The way I look at it, this is a very good thing. Last year's volume one was one of my favorite instrumental jawns of the year, hell, it was one of my favorite albums of the year. It's 90's hip hop in all it's goodness, so this should be worth checking for when it drops. - Trav
Ghetto Man Beats, LLC + Redline Music Distribution Presents
Beats From The 90's Vol. 2
Tentative release date 7.14.09
SAMPLER
http://www.zshare.net/audio/61175394783df66d/
Sequels, are sometimes incorrectly labeled; inferior. Beats From The 90's Vol. 2 doesn't fit into that category. Slept on, quality beats, from K-Def's stint working with Marley Marl at the House of Hits; during Hip-Hop's second Golden Age. These selected tracks showcase his varied taste, and maturity in Hip-Hop production.
Culled from broken dat tapes and floppy disks. BFT902, offers a glimpse, of what could of been. Tracks that are superior. And would have given any MC or Rapper of that period, proper footing to forge classic material.
His weapons of choice were the Roger Linn endorsed Akai MPC 3000 and S-3000. One of the first producers, too utilize these machines. K-Def, cemented his legendary status as a
maestro of the beats, with his sample heavy classic; The Turnaround : A Long Awaited Drama. These new tools, allowed his tracks to emit subtle eerie strings, and gave his drums perfect cadence and impact.
He is a genius at fine-tuning his arrangements, and his beats are often short of; magnificent. His productions usually features obscure samples, which he uses too sculpt the perfect notes and drum kits.
'The Magnumz' offers up lush crescendos, that rise and fall; with perfection and grace. 'Preying Mantis' is straight Hitchcock vision on cruise control; with controlled strings that stab and strike on cue. 'Survive The Blast', is fined tuned to have a cinematic feel; audio imbued with a killer instinct.
"This is one of my favorite albums, that I've assembled, says K-Def. These tracks were done from 1992-1996. There are tracks here, that were overlooked from a lot of 90's artists. Tracks chosen, for albums that never came out. I've kept working in the studio. Do I have a life? Yup, making HOT!!! tracks."
BFT902 offers an assortment of beats, that I'm sure listeners will enjoy. From dirty funk, melodic choices, and straight all out DRAMA. This volume will ensure, that head-nodding factor.
CD Tracklisting
01. The Magnum
02. Watch Out
03. Preying Mantis
04. Heaven Or Hell
05. Survive The Blast
06. Hey Funkbox
07. Bring The Gat
08. Having A Bad Day
09. Redcoats Are Coming
10. Mystery Man
11. Orig Blind 1995
12. He Is Waiting**
13. Guitar Licking**
** CD Only
Vinyl Tracklisting
01. The Magnum
02. Watch Out
03. Preying Mantis
04. Heaven Or Hell
05. Survive The Blast
06. Hey Funkbox
07. Bring The Gat
08. Having A Bad Day
09. Redcoats Are Coming
10. Mystery man
11. Orig Blind 1995
12. Drama For Your Ass *
* Vinyl Only
www.kdef.biz
www.myspace.com/kdefinite
www.myspace.com/ghettomanbeats
www.redlinedistribution.com
6/10/2009
K-Def - Beat's From The 90's Vol 2
8/19/2008
K-Def Interview Part II
Finally, part two of the K-Def interview is dropping. If you missed part one with K-Def, you can catch it here:
http://www.wydublog.com/2008/07/wydu-interview-with-k-def-part-one.html
As I've mentioned many times before, K-Def is easily one of my favorite producers from the 90's. His sound is one that I think what "true" hip hop was supposed to sound like. If someone had never heard what classic hip hop from the 90's sounded like, I would play them one of his beats for sure. So to be able to speak with him is easily up there among the top highlights of doing WYDU. One thing you have to realize is that K-Def is confident. There is a fine line between being confident and being cocky. The man oozes all kinds of confidence, but he is no way cocky or arrogant. His place in hip hop is one that should be seen in a better light. As I've mentioned, he should easily be mentioned up there with Pete, Primo, and any other top flight east coast producer, but for some reason, he isn't always in that small list. Does the man have a chip on his shoulder? I think he does, and rightfully so. He feels like he has something to prove. Nothing wrong with that.
