Comptons Most Wanted - Hood Took Me Under 1992

Intelligent Hoodlum - Grand Groove 1993

On August 10th we lost another godfather of hip-hop, Isaac Hayes. After James Brown and George Clinton he is possibly the third most sampled artist in hip-hop history. An artist search of the sampling database www.the-breaks.com produces an impressive list that most likely still misses a few entries. But like the aforementioned musicians as well as contemporaries such as Curtis Mayfield or Marvin Gaye, Hayes was more than just a convenient provider of musical components for beatmakers. As an innovator of black music, he was a lead figure in the artistic and socio-political background that rap music fed from.

Whether it’s his seminal score for Shaft and the Oscar-winning “Theme from Shaft,” the epic and symphonic dimensions he added to the soul format and the way he managed its emancipation from white middle class America, his early exhibitions of spoken vocals, his songwriting achievements, the intimate and at the same time cosmic quality of his music, an acting career that reflected the profound respect for him - these aspects make Isaac Hayes a figure influential to hip-hop and rap music beyond the bits and pieces of his compositions that went into rap tracks.

Nevertheless, it is only right that we showcase two instances of rappers being inspired by Ike’s moods, both originating from the early ’90s. First we have Compton’s Most Wanted MC Eiht deliverying a gangsta’s biography in “Hood Took Me Under” (production: DJ Mike T) over a cinematic rearrangement of “Walk on By,” then Tragedy AKA the Intelligent Hoodlum mourns loved ones in “Grand Groove” (production: K-Def) over the wistful piano of “Ike’s Mood” which Biz Markie earlier put his stamp on with “Make the Music with Your Mouth, Biz.”

Soul Sides on Isaac Hayes

Caveman - I’m Ready 1991

Caveman - Streetlife (The Principle Remix) 1992

The Principle feat. Silent Eclipse - Reality 1993

Chances are, if you’re not familiar with largely forgotten UK crew Caveman, you have never heard of a hip-hop producer named The Principle. In 1991 the trio released a classic slice of European hip-hop (if underappreciated in its country of origin) called “Positive Reaction.” All tracks were cooked up by The Principle, who did a superb job with thick funk- and jazz-based grooves that still offered enough elbow room for young gun MCM to manoeuver through with uplifting lyrics delivered in a vocal tone reminiscent of New Yorkers D-Nice or Master Ace. The pumping “Victory (Remix)” which lead the chase was their “Fight the Power,” while mellow compositions like “Cool (Cos I Don’t Get Upset)” and “Desmond” offered a break from the more uptempo tracks. Not to forget the “Be Thankful For What You’ve Got”-sampling instrumental “The Dope Department” or the epic “Introduction to a Caveman.” The most surprising sample selection came in the form of the anthemic “I’m Ready,” which made compelling use of Jimi Hendrix‘ “Crosstown Traffic.” While Caveman didn’t make any major noise in the US despite being signed to Profile Records, The Principle got to remix Black Sheep’s “Try Counting Sheep” for their 1991 single of the same name.

Caveman’s musical approach deviated somewhat from the radically hardcore attitude of their countrymen, without embracing pop aspirations. But in 1992 they came back distinctly harder with the sophomore “The Whole Nine Yards… And Then Some.” For some reason, however, The Principle seemed to be in the process of leaving the group, contributing only two productions to the album, both undertitled as ‘The Principle Remix.’ “Streetlife (The Principle Remix)” set the bar high with an incredibly dense rhythm section illuminated by jazzy horns and a discrete Crusaders vocal sample.

The Principle re-surfaced in 1993 with a remix for Run-DMC’s “Ooh, Whatcha Gonna Do” and in the same year even released an EP under his own name featuring rapper Silent Eclipse AKA MCD (who unlike MCM was not afraid to rap in a British accent). “Reality,” extensively sampling Guru and KRS-One, is in my memory one of the last moments when political rap and funky beats formed a perfect marriage. Sadly, it was also the last time I heard from The Principle. According to one internet forum he became a devoted Muslim and burned all of his records. Now there’s a way to go out as a hip-hop producer.

