Mixed and Mastered
Mixed and Mastered is the podcast where the untold stories of the music industry come to life. Hosted by Jeffrey Sledge, a veteran music executive and former VP of A&R at Atlantic Records and Jive Records, each episode dives deep into the journeys, challenges, and triumphs of the people shaping the sound of today. From label executives and producers to artists, songwriters, and managers, Jeffrey brings you behind the scenes to meet the minds driving the industry forward. There’s a gap in the marketplace for these voices, and Mixed and Mastered is here to fill it—one conversation at a time. Because the best stories are told by those who lived them.
Mixed and Mastered
Sean C
Step into the extraordinary world of Sean C — legendary DJ, producer, A&R, and true architect of hip-hop. From Harlem block parties to Grammy nominations, Sean’s journey is a masterclass in resilience, reinvention, and cultural impact.
In this powerful episode, Sean shares how a cancer diagnosis became the unlikely spark that launched him from the mailroom at LOUD Records to producing era-defining records. He takes us back to where it all began — from his name being given by DJ Master Don, to co-founding the Executioners, to shaping the sound of artists like Big Pun, Jay-Z, Dead Prez, and Beyoncé.
Hear the untold stories behind the making of “Still Not a Player,” the creative battles that birthed “Hip Hop” by Dead Prez, and the cinematic vision that powered American Gangster. Sean also opens up about teaching RZA’s techniques to actors on Wu-Tang: An American Saga and his shift into music supervision and mentorship.
More than just stories — this is a conversation about the soul of hip-hop, the balance between art and industry, and the power of staying true to the craft.
Mixed and Mastered is produced and distributed by Merrick Studio, and hosted by music industry veteran, Jeffrey Sledge. Tune in to the discussion on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you catch your podcasts. Follow us on Instagram @MixedandMasteredPod to join the conversation and support the show at https://mixedandmasteredpod.buzzsprout.com/
Okay, we got it. This week's guest is a bona fide legend, sean C, a Harlem native who founded the Executioners DJ Collective and has produced records for Jay-Z, mary J Blige and Big Pun, among others. Sean became a VP at Loud Records and later threw his production company, grind Music, hearing the Grammy nomination for Rock Boys off the American Gangster soundtrack. Later he did music supervision for the Get Down, wu-tang and American Saga and Luke Cage, as well as the Apple TV series Starling. Let's take a look inside Sean C's boundary-pushing career on this week's episode of Mixed and Mastered.
Speaker 1:Welcome to Mixed and Mastered, the podcast where the stories of the music industry come to life. I'm Jeffrey Sledge, bringing you real conversations with the people who have shaped the sound of music. We're pulling back the curtain on what it takes to make it in the music business. These are the stories you won't hear anywhere else, told by the people who live them. This is Mixed and Mastered. Mixed and Mastered with a really good friend of mine, lil Bro, even though he ain't Lil no more, but Lil Bro yeah yeah, I feel good that somebody could call me Lil Bro.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:Nobody calls me Lil Bro, no more. I'm officially Uncle Status now you know Exactly. But everybody I told that I was interviewing him today was really excited. He's very well known in the music industry circles. My man, sean C. How you feeling, man?
Speaker 2:I'm blessed man, I am so blessed man.
Speaker 1:You look like a little office setup back there. Man, you look like a professional and shit. You really know what you're doing.
Speaker 3:A little Vinyl, you know what I'm saying, A little Vinyl you know, A Vinyl back there and shit yeah yeah, yeah, it's popping over there.
Speaker 2:It. It's my sanctuary right here Exactly. I'm going to show you the other side because the sneakers look crazy over there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, We'll start just at the top. So I met Sean, I don't know how many years ago, a very long time ago. He had a group called the. What was it? The? What brothers? The? E brothers, the.
Speaker 1:E brothers yeah, and he had. I don't even know how I got your tape. I have. I mean so, and he had. I saw, I don't even know how I got your tape. I have. Let me so so and go. I wouldn't remember, though somehow I got their demo tape. I don't know, it might have come through nobody or yeah, it could have been.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it could have been yeah connection through you know, yeah, who knows?
Speaker 1:yeah, but I got it. I got a copy of their tape. It was, uh, a rapper named wayno not the wayno that people know now, but we know and uh, I still call him Jerry, but producing nobody and Sean, and they had this. I still remember that song.
Speaker 1:They had this one song, yeah, that ended up being the Smith and Wesson record, exactly. I still remember I was like whoa. So I was living in Harlem and Sean is from Harlem. So I went uptown and I met you all I think on like 8th Avenue, like outside of a store or some shit. You know we got kind of talking and stuff and Sean says that I'm the first person he's he met that had an actual job in the music business, like a job, and we go to the office and sit in, you know, and so you know, he came down and we started developing a relationship from there. But we're going to start at the beginning. So you grew up in Harlem, new York. Yes, I did Tell me a little bit about that.
Speaker 2:I grew up, so my mother and father both were from 145th, between Lenox and 7th, the gas station block.
Speaker 1:Well, the gas station as well. Yeah, the gas station block, the Dunkin' Donuts block. Well, now, now, yeah, back. Then it was the gas station block.