In part two, we discuss the free Article EP, done with a young MC in Dacapo, as The Program. We also discuss their upcoming album, The Program LP (which you can check out and buy tracks on their myspace page) as well as K-Def's newest release, Beats From the 90's. We talk about the Real Live reunion (yes, it's going to happen) as well as the internet, samples and various other topics.
My apologies to the readers, to K-Def himself, and to Richard for taking so long on this. Long story short, anyone that has transcribed an interview knows that it takes some time to do. Plus, for whatever reason, the sound quality on this interview was horrible. There was a lot of rewinding to try to catch what was being said. And for good measure, I've been working a lot of long hours on the job that pays the most right now, which is my 9-5.
In case you've missed the free promo EP, here it is once again.....
Also, just re released:
K-Def - Willie Boo Boo 'The Fool'
WYDU: Let's go back to the EP again. How about we go through each track and you give us a little background on how the track came about? How did the lea doff track, "The Article" come about?
K-Def: "The Article" was the first song we did when we thought of doing a project together. That was a sample that a lot of people may now. My version doesn't have a lot of singing that some of the other versions do, but it was still a soulful experience in of itself. I got a lot of masters and I got a lot of acapellas. I'm trying to inch a lot of that stuff in little by little. Dacapo heard that beat and said "oh, I want to write to that", and it was over!
W: My favorite song from the EP was "Gotta Get The Cash", how did that song come about?
K-Def:Ah, Hamiliton Bohannon, that Bohannon is real sneaky too. Everybody got that sample, but you'll recognize from the horns there is no bassline no drums. It's the same part that was sampled on Ed OG 's track, but subtle elements are missing. I'll kick it like this; I can take vocals and instruments out of two-track records. Anything from the late 60's to the early 70's, you can't go past '75. Whether it's vinyl or it was recorded. I can go around with different record labels, records labels that used different places to master them. Some used quadiphonics and some were actually in mono. The ones in pure stereo, recorded and engineered right, even some of those, I can remove the vocals or I can take the bassline out. You know, I like that cause I can experiment a bit more. I had a different beat for that originally. But then I was like, let's check this joint and once again, he was ready to use that when he heard it.
W: Yeah, that I was a nice song. What's up with "Day Dreaming?"
K-Def: That one right there, that was a rare vibey and jazzy and he heard it and he was hearing things I wasn't expecting a rapper to hear. He was like "man, gotta have that beat," and I was like "ok". The vibe of the whole track is kind of laid back and soulful. That was actually something I wasn't expecting him to take. He did a good job with it.
W: Yeah, it was a different track from the rest of it. Another favorite of mine is track four, "Fallen".
K-Def: That beat was a beat I used a long time and I chopped it up. Of course of he heard it and thought the mood fit the whole song. He had something to that already, he already wrote it.
W: Track five would be "Beggin' Street".
K-Def: This track I had for Ol' Dirty Bastard. Dacapo heard it and said he never heard anything like that before. As soon as he heard it, he kept saying he never heard anything like that. The way it was chopped up and the such. It was really a turning point, in the creation process though. He really started paying attention to what he was doing, on this song and the next song. He had something ready for it as well originally. But he went back and forth with that track and I think eventually he ended up writing for it on the spot.
W: "Life Goes On"....
K-Def: *sings* Life goes on, duh duh duh....I had to coach him a bit on that one. I had to tell him to have his voice sound like the record, like "Life-Goes-On", like BAH BAHM BAH. And he handled it. Like from the first song, "The Article", to that song, there was a lot of songs in between and lyrically you can hear the confidence level pick up some. If there was a club jam on there, that's it.
W: Yeah, I can see that. And finally, "Free Speech"....