The Principle on discogs

“Positive Reaction” write-up at RapReviews.com

Paris - Coffee, Donuts & Death (Remix) 1992

The Conscious Daughters - Somethin’ To Ride To (Fonky Expedition) (Remix) 1993

When you google the words ‘Paris,’ ‘producer’ and ‘hip-hop’ or ‘rap,’ an alarming number of links will lead you to announcements concerning Scott Storch producing Paris Hilton. Well, Can I Bring My Gat? is here to provide some counterbalance. Oscar ‘Paris’ Jackson first gained notoriety around 1990, establishing himself (just before MC Hammer and Digital Underground) as the only other national Bay Area representative besides Too $hort. His Tommy Boy-distributed debut, “The Devil Made Me Do It,” was self-produced, a fact that was overshadowed by the outspoken militant, pro-black message from the self-described Black Panther of Hip-Hop. Yet in early 1994 I picked up a record on the strength that it said ‘Produced by Paris’ on the front cover. That record was “Ear To The Street” by female duo The Conscious Daughters, and it could easily be perceived as Paris’ reaction to what Dr. Dre had done on “The Chronic.” One year later he responded to the massively successful g-funk movement with the establishment of his Guerrilla Funk label, along with the more traditionally funked out “Guerrilla Funk” album. Fast forward to 2006 when he teamed up with legendary Public Enemy to produce and even co-write their album “Rebirth Of A Nation,” and we can safely include Paris in the ranks of hip-hop producers, his work behind the boards now spanning twenty years.

Paris’ first currently documented production credit dates back before “The Devil Made Me Do It,” with 1987’s “This Beat Is Def” single by San Francisco rap group ATC, who was even shortly signed to his Scarface label. His rap debut then provided an interesting synthesis of hip-hop beats and more electronic, almost industrial grooves and used less samples than your typical late ’80s release. That unique approach was the expression of P-Dog’s outsider status and DIY attitude on a musical level, resulting in classic militant rap tracks like “Break The Grip Of Shame” and “The Devil Made Me Do It.” 1992’s controversial “Sleeping With The Enemy” gave samples a more prominent place and enlisted the help of a young DJ Shadow on some tracks. In the new millennium Paris is busier than ever, having made a comeback not just as a producer but also as a rapper, executive and activist. His website www.guerrillafunk.com should tell you all you need to know about his music and his mission.

Paris on discogs

The Real Roxanne - Respect 1988

Special Ed - The Bush 1989

Chubb Rock - The Regiments Of Steel 1990

One day, when someone will write a comprehensive history of hip-hop’s musical development, I bet you that sucker’s gonna forget about Howie Tee. On the blog tip, though, we got beat to it as Cold Rock Da Spot recently covered Howard Thompson (pictured above with cousin Chubb Rock making their own damn Grammy’s) exhaustively.

All that’s left for us to say is that Howie Tee is one of the rare hip-hop musicians/producers/DJ’s that successfully made the transition from the early ’80s into the ’90s. Starting in electro outfit CD III, then joining the Full Force camp and having a hand in records by UTFO, The Real Roxanne and last but not least Whistle’s international hit “(Nothing Serious) Just Buggin’” from ‘85 (scratches and co-production), then forming a classic late ’80s/early ’90s duo with Chubb Rock and going on to be involved in the highly successful R&B crossover project Color Me Badd.

Like Hurby Luvbug, Howie Tee has brought a pop sensibility to hip-hop (which in turn lead him to remix pop artists ranking as highly as Madonna), but he’s also been a key figure in the introduction of samples to hip-hop via production. His 1988 album with Chubb Rock, likely largely recorded in 1987, uses samples sparingly, but starting with the Aretha Franklin-influenced “Respect” for The Real Roxanne, he quickly began to explore the possibilites of sampling, resulting in his best work, the second album with Chubb, “And The Winner Is…” and Special Ed’s “Youngest In Charge,” which gave us the definite Flatbush anthem “The Bush.” One year later, in 1990, Chubb and Howie were responsible for one of the dopest hip-hop EP’s of all time, which not only featured the smash “Treat ‘Em Right,” but also the tribute to hip-hop peers and pioneers, “The Regiments Of Steel.” Both tracks were included in the 1991 Chubb Rock album “The One.”

