Haze47
THE URBAN ARCHEOLOGIST
ill o.g.
He’s shared stages with David Lynch, The Roots and many members of the Definitive Jux camp of which he is now a member. He’s been one half of Ohio’s Mhz but is now one half of Soul Position. He’s repeatedly featured in Urb magazine’s annual “Future 100” who’s who of Hip Hop artists most deserving of big things in the proceeding year – do you know who it is yet? On the eve of release of his sophomore solo album Since We Last spoke, RJD2 called me up to chat about his creative process, the tools of his trade and working (and not working) with emcees.
Sup y’all. This is RJD2 from the Definitive Jux crew, Soul Position crew, checking out ukhh.com.
Q: Strange place for me to start but your work, it clearly shows that a lot of long-work and care has gone into it - since you have to spend so long finding all these samples can you ever just enjoy music now – or is it like the flipside of that old adage whereby you can’t see the forest because of the wood?
Oh yeah. I went through a period of that. Luckily, one thing about this record is it’s not all samples. A good chunk of it is instrumentation by live instruments so that makes it easier. And you just get to a point where you’ve got to learn to get outside of listening to everything just for a sample. That’s always going to be there but…I don’t know how to describe it…once you hone your analytical ear, the next step is learning how and when to turn it on and off. It takes a while but it’s not impossible.
Q: Do you listen much for fun whilst you’re making music or do you close yourself off from any music other than your own?
No-no-no-no! I’ve got to be in the mood to listen to music in order to make music.
Q: Well then listening to the new album, I’m guessing Rick Wakeman and Frank Zappa must have been in your listening habits?
Who’s Rick Wakeman!?
Q: Ummmm, famous prog rock musician? Massive British keyboardist who did all this massively elaborate medieval Prog Rock stuff – no? heheheheh?
No, unfortunately I’m not familiar with him. I’m a little bit into Prog Rock - I’m not completely obsessed by it but y’know, here and there..
Q: So what were you listening to when you were making …
Ummmm, Queens of the Stoneage, Mars Voltare, Nick Drake, The Zombies…ummm, what else is good that’s out there? Bjork, - and I’m blanking out on the rest.
"...once you hone your analytical ear, the next step is learning how and when to turn it on and off....”
Q: And when it comes to your composition process, do you work with an end song in mind or are you just lead by the samples and odd notes?
Yeahyeah. Well, the fun of putting a song together, if it’s going to be from samples or even if it’s not, the joy of making what I guess you’d say is essentially cut’n’paste music is finding out where it’s going to end up – that’s as opposed to setting out with an initial goal. But I would say that once you find a direction for something, the goal isn’t to be this big amalgamation of a bunch of different things. So once a song has found a direction, I try to let it just go in that direction. I try to let it be what it wants to be so to speak.
Q: Do you have a set process – like do you always start with the drums or another specific instrument?
Ummmm, no; not drums. I usually start with instruments. The way I work is I’ll have a running tally of say drum breaks that I haven’t used and they’ll be there with basslines and whatever. I’ve catalogued all my records – well not all my records but everything that I use for sample fodder. Using sticky-tabs I just wrote out what’s on what and then I’d go back to it. This made things easier; instead of listening to something all the way through every time I was looking for something, I can just look through the sticky tabs. I’d say that 99% of things start from the combination of two things. I’ll try to have two instruments that themselves combined alone don’t really work too well – but when you put them in key, chop them up and find a way to program them, they make something that’s better than the sum of their individual parts. Once that happens, you get an idea of how the rhythm of the piece sorta feels - how the swing should be. And then you’ll just look through stuff like drum breaks or drum sounds or whatever is appropriate and program them to match the feel of the music. Because it’s a lot harder to start with the feel of a drum break or drum pattern and make instruments fit to that. It’s a lot easier for me to start with the way a piece swings according to the instruments and then just make the drums fit to that.
"...there's a little more appeal to my music than "you're stoned and you have headphones on"....”
Q: OK. Are you an advocate of stuff like sample CDs and like those catalogued drum CDs that give you professionally mastered studio drum sounds?