K-Def: At first he kinda had some jiggy-wiggy-wiggy thing to it, so I told him to go back to the board and write something pertaining to the hook. I think he did the vocals two or three times before he settled on that. There for awhile, we were doing a song a week, but he was learning a lot at the time. We worked a lot on the hook a lot, I'd teach him how to do the hook on that one. I want to change the game, and I want to use Dacapo to do that. All the dude does is get better as a rapper. The Program he is even better than on the Article EP. He's really got some heat.
W: Are you putting The Program LP on your own label?
K-Def: We still deciding. I'm not really trying to wait on that album, I'm not going to wait for no phone calls back. Im'ma put out there and see who rocks with it. If nobody rocks with it, I got digital distribution. I got ways to put out some copies. I'm not really trying to wait, I'm going to put it out there one way or the other. It may come out independently, or it may not. I don't need someone telling me what's right and what's wrong. If people are going to support good music, they are going to support it. They'll get behind it or they won't. I got enough songs that the mixtapes can get some, the radio can get some, but I don't have no qualms about putting something out when I'm ready, regardless if a label is behind it. I got enough projects to keep me busy, but as far as this project with Dacapo, it's something I'm proud of, it's something that is good that people need to hear. The EP is something for the people to hear this new guy come in and a different style of beats. Some of the beats, as I've said are from the 90's, some are that have never been heard before. I just to let people decide if they are going to like it or not. Not everyone is going to feel it. There is good tracks that will just get better. It's something for the street, but it's not violent, that's not selling records anymore. There is a place in the market, both overseas and here. The game needs a balance, and that's something the album is bringing.
W: You mentioned the digital releases and the such. I've noticed you've been using the internet a lot for stuff lately. The World Renown album was released over the internet, the EP was given away over the net and your selling tracks on your myspace. How do you feel about the role the internet plays in promotion, releases and just the music overall?
K-Def: I think the internet is promoting the right way. I kinda like it. On the internet, you know exactly what is going on, and that just goes with being independent in general, but the internet is a great tool for that. On a major label, you are always wondering if you are going to make any money, or you ever going to recoup. I don't think I want to deal with that. There is a lot of greed, everyone wants to put their hand too far in the cookie jar then blame it on someone else. I've learned that you can't mess with everybody. As far as me and my future, it's like I just want to become consistent with putting records out and if dudes aren't answering my calls are they aren't answering emails, they'll be forced to hear me anyways, because people will be saying dude is hot, what he is doing is hot. They'll have to give me a shot, because I'm making good music. A lot of people aren't doing what they are supposed to be doing and they are in very high positions. They can't be counted on to do their jobs and I'm here to take a lot of people out of their jobs too (laughs). I'm just showing that you don't need a million or two million dollar studio to make a good record. I believe I'm on a roll of making good records.
The digital struggle is the way I'd like to go for right now. To me, it's just the wave of the future. Even vinyl is going to the aside. DJ's, they are using Serato, and PDX's and this and that, you can count the amount of people who still buy vinyl. And that's more of the collectors than the DJ's. You press vinyl now and you take a loss. I got vinyl still sitting at my crib, I couldn't sell the vinyl. The CD's were sellin', but I couldn't sell the vinyl. Most people want to download it then turn around and up on megaupload and that shit, whatever you call it. So it's there. I figure digitally that's where it's at, where users can download it digitally, then burn it to CD, put on their iPod, or whatever it is that they do.
W: Let's talk about the new project out there, Beats From the 90's.....
K-Def: Right. Beats from the 90's was some instrumentals from the 90's that I had laying around on DAT. It's just a collection of stuff that I had. It's that sound that I had in the 90's. Some where from tracks that never had instrumentals when they came out. Positive K has an instrumental on there from a track that never had one before, the instrumental from "It's Getting Hot" from the Artifacts is on there. That was never released. I did "Been There, Done That" version, something that I was inspired by, a track that I did similar to that. One from the movie "Psycho" that got me going. There are a lot of joints that I don't have the disc for or DATs, for, but people miss that sound, so I thought it'd be a good project to put out.
W: How much unreleased music do you have? Do have like a secret vault filled with classic ish?