Double XX Posse - Not Gonna Be Able To Do It 1992

MC Thick - The Show Ain’t Over Till The Fatman Swings 1993

Artifacts - Whayback 1994

Kool G Rap - For Da Brothaz 1995

T-Ray. Short for Todd Ray. Once again we find it rather hard to put a face to the name, which changes nothing about the fact that the man has several certified hip-hop classics to his name. If you happen to be in possession of Elemental Magazine #62, you should be able to gather more information than we can provide at this instance. What we can do is gather production credits and provide audio samples. T-Ray had an incredible run from circa 1992 to 1995, and while his name hasn’t appeared on too many major hip-hop albums since, he attempted to establish a label called Beatdown Recordings as recently as 2005, which has put out wax from dead prez, DITC affiliate Milano, Non Phixion’s Ill Bill, and Blaq Poet. The label has even been involved in the release of Cut Chemist’s “The Audience’s Listening” album.

T-Ray first appeared on the rapologist’s radar in 1992. Working with New Jersey’s Double XX Posse, he crafted the seminal “Not Gonna Be Able To Do It,” one of the year’s landmark singles. Along with the previously profiled Wolf & Epic, he was involved in MC Serch’s solo, where he produced 5 tracks, including “Back To The Grill,”, as well as the remix that featured O.C. alongside album/single guests Red Hot Lover Tone, Nasty Nas and Chubb Rock. The Serch connection also resulted in production for female gangsta rapper Boss.

Also in 1992 T-Ray remixed the Funky Man’s “Party Over Here” and “Yes You May,” which introduced the world to a certain Big L, who was also on the original version of Finesse’s “You Know What I’m About,” both of which can be found on the Fat Beats release “From The Crates To The Files.” One of T-Ray’s key links in the game was Big Beat Records, which enabled him to produce songs for the Artifacts, Double XX Posse, Down South, and others. Discogs even lists him as a Soul Assassins member, but it is unclear which period that approximately refers to. Fact is, he worked with Funkdoobiest, Cypress Hill, and House of Pain. His remixing clients include Fishbone and Luscious Jackson.

In its Book of Rap Lists, ego trip - only recently obsessed with (White) Rappers - outed T-Ray as a member of the Polygram-sponsored White Boys, apparently a trio from South Carolina that entertained the idea of becoming rap stars by way of Queens, NY. There’s a 66.6 percent chance that T-Ray originally was a rapper, in which case he would have either gone by the name of Exact or Precise. It would be unfair to hold his membership in the White Boys (if it’s fact) against him (everybody gotta start somewhere, just ask The Alchemist), much more intriguing is that somewhere between 1988 and 1992 Todd Ray modeled himself into an incredibly talented hip-hop producer.

How do you go from being in a gimmick rap group with no future to producing tracks for Lord Finesse, Percee P, and Kool G Rap? Ask T-Ray. During his arguably most productive year, 1993, he also assisted Louisiana’s MC Thick in his debut “The Show Ain’t Over Till The Fatman Swings.” The title track enwraps segments of familiar breakbeats in a strong, booming rhythm section. He might have also been involved in a shelved Fatal (of “Live At The BBQ” fame) album from around that time. Another ‘93 credit is the Helmet/House of Pain collaboration on the rock-meets-rap experiment known as the “Judgement Night” soundtrack, which lead him to co-produce the alternative metal band’s Interscope album “Betty,” which was free from crossover attempts. After that, he’s probably more done more rock gigs, which might explain the decline of his hip-hop output. Either way, his rock expertise was called upon by Non Phixion in 2002, when they recorded a rock version of “The CIA Is Trying To Kill Me” featuring Deftones and Fear Factory members.

Often working with engineer/musician Anton Pushansky, T-Ray took a no-holds barred approach to programming. His beats are in an unwavering forward motion, showing a strong inclination towards booming drums. As his productions become more layered from the Serch solo to the first Artifacts album, they only lowered their boom (to use Artifacts lingo). Even beats for less dead serious acts like Biz Markie (”I’m Singin’”) and Funkdoobiest (”I’m Shittin’ On ‘Em,” “Wopbabalubop”) are sure to leave your ears ringing. Let’s just say Beatdown Productions was a fairly fitting production company name. Our last selection gives us a glimpse of T-Ray’s sensitive side with Kool G Rap’s “For Da Brothaz” from 1995, which contrasts beautifully with his other beat on “4, 5, 6,” the murderously minimal “Take ‘Em To War.”

