hip-hop they lose that true hip-hop essence. I'll put it this way, the album is 15 tracks, less than 40 minutes long, and I think there might be all of 3 hooks on the album. We'll be dropping a video promo and the intro to the album shortly and that will give everyone a good idea behind the idea of the album.
You can expect more music from Wildabeast and Jelani as well. I'm also going to be teaching a creative writing class this fall and I'm working on putting together a pen drive to send pens to Africa.
RubyHornet: Lastly, for some this may be their first introduction to you. What are three things you'd like someone to know about 6th Sense before listening to your music?
6th Sense: It's progressively classic. I work hard. It sounds good in the whip.
Thanks to Ruby Hornet and big shout to the whole Chi. I was there once and it was windy as f**k. I can't wait to come back.
Jake One: White Van Music
Jake One's name may ring a bell to the purists of Hip Hoppers, the most hardcore gangster rap aficionados, and everyone else in between. And if you don't know his name, you most certainly know his music. During the past year alone, Jake One was prominently featured on underground classics by Evidence (The Weatherman LP), commercial bangers like Freeway's "Its Over", and the super gangster G-Unit mixtape. But the versatile Seattle based producer only see things getting bigger and better. 2007 witnessed Jake appear on 7 major projects, a new career high, and opened the door for White Van Music, his own forthcoming full length album.
Jake One talked to Ruby Hornet's own Roosevelt Treasurechest, and gave RTC the lowdown on the new album, his approach to beat-making, and his take on those MySpace bulletins in which emcees sell their style one 16-bar verse at a time. Check it out!
RH: What's going on with you? I know that you're featured on a bunch of new releases that span from underground hip hop to a mainstream level.
Jake One: G-Unit just put out a new mixtape, I got a couple songs on there. One of the joints is the first song "Like a Dog". The other one (laughs), I can't remember what it's called. It's something like "She Wants It". It's like a 50 solo song, there's a skit in front of it. They're working on a new album, so I've been doing stuff for the new G-Unit record. I've been working with Young Buck on the new project he's doing. I've been working with a lot of different folks, but mainly I've been mixing my own album. That's what I've been focused on right now. It's more of a producer album with me doing what I want to do on it and bringing in all the artists that I f**k with. I've been working on it for a while and I've been putting all my effort into that. It's pretty much what I've been doing so you'll have Young Buck on there, but then you'll also have MF Doom on it, Brother Ali, and people like that. It's really just a picture, a big advertisement for what I do. I've been trying to put everything I can into it and make it as dope as possible.
RH: You just touched on how we may have a Young Buck and an MF Doom, you've been around for a long time and I first heard of you with the West Coast Hip Hop and coming up with a lot of underground artists. You're prominently on One Be Lo's new album, which I've been listening to a lot. Is there a matter of changing of gears since one day you may be in the studio with One Be Lo, and the next day you're doing the G-Unit mixtape?
Jake One: Honestly, when I create, most of the time I'm doing it by myself or with musicians or whoever I'm working with. When I create I'm not thinking, 'oh man I gotta do something for 50.' Sometimes I may get in a mode where I know they're looking for that and I know what they want from me. I'll try to keep banging that kind of stuff out. A lot of times when I do that it's not what they end up wanting. I just make the music that I feel like making at the time, whatever moves me and it lands wherever it lands. I've been fortunate to cross over into different boundaries. Most people that do what I do in the underground don't get the opportunity to do the records with a lot of other people. I'm genuinely into a lot of commercial music as well as underground stuff. I don't just limit what I like to whether it's successful or not. That really has no bearing on whether or not I like it. It's crazy cause people will rap over the same beats. I had a track that I did on Gift of Gab's album, I don't even know how long ago that was, maybe three or four years ago, and the Game had recorded that for The Documentary album. He had a song for it. You can't really think of two more different rappers, and they both had their own approach to it. I really just try to make something that universally is good. I don't really follow the hot trends or what everyone is doing. I kind of feature what I came up on and throw different sprinkles on it. The stuff I do for 50 might sound like some of that old Queens s**t or whatever, but it'll have something that’s a little different about it, maybe because I'm from Seattle. It's a weird combination.