K-Def: Let's see, I got.....probably in my possession......probably anywhere from 25 to 30 DATs.
W: Right on, damn, should be nice..
K-Def: I got accapellas, instrumentals, a lot of stuff that I did with Marley, some dudes from Queens, the Bronx, a lot of stuff from the 90's. I got a couple volumes of Beats From The 90's in there at least. There is a lot of stuff, not saying I don't care about it, I do care about it, but it's a done deal, it was the 90's, and it's 2008....
W: Yeah, but you got the old heads like us that want to hear that kind of stuff....
K-Def: Yeah, yeah, yeah! I'm definitely got the "golden era" stuff still on those DATs. I got another Beats from the 90's that Imma release that are from the late 90's as well. But at the same time, I'm concentrating on the "now" stuff. Decapo is just going to keep getting better and I got stuff I want to do. I want to be swamped, I want somebody to swamp me. I'm going to keep dropping albums, I gotta lot stuff ready to go. I don't want to be long gone and done and have all this shit come out....(laughs)
W: I read something on your myspace about Real Live possibly coming back?
K-Def: Yeah, we're working on that now. Let me tell you about that, so Real Live, yo man, we like going to bring the roughest of the roughest. Once you hear it, your mouth is going to drop! I still feel comfortable with him, so we are going to make some nice shit. You ain't going to want to hear music after hearing this! (laughs). We are taking are time on that though, I'm trying leak some of it, but I want to save some of it in case a major picks it up, but I figure it's going to be one of those records that can shut New York down! You gonna be drivin' in your car and spill your coffee, especially if your over thirty. I can say to myself, that no one has used the shit I'm using on this. If you think you have it, you don't have it. I know of only two people that got this record and they are older than me. It took me 25 years to find that record. I heard it when I was eight or nine and nooooobody would tell me what that record was. I'm trying to find records like that, stuff that the veterans know and no one else. Cats like Biz, they have crazy records. They just got breaks, but they ain't really producing. I'm producing still. If it cracks in NY then you know it's really crackin'.
Then we are getting old enough, there are breaks that came out in the 80's that people like you and me were around when the records came out. That kind of thing people haven't utilized yet. I ain't talking the pop shit or nothing, but stuff that came out under the radar that people may or may not have remembered. And cats in our age brackets are definitely going to appreciate that type of thing. I have one of those beats that I gave to Larry-O. The album is going to be something big, that's all I can say about that one! This is what I do, I'm nasty as hell. This is what I live for, so you know my beats are going to bang! (laughs)
W: Damn! Anything you want to say before we wrap this up?
K-Def: Check out my music with Dacapo, we got some really good music. He has a different identity from a lot of the stuff out there in hip hop now. He has a different shade. No killin, no drinking, just funky beats and dope rhymes. We want to show people that it can be done with out a whole lot, on the computer. There is a lot albums I have that are going to drop this year. Stuff from old, to new, to even weird, that are going to drop. Be looking out for anything from me.
W: That's what it is?
K-Def: That's what it is.
W: Looking forward to it then, thanks!
7/29/2008
WYDU Interview with K-Def (Part One)
There are certain producers in the game that I've felt never got their just due. I'd consider them right up there with the the popular choices for legends. Producers such as DJ Pooh, Battlecat, and E-Swift out on the west coast. On the east side, Tony Dofat, Ski, and Frankenstein stick out as slept on producers and this man, K-Def, who is quite possibly the best producer out there that isn't mentioned in the same breath as the Pete Rocks, DJ Premiers and Dr. Dres. You look at the man's discography and it becomes evident that he has produced some of your favorite jams, and you probably didn't even realize it. K-Def has produced for everybody from Lords of the Underground, to P Diddy, to Devante, to El Da Sensei, to Ghostface, to Ol' Dirty Bastard. He really has produced for the who's who list on the east coast. He's beats are melodic in nature, but still possess that ol' boom bap sound that I've love in my hip hop.