Speaker 2:Well, now, now, yeah, back then it was a gas station, block it ain't even a gas station block no more.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, now it's cooked. Yeah, but both my mother and father grew up on that block, so that's where I grew up until I was probably about 11. That's the first place that I saw hip hop, because Master Don was from the area and there was a place called Fly Guys on my street and I'm talking about I'm little little, so I'm, you know, eight, nine or whatever ten, something like that, probably younger and Don used to bring his equipment out over there. Fly Guys was probably a coke spot or something like that back then. You, you know all that. Yeah, that was going on in all of. But, yeah, master Don, who, if you don't know Master Don, is he actually? He made a record called Funkbox this is called the Funkbox.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's how it was played exactly, which is where Master P got uh, from Master Don, but anyway, long story short. Yeah, exactly which is where Master P got. Uh, no, no, no, no, no, no, that's from Master Don.
Speaker 2:But anyway, long story short. Yeah, master Don, I used to be the little kid in front of the ropes. He's the first person I ever seen do DJ do anything hip-hop, and he would see me all the time, like anytime he came out. I'm in the front of the ropes, just like engaged and intrigued by this thing, and he front of the ropes, just like engaged and intrigued by this thing. And he asked me my name one day and I was like sean. He was like sean c in the house and he's the one that named me sean. He's the one that named me sean c. But uh, you know, long story short.
Speaker 2:Just growing up, we moved down, we moved further downtown, to seanburg, and that's where I met fat man school, who was my best friend. He lived a block away from me. Okay, we started a group together. We're friends since 11, 12 years old, inseparable, every day, going uptown, and we would go to St Nick Projects. You know, I idolized Barry B and Doug E, fresh and Chill Will and all those guys. We'd go to the park jams uptown and see them, and that's where's.
Speaker 2:Would you ever see teddy? Yeah, so we, um, yeah so during that period of time, because, like harlem was such a um, you know, for me, man, I would never change the way I grew up, especially um musically in harlem, because there was music everywhere and we would be in st nick, projects, projects all the time and Teddy would come through or whatever, and we would be doing park jams out there with Easy Kid it was Raw Bass's first DJ Easy Rock and all of those dudes between Lincoln and St Nick and Teddy heard about us and then that's how he signed us. He ended up signing us. So we had a deal with Teddy Riley. Wow, we were teenagers but we never got a chance to come out. But yeah, that's how it went.
Speaker 2:The long and the short. It was. A bunch of DJs started there. That's where the executioners, the X-Men DJs, come from. It was me. Rock Raider lived a block away from me. A guy named Serge named him Rock Raider brought him to my house and he was a little younger than me, and ever since then he would come to my house every day, every day. I'd show him routines and go back and forth.
Speaker 1:It's a lot.
Speaker 2:You know a whole network of rappers and DJs back then. That's amazing, yeah, x-men DJs and we would just battle DJs. That's amazing, yeah, the x-men djs and we would just battle djs.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's amazing how like those little colonels started their journey.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah man now you know, I'm saying because, they don't go away.
Speaker 1:You kind of you know the colonels are always there. You just kind of you know you're doing your thing, but you, you always remember like how it started. You know, yeah, it was an incredible time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, man. I'm so grateful I grew up in that period of time that I came up in that time. I would never want to. I was old enough and young enough to see the beginning parts of hip-hop. Of course I wasn't that old where I could see it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you were a kid.
Speaker 2:Be around and hear the tapes the Cold Crush tapes and all of that part of it as a kid and then still young enough to partake in it and contribute my part to it as a DJ and as a producer. And I got to see Don after years later, when I ended up having some success and when I worked at Loud and was doing all these things, and I saw him and he was like I'm so proud of you. That made me feel like really really good. To master Tom.
Speaker 1:Of course, of course. I really always like that. I still like that record to this day. That Funkbox record was fire. So you were with the Executions for a while. Did you guys do New Music Seminar and all that, or was that before you guys? No?
Speaker 2:So we would do all of the DJ battles DMC Steve D, who was one of the founding members, was myself, Rock Raider, Steve D, a guy named Johnny Cash, DMD and a couple other people the founding members and then we brought in Rob Swift the people, the founding members and then we brought in rob swift, but steve was the first one to get in a battle and he was on video music box who got into like a national accepted battle which was a music seminar and then and he won- yeah, I was, I was there, shit, yeah, I was there at that battle with him and, uh, it was a, I remember him and it was a guy, I can't remember his name, he was a japanese kid and he came over and he was like going I can't remember his name, a Japanese kid and he came over and he was like going crazy.
Speaker 1:But Steve, I was one of the judges, me, tim Dogg from Ultra Magnetic MCs, shit, oh my God, I can't remember who else was judging. We were like the judges of that thing. Yeah, with Steve, I remember that.
Speaker 2:I remember that you know what I'm talking about. I am the little brother. Yeah, exactly, exactly You're the judge and I was just trying to be on the other side of the desk. That wasn't even feasible. Not that it wasn't feasible, but I never thought I was just like. I'm going to do this.
Speaker 1:How do I get there?
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:The music business is interesting because one of the reasons I'm doing this is because everybody's path is totally different. It's not like, oh, I do this and not a job, we're working at a corporate company. It's like, well, I did this and then, you know, I got hired. And then it's like everybody's entryway is completely there's no one way to get in, there's really no one way, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was like you know us. So Scoop and I had this group when we got signed to TED and then when the deal fell apart, it was kind of like, oh shit, what do we do, you know? And originally actually and I'm skipping nobody who was the original it was us three. Originally we were the Get Busy Boys, like that was the original. It was us three originally. We're gonna get busy boys, like that. That's the original. To get busy boys.