T-Ray on discogs

MC Eiht - Thuggin’ It Up (Nemesi Remix) 2006

Last time, we caught Nemesi taking a musical and mental trip to Naples, this time he takes us to Compton, California with his remix of MC Eiht’s “Thuggin’ It Up.” (He’s taken our accompanying picture as well.) Originally off the slept-on 1996 C-M-Dub “Death Threatz” album, “Thuggin’ It Up” takes on an epic, almost serene quality in this unofficial remix. The backing is provided by the 1973 recording “Sunday Kind Of Mood” by El Chicano. In my opinion there’s something about that remix that really does Eiht’s legacy as foremost teller of L.A. gang stories justice. Geah.

While still not overly dedicated to making music, Nemesi has nevertheless recently put together a disc with rapper Frodo, the beautiful, homemade “Acqua Fra Le Dita” (not available for purchase.)

Too Kool Posse - Give ‘Em A Sample 1988

Tony D - Adams Nightmare 1989

Tony D - Back To The Lab 1989

Tony D - Buggin’ On The Line 1991

Tony D - Trenton Skit/He’s The Boss 2001

If every great hip-hop producer has a defining album, Tony D’s is without a doubt Poor Righteous Teachers’ “Holy Intellect” (1990). During sampling’s heydays, he managed to present a unique, fresh sound, supporting Wise Intelligent’s Five Percenter teachings with a playful, upbeat backing. Representing Trenton, NJ, Tony Depula, of Italian heritage himself, saw no problem in working with radically pro-black rappers, early on teaming up with YZ, whose “Sons Of The Father” (1990) debut they co-produced. (In fact, his production company Two-Tone Productions might originally have been called such because Tony D and YZ are both named Anthony.) An early display of Tony D’s mastership is Too Kool Posse’s “Give ‘Em A Sample” (1988), a dense uptempo stormer that serves, in the words of rapper Marquis, “to prove the point that Tone is on the uprise.”

While Diamond D still backed Master Rob in Ultimate Force, Tony D already had a solo cut on Jazzy Jay’s compilation “Cold Chillin’ in the Studio Live” (1989). “Back To The Lab” has that typical Tony D compressed sound to it, still resulting in a colorful appropriation of the “Microphone Fiend” theme. Tone may have been rapping even before, perhaps on the ‘87 single “It’s My Day” by Grand Poobah Tony D & Cool Gino G, but he seemed to get really serious about a rap career with the album “Droppin’ Funky Verses” (1991), which contained the extremely funky “Buggin’ On The Line.” The same year he saw a local Jersey crew take one of his creations to international fame. Naughty By Nature’s “O.P.P.” only slightly reconfigurated his distinct take on the Jackson 5’s “ABC” and Delegation’s “Oh Honey,” “Adams Nightmare” from his instrumental album “Music Makes You Move” (1989).

Keeping busy, Tone was involved in two more PRT albums, “Pure Poverty” (1991) and “Black Business” (1993), between which he helmed the group Crusaders For Real Hip-Hop, on whose album “Déjà-Vu - It’s ‘82″ (1992), he adopted the moniker Don Nots. In the mid-’90s he made somewhat of a comeback, partially producing Wise Intelligent’s solo “Killin’ U… For Fun” (1996), yet was absent from the PRT album “The New World Order” from the same year. Releasing two EP’s and one LP on Rae & Christian’s Grand Central label, his work seemed to be more valued overseas. Having hung the mic up, he now explored the possibilities of hip-hop independent from MC’s, switching between vocal tracks and instrumentals, and rappers and singers. The largely instrumental album “Master Of The Moaning Beats” (2001) took him back to Jersey with contributions from the Outsidaz and long-time collaborator Rahzii.

Lately, Tony has been spotted selling rare and unreleased material from his vaults as well as collections of ‘random rap’ such as “The Indy Years” and “Da Philly Throwback.” Juding from his MySpace page, Tony D is still active, so if you like what you’re hearing, check him out.