When the opportunity arose to interview one of my personal favorite producers, of course I couldn't pass it up. No knocks against some of the newer cats that I interview for this site, but talking to the artists that I grew up listening to is always a true treat for me. K-Def was one of the more interesting interviews I've conducted as well as one of the lengthiest. We spoke for well over an hour about everything from his views on music now, his new EP with Dacapo as part of The Program as well as his new albumSSSSSS, as in multiple new albums. We also discussed the debate of computer production and hardware production and much, much more.
K-Def Website: http://www.kdef.biz/
K-Def Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/kdefinite
Ghetto Man Beats: http://www.myspace.com/ghettomanbeats
And in case you slept.......
1. Intro
2. Pray
3. American Dreamin'
4. Hello Brooklyn 2.0
5. No Hook
6. ROC Boys (And The Winner Is)...
7. Sweet
8. I Know
9. Party Life
10. Ignorant Sh*t
11. Say Hello
12. Success
13. Fallin'
14. Blue Magic (bonus track)
15. American Gangster (bonus track)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=PSJK68OG/
This is part one of a two parter.......
WYDU: Hey man, what up? Thanks for your time and doing this with us, been a big fan for a long time.....
K-Def: No problem whatsoever......
W: I’m a big fan of Willie Bobo The Fool, I could play "Galt Is Loose" for hours straight. How do you look back upon Willie Bobo now? There were some problems with samples and clearing them on that correct? Is it still available for purchase?
K-Def: Nah, it's not out there any more like that. We are about to reissue it though, maybe make it a limited edition type of thing. We removed some songs off of it. Nothin' happened, but I was hearing things, and I thought it'd be better to take care of it, before it become an issue. Add some more songs and that can thing. Put some new things in there that people haven't heard. It'll all fit in there the same way.
W: That's getting pretty hard to find. I was lucky enough to snatch one up a couple months ago when I was looking around. So, you got the new EP out, The Article, as the group, "The Program." How did you hook up with the MC, Dacapo?
K-Def: Basically, I was working on another album, that I'm still kind of working on. He came through and did a song. When I heard him I was like "Wow, he different than a lot of the cats I've been dealing with." He's not trying to glorify what "real" MC's all glorify. At the end of the day, from day one, everyone wanted to glorify the jewels, the cars, the women, the money. But there is also a certain level you have to get. You have to tell about real things that happen in the everyday world, not just about made up stories. I heard something different in him. I felt the way hip hop was going right now, I thought maybe it was time for a little change. I'm not going to say he's a super positive rapper, but he's not on the same ole crap that we are hearing everyday from every Tom, Dick, and Harry neither. He kinda understands the kind of music I'm making. He understands the soul, the jazz, the funk behind the beats I make. It was part of his upbringing. He actually RHYMES to my beats instead of just taking the beat and doing whatever to it. We just clicked. The first songs were, ya know, alright, but as we started making more and more songs, he got a whole lot better. My style of music, the underground hip hop, it's a whole lot better for him. He's not going to do the cursing, he's not going to be saying disrespectful things to women and have the women's lib movement on him. All way around the board, it's something I feel comfortable with and we both have the same vision, so I think it's going to be a good thing, it's all gravy man.
There is more ways to be heard on the mainstream and not just be the fuckin' underground, backpack rapper or whatever you want to call that bullshit. I'm not saying he's the best rapper, because he's probably not, but as far he is that sound, that sound that could be up there with the CL Smooth, or the Extra P's. He also has an understanding in the history of the music. He is a bit younger than me, but the stuff he grew up on, the J Dilla's and the underground stuff is the same stuff I was listening to at the time. He has that knowledge and shares that tastes, so when I make music, he kinda picks the right ones. The Article is not the newest project we've done, but it's grabbed some interest. The stuff we got now....we actually got two other albums, one is on the myspace page under the snocap store...
W: Oh do you? I missed that...
K-Def: Yeah, that album is called The Program actually, I think there are 12 songs on there. We are doing so many records at a pretty good pace, he's such a hard worker that when one dude is still working on the same album, he's done with three. He's on some real hip hop shit and not the water down shit we are hearing now.