Ummm, I mean I don’t use them but I don’t have a problem with them. To be honest, I don’t care. Heheheheh. If that’s what floats somebody else’s boat? Cool.
Q: And as you said, you’re using a lot more proper playing out of original melodies and that this time. How was that done? Was that on actual instruments or just sequencing on a keyboard?
Instruments. It was all stuff that I played. Sometimes there’d be stuff where I would be things where I would either want to use a sample or I’d just be looking for something but just couldn’t find it, so …. It’s just kinda been a slow shift that I’ve tried to go through over the last…well it started at least a couple years ago where I started buying instruments and just tried to be at this point. I realised that a point, just making sample-based music is not sustainable over a period of time -–just for legal reasons at least. It’s not something that I want to be stuck doing. I want to at least have the ability to do something else. It would be like, let’s say I needed a certain synth line or whatever, I’d be stuck going through a million records just to find that one synth line. Now if I can get the right tone on the keyboard I’ve got, I’ll just play it.
Q: And you say sampling offers only a finite career because original samples themselves are but a finite resource - on Dead Ringer, you did use a few breaks that had previously been used by Breez Evahflowin and Atmosphere among others?
Really? What were they?
Q: Damn! I can’t remember the name of your track but there’s that large horn break that’s used by Breez Evahflowin for Step This Way And then the other one is that reprise off of God Loves Ugly which is just that descending riff – So that wasn’t deliberate? You weren’t aware of that?
No, this is the first time it’s ever come up. But! Atmosphere used it after I did. Cus God Loves Ugly came out….well must have been after my record.
Q: Oh that’s alright then hehehe – But Breez Evahflowin’s Pro Files EP did come out in like 2001 or something.
Oh wow! OK. No I wasn’t aware of them. To the best of my knowledge, at the time, I was not aware of anybody else using anything that I went on to use.
Q: Coming back to something you said earlier about the “amalgamation” of sounds and influences, can you ever foresee a time when genre will no longer exist in Western music?
Gosh! That’s a good question! I think it’s very possible. I don’t know…I think Country’s always going to be Country and I don’t think that we can say across the board there wont be any genres. But I mean things are definitely going to change. Most importantly, Hip Hop and the way it sounds is going to change. You see Rock changing, it’s always going through some little phase or whatever – I dunno,…Outkast’s new record for instance really kinda set a new…well I guess you’d say “Plateau” for how weird a “Hip Hop” record can sound.
"...It's a lot easier for me to start with the way a piece swings according to the instruments and then just make the drums fit to that....”
Q: Well do you think there is something you can still point to as a “Hip Hop” beat anymore? Especially when Britney and Jay-Z are using the same instrumentals?
Oh yeah, sure. When you hear your average bland-ass underground Hip Hop record, that’s definitely “Hip Hop.” You know what I mean? Just some boring shit that sounds like fake Premier music? Well that’s definitely “Hip Hop,” those guys aren’t trying to do anything else. There is that thing where sometimes Britney Spears’ instrumentals sound like a rap song – but that’s because people like Timbalaand and The Neptunes are doing production for people like Britney Spears.
Q: Fair enough. And looking at your own music and the work of DJ Shadow who paint outside the genre lines a bit, have you had any trouble trying to market your work? Because, and especially with the new album, it doesn’t sit easily in any one genre?
Nah…I don’t think there’s too much trouble marketing it. I don’t feel like I’m trying to make Ambient smoke-weed-in-your-college-dorm-room music. So I’d like to think that there’s a little more appeal to my music than “you’re stoned and you have headphones on.”
Q: Can you tell me what you started out making beats on way back in the beginning?
An MPC; the same thing I used for…pretty much everything I’ve done to this date in fact heheheh.
Q: Which model?
2000.
"...I used to try and pitch the weird shit to other people and then keep the normal shit for myself but then I realised that it works better backward to that. So now I keep the weird shit to myself and pitch the normal shit to other people....”