Tony D on discogs

Tony D on MySpace

Tony D on SoundClick

(pics from queen of subtle)

This is an interview I did with Lyrics Born right before Overnight Encore dropped last year. LB’s live show is the least corny live rap show I’ve ever seen and I swear that’s not a backhanded compliment. The live album does a pretty good job of capturing the show’s energy. Anyways, URB only used like three lines from the interview and I just found the full text again tonight.

Enjoy.

how long have you been doing a show with a live band?

i put the band together in late 2004. we played all throughout 2005 and, obviously, now onto 2006. for me, the whole point was…obviously i’ve been making records for a long time, and i’ve been touring and playing shows for a while, and it was really the next logical step for me as a live performer. i still do play with dj’s, i still love playing with dj’s, but i definately hit a point where i wanted to try something new.

was it just people you knew?

a few of em were mutual friends, friends of friends, ones that had played in other bands. the music scene in the bay area is pretty small.

there’s a few live hip-hop bands in the bay, aren’t there? live human’s the one i think of, but I know the coup is touring with band too.

I don’t know if it’s the next step for hip-hop, but I know it was the next step for me. and I think because of the way my music sounds, it lends itself to that.

yeah with the disco-funk aesthetic, i keep expecting gap band hooks to come in. i know “callin out” did really well on rock radio, did that influence your decision to take it more live, thinking that your audience was shifting that way and that they might respond better to a live set?

i think so. I started to look around and see that most of the big shows weren’t opening their doors to very few groups that were going strictly off turntables. but that’s just sort of a happy byproduct of the whole thing. i wanted to grow. when i came up, i listened to a lot of early 90’s dancehall, and a lot of those guys were essentially doing what I do, but they had bands. it was exciting to see. it was a different kind of energy. and they would play in front of dj’s too, but when they took the show on the road, or if it was a big festival or a big show, they had bands behind them. shabba ranks had a band behind him. ninjaman had a band behind him. you see buju on tour, he’s got a band. it allows you to do a lot of things in a lot of different ways. it allows you to be more spontaneous. and for me, it was the next logical step, like I said.

and also, when I was coming up, the artists I respected like BDP or curtis mayfield or public enemy, I mean, these guys played live shows and did live albums. and just going back to what you said, I think I may be one of the few hip-hop artists to ever even put out a live album. that’s before we even talk about independantly. for me, when I leave music, I want people to be able to look back and see what it was that i was doing live in addition to what it was that i was doing in the studio. because they’re two totally different animals. i spend so much time on the road, I do 150 shows every year, it’s such a big part of who I am as an artist, it just seemed appropriate to put out an album.

so you mentioned the early 90’s dancehall artists, who else were your inspirations in terms of were you tried to go with your live show?

like I said, I loved watching reggae groups. I loved watching old james brown tapes, just seeing what they were doing. I loved old parliament videos.

you can definitely tell there’s a p-funk influence.

yeah, to tell you the truth, I’m more of a fan of old parliament live than I am of a lot of their records. they have such a live sounding sound, being live is just crazy. i’m talking about the old stuff.

well even the george clinton revivals we get now are still pretty crazy for that reason.

I mean, they’re just nuts. they’re chaotic, in a good way. i was really affected by seeing prince as a little kid. prince concerts. when I think of all the great performers, I’m not talking necessarily about the top selling aritsts of all time, but I’m looking at the great performers of all time, they all had great live shows. and that’s just what i aspire to do.

talking about all your influences, it sounds like you pretty knew what you were going for from day one. do you feel like the set’s evolved at all over time?

my set? no doubt. as I grow and as my audience grows, you have to play differently. you play differently to different crowds. I’m not gonna play the same show at a Reggae on the River as I am Lolapalooza. I’m not gonna do Coachella the same I’m gonna do Hip-Hop in the Park. you just go out there, you scope out what the audience is looking like, you think about your history in that country or that town or that state, you think about what people responded to in the past and you just roll with that. I think most touring professional bands will tell you that.

so half the album’s in melbourne, half the album’s in sydney. any reason you chose austrailia?

