BY THUTO 'THE REAL DEAL' MALI
Following on from round one, it is time to get proper down and dirty and talk about those standout moments and career higlights. The Alchemist might just have taken the last round, but it is now for round two gentleman. You’ve both worked with the whose who of hip hop, and certainly some of my all time favourite artists such as Talib Kweli, Jay – Z, Snoop, Nas - the lists endless. What has been you’re favourite project / production so far and why?
Just Blaze: “Like we were saying before you started rolling this, its art, it’s an expression, and it is something that you give birth to from nothing, kind of like children. You can’t ask a parent which is your favourite child. If you've got five kids and this one is my favourite and the other four are looking at you like, what the hell? – it is kind of the same with music.
“I have a personal attachment or a feeling towards just about everything that I have worked on. There are something’s that you like more than others, but you love them all the same regardless because they came from you. One of the best feelings that I have had regarding my music is probably doing Madison Square Gardens with Jay. ‘The Black Album’ had come out like three weeks before and he turned all the lights down and started doing “public service announcement” and my voice came on and the intro and all the lights in the Garden went red, the crowd was going nuts and knew every word line for line. It was such a good feeling, just that wild energy – it was probably one of my favourite moments related to anything that I have done.
“Other than that, it was probably the T.I and Rhianna record I did. I was djing at a Halloween party in Philli, a real big party and someone tapped me on the shoulder and said hey, you forget you have the number on record in the country right now? Oh yeah, check this out ladies and gentleman we have an announcement to make, we have the number on record in the country – bitches. The crowd went nuts and was singing along to every word, the chorus, and the hook of the record, which I had written and that was a good feeling. It is a great thing to make a beat and I love it all the same, but when you have written the record as well, and to see people sing along to it, it is a doubly good feeling because it was a song that just came into my head out of nowhere – it’s crazy”.
The Alchemist: “The people that I make the best music with are my friends. So like Dilated Peoples, Cypress Hill and Mobb Deep – I consider them family beyond music. Once you cross over that line, you create music that is more true to the people, versus just being in the studio with someone who is really dope and you respect each other but you guys don’t really know how to meet in the middle. Music is like a relationship and it is also a lot of psychology from a producer’s standpoint. So with friends you are able to eliminate all that (the psychology) and work freely”.
The Real Deal: The Alchemist, you’re quoted as saying that “My career has been more of a steady climb rather than a quick rise, but I think it's good to rise gradually because that's where the longevity comes in”, what advice would you give to aspiring producers and artists?
The Alchemist: “It so generic to say but, do it because you love the music first. Somewhere along the line if you’re good at it, you might start making money from it, and it might become your profession – like a lot of us. But you always have to remember that when something you love becomes your livelihood, it goes up and down this music [game], it is not like a steady career where you get a salary - you get out of it what you put into it I guess.
“Sometimes you go so far in this business that you forget why you did it, you always have to go back and remember the spark. What you have to do is remind yourself of what made you want to rap or make a beat, and don’t lose sight of that along”.
The Real Deal: How do you manage to remain raw and maintain that underground raw feel and still manage to be successful?
The Alchemist: “I am still trying to figure that out my damn self, if there is anybody out there that can help me, my e-mail is… I think it is because, those are the kind of people that I looked up to and in life I like to make things last. I am an addict in personality, so if it’s music I do it to death, I really get into what I am doing and it’s like the weedgy board, the whole thing of asking it a question and it goes towards an answer and sometimes you like it and sometime you don’t.
“My opinion is that, you are pushing it so subconsciously that is the direction that you want it to go and in life that’s how I look at it, where I am at is where I wield myself to be. What I noticed about people who got big real quick is that they would also go away fast. I am just on my own shit.
It's now looking like it is neck and neck to the finishing line, it's too close to call in this round. It's all to play for as we go in for the final round.
LONDON:
Dates: Friday 27th & Saturday 28th May 2011
Times: 10.00pm – 4am
Venue: Plan B, 148 Brixton Road, London SW9
Support: Spin Doctor, The Last Skeptik, Mr Thing, Classic Material & Main Squeeze.
Tickets: £12 in advance / £15 on the door (if available)
Friday - http://tinyurl.com/5wm36bt / Saturday- http://tinyurl.com/6zye43
BRIGHTON: in association with Coalition
Dates: Bank Holiday Sunday 29th May 2011
Times: 10pm – 3am
Venue: Coalition, 171-181 Kings Road Arches, Brighton BN1 1NB
Support: Spin Doctor & Rusty Ryan
Tickets: £10 in advance / More on the door if available
No comments:
Post a Comment