Speaker 2:That was our original name it was at the dj and scoop and nobody, jimmy rapped. I didn't know that. Yeah, I don't know him as a producer. No, he rapped. And then he went away to college and we continued on and then when he came back, actually the deal, you know, teddy had found out. Everything that was going on between him and gene griffin was the guys. Don't know, gene griffin was like he's an og music executive. Yeah, yeah, he's the original. You know how people have that lore about Suge. I feel like Gene had that Absolutely. You know the cliche music is industry.
Speaker 1:You know, street guy that goes into the music business Going to the music, but the old school version, like the beginning parts of it.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. He was one of those guys, Absolutely. So that company dissolved, so we never. We did a whole album but we never got to come out and then nobody had come home from college during that period of time and when he came home he was still rapping at the time. So him and his brother started a group Okay, on production. I had had a kid and so I slowed down on DJing and I was looking more towards production because I was like that's how I can make money. I didn't look at DJing as something that was going to be able to make money. I had to go get a job. But I also was like, if I'm going to continue to do something in music, I'm going to dig in on the production side and as a DJ, that is your, you know. That's a natural progression.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is it most, most of the most of the best producers are djs at the core right.
Speaker 2:You know, dr dre, premiere like it's, you say it's a very natural progression to go that way, you know yeah yeah, so we started started a little crew which was the e brothers black eye, which was nobody and his brother, and we had a dude named ron spliff. We had a dude named rock cigar from polar grounds couple rappers and that was our crew. Scoop had already started transitioning into the promotion. Yeah, so he was doing promotions there that's where he interned at and that was kind of like me not really understanding that part either. You know what I mean. And so we stayed back and we were doing working on this crew of rappers and producers and actually Ree from Tommy Boy offered us a single deal for nobody's group, Black Eye.
Speaker 2:And then you were really interested in the E Brothers E Brothers. And so we were like, yeah, we're going to have some sort of traction, Something's going to happen. You know we just every day. You know the story we're in the crib in his mother's house it's called your mama's house beats and dudes rapping every day. And scoop ended up going to tommy boy. When he went to tommy boy he got the e brothers on the new jersey drive soundtrack. That was. Uh, that actually was my, as my first plaque that's the first plaque I ever got was from that. Wow.
Speaker 1:Wow. So how did you transition? What was? It Was Loud your first actual job? Yes, yes. So how did that happen? Tell me about that.
Speaker 2:So during that period of time, after the E Brothers, I had already had a son, but things started getting really crazy. And I had a son, but things started getting really crazy and I had a job. And then, um, they get, I, I this is a personal part of the story, but I will let it be known, because people go through things and I like to you know, let it, you know, never know how your story could help people. And, um, I had cancer. I had gotten cancer at that time and so I could no longer work. I had a regular like security job while I was making beats, and so then I sat home while I was going through this, doing the disability and this chemo we're getting ready to start chemo and I was like, well, what am I going to do? Like, what am I going to do now? Like I could die. What if I died? I didn't even get to where I was trying to go, you know.
Speaker 2:So I talked to school and I was like, first I was, I'm going to follow the same path that he did, and I called them and I was like, yo, I'm going to intern, I want to intern at a label, I think if I get a job, then I'll be able to still have money coming in and I'll be able to get beats off to the artists, because I'll be around the artists and I'll learn. So it really was more to get beats off, though, and so he introduced me to a kid named Malachi, who was like street team A&R assistant over at Loud, and I went over there, and it was a guy named Che Harris, who actually passed away to RIP. Che Harris was the office manager and he had also went to. He was also in my music business classes. I had taken music business at the New School.
Speaker 2:I didn't really, to be honest, I didn't remember Che at all, but he remembered me and he was like yo yeah, now, I remember you, I'm going to make sure that you don't worry about it, I'll make sure you get a spot. And I was like, oh yeah, I remember you, bro. And he kept his word. So when they moved, when Loud moved offices from the Union Square office to Lexington Avenue, I went in as an intern and I was interning there. And at the same time, while I was interning I kind of skipped this part, but I did say we were making beats every day. Nobody and I had been making. You know, we had our crew of rappers, but we were also giving beats to people. So Dame Dash lived across the street from nobody. Nobody lived in Franklin Plaza, which is on 108th and 1st and it's right across the street from 1199. And that's where yeah, they used to go to the car wash over there. Yeah, car wash, yeah, and that's where Dame lives. Yeah, and that's where. That's where Dame lives.
Speaker 2:So we found out that Dame was managing this, this kid, jay-z, who we thought was super dope. We thought it was nice, we didn't know he was going to be Jay-Z, but we was like he's nice, we want to get beats on his joint. We gave him a beat tape. So a year or so passes, or whatever. We were working on that song as well as working on our own stuff. And while I'm at Loud as an intern, reasonable Doubt comes out, or at least the singles comes out. And the first single was Can't Knock the Hustle, Was it? Yeah, well, it was the first official official, the first single was Ain't no Nigga.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and Ain't no Nigga and the radio record came out before the album no nigga, yeah, and ain't no nigga.
