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When Buff1 and Rhettmatic came together to form the group Crown Royale, it wasn’t just an emcee/producer collaboration, but the joining of two long and storied career.s No, it’s not the same as Watch The Throne (the upcoming Jay-Z x Kanye West LP), at least to the mainstream world and casual music fans, but to Hip Hop Heads it matters just as much. Both Buff and Rhettmatic have achieved acclaim since the booming days of Fat Beats and HipHopSite. Their crews respectively include 14KT, DJ Babu, J. Rocc, Mayer Hawthorne, and others. While Rhettmatic was winning DMC tourneys, steering LA radio, and setting trends with Beat Junkies mixtapes out in Cali, a young Buff1 was forming what would become an Ann Arbor and Midwest staple sound. Each of their journeys was unique, but their paths crossed in LA, and the rest is now history. As Buff1 tells us, “He had a beat CD circulating on the scene, I got my hands on it and it just kinda went from there.”
“From there” includes the recent release of their debut album, Crown Royale. The LP is a refreshing dose of Hip Hop music, and has received critical praise and a collective “yes y’all” from Hip Hop’s underground. It is the next step in Buff1’s career, one that started more than ten years ago. Just as his career has evolved so have his own motivations and outlook on music, themes that are expressed throughout the LP. “All I have is music and shows so instead of quality over quantity I always try to go with quality and quantity. I’m grown now and I have bills to pay, I’m not a teenager living with my mom anymore, so my drive to be financially stable is greater than its ever been.”
We caught up with Buff1 to talk about the new LP, working with Rhettmatic, the recent success of his crew members, and his motivations. Read on to see the full interview. This is grown man business.
RubyHornet: Both you and Rhettmatic have been making moves in Hip Hop for over a decade. Where in those separate moves did your paths cross? How did that crossing lead to Crown Royale?
Buff1: Our paths crossed in Los Angeles, CA over the span of a few months while I was temporarily located in Los Angeles. He had a beat CD circulating on the scene, I got my hands on it and it just kinda went from there.
RubyHornet: A lot of the LP was recorded in Cali, with some recording being done in Ann Arbor. Was a lot of the work done with Rhettmatic in the studio? Did recording in Cali put you in any specific mindset different than when in the Mitten?
Buff1: I actually pre-recorded pieces of the album twice, once in Ann Arbor and again with Rhett in his studio. But most of the final recordings were done on my own in LA with my homie Tenacity. Recording in LA didn’t really put me in a different mindset from recording in MI, it’s always the same focus on the task in front of me.
RubyHornet: What was the acclimation process like as far as Rhettmatic getting used to your pockets production wise, and you getting used to Rhett’s production pockets?
Buff1: It wasn’t too much of a process. It’s pretty much beats and rhymes. Most of his stuff strayed away from just straight looping soul samples and I’ve tried to do the same thing when choosing beats for the most part on my most recent projects, so we were pretty much on the same page.
RubyHornet: How has Rhettmatic pushed you differently than past producers you’ve worked with?
Buff1: I haven’t worked with too many producers on whole projects. Most of the time when I do guest appearances on a producer’s beats they are requesting my services so they let me do me. This project was out of mutual respect, but he still kinda let me do me. I just have so much respect for him so I wanted to make sure I delivered.
RubyHornet: Both of your respective crews are front and center on “The Chosen Show”, a monstrous track towards the end of the LP. How important was it to include that track and some of those people in this project?
Buff1: It wasn’t super important, but we knew we could do something special because of our many affiliations in our respect homes. We didn’t expect to get everyone we wanted on the song, but thankfully we did.
[audio: http://rubyhornet.com/media/rh/music/crown_royale_chosen_show.mp3|width=180]RubyHornet: I feel like there is a lot of resilience on this LP, and it is a recurring theme throughout the LP especially on tracks such as “GM”, “The Blitz”, “The Path I Chose”. Was that going through your mind while creating the LP? And what does that say to where you’re at in your career?
Buff1: I’m not really sure what was going through my mind. The sense of resilience probably had something to do with me sleeping on couches in LA during that time, haha. Wishing I had enough money to live in LA and MI, haha. For me and my career it’s more beneficial to consistently put out quality music because that’s how I make money. Some people have other sources of income, whether it be sponsorships, a day job, or whatever. All I have is music and shows so instead of quality over quantity I always try to go with quality and quantity. I’m grown now and I have bills to pay, I’m not a teenager living with my mom anymore, so my drive to be financially stable is greater than its ever been.
RubyHornet: Speaking of “GM”, you rap on the song “my people helped build this city, so why you trying to kill this city, gone is the automobile industry, we need something to heal this quickly.” How has what’s happening in Detroit effected you being from Ann Arbor? There are various plans with what to do with Detroit, including literally bulldozing parts of the city. What do the people want, what are some real solutions?
Buff1: Ann Arbor is a separate city with it’s own industry, but I’m sure there are some people who would live in Ann Arbor and commuted to work in Detroit that may not have that job anymore, and as a result don’t go to Detroit as much anymore. And I know a lot of the black people who currently live in Ann Arbor are there as a result of them or their parents moving to the Detroit area from the South when the auto industry was booming… It hasn’t effected me directly too much since I never personally worked in the auto industry, but it has effected people close to me. It also effects everything around it and involving it. It effects people’s ability to spend money on shows/music, which effects me. It effects people’s desire to stay in the area, which again effects shows/venues/music, which effects me. But positively, it effects people’s drive to create something new and better. Whether it be musically or industrially/economically.
RubyHornet: Turning attention towards “The Path I Chose”. The track starts, “The globe keeps spinning, the road seems endless, and the road to these riches got me on the west coast revisit, as I maneuver through circle to circle who’s really down for the cause and who’s purpose is hurtful, whether home or away I gotta work through the dirt to get a win in this game.” What does getting a win mean at this point to Buff1 vs. the first time I interviewed you about Jungle Gym Jungle in 2004?
Buff1: A win is financial stability from doing what I love without compromising anything. I think around when JGJ dropped it was a little of that, but more so getting AML’s name bigger and getting acknowledged for our talent/creativity. At that time I was still working a day job so money wasn’t as important.
RubyHornet: Continuing with that theme and the long road that success has been, it seems that you and the rest of your crew are experiencing the most success and visibility with Mayer Hawthorne taking off, 14KT winning the Red Bull Big Tune Championship, and your release and praise for Crown Royale? Does it feel like that from the inside looking out?
Buff1: Yea it does. It’s not exactly how we envisioned when we started 17 years ago, but it’s all the same, and we’re starting to get the recognition we deserve for doing what we love.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuNEC5CKjN4
RubyHornet: What is the most valuable thing you’d say you learned from this project, and got out of working with Rhettmatic creatively as well as working with him to make the logistics happen and this release a reality?
Buff1: The most valuable thing I’ve learned with CR is how to speak for/represent one other person. That wasn’t a huge deal though, and everything else was pretty easy as well.
RubyHornet: Lastly, tell our readers what is next for you two.
Buff1: Next for me is The Black Opera.