Q: Wow! Still? And to you reckon that’s the ideal setup for you? I mean, if you could afford better – no hang on, obviously you can afford better –
Eh-eh! What you trying to say here!? “Obviously you can afford”?? What you trying to say? Do you think I’m rich huh!?
Q: But seriously, how close is the MPC2000 to an ideal setup for you?
It’s good for me. It is an ideal setup for me – because according to your words, I’m rich as hella and so can afford anything I want hehehehe. But no, it’s good for me, it’s cool. I mean I have a computer now and I use Pro Tools to track instruments and stuff but I’m just not into sequencing on it. The reason MPC2000 is easier for me to use is because it makes the executive decision-making approach to production really easy. Because you have all these things at your finger tips. Sure, there’s the labour-intensive part of getting everything chopped up and getting it all in key and in times so it’s all going to work together but once that’s all done, with an MPC, you just sit back and make decisions about what should go where and how to put a song together. Pro Tools makes it easy because it’s visual but the MPC for me is just as easy if not easier – I mean, I don’t know how to put a song together using Pro Tools because I’m not that slick with it. So yeah the MPC2000 is perfect for me.
Q: Have you had any feedback from the artists you’ve sampled?
No.
Q: Not at all? Do you think they’d be pleased with what you’ve done to and with their music?
I don’t know – that might be presumptuous of me to think that they’re please. But, touch wood, I’ve been lucky; I’ve haven’t had any legal problems yet – knock on wood. I can either assume one of several things: I can assume that people haven’t heard it or somebody has heard it along the way and they’re not mad about it or I can assume that they’ve heard it and for some unknown reason they haven’t gotten to me about it.
Q: How come there’s no emcees on the new album?
Because I hate rappers.
Q: hehehehe. And when you’re thinking of putting together music – given how you’ve been involved with Mhz and Soul Position, people like that – you say you catalogue all your samples so do you tend to set some aside for specific projects? Like do you think “That’s definitely an RJD2 break…that’s definitely a Soul Position melody” or something?
On the whole, the really good shit, I just keep it for myself. And then the times I come across some bullshit, I’ll just say “oh give it to some rapper…who cares?” But I dunno… I used to try and pitch the weird shit to other people and then keep the normal shit for myself but then I realised that it works better backward to that. So now I keep the weird shit to myself and pitch the normal shit to other people.
Q: OK. Speaking of Soul Position, should we be fearing – no, not “fearing” – should we be preparing ourselves for the next Gang Starr? I mean, Is Soul Position about the long haul or is it just a one album, one EP collaboration?
Oh it wont be a one-off. We’re definitely going to do another record. But Blueprint was holding me back so I’ve gotta do me now heheheh. 2004 is my time to shine – nah I’m just playing man; he’s my buddy. We’re definitely be doing more records together.
Q: Great. But how do you feel about a comparison between Soul Position and Gang Starr because I really do feel the vibe of 8 million stories and No more Mister Niceguy are comparable.
Wow thank you! Wow – I don’t know, it makes me nervous to be honest with you. But it’s definitely a complement so I appreciate it. Gosh! It’s a lot to live up to you know?
"...just making sample-based music is not sustainable over a period of time....”
Q: Is anything happening with The MHz?
Gosh…Camu is doing his thing so not really. I mean we’re cool, we don’t have any problems or anything but I feel like as a name? We just got to a point where we just started doing solo things and then from there, it was…I dunno; it is what it is. For whatever reason, we just became more dedicated to doing our solo projects than to being a group. Which is something I guess you could lament but it is what it is.
Q: Are you going to be taking this album out on the road?
Yes.
Q: What can we expect of an RJD2 stage-show?
I’m going to be dancing a lot and maybe a little music. Let’s see… four turntables and I’m going to try and do lots of back flips. I have the Black Eyed Peas wardrobe coordinator working for me so I’m hoping I’m going to look AS cool as The Black Eyed Peas –
Q: “As cool?”
Hopefully…it’s going to be tough.
Q: Any other future plans we should know about – apart from the album obviously?
I’m planning on trying to finish remodelling my kitchen by the end of the year.