Speaker 1:And the radio record was I got you. I got you Came out before the album too.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So it was Can't Knock the Hustle. So it was the second single technically. And Matty C, who was the head of A&R, Matty C and Scott Free, he called me in the office. He was like yo, I heard you did this Jay-Z record. And I was like yeah, man, you know, boy, nobody, I had a part in it as well. And he said I heard that you started the Executioners, like the DJ crew, the X-Men Executioners. I said yeah, and he said Rob Tulo, who was in A&R at Atlantic. He told me that he offered you guys, offered you a deal for one of your artists, a single deal over at Atlantic. And I was like yeah, yeah. He said do me a favor, bro, don't go to the mail room anymore. You're in the A&R department because I was in the mail room. I was literally in the mail room grinding it out you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:I would go to everybody's office every day and ask if they needed something. But I'm in there taping up boxes, yeah, and I got hustles on the radio, but I knew you know what I mean. I had a, especially since I was going through the cancer thing. I had like a vision, like I knew. I was like I know what's going to happen and I had all these seeds. I knew what I was doing and I was actually a little older than everyone that were interns, so I think my focus might have been also a little bit more mature. You were a little more mature, yeah, yeah, yeah, I was just focused. I was a single father. Yeah, I had all this weight on my back so I had that energy and once that started happening, that was the plan. And once the plan started coming to fruition, like the cancer thing was nothing. I was just like I just need to get to chemo so I can get this over, like this is the reason why I got cancer is because I'm supposed to do this. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you got into A&R yeah.
Speaker 2:What was the first project you worked on and?
Speaker 1:what was the first artist that you signed at Loud and what was the first artist that you signed at Loud?
Speaker 2:Well, the first project that I worked on was when I got in there was they were doing Hell on Earth. Wow, that's the second Loud Mobb Deep album. With the third Mobb Deep album they were working on that. When I came in, it was they were doing Godfather Part 3. Wow, and so I you know I was was an anr assistant at that time.
Speaker 2:Um, but you know, I know, I knew what I knew, so I just would really just be excuse me in the studio talking to have talking about the npc, you know, and and uh, loud's process of anR was very much artists first and artists had total creative control. Really, yeah, like Maddie's system was more so to create the situation for the art. If you want the artists to do something, more so create the situation that garners them to go in that direction, instead of like saying this is what you should do, you should do this and you should take these beats and these are the beats you should rap off and this is how it's. You know that was his, that was the way he was, just like yo. If you want large, just have large, come through. Or have large, be around the office, have large, you know, large professor, or whoever the office, whoever the producer is like, make it, basically make it more organic than you feel like you're telling the artist what to do because they push you away from that.
Speaker 2:I think.
Speaker 1:I've always thought that I know he's going through a lot of stuff now but he didn't do this on purpose. It was just his way. But Puff's way of A&, a and r and to me actually hurt the industry long, long term. And again, it wasn't. He didn't do this on purpose, but everybody saw kind of like the superstar a and r person who's kind of controlling everything and he was really obviously really good at that but everybody's not that right.
Speaker 1:I think the way my way of a and r is closer was closer to that what you're talking about. They set up a space for the artists to be creative and relaxed and do their thing and of course it's conversations and you know, you'll kind of try to steer things a little bit but to kind of be like that these are the beats, this is the da da, da da. I think in the long term that helped. I heard a lot of people because they they thought that was the way to do A&R and it kind of probably hurt a lot of artists in the long term because they couldn't express themselves.
Speaker 2:Right and, you know, fast forward it. I did end up in the future working with Puff as a producer and saw that that system as well. But I feel like I was able to have a me coming from loud. I was able to have a balance because I got to see both sides and I think, being in A&R at loud and a producer you know, no, those guys weren't producers and I could come at it from another angle.
Speaker 2:So making records, like so when um, I remember when Pun got signed, so we were working on Hell on Earth and Maddie had come to the studio and he asked what did I think about Big Pun? And oh, big Punisher. Cause we didn't know Big Pun at that time, he was Big Punisher, he hadn't had any records out, he just had that freestyle with um. Uh, it was a, it was a Fat Joe song with Ray Korn. It wasn't a freestyle, it was Firewater with Ray Korn and Fat Joe and I was like he's dope, but I don't know if he can make a song. So I always looked at it from a perspective of like what's the song making ability? What's the artist song making ability? And he's like Steve wants to sign him. I just came from the meeting and then he brought him to the studio. He's on his way up here. So he came up, we hung out and he ended up getting signed and we created that when we were creating that first album. He was more of a spitter, but I saw that he had this. He's got this big personality. So he had this songwriting ability and he did the I'm not a player first, which we thought was his. That was the record that we thought was going to be his single. Once we made it a single, we shot a video for it and everything and it did decent.
Speaker 2:But he had this idea in his head of a remix even before he had a beat. He was like I want to, had to beat. He was like, yeah, he's like I want to do a remix to I'm Not A Player. I'm going to call it Still Not A Player. I want to use the Joe chorus. I don't want to be a player. No more, I'm not a player, I just fuck a lot.
Speaker 2:He had the whole song. He had the Boricua Morena Really. He had it all mapped out. He had Boricua Morena Really. Yeah, they're all mapped out. Yeah, they're all mapped out. He's like I just need the beat and so one day.