RH: You said a lot of producers that do what you do or start in the underground where you did don't get the chance to cross over like that. Do you take that with you, and do you feel any responsibility to carry that flag for producers in the underground now, or stick to a certain style and no matter how big you get continue to work with a One Be Lo?
Jake One: I'm always going to work with the underground stuff. I think even after all this commercial s**t is over-and the way it looks, it's going to be over- that stuff is always going to be there. And it's all about doing what you feel. It may not be a big money thing, but I'll do it cause I want to do it. I make so much music it makes no sense for me to sit around and wait for the big artist to choose stuff. I did seven records that came out on major labels last year, which is the most I've ever done. But I probably made 150 beats. I just put the stuff out there and we see what comes back. I think everybody that's been in the underground or starts there, that's not necessarily where they want to be or where they want to end up. If you look at it historically, all the best artists end up working on the highest level in some form or fashion in their career. You want your music to be heard by the most people, that doesn’t necessarily mean you need to change what you're doing and make music for that. But if they're f**king with you and what you do, and you can get it there it's rewarding. I just follow the role of like Alchemist. He's a good dude and gave me some game. I watched how he has his career. Somebody like Nottz, and people like that I look to, where they are still making stuff that is very creative and dope but they’re not stuck on just making records for Fat Beats. They're on every level you could possibly think of. That's how I look at it.
RH: That's interesting cause I thought of Alchemist as similar to you. I know you're on Evidence's new solo album.
Jake One: Yeaaahhh. I did some stuff for Prodigy and Alchemist is actually rapping on my album. [Evidence] is a guy that's had some commercial success, but in the end me and him are kind of like-minded in that we come from the same era. And the same thing with Al. Al is on the same kind of music. I think when you get to a point where you start doing stuff cause you think you'e going to get paid is when you already lost. If it happens, it happens. It's what is meant to be. I think the new guys coming up, they're so focused on trying to make hits and trying to pop off that they've completely lost focus of making something that is rewarding personally. Did you really do something dope on that beat? Did you really challenge yourself? That's where Hip Hop’s kind of lost its way, everything is very generic.
RH: Another song that I know you did that has been in constant rotation for me is "Its Over" on Freeway's album. How did you put that together? From the beginning the way it hits is just a really powerful beat and the mood captured is also powerful. Did you go in knowing that was going to be for Freeway, how did that song work?
Jake One: I had been working with the people at Concord, they own the Stax catalogue. They gave me some protools sessions of original songs. "Masquerade's Over" is one of the hottest songs period, so I knew when I got the session that I got to do something with it. I felt like I really had to make something phenomenal to even sample that record. I rearranged the whole thing, and that's what I came with. It's funny because when I made it, I kind of wanted to make it like The Game record "Hate It or Love It". I wanted something fast like that, but it was hard and could play in the club and people would f**k with it. That's what I was trying to do, but it's funny how I'll think with a mind-state like that and the music will sound entirely different from that. But that was kind of my inspiration for it. I had the beat, I actually got a hold of Freeway's manager cause I wanted him to do a song for my album. I sent him some tracks and they choose that one and a couple other ones. He did the record and it was dope. He sent it to me and I had Vitamin [D] put the scratches in there. I was really happy with it. And then he gave me a joint for my record too.
RH: Vitamin is another person you've been messing with for a long time. How important is it for you to maintain a team that grows with you? What do you see as the importance of people to maintain a strong base?
Jake One: I just think it's crucial man! I started in part making music cause of seeing Vitamin first hand. What he was doing and how dope he was made me think I could do it. He's always been like a mentor to me and helped me out a lot in a lot of technical stuff. It's just good to have somebody dope around you that will push you. He's definitely made me step my game up many times to get to where I am now, and I would say in the past 2-3 years I've finally gotten to a point where I can make him go back. It's a great thing to have, and you see a lot of good music coming out of those situations. Just Blaze and Kanye of the early Rocafella, they were clearly hearing each other's stuff and stepping the game up. It's dope to have somebody for a long time that you're good friends with and you genuinely respect their music. There's people that you know that might be great people, but you might not have that respect for them on a musical level. D is somebody that I build with personally and on a creative aspect. We're working on this album right now and he's mixing it. He's a big part of this album too.