W:As you mentioned, he's kind of a young guy. How is it working with someone that came up in that different age than say, you and I did?
K-Def: What's ironic in working with this particular dude, is while he is younger, but he KNOWS hip hop culture. That's problem with the kids now. The teenagers now came into hip hop when 50 Cent was popular. They know nuthin' before 50 Cent. When I run across those kind of rappers, they've been brain washed into thinking that they need to make 10 mixtapes, press them up and go hustle them on the streets and they'll pop, just like 50 did. These cats think they nice, but they don't know how to make a record. You try to be professional with them, but you find yourself having to baby-sit and direct them and I'm not really with that. I cut that shit at the door anymore. As soon as you open your mouth and you are following the current trends, then there is no point in working with me. I'm not saying you can't blow up, but I'm not really with that. It's not my style of music. When I was growing up, that was a sellout and a fast way to make a buck. Yeah if you do pop, you might have a good single, but you won't have no longevity. I've been around since the early 90's and I didn't get here or having a three million seller when I first came out. These young kids, they want it all right now, they just impatient. Some of them, you can see some good in there, and you want to try to help out, but I ain't got the patience for that. Others, you just know they a bunch of bull crap, ain't nuthin' to do with them. They think rhyming on a mixtape over someone else's instrumentals will blow them up. They don't understand that you gotta make a song, with three verses and a great hook to be anything. They have no direction, the drugs, the money, the fast life, they don't have the patience.
I don't know man, it's just rough out here. It's hard for me to find the right artist. I'm not saying I failed, they failed themselves. If the right person comes along, then I'm all for it. Right now, my man Dacapo is that kind of artist. He can take the criticism, he goes backs and listens to his songs. He does listen to other people, but in the end, it's all about what he thinks and what I think. We both kind of judge each other judgments, and I can work with that kind of rapper. I don't need the, "my boys tell me I'm nice, so I'm nice", and they don't listen to you. I mean, that's retarded..(laughs)
W: (laughing)...yeah, I see that a lot, all you have to do is go out on myspace and see that kind of thing. How important would you say having a "connection" with an artist you are working with is?
K-Def: I'll be honest with you, things are different than the way they were down in the 80's in the 90's. You know, we used to actually sit down and work together, come up together, spend time together. Now, it's you submit a track or two to the manager, then it goes to the A&R, then the A&R takes it to the label, then they got to have a fuckin' meeting on it four or five times, then it goes to the artist. By then, the track is two years old and it's just a bunch of bull crap. To me, I'm beyond that. It's frustrating. I think there are a lot of artists I should have worked with already, but it hasn't happened because of the bullshit. It's not because they haven't gotten in touch with me, it's just that it's become so difficult to jump through the hoops. I would like to sit down with the artist, sit down in the studio with some of the cats. I ain't gettin' that. I get, "Yo, send me an email. Yo, send a track to my manager." C'mon with this bullshit. There is no respect with it happening the way it should be happening, everything is dumbed down. No one wants to even come down from New York to New Jersey, you know what I'm saying? I need someone who will sit with me, collab with me and for us to both be on the same page, we need to come up with ideas together. I believe I can make a hit all day long for any rapper in the game, but like I said, things need to change, but I can't change it by myself. The major labels aren't doing anything about it, so I gotta do what I gotta do. I got joints lined up. It doesn't matter if I find the right artist or not. I got albums lined up. I'm tired of waiting. I got albums to put out every other month, every other month, every other month. You track can be the hottest track, but it doesn't get to the artist a lot of the time. If producers could get with the artists, instead of kissing label's ass, the music could be a lot better.