number one, they’re a fantastic music audience. as a live music audience, they’re unbelievable. they really love music in austrailia. and they love live music. i’ve been goin out there since ‘97 or ‘98 with latyrx, and they’ve always been crazy. so i thought to myself, pretty much whether it’s a live album or a studio album, I sit back and I look at the landscape and I say ok, what are people not doing? one of the things people are not doing is live albums. so let me go ahead and do a live album. ok, where are people not doing live albums? well I’ve never really heard of a live album done in australia, and being that I have such a good following out there, why not go ahead and do it out there? you can hear it on the record, they’re just fucking out of their minds. that kind of speaks for itself. so many people, if they’re gonna do live albums, they’re gonna do it in san fransisco, they’re gonna do it in new york. something like that. london. but like I said, I haven’t heard anybody do this yet. so that was why. and it is interesting when you step back and you see how big the world really is. a lot of people don’t realize…the world is bigger than the block…for me,it’s bigger than the bay.

talking about the bay, so you said it’s a very small scene. you got mistah fab on the album. did you reach out to him for that?

yeah I did reach out to fab. because…well, first off, fab is just a dope emcee. and, obviously, it’s a whole new generation of rappers and producers and musicians out there. and I tried to get a little of that on the live album. teak, the guy that did “knock knock,” these guys are like in their early 20’s and they’ve produced songs for ice cube and wc. and trackademics are one of the bigger name producers in the bay area. and fab obviously. just keep it fresh.

are you planning on working on anyone else in the hyphy movement?

definately, y’know, but it’s gotta work. I don’t really look at it like, is it hyphy or not, I just look at it like is it good? I want to make a song that’s gonna be tight, i want to make an album that’s gonna be dope. it’s gotta be good. so I hope to. actually I am, I’m working on a new studio album now and I’ve got people on there.

you gonna drop any names?

not yet.

so you’re working on a new studio album. any hope for a new latyrx album?

well right now I’m finishing up joyo velarde’s album and I’m really excited about that, I love the way that album’s turning out.

who’s producing that?

i did about half the album, jake one, he did beats on there. rjd2 did some production on there, cheif xcel from blacklicious, jumbo from the lifesavas. my whole band is on there. if you love classic soul and you love what’s going on now also, this is the album for you. first quarter 2007. and I’m working on a new studio album that’ll be out next year.

latyrx any time soon?

we’ve talked about it. he’s got an album that he just finished, once we kind of both get those out of the way, we’re talking about doing another one. the 14th year reunion.

sorry this is in sloppy recently transcribed form. i spilled beer on my ibook last night and now my left and right arrows don’t work. luckily everything else does, but that makes editing a bitch.

Ras-T - ‘Nine-Six Million Dollar Man 1996

Salaam Remi is probably enjoying the most successful spell of his career thus far, as go-to producer for Nas and Amy Winehouse.

The son of musician and producer Van Gibbs he got his studio start through his father’s work on Kurtis Blow’s “Kingdom Blow” LP in 1986. His first notable beats were Zhigge’s “Rakin’ In The Dough (Uptown Bounce)” and Biz Markie’s “Young Girl Blues”. Bonafide slappers both.

He scored an international pop-reggae hit with Ini Kamoze’s “Here Comes The Hotstepper” in 1994. In the mid-90s he worked with Hiphop artists like Da Bush Babees, Channel Live and Black Sheep as well as Reggae artists like Mega Banton and Shabba Ranks before effectively MAKING the Fugees by producing their breakthrough “Nappy Heads (Remix)” and “Fu-Gee-La” singles. He produced the phenomenal “Norfside Remix” of Kool G Rap’s “Fast Life” (previously attributed wrongly to Buckwild on this very site, our bad).

From what I can gather he launched two labels, Norfside Records, a Hiphop label and Hot Ice Records a home for reggae artists including Ricky General.
The only artist I noticed at the time emerging from these labels was Jamaica, Queens’ Ras-T. He appeared on volumes 1 and 2 of Funkmaster Flex’s “60 Minutes Of Funk” mixtape series and released the above track “‘Nine-Sixe Million Dollar Man” produced by Remi.
His single “Ill Nig” got some radio play but I didn’t hear anything more from him or Norfside records, which is a real shame as both tracks and his Funk Flex appearances had A LOT of swagger.