Speaker 2:So I was talking to Nobody, so you know there's still a team, so we're all feeding each other. You know what I mean in different ways. So I told Noel to give me some beats for Pun because he's looking for some joints for the remix. Our other boy, nomad, who was in the crew, came through with the Nobody beats whilst Pun was in the office and Pun was just sitting in our office and we just would play this is the other thing. Like I'm not playing you beats for this remix, just go in there and just play music, just play this shit while he's sitting there.
Speaker 2:And he played that Still Not A Player beat while Pun was just chilling in the office and he played that Still Not A Player beat. While Pong was just chilling in the office and he was like yo, that's the remix. He knew right away yeah, he's like that's the remix, that's the remix. And he starts saying it to it. He's like that's the joint, I'm going to use that. I'm going to use that for the remix. Wow, yeah, watching his songwriting ability and I became really integral in creating, helping to finish out his sound, me and Punk got really really cool after that and a lot tighter. He knew who I was as a DJ and he respected my air because I basically helped him make his biggest record to change his life. You know what I mean. Wow, wow.
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Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah, and that also. Then, you know, fast forward. Then I went and signed my crew, the executioners, and this is during the period of time when there was a lot of DJ albums Flex had his album, big Cap, clue Clue had his album. But I knew that we couldn't do that same thing. So I was always looking at a different way to do it.
Speaker 2:And these guys, they had continued on and they had their own following already and they were more of an alternative. They had white fans, you know, like white kids, white college kids were coming to see them perform. That's what all the shows were raves and they were doing all of those. And that was when turntablism was at a bigger point. You know, it was at its height. So I knew we couldn't do the same kind of record and I was like yo, we need to do like an alternative, like I looked at the fans that they had and we picked I picked Linkin Park as a group for us to do a song with when they were just coming up. That was before they became Linkin Park and we did that song and that became huge. Dead Prez was a group that also got signed during the same period of time. That was pun Dead Prez not seen.
Speaker 1:Did they come when Dead Prez got signed? Did they have hip hop or did they make that? No?
Speaker 2:No, they didn't have hip hop. They came through lord jamar. Um, lord jamar brought him in. Really, I didn't know that. Yeah, lord jamar found their press okay, that they were signed to him originally, wow, and that was how that deal got done. Okay, um, I became their their a and r and their person and I helped scope that whole album with them. Every artist that I really worked with, we kind of became friends. I'm still cool with their press to this day. So we created those records. But hip hop didn't come until late. We had just the regular story Album's done. You don't got a single Need that one more record.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know what I mean. One more song.
Speaker 2:Yeah, where's that single? So they made Stick was like fuck that. He went in the studio he made the beat for hip hop and it's a really simple beat. It's just drums and that bass sound. That's the whole beat. He was kind of doing it on some fuck the label shit. Honestly, wow. He was like that's why the songs about the music industry and like if you listen to the lyrics it's kind of like a you know they want a single item, I'm gonna give them this. And he didn't think that we were gonna like it. And I remember coming back from the studio because I was like this is crazy.
Speaker 2:When I walked in and he was making that beat, I was like this is crazy the next day how I would test records in loud, since this is the time when record labels basically the staff at loud I can speak for loud. The staff at loud were also the demographic for our records. So I would always, just anytime I had a record. That I thought was something I learned not to ask people if they like a song, I'd just play it, and that's the same way at A&R with Beats as well. I'd just see what the reaction is.
Speaker 2:We had a room in the back of Loud. I don't know if you had ever been to the Lexington Avenue office. It was a room in the back of loud. I don't know if you had ever been to the Lexington Avenue office. It was a room in the back that was not really soundproofed, but we had huge speakers in there Audit and Marb and everybody would come back smoke weed in that room. So I went back there, turned up hip hop super loud just to see if anybody would come back and be like what's that? And mad people.
Speaker 2:I remember my boy Chef coming back who was in promo. Most of the street team dudes would always be like yo, what's that, what's that? You know what I mean? What's that? So yeah, and that was hip hop. So I knew we had one Same thing was thrown out of play. I did the same thing the next day. After we did that Back at the office, turned it up loud, see who would come back, and that was kind of the test. Every time anybody came back it would be like five, six people. I knew it was something you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I remember a little quick story. So I used to date this girl who worked for a while at Bad Boy. So I went up there one day to see her and it was like late in the day, probably 7, 8 o'clock, and I heard hip-hop playing. And I'm like why are they playing hip-hop at Bad Boy? That's crazy. So she walked in, she's like I want to introduce you to somebody. It was Shine and he was playing hip-hop shine and he was playing hip-hop.
Speaker 1:He was playing hip-hop, he was blasting it and I was like this is not right. He was like, yeah, this is crazy. Yep, it's the only time I ever met that kid wow you're playing hip-hop. Yep wow so after loud now turned into src, correct? Yes, so what was the transition from Loud to SRC like?
Speaker 2:So he started SRC, which was his promo company. I wasn't there right away in the beginning, excuse me, I wasn't there in the beginning when he first started it. So he had David Banner and Akon, pardon me. So, yeah, lyle turned into SRC and he had those artists but I didn't work there for us, actually, nobody became A&R at SRC, okay, nobody worked with Akon and a couple of others, so it still was family, still moving.