And a lot of these young cats need to know that a lot of us older cats know more about the game than you can possibly imagine. They look at us now and think, "Oh, they OLD SCHOOL", just the same way we looked at Kurtis Blow and Run DMC as old school, but they didn't have the technology we had. But the technology used in the 90's is STILL being used today. There are a whole lot of extra new things, but we still on top of that. It's frustrating as hell, cause there are A LOT of artists I want to work with out there. I did the Jay-Z joint just to show that, hey, Jay sounds good over some of my joints. I mean, I wasn't really feeling the whole album like that, but I felt dude really sounded good on a couple of those tracks. I hope it was a wake up call for him, if he heard it. I'm a 90's ni**a, I still got heat man. I got a lot of tracks that I couldn't give to anyone unless they were for someone of a certain level of quality. I got tracks that are 5-10 years old and I'm just saving them for certain rappers to mess with them. My man Decapo is doing what he can do to make things better, and I'm doing my part, so we hope to bring it.
W: Yeah, that's pretty deep....The sound on the E.P. was pretty cohesive, were you looking for a particular sound on that? Were you looking for the sound of the 90's?
K-Def: I wasn't really looking for the sound of the 90's, but there are some tracks that kind of fall into what I did back then. The bad thing about it though, is I can't really do it like I did in the 90's. I'm going to give thanks to a couple of ummm...I'm not going to say their producer names, but they helped get it this way, but you can't be doing samples like you used to do. Chopping up the samples is good, but they still got to clear it. You can flip that sample 50 different ways, but you still going to have to clear it. I'm not in the position where I can clear samples like that. If I did a track from the 90's back then, I mean, "Funky Child" had SIX samples, not to mention I gave publishing three times over to James Br
own. People are like, "Yo! I love that record!!!", but I didn't EAT off none of them records. I was supposing to EAT off those, but I wasn't. Everyone loved them, and I got all the props in the world, but no one knows how much money came out of my pocket on that. It took a pounding on me. The High School High joint, Barry White wanted a lot for that joint.
As I got older, I looked for different ways to do shit. I sold my MP, then I bought it back, but I just don't use it much. I did WHOLE albums using my sampler. I wear glasses because of it now, but yo, once you get used to digital sound, it's hard to go back to a 16 bit sampler. I gave up. In '97 I got me a computer and I started rocking on that. I can still sample if I need to, but there is more open ways on the computer. If I want to make it funky, I can do the drum sample, the 808 sample behind it, the funk loops. I can still do that, but to be honest with you, there are a looooot of people that do that style. I think DJ Premier was the master of that style. Anyone trying to do anything similar to him should pay the man his royalties. I'm not hating, because everyone does their own thing and their inspiration. I was inspired by him as well, but I didn't straight jack his style. You know? I tell everyone, I'm inspired by Extra P, Pete Rock, RZA, Primo, Dre, all of them, I use the main essence of the aura, but then I make my own thing.
W: What do you say to cats that say "You are using a computer, that ain't real hip hop." There are a bunch of hard headed cats out there that still think that way. What do you say to them?
K-Def: I say it like this: There are two different kinds of computer cats out there. There are computer cats who learn from the ground up, they start with turntables, the drum machine, the sampler, right? Once you understand that, then you can go onto something deeper. You are pretty much set to go on to the computer. Then you got those who, once they buy a computer, the first thing they go buy is Fruity Loops, they all dreamin'. Bottom line, if you have a computer in your house and Pro Tools and think you producing, those are the suckas, the amateurs, the hobbyists, the wannabes, whatever you want to call them. Then you got those who learn from the ground up, who learn all the tools, and keep growing and growing and use all the technologies, those are the real cats. There is a lot of them that I know that may not be known names, or be at the forefront, but they are out there. They actually learn.
As far as those that say a computer isn't a real tool, I can shut a lot of those cats down using a computer. My programming is what set it apart. Learning how to mix, learning how to program. I did a lot of programming with Marley Marl, that's kinda how I got my start. A lot of the sounds that I made in the 90's, I made with my SP 3000. I'd use a modulater to make a sound from a sound. It was crazy. As far as the computer goes, yeah, it's not for everybody, but for me I will blast cats using any of the major programs, Fruity Loops, Cubase, Logic, Reason, any of that, I can do some damage with those. No MP 1000,2000, 3000, or 4000 or any other sampler can do what those do, it's just impossible.