RH: New York/East Coast has a certain sound or style that people expect when someone says they're from there, and the same with Cali. Seattle is kind of known for free-range in a sense. How has Seattle influenced your sound, and how would you describe the Hip Hop scene there?
Jake One: We really only have Mix-A-Lot. Mix-A-Lot is the only guy from here to do anything on a worldwide standard, and when you go places people say Mix-A-Lot. Besides that, everybody's been super influenced. When I first started making music, the big thing in Seattle was Bay area music and it still is. That's the closest major area to us, and we always follow what they're doing very closely. It still is to this day. Artists from the Bay get a lot of love up here. There's that side, but there's also been a side that's super influenced by Gangstarr and East Coast Hip Hop. I kind of was straddling the fence on that. I loved the E-40 records, but I didn't necessarily make music like that. It just wasn't my lane. I liked a lot of the West Coast stuff when they were sampling more. That was the stuff I was more into. I think it's kind of a unique melting pot. People like Premier and Pete Rock, those are my first influences. When I first started producing those were the guys I looked up to. I still have a lot of that in me just the way I think about it. When I sit down to make a beat I'm usually coming from that frame of mind. Also, that 40 and all that bass stuff is in there sometimes. I'll play a bassline that may be in that manner, but it will be over some hard East Coast drums. It's kind of put together in a different way, and maybe that's why I have my own sound at this point., it's a little different And the scene here, we've had a lot of dope artists for a long time. People just haven't gotten a chance nationally for whatever reason. It's starting to change. We got some local groups that are making some noise here. As far as the scene, it seems like there's more support for the scene now than I can remember. People didn't use to say they were from Seattle. Everyone was from Compton, Vallejo, or Queens. I remember in the Beat Street era everyone was from the Bronx. Now people are screaming 206, wearing t-shirts saying 'northwest.' They're finally developing some pride, and that's only going to help the scene grow. If you don't have a good base at home, how is anybody else going to take you seriously?
RH: Talk a little bit about this album. How long has it been in the making? What are the concepts that you're working with?
Jake One: I've been working on it for about a year and half. The concept is more or less getting back to basics. I'm doing a lot of intricate stuff, but it's rooted in fundamental 90's Hip Hop. I got a record with Evidence, Alchemist, and Prodigy rapping like an NWA record where it's break beats, and the beat changes in the chorus. I got a couple records like that. The MF Doom record's like that. I also have some stuff with live instruments in there. It's kind of showing that you can do all that and still make it Hip Hop and still have that raw sound. Most of the album is pretty aggressive. I got maybe 3 or 4 joints that are more on some laid-back, chill type of record. The Little Brother record is like a dope riding kind of record. The record with Elzhi and Royce is kind of similar like that. I kind of tried to make it in fragments like 'this is some super aggressive gangster s**t. This is going to be more chill music, then we get back into the hard s**t.' Then I got some Seattle records I did with some people from here. I just tried to make it a summary of everything I like and what I'm about.
RH: I want to ask this from more of a fan's perspective. I know that DJ's and producers, first things first, are not just fans but almost have an obsession with the music.
Jake One: Yeah.
RH: From that perspective, do you go back and look at other albums made by producers? Sometimes they're really great, and other times it seems like it's just a lot of names. The back of the album cover and tracklisting-
Jake One: Is the best part of the music (laughs).
RH: Is that in your thinking when you go back and look at how other people are doing it?
Jake One: I think the difficulty with putting this record together and making it somehow come together is in the fact that I have so many different types of artists. That's definitely the challenge. I think musically at this point, I can make a sound. I think for the most part this album has a particular sound and the artists that I got to appear on it, they all adapted to that sound. I did a record with Young Buck and it's what he does, but it's still my sound and he adapted to that. Somebody like MF Doom, I went and made something that fits him, but it's not the typical thing that he raps on. It's definitely challenging and I try not to do things by name. I had a couple records with people with big names that didn't measure up and I'm not using. I have some younger guys from Seattle. I got this song with three of the young guys coming up over here, guys named Pender, GMK, and a guy named Spaceman. I just dug the record. I liked the way it came together, the vibe of it, and it fit in with what I was doing. So, it's kind of interesting cause I didn't make this album thinking about what the single is or any of that kind of stuff. I've literally just been trying to make something that's a dope project.