Speaker 2:Then, when he wanted to do the Terror Squad deal, he brought me in to make the Terror Squad record with Joe, because Joe was still signed to Atlantic at the time but they had dropped Joe but they didn't have Terror Squad. So he probably would have signed Fat Joe if he could have, you know. Yeah, so you guys were under Terror Squad, yeah, and Remy actually had been. Remy signed to Loud because Remy was Punzard's artist and I remember when he had a rap for me when he was still alive or whatever, and he promised her that she was going to be put on. He died that same year or earlier in the next year Joe kept her under the wing. So when SRC started they moved the deal. When she didn't have a deal, they just moved it to SRC. So it was really a setup for Rem's album. So I came in to make those records for the Terror Squad record with Joe.
Speaker 1:And that was really the extent of my SRC Was conceded around this time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we did the Terror Squad record, of course, and Remy was hot as fist grease off of Lean Back. That record did really well. Of course, lean Back was a phenomenon, monster, monster. That gave her heat, and then we started making her record. We did the Swizz record, the whatever, we did, the Conceited record, and, yeah, those were the two records for our album had she already done the Ante Up remix that was at Loud. Yeah, she did that because she was signed.
Speaker 2:So that was at the Loud period of time when we had MOP and Ante Up and it was moving. It wanted to do the remix and be like yo, let's put Rem on. Rem actually was like I want to be on that and it's like all right. I kind of didn't see it at first. You know what I mean. She's like nah, nah, nah, give me the beat, give me the beat, give me the beat. I heard y'all doing the remix. Give me the beat.
Speaker 1:And in it, yeah, so the only thing you did at SRC was the Terror.
Speaker 2:Squad project. Terror Squad oh, I did Terror Squad. I did Remy's album, which came out on SRC as well. It was Terror Squad, remy. And then Feral March got. I did a Feral March album.
Speaker 1:People didn't realize Feral March was on. Src. I forgot March was signed over there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he was signed on SRC. And then there was a Woo album that I worked on that came out on SRC as well. I was A&R for that. And then that was during the same period. So that was during that time. So when Loud folded, and that was that time in between Loud and SRC, that was when I was running as a producer. So I was really like that was. You know, I was kind of I was executing the plan Because the plan only Loud was, just so that I could be get my producer's thing off.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, you know what I mean. So I could get my producer's thing off and I didn't do many records for artists on Loud. I did 100% for Pun artists on the line I did 100% for Pun. I did a couple of records over there, some Western records, some soundtracks I worked on over there, like Soul in the Hole and all that stuff as a producer. So I had to remind myself of what my plan was so that I wouldn't get caught up in just being in A&R and I went harder on giving beats to people and, um, I you know, I got actually ended up getting a lot of Ghostface records. So during that period of time I started moving and I started doing records with, with Puff, and got an artist signed over there as well and then went full circle and Jay, we did American Gangster.
Speaker 1:Yeah, before we get to that, we're gonna get to that before we get to that. Then went full circle and Jay, we did American gangster. Yeah, before we get to that, we're going to get to that before we get to that, but that was the time.
Speaker 1:That's that period, yeah, yeah, that period. Yeah, before we get to that, um, fuck, I don't have one more question. One more question oh, tell me a couple of I don't. I always I might not be there, I might I need to change that term because I'm definitely not trying to incriminate anybody or, like you know, put people's business in the street per se. But tell me a couple, I guess, interesting stories about um working with any of the artists in dial, like some, like someone's, like oh, I can't believe that happened, or whatever you know. Without, again, without incriminating anybody.
Speaker 1:And if you can't remember nothing, that's cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I know people have told a lot of the big pun stories of him with the. He would have the. He had this gun that shot blanks. He used to carry it around all the time. Yeah, he carried it around all the time. And while he's in the studio, him and Tony Sunshine would do this trick where they would put an apple on his head and he'd be like shoot it off In the studio In the studio and Pone would pull it out and shoot the apple off his head, like Tony would shake his head and the apple would fall off.
Speaker 2:He had a gun go off. It's crazy because it's ill, how a gun really doesn't make you think logically, because if I shot an apple up your head, the apple would explode on the wall.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean. It wouldn't just fall off your head.
Speaker 2:But he used to do that all the time and freak people out. I remember he did it one time when Rashad Smith was in the studio and then I was at his house one day and we were doing I had he was doing vocals for something at his crib he had he did the gun. He was like yo, let's do the gun trip. I think was it Tony Touch. I think Tony Touch had come up there, somebody had come up right, and this dude, sunkist, was there and he was Pun, just was like do it, do it.
Speaker 2:So he starts beefing with some you know, it's random dudes in Pun's crib all the time and he starts beefing with this, with one of the guys Yo, where's my money? I told you. I told you, I told you, when I see you again, you better have my money, or whatever Starts. And then he pulls out the gun and he's like blah, blah. He starts letting it off and the dude falls to the ground. And then Tony Touch was like y'all watch his face. He was like and then he was like no witnesses, no witnesses. Tony's like nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, I'm good, I'm good.
Speaker 1:I'm good, Mortified and shit. He's like what the fuck?
Speaker 2:is going on. Yeah, tony used to. I mean, probably used to do that all the time. So he was a prankster. Yeah, super, super, super prankster.
Speaker 1:That's to the extent of I can tell I can't tell. Don't tell the shit you can't tell.
Speaker 2:I can't tell.