I'll tell you the real reason why I left the MP3000 alone. I found out after extensive programming and sequencing that the MP2000 & 3000 couldn't take up twelve notes on one tick (?) without it taking up the whole sequence. That was back in '95, '96, so I kind of left that alone. I was like "Oh, I can't have that!" To me, the computer is the future. Yeah, the other stuff are tools to make it sound right. But you have to be more hands on and more experimenting.
To Be Continued.....Part Two Coming
6/13/2008
K-Def Presents Beats From The 90's
K-Def
"For Da Family" from "Beats From The 90's"
K-Def
"Jam On It" from "Beats From The 90's"
Dropping Digitally June 24th
The nineties. If you were there for them, you want to go back and experience it all over again. The sounds, the lyrics, the beats, the music, it all was just a special time in hip hop. A lot of us old dinosaurs can't get out of the past, so when something titled Beat's From The 90'scomes across our desk, it gets our attention. K-Def, the author of one of my all-time favorite instrumental/concept albums, "Willie Bobo The Fool", is back with his newest release "Beat's From The 90's". Most of the thirty and over hip hop heads should remember K-Def, who was monumental in releasing a slew of classic records in the early/mid 90's. He was behind Lord of the Undergrounds "Funky Child" and "Chief Rocka" along with "Grand Groove" from Tragedy's "Saga of a Hoodlum" along with the whole Real Live album. K-Def has long been greatly underrated in the grand scheme of things as far as his production goes. There was the World Renown album that has never seen a proper release, a bootleg version of Nas' "Street Dreams" produced by K-Def that is amazing, and other tidbits found here and there that lead us to believe that he had some music in the vaults that we had yet to have heard. That was until now. K-Def has pulled some tasty treats out of the vaults and released them in the form of "Beats From The 90's".
The project is strictly of the instrumental variety. You won't find any rhymes being dropped or skits or any of that nonsense, it's just straight up beats with the sound that you grew up loving in the 90's. The premise of this project is that these tracks were produced back in the 90's on K-Def's MPC 3000 & his S-3000 machines. They were lost, only to be rediscovered in a bag of dusty dats. You immediately realize that you are in for a treat when you the albums first track,"Been There", kicks in. The nostalgia that oozes out of the tracks bassline and strings are on the level that could bring a tear to any hard core b-boy. The track is pieced together with several familiar, yet sonically altered sounds. Before moving on to "Ain't No Crime", if you don't have top notch headphones, car stereo or computer speakers, push stop and go get some, because to fully appreciate the track, you need to "feel" this beat. When it kicks into the intro, you swear it's going to be a DITC knock off, but then the bottom kicks in. We are talking thick, gooey kick drums. The shit is the kind of knock that Redman used to talk about, it would bump in the trunk something furious. That's just what this album is too, that good old fashion boom bap. Another personal favorite of mine is "Gettin' Hot", which K-Def uses some familiar samples, but you have to remember this was recorded back in the 90's, so he kind of beat cats to the punch on some of these, with a beautiful guitar sample, it's rolling bassline, a true head nodder. "For Da Family" sounds like it could have belonged on "The Turnaround...", and I'm not talking reject material either. The thick and chunky "Jam On It" is another with rolling bass that supplies that boom-bap feel. Listening to this album makes one wonder what could've been with some of the right artists over the tracks. Going through the album, you'll hear beats that make you wish so-n-so got over on the track. "Inner City Blues" immediately made me think of Redman and how dope he would sound over the track. What could have been?
I can't really find a knock on any of K-Def's beats or Beats From The 90's. Obviously some are better than others, but that's not a bad thing at all. I'm not usually the biggest fan of instrumental albums, although I do like finding a good one and putting it on while I'm writing or playing the Playstation, but this album is not your average instrumental album. Beats From The 90's just brings back that feeling of why I loved hip hop in the first place. The loud drums, the thick deep bass, the sharp snares, it's all found on this album, and it's all done with precision and it'll having you wishing it was '94 again.