Salaam spent the rest of the 90s walking the rap/reggae line from Wyclef to Red Rat and didn’t really pop up on my radar again until he started working with Nas. Enough has already been written about the throwback classic “Made You Look” but he also produced the creeping JB-looping “Get Down” and the “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” sampling “Thief’s Theme” (vastly superior to last year’s “Hiphop Is Dead”). Nas has never really had his “own” producer but these days it certainly feels like Salaam is his first port-of-call for beats.

Salaam has also found success in the R&B field with North London’s Miss Dynamite and Amy Winehouse (North London standUP!). He’s a very skillfull producer and hasn’t gone more than a couple of years without producing a serious TUNE for fifteen years. That’s a good record by any reckoning.

Salaam on Discogs
Salaam on Myspace

–
Self-promotion: I got a new blog of my own where I’ll be slinging up random music here and there and talking about vinyl, London and chocolate or whatever. I’ll still be on the Gat tip, in fact I’ll probably do more (that wouldn’t be hard right?). It’s called 16 33 45 78. Check it, peace!

I won’t be surprised if El-P’s I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead ends up in my top 3 albums of 2007. This is a bold statement, considering my musical diet these days is exclusively Jenny Lewis, Blaq Starr, the Jones Girls and Morse Code’s Shit I’m Feeling mix. Not a lot of room for “the next shit” in there. Not that I’m looking that hard anymore, but after Cannibal Ox’s The Cold Vein changed the game six years ago, I’ve found myself unimpressed with every creatively ambitious hip-hop album since. I know I’m not the only person that feels this way.

Buried within the mix of “EMG” (check it at El-P’s myspace) Big Wiz cuts up the three-hit drum fill that opens Bob James’s “Take Me to the Mardi Gras”. I think what I like about El-P is that under several layers of analog noise, intricate drum programming, fx loops and future rap, one still finds a fundamental building block of hip-hop. And I’m working on the assumption that there was a conscious choice to use a worn out copy of Two, not because El loathes treble, but because in the context of hip-hop, that drum fill should be burnt out from “Peter Piper” practice.

My discussion with El-P is mostly a discussion about the relationship between him, his music, his fans and hip-hop. And the annoying revelation that there probably won’t be a second Can Ox joint. But there are a lot of obvious questions left unasked, so in case you want more…
El-P in The AV Club
El-P in Remix via ReadMezzanine

I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead drops 3/20.
–

How did you approach I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead differently than Fantastic Damage?

I’m not really sure man. Every time I do a record it’s like I have to relearn how to make music again in some weird way; I don’t really have a formula, I can’t really pinpoint it. Probably the reason why I take so long in between records. If I had a little bit more of a system, I might be a little more prolific.

When did you actually start working on the album because I guess it’s been almost 4 years between the two albums?

I kind of started off and on. I had a few false starts. I started probably around 2004.

Fantastic Damage was good, but it was very epic; there were a lot of tracks that were very long and seemed to go through a lot of changes. This album is a little tighter, maybe a little less sprawling. Was that intentional?

Yes it was. I think Fantastic Damage was me throwing literally everything I had as rambling and ranting as long as I possibly could on every song.

It was your first chance to do a solo album so I could see that.

It was and I guess I kind of had a mixture of excitement and inexperience kind of dictated the way that came out and I loved that record, but when I did this record I was very intent on making a more distinct, more tight record, something were every word counted. I knew I wanted to make a record just under an hour long. It was a challenge for me; how can I make a record that is short and epic simultaneously? That was my approach to it. it was very intentional.

When you start working, do you start with your beats or your rhymes?

Yeah it’s really whatever happens. Like I said, I don’t have a particular formula. But I would say probably though a majority of the time the music will come first.

Your sound is diverged so far from as rap from a whole? I’m wondering, is there any rap that is influential to the music you are making these days?

Yeah man, I mean I love rap music. What I make is rap music. I don’t know, I guess I just stand on my own two feet here, ya know? The beautiful thing to me is striking a balance between creating something that is reaching and that is expansive and is contributing and in a way that is not always thought of as being rap music, and at the same time be grounded in rap music, have it have the b-boy essence of soul that I grew up with that made me love this music and made me a musician. And I think that swinging too far in either direction isn’t the right way for me. I’m looking for the perfect convergence of these two things. Certainly I wouldn’t say that i’ve found it. I look at everything I do I feel proudly about. I feel I’m so rooted in this, so clearly what I do that any moment, any song, any idea I have I am attributing it directly, I am giving the credit directly to hip-hop. I want to, it’s my honor to hand it over and hopefully what I’m doing is contributing positively to it and I love to do it. I certainly don’t think in those terms.