Speaker 2:But you know a dope story, though, was like I mean, I'm sure you have a ton of these, but just like being hip-hop nerds like hit, like the first time you heard certain records that ended up becoming classics, like I remember being in the office like loud was. It was like while you're going through it you don't realize how much of a time it was. That won't ever happen again. You know what I mean. You could just be in the office and Ray Conner just pop up and be like yo, what up, son? And I'm like chilling. He's like yo, you want to hit a new single, come in the listening room. So just me and Ray, and this was for the second album.
Speaker 2:So it's me and Ray in the listening room, ray light up a blunt, puts the tape in and it's me and him and he stands in front of me and performs the entire triumph like everybody's verse. He's like a bomb, what's on? Wow, it was just a dope. It was just dope that I always, every time I had triumph, I just always remember how I heard it for the first time was yeah, everybody's verse standing in front of me. You know what I? I mean? That's funny.
Speaker 1:I remember way back when I was working at, when my first job was Wild Pitch Shaquem, who manages Latifah, he manages Flavor Unit and all that. We had a couple of Flavor Unit artists signed to Wild Pitch, chill Rob G, Killer T. So Chill Rob G and I became really like you said you become cool with the artists, spend a lot of time with them, and so Chirwav G and Apache, or RP, was a really good dude actually. They came to the office one day and I was there by myself and we were talking and shit and I'm the first person to play them America's Most Wanted Ice Cube. They didn't, they hadn't heard it.
Speaker 1:I said you want to get this ice cube shit and they're like yeah, yeah, and I remember I still can, if I could draw, I could draw apache's face like right now, like he was just like what the fuck is this?
Speaker 1:you know, if you get those type of stories like yeah man, it's, it's so dope, yeah, man, it's so dope. So let's jump to american gangster. So american gangster obviously is the soundtrack for the denzel Washington movie about Frank Lucas. You guys, you and uh LV, your producer partner, did Oversaw and did a lot of that soundtrack. So tell me about that. With with Bad Boy, um and um, obviously, jay-z. So tell me about that experience, um it was dope man.
Speaker 2:Um, I remember puff had called, had um text me. Well, not texas, it wasn't even. It was either two-way or blackberry blackberry. Yeah, it might have been a blackberry or two I still miss my blackberry on the love and um, because we had an artist sign.
Speaker 2:So we were in the studio a lot working on stuff and then we ended we would work on were in the studio a lot working on stuff and then we ended we would work on stuff for him and a lot of the other bad boy artists. So he knew the kind of sound that we had, which was a little different to some of the other you know guys that were around or whatever, and or that generation of Hitman, and he's like yo. I just ran into Jay and Sandro Pay and he's going to do. He said he wants, uh, he's like yo. I just ran into jay and sandro pay and he's gonna do. He said he wants he's doing another album and he wants me to executive produce the album and I want to do it. Y'all, I want y'all, uh to do it, because he wants all soul, soul shit, soul samples and soul samples. Okay, yeah, but he never. He didn't tell us it was american gangster at that time. Okay, he didn't tell us what we didn gangster at that time. Okay, he didn't tell us what we didn't know it was for, you know, a movie or none of that. He just said that it was. They were giving slight information. I mean, you know they were um slow on the info and um. So we were in the studio once working on something and l said to him like yo, what's up with the j? Oh, he said you'll give me. He said, have them, send me all of the beats from the studio. So we made a CD this is CD time made a beat CD, sent them all of the joints. We hadn't heard anything about it.
Speaker 2:Weeks passed by. We're in the studio. I was like yo, what happened with the Jay-Z project? And he said, oh, yeah, you're right. He said, call him now. So we called him.
Speaker 2:Literally like 20, 30 minutes later, jay shows up to the studio. Wow, yeah, in a wrinkled t-shirt, just like he was just in the crib. He got there like 20 minutes flat. He comes in. We say what's up? And we start playing them beats. And we put in 20 minutes flat. You know, wow, he comes in. We say what's up? And we start playing them beats and we put in the first beat that we played was sweet. It ended up becoming sweet, but that was the first beat that was played and he was like yo. So we, you know, stayed a couple hours. Then he gets you know one of the beats he stopped. He's like of the beats he stopped, he's like play it again, play it again. And he just said keep playing it. And he's just sitting there in the chair. He's like turn the mic on, goes in the booth, splits a whole song. There's a song that we ended up not using. It, ended up not going on the album. But then from then on he took the CD and it was probably three weeks every day.
Speaker 2:Now he's like we're doing it you work all day.
Speaker 2:And he didn't play anything at that point. So now we're doing it. He takes the beats, comes back to the studio Say that was a Monday. Tuesday we go record shopping, we're buying records. Come back sampling making beats to the studio. Say that was a monday. Tuesday we go record shopping, we buy and buy records. Come back sampling making beats. Wednesday jay comes back to the uh to to the studio and plays us the verse for sweet. Then the verse is for uh, no hook as a song. He gives it to us and then we add on to that and then we give him a new batch of beats. He takes those and goes to rock the mic. This is when he had rock the mic, and so that's the process. Every day is like a day of making beats and then the next day Jay comes back to the studio with the song and that was how it went, like every other day, and then we would add to what he did.
Speaker 1:He'd add it to the production He'd be like oh I'm going to change this.
Speaker 2:Now that y'all added that I'm going to change this and that song got done, I mean that album got done really quick. I mean in today's standards it's not fast, but in those days it was fast In those days, yeah, yeah, because we weren't trying to MP3 stuff.