Q: Well we all look forward to that.
Yeah I think everyone’s going to get a lot out of that.
Q: Excellent! With emcees there’s always a lot of competition and rivalry. Is there the same sort of rivalry between producers? I mean, is like Buck65 challenging you to an arm-wrestle? Is DJ Shadow challenging you to a game of Twister or somemat to decide who’s best?
Heeeheeehheee! Yeah it’s pretty cut-throat, I can’t front. No it’s cool. Producers are just weirdos man. They are just so introverted and fucking weird man – I’ve got a few friends who are producers and that’s what they’re like you know?
Q: So you’ve never thought of forming a producer super-group or nuttin?
No – but I’ll battle them tho if they want it!
Q: And as I always say, is there anybody you want to biggup on this worldwide basis?
Everybody at the newly constructed Def Jux UK….All of the Darling Department – everyone that’s done shit to support me in the past… And ukhh.com – and everybody at Jux in America and everybody all over the world!
"...some boring shit that sounds like fake Premier music? Well that's definitely "Hip Hop"....”
Q: And that’s it I think – short ‘n’ sweet but I think we covered everything man – thanks –
Thank you. Thank you for taking the time man.
And that’s where we had to draw it to an early close because I had to shoot off to enjoy an enthralling afternoon comparing the performance of various unit trust investment management companies. thanks to Mr RJD2 for the interview. Special thanks to Sam for making it happen and extra special thanks to Sam for paying for the phonecall. RJD2’s sophomore solo album, Since we last spoke?, is due out this May on Definitive Jux. It is very different to Dead Ringer. Rather than delivering another series of rich loops that shift and flow into the next, occasionally punctuated by a fellow Junkie emcee, with this project RJD2 is keen to demonstrate the difference between mere “producer” and fully-fledged “songwriter.” RJD2 accomplishes this objective with what is an impressive collection of complementary, but all very different songs. When proceedings first get under way, a strong ‘70s Rock influence is evident, inviting comparisons with the work of DJ Shadow. However, as the album goes on, RJD2 defies comparison with his peers as other tracks take Hip Hop into the spheres of soul, synth pop and even some Reaching Quiet post rock murmurings – and much of it topped off with some wild Buck Rogers future-retro freak-out analog synth solo leads.
safe...
Sup y’all. This is RJD2 from the Definitive Jux crew, Soul Position crew, checking out ukhh.com.
Q: Strange place for me to start but your work, it clearly shows that a lot of long-work and care has gone into it - since you have to spend so long finding all these samples can you ever just enjoy music now – or is it like the flipside of that old adage whereby you can’t see the forest because of the wood?
Oh yeah. I went through a period of that. Luckily, one thing about this record is it’s not all samples. A good chunk of it is instrumentation by live instruments so that makes it easier. And you just get to a point where you’ve got to learn to get outside of listening to everything just for a sample. That’s always going to be there but…I don’t know how to describe it…once you hone your analytical ear, the next step is learning how and when to turn it on and off. It takes a while but it’s not impossible.
Q: Do you listen much for fun whilst you’re making music or do you close yourself off from any music other than your own?
No-no-no-no! I’ve got to be in the mood to listen to music in order to make music.
Q: Well then listening to the new album, I’m guessing Rick Wakeman and Frank Zappa must have been in your listening habits?
Who’s Rick Wakeman!?
Q: Ummmm, famous prog rock musician? Massive British keyboardist who did all this massively elaborate medieval Prog Rock stuff – no? heheheheh?
No, unfortunately I’m not familiar with him. I’m a little bit into Prog Rock - I’m not completely obsessed by it but y’know, here and there..
Q: So what were you listening to when you were making …
Ummmm, Queens of the Stoneage, Mars Voltare, Nick Drake, The Zombies…ummm, what else is good that’s out there? Bjork, - and I’m blanking out on the rest.
"...once you hone your analytical ear, the next step is learning how and when to turn it on and off....”
Q: And when it comes to your composition process, do you work with an end song in mind or are you just lead by the samples and odd notes?