That’s definitely something that you do that a lot of other artists that try to expand on hip-hop don’t quite achieve; they sort of either go too far from hip-hop or don’t go far enough.

I don’t have any choice ya know? It’s engraved in my personality. I was born and raised in the era of hip-hop that most people only read about in books or watch in documentaries, and in the place that they read about. I was there! I was there walking down the street with people breakdancing and listening to their boxes, writing graffiti. I was taking the fabled bombed graffiti subway trains to school everyday. This is engrained in my life. I’ll always have that b-boy swagger to my shit no matter what I do, so therefore I don’t feel like I have to go out of my way to keep mentioning it to people. I don’t feel like I have to go out of my way to remind people. I feel like my job is just to go wherever I need to go and as a legitimate citizen of this culture, I will carry the culture to a degree with me as I walk. that’s all I really want ya know?

That is a really interesting idea, that it is so engrained in you and there a lot of artists who got into hip-hop but are sort of straying away from it because it’s not ingrained in them.

Well ya know, hip-hop is not some transient fad or interest for me. It’s not something I got into in college when I heard whatever record. This is not something that is fading for me, I’m not going to lose interest, it’s not like that. You know there are a lot of people who do kind of approach it like that, who kind of go into a phase where they get really into hip-hop music because they think it’s interesting for a moment and then all of a sudden they spend the rest of their lives being disappointed by hip-hop music because it doesn’t match up to that one year that they were really impressed.

Your fan base has more in common with indie rock; the kind of people that don’t listen extensively to hip-hop. For a lot of people I feel like you are sort of the only rap they actually hear.

I think that you could say the same thing about pop music, couldn’t you? Like pop-hip-hop, top 40 hip hop. People who have no connection to hip-hop other than the fact that they are listening to top 40? People who listen to whatever pop music is, and therefore hip-hop is pop music, but they are not in love with hip-hop. I think that there are people that are attracted to the music that myself and some of my peers do that may not know a lot about hip-hop, but we’ve become a gateway drug ya know? And I’m proud to be that. I would love to be that drug, that introductory drug into the world that I love so much and know so much about. you gotta get there somehow I suppose, right?

Right and it might as well be with you.

Well sure, my thing is it shouldn’t end with me. If it begins with me, that’s fine, but it just shouldn’t end with me because it’s much bigger than me and what we do or what my friends do, but I’m proud to be part of anyone’s experience. And I do think that I get a lot of people who are interested in what I do because of some of the sounds that I use and some of the structure and some of the way I approach it because it reminds them of things that they know, like rock music. I get a bit of a crossover audience. People who love listening to rock music hear rock music in my records. People who grew up listening to Mantronix and BDP hear that in my records. I grew up pretty much listening to all of this.

I don’t care. Personally I have no stake in nor am I taking any responsibility for the reaction to my music. I’m not a politician, I’m not a statistician, I’m not taking a fucking census, I don’t know who the hell listens to my music or who doesn’t. And there are people who find it interesting when you analyze who’s listening to what, but I have never change what I’ve been doing and I’ve never changed my perspective on what I’m doing, it doesn’t matter who the fuck listens to what I’m doing. I was born and raised and lived my entire life in Brooklyn, so it doesn’t change my experience it doesn’t change what I’m doing and the reason why I’m doing what I’m doing. So I can’t resent it neither and I damn sure can’t over-analyze whatever’s happening in terms of the listenership of independent hip-hop music.

Is there a new Can Ox album coming out any time soon?

I really doubt it.

Really?

The fact of the matter is that everyone has been crossing their fingers, including Def Jux, hoping that Cannibal Ox would get their shit together as a group, even to the point where I resigned them. I really hoped and prayed that they would get their shit together, thought they were at a certain juncture in time. At this point I can’t pretend anymore or cover for those guys. They haven’t been together for a long time, but they tried to get it back together again, but it’s proving to be an impossible task.

That breaks my heart.

You’re not the only one buddy.