RH: Who is putting the album out, and budget wise did somebody supply that? Not a lot of people know what goes into putting together an album like this, and getting the songs made, and getting artists on the tracks. How did that go?
Jake One: Well, Rhymesayers is the one who will be putting the project out. I got a budget for that, but most of the record was done from personal relationships I have with people. Most of the people on this album I've worked with at least once. I would say 70% of them I have a personal relationship with and say 'I need this done.' Some people didn't respond, a lot of them did. I got till the end of this month, I'm trying to squeeze stuff out at the last minute. A lot of people I did trades with, and it works out better that way. I got good performances by doing that. They needed something from me. I've seen situations where people will pay for verses, and I have friends that are artists that do that, that just sell verses all day. A lot of times they aren't even going to give it their "A" game. They'll just throw whatever to somebody.
RH: On MySpace you'll see a bulletin "Verses for $500! Get'em while they're hot!"
Jake One: The way things are going that's kind of going to be the future because that's eliminating the middleman and all that s**t. I sell beats to people all the time like that. If people want to reach me and do some music like that I'm fine with it. It's all good to me. But I think it's different with a producer. We make what we make before we give it to somebody. I think with a rapper, them being inspired is such a crucial part of them coming up with something dope. Some people can give you their half-ass and it's still good though. It just depends on the caliber of artist I guess.
RH: Does the album have a title at this time?
Jake One: It' called White Van Music, which is the name of my publishing company. And I named my publishing company that because it was the first song I ever did with some guys from high school. I just rolled with it cause I didn't want to come up with anything clever. Ten years later I'm putting an album out with that name. There's really no super meaning behind it.
RH: Is there any tentative release?
Jake One: It's looking like summertime. It's pretty much done, I got to go in and mix 2-3 more songs. The last week I've been in the studio with Vitamin till 5 or 6 in the morning, so we've been going hard on it.
RH: When this is done is it going to be 'right back to the drawing board' for you? Some producers or emcees will just make music all day, that's just what they do. Do you need time to maybe step back and refresh and just listen to music for a little bit? Do you have those periods?
Jake One: I think I listen to music a lot more than I make it. I probably, I don't make a beat a day, I make it just when I feel it. I may make 3 beats a week, and it's just the right 3 beats and I'm happy. So, I don't know, this is the first time I've had to be listening to music and mixing for so long. I'm kind of burnt out right now (laughs). I'm probably just going to go play some basketball and chill for a minute. I definitely got to get back to creating cause there's a lot of projects I want to be a part of that I need to make music for. I don't over do it. You'l never see me doing 50 beats in a month or nothing. I try to keep them all keepers at this point. That's my philosophy.
RH: What do you see as your signature sound? Do you feel you have a 'Jake One Stamp'?
Jake One: I just want to be known for making quality stuff and just being consistent. I think there's not many people that have been doing it as long as I have and have been as consistent. I haven't been a part of all high profile things, but if I did it, there's going to some kind of quality there. In the future I'm just going to be trying to build my brand, and this album is all about trying to build my personal brand and bring more people through it, do more full albums. It's been fun controlling this full record, I've actually really enjoyed it. I want to do more of it, and it's something. I'm looking forward to doing with a couple emcees later this year. I think I'm definitely going to move more towards that.
One Be Lo: The Rebirth
One Be Lo recently released his latest solo album, R.E.B.I.R.T.H. In connection with the release, Lo caught up with Ruby Hornet and talked about the new album, as well as Lo's current frame of mind. The Michigan emcee who started out rapping as One Man Army, and as part of the duo Binary Star, underwent a transition similar to one referenced by his album title. Since the release of his last album,S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M. (somebody is a big fan of acronymns!), Lo left the Fat Beats label and fully furnished his own studio in the basement of his house, and put his new album out on his own Subterraneous Records. No longer dependent on others to get his music out, Lo recognized the importance of a team and handled out some of the responsibilities he previously carried so that he could focus more on his music and his family.
The result is Lo's best album to date. R.E.B.I.R.T.H. (Real Emcees Bring Intelligent Rhymes To Hip Hop) features production from Jake One, Vitamin D, as One Be Lo speaks on life after the car factories moved out of Michigan, the artist's daily grind, and even imagines his own death and rise to Hip Hop Heaven.