Yeahyeah. Well, the fun of putting a song together, if it’s going to be from samples or even if it’s not, the joy of making what I guess you’d say is essentially cut’n’paste music is finding out where it’s going to end up – that’s as opposed to setting out with an initial goal. But I would say that once you find a direction for something, the goal isn’t to be this big amalgamation of a bunch of different things. So once a song has found a direction, I try to let it just go in that direction. I try to let it be what it wants to be so to speak.
Q: Do you have a set process – like do you always start with the drums or another specific instrument?
Ummmm, no; not drums. I usually start with instruments. The way I work is I’ll have a running tally of say drum breaks that I haven’t used and they’ll be there with basslines and whatever. I’ve catalogued all my records – well not all my records but everything that I use for sample fodder. Using sticky-tabs I just wrote out what’s on what and then I’d go back to it. This made things easier; instead of listening to something all the way through every time I was looking for something, I can just look through the sticky tabs. I’d say that 99% of things start from the combination of two things. I’ll try to have two instruments that themselves combined alone don’t really work too well – but when you put them in key, chop them up and find a way to program them, they make something that’s better than the sum of their individual parts. Once that happens, you get an idea of how the rhythm of the piece sorta feels - how the swing should be. And then you’ll just look through stuff like drum breaks or drum sounds or whatever is appropriate and program them to match the feel of the music. Because it’s a lot harder to start with the feel of a drum break or drum pattern and make instruments fit to that. It’s a lot easier for me to start with the way a piece swings according to the instruments and then just make the drums fit to that.
"...there's a little more appeal to my music than "you're stoned and you have headphones on"....”
Q: OK. Are you an advocate of stuff like sample CDs and like those catalogued drum CDs that give you professionally mastered studio drum sounds?
Ummm, I mean I don’t use them but I don’t have a problem with them. To be honest, I don’t care. Heheheheh. If that’s what floats somebody else’s boat? Cool.
Q: And as you said, you’re using a lot more proper playing out of original melodies and that this time. How was that done? Was that on actual instruments or just sequencing on a keyboard?
Instruments. It was all stuff that I played. Sometimes there’d be stuff where I would be things where I would either want to use a sample or I’d just be looking for something but just couldn’t find it, so …. It’s just kinda been a slow shift that I’ve tried to go through over the last…well it started at least a couple years ago where I started buying instruments and just tried to be at this point. I realised that a point, just making sample-based music is not sustainable over a period of time -–just for legal reasons at least. It’s not something that I want to be stuck doing. I want to at least have the ability to do something else. It would be like, let’s say I needed a certain synth line or whatever, I’d be stuck going through a million records just to find that one synth line. Now if I can get the right tone on the keyboard I’ve got, I’ll just play it.
Q: And you say sampling offers only a finite career because original samples themselves are but a finite resource - on Dead Ringer, you did use a few breaks that had previously been used by Breez Evahflowin and Atmosphere among others?
Really? What were they?
Q: Damn! I can’t remember the name of your track but there’s that large horn break that’s used by Breez Evahflowin for Step This Way And then the other one is that reprise off of God Loves Ugly which is just that descending riff – So that wasn’t deliberate? You weren’t aware of that?
No, this is the first time it’s ever come up. But! Atmosphere used it after I did. Cus God Loves Ugly came out….well must have been after my record.
Q: Oh that’s alright then hehehe – But Breez Evahflowin’s Pro Files EP did come out in like 2001 or something.
Oh wow! OK. No I wasn’t aware of them. To the best of my knowledge, at the time, I was not aware of anybody else using anything that I went on to use.
Q: Coming back to something you said earlier about the “amalgamation” of sounds and influences, can you ever foresee a time when genre will no longer exist in Western music?
Gosh! That’s a good question! I think it’s very possible. I don’t know…I think Country’s always going to be Country and I don’t think that we can say across the board there wont be any genres. But I mean things are definitely going to change. Most importantly, Hip Hop and the way it sounds is going to change. You see Rock changing, it’s always going through some little phase or whatever – I dunno,…Outkast’s new record for instance really kinda set a new…well I guess you’d say “Plateau” for how weird a “Hip Hop” record can sound.
"...It's a lot easier for me to start with the way a piece swings according to the instruments and then just make the drums fit to that....”
Q: Well do you think there is something you can still point to as a “Hip Hop” beat anymore? Especially when Britney and Jay-Z are using the same instrumentals?
Oh yeah, sure. When you hear your average bland-ass underground Hip Hop record, that’s definitely “Hip Hop.” You know what I mean? Just some boring shit that sounds like fake Premier music? Well that’s definitely “Hip Hop,” those guys aren’t trying to do anything else. There is that thing where sometimes Britney Spears’ instrumentals sound like a rap song – but that’s because people like Timbalaand and The Neptunes are doing production for people like Britney Spears.
Q: Fair enough. And looking at your own music and the work of DJ Shadow who paint outside the genre lines a bit, have you had any trouble trying to market your work? Because, and especially with the new album, it doesn’t sit easily in any one genre?
Nah…I don’t think there’s too much trouble marketing it. I don’t feel like I’m trying to make Ambient smoke-weed-in-your-college-dorm-room music. So I’d like to think that there’s a little more appeal to my music than “you’re stoned and you have headphones on.”
Q: Can you tell me what you started out making beats on way back in the beginning?
An MPC; the same thing I used for…pretty much everything I’ve done to this date in fact heheheh.
Q: Which model?
2000.
"...I used to try and pitch the weird shit to other people and then keep the normal shit for myself but then I realised that it works better backward to that. So now I keep the weird shit to myself and pitch the normal shit to other people....”
Q: Wow! Still? And to you reckon that’s the ideal setup for you? I mean, if you could afford better – no hang on, obviously you can afford better –
Eh-eh! What you trying to say here!? “Obviously you can afford”?? What you trying to say? Do you think I’m rich huh!?
Q: But seriously, how close is the MPC2000 to an ideal setup for you?
It’s good for me. It is an ideal setup for me – because according to your words, I’m rich as hella and so can afford anything I want hehehehe. But no, it’s good for me, it’s cool. I mean I have a computer now and I use Pro Tools to track instruments and stuff but I’m just not into sequencing on it. The reason MPC2000 is easier for me to use is because it makes the executive decision-making approach to production really easy. Because you have all these things at your finger tips. Sure, there’s the labour-intensive part of getting everything chopped up and getting it all in key and in times so it’s all going to work together but once that’s all done, with an MPC, you just sit back and make decisions about what should go where and how to put a song together. Pro Tools makes it easy because it’s visual but the MPC for me is just as easy if not easier – I mean, I don’t know how to put a song together using Pro Tools because I’m not that slick with it. So yeah the MPC2000 is perfect for me.
Q: Have you had any feedback from the artists you’ve sampled?
No.
Q: Not at all? Do you think they’d be pleased with what you’ve done to and with their music?
I don’t know – that might be presumptuous of me to think that they’re please. But, touch wood, I’ve been lucky; I’ve haven’t had any legal problems yet – knock on wood. I can either assume one of several things: I can assume that people haven’t heard it or somebody has heard it along the way and they’re not mad about it or I can assume that they’ve heard it and for some unknown reason they haven’t gotten to me about it.
Q: How come there’s no emcees on the new album?
Because I hate rappers.
Q: hehehehe. And when you’re thinking of putting together music – given how you’ve been involved with Mhz and Soul Position, people like that – you say you catalogue all your samples so do you tend to set some aside for specific projects? Like do you think “That’s definitely an RJD2 break…that’s definitely a Soul Position melody” or something?
On the whole, the really good shit, I just keep it for myself. And then the times I come across some bullshit, I’ll just say “oh give it to some rapper…who cares?” But I dunno… I used to try and pitch the weird shit to other people and then keep the normal shit for myself but then I realised that it works better backward to that. So now I keep the weird shit to myself and pitch the normal shit to other people.
Q: OK. Speaking of Soul Position, should we be fearing – no, not “fearing” – should we be preparing ourselves for the next Gang Starr? I mean, Is Soul Position about the long haul or is it just a one album, one EP collaboration?
Oh it wont be a one-off. We’re definitely going to do another record. But Blueprint was holding me back so I’ve gotta do me now heheheh. 2004 is my time to shine – nah I’m just playing man; he’s my buddy. We’re definitely be doing more records together.
Q: Great. But how do you feel about a comparison between Soul Position and Gang Starr because I really do feel the vibe of 8 million stories and No more Mister Niceguy are comparable.
Wow thank you! Wow – I don’t know, it makes me nervous to be honest with you. But it’s definitely a complement so I appreciate it. Gosh! It’s a lot to live up to you know?
"...just making sample-based music is not sustainable over a period of time....”
Q: Is anything happening with The MHz?
Gosh…Camu is doing his thing so not really. I mean we’re cool, we don’t have any problems or anything but I feel like as a name? We just got to a point where we just started doing solo things and then from there, it was…I dunno; it is what it is. For whatever reason, we just became more dedicated to doing our solo projects than to being a group. Which is something I guess you could lament but it is what it is.
Q: Are you going to be taking this album out on the road?
Yes.
Q: What can we expect of an RJD2 stage-show?
I’m going to be dancing a lot and maybe a little music. Let’s see… four turntables and I’m going to try and do lots of back flips. I have the Black Eyed Peas wardrobe coordinator working for me so I’m hoping I’m going to look AS cool as The Black Eyed Peas –
Q: “As cool?”
Hopefully…it’s going to be tough.
Q: Any other future plans we should know about – apart from the album obviously?
I’m planning on trying to finish remodelling my kitchen by the end of the year.
Q: Well we all look forward to that.
Yeah I think everyone’s going to get a lot out of that.
Q: Excellent! With emcees there’s always a lot of competition and rivalry. Is there the same sort of rivalry between producers? I mean, is like Buck65 challenging you to an arm-wrestle? Is DJ Shadow challenging you to a game of Twister or somemat to decide who’s best?
Heeeheeehheee! Yeah it’s pretty cut-throat, I can’t front. No it’s cool. Producers are just weirdos man. They are just so introverted and fucking weird man – I’ve got a few friends who are producers and that’s what they’re like you know?
Q: So you’ve never thought of forming a producer super-group or nuttin?
No – but I’ll battle them tho if they want it!
Q: And as I always say, is there anybody you want to biggup on this worldwide basis?
Everybody at the newly constructed Def Jux UK….All of the Darling Department – everyone that’s done shit to support me in the past… And ukhh.com – and everybody at Jux in America and everybody all over the world!
"...some boring shit that sounds like fake Premier music? Well that's definitely "Hip Hop"....”
Q: And that’s it I think – short ‘n’ sweet but I think we covered everything man – thanks –
Thank you. Thank you for taking the time man.
And that’s where we had to draw it to an early close because I had to shoot off to enjoy an enthralling afternoon comparing the performance of various unit trust investment management companies. thanks to Mr RJD2 for the interview. Special thanks to Sam for making it happen and extra special thanks to Sam for paying for the phonecall. RJD2’s sophomore solo album, Since we last spoke?, is due out this May on Definitive Jux. It is very different to Dead Ringer. Rather than delivering another series of rich loops that shift and flow into the next, occasionally punctuated by a fellow Junkie emcee, with this project RJD2 is keen to demonstrate the difference between mere “producer” and fully-fledged “songwriter.” RJD2 accomplishes this objective with what is an impressive collection of complementary, but all very different songs. When proceedings first get under way, a strong ‘70s Rock influence is evident, inviting comparisons with the work of DJ Shadow. However, as the album goes on, RJD2 defies comparison with his peers as other tracks take Hip Hop into the spheres of soul, synth pop and even some Reaching Quiet post rock murmurings – and much of it topped off with some wild Buck Rogers future-retro freak-out analog synth solo leads.
safe...