Speaker 2:I remember going to the studio one day, going to rock the mic, cause those were like no sleep. That was like a month of like not really sleeping, but you really moving on adrenaline, cause everything is just dope. It's like we making this work that we knew was going to be something like you know. So it wasn't, I wasn't tired, I was moving, I was, it was, we was all excited, you know. Yeah, and I actually was working on a Wu album at the same time while I was doing that as an A&R I still had an A&R job.
Speaker 2:Okay, that's what I'm saying. It's all good, it's all good, all right, my bad.
Speaker 1:We'll edit it out. We'll edit it out, yeah edit it out.
Speaker 2:So I'll say it over again yeah, so I still had an A&R job, so I was doing the Wu-Tang album at the same time. So I'm juggling back and forth, but I'm feeling really inspired working on this J record as well, and we would be back and forth from record shopping to the studio. And I remember one day, after we had gotten a bunch of records done, I was in the midi room making beats and L was in A and he was like yo, come in A. And I was like, well, I was just in A. He's like no, no, come in A real quick. And it was a whole nother thing. It was Beyonce, LeBron, jay, and they all listened, yeah, and they all listened to Rock Boys. You know what I mean? Wow, it was a dope experience.
Speaker 2:Man going back and forth to rock the mic oh, that was a story I was going to tell.
Speaker 2:I went to rock the mic one day, I guess to give him a beat for something or whatever, and Jay was there by himself, I guess, to give him a beat for something or whatever. And Jay was there by himself and he was playing American Dreaming Beat, because that song had different verses on it originally. He had this idea. It's a verse that he's actually said in a freestyle this shit right here make you want to go and throw on your fly gear. And he was like I love this rhyme and I love this beat, but I don't think they don't go with each other. So he wanted to make a whole new song, so he wrote American Dream into it, but then we didn't have a hook. So he's in there listening to it and he's like yo, I'm going to play you something. He's like I went to the gym and I came back and this was on my computer and it was American Dreaming, with Beyonce doing the hook. It's like she just did it.
Speaker 2:I never even asked her to do it, she just knows.
Speaker 2:She just did it, you know what I mean and we ended up not using it. There's a couple songs actually that Beyoncé was on on that album, background stuff Like Pray she's still on. No, not Pray, pray. She was on, she was doing the prayer, but Sweet is her in the background saying some of the background, the female voices and Rock Boyz she's a female voice in the back. You know it was a dope time. I had mad fun making that record. Yeah, that sounds incredible.
Speaker 1:That sounds amazing. So after that kind of era, you started to get into music supervision. Yeah, am I right or wrong?
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:So was it Get Down.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I only worked on the get down for marketing and stuff like that. I was consulted to make sure that some of that stuff was authentic to the time. Yeah, so I wasn't actually on set and stuff like that for the get down, but I was a consultant for when they would do certain things and they were like is this gonna be hip-hop type shit? Well yeah, you know what I mean. Is this authentic to the time, or what?
Speaker 2:you know, and giving them ideas and things, the things of that nature so the first was what was the first? Supervision. I did the same thing with luke cage and then wu-tang was actually. The wu-tang show was the first that I went in as a technical advisor and I would be on set and I would help them, I would remake songs with them because all the artists had to they had to put their vocals. Yeah, they had to become the characters.
Speaker 2:So so I would remake the songs with them, I would coach them through all of their vocals recordings, as well as being on set, to make sure that they're performing it correctly and that things were accurate to the time you know I learned a lot during that period of time and I was and that was it was purposeful, like you know really was like I want to get into tv and film in some sort of way and I went and took some TV classes and film classes and and it kind of the universe just kind of dropped that in my lap as the first thing, which is crazy, cause it's like oh, it's Wu Tang, like you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's like a full circle, full circle thing, you know. So yeah, it was. It was a dope experience. Man Shout to, to to. Stephanie was somebody who has kind of I learned a lot. She's a music supervisor. She's kind of like put me under her wing and she's taught me a lot, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I really liked that series. I mean it got a little off track as it went on, but that first season was was great. I and I I see I didn't know if those guys could play those people I was like I don't know he's going to be Kwan. I was like Dave, he said meth, but then they did it. I mean Dirty's son, him, that was easy, that wasn't.
Speaker 2:Dirty's son. Dirty's son didn't play him. That's TJ. No, no, that's TJ. He's from Philly.
Speaker 1:He didn't Philly, oh shit. Okay, then again. Yeah, yeah, then, ashton who played RZA. But then when you see the movie, it felt so authentic, like you felt like you were watching them. And even when they were doing music, it felt like at no point did I think Ashton was not making beats for real I don't know if he was but it felt like it.
Speaker 2:And that was my job.
Speaker 2:I would be on set and I taught him how to use the MPC. I'm not the MPC. I taught him how to use the SB-12. I taught him how to DJ. You pick up the needle this way Some things that are so second nature to me that I didn't think you have to teach somebody to do.
Speaker 2:But realizing a kid, especially in that generation I don't think he had ever even picked a needle up on a record, probably not. He had CDs and you know what I mean. So when it was so foreign to him and he was like grabbing it, I was like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. No, no, you got to hold it and then I had to remember. Then I had to do it myself to remember like, well, how do I do it? Because it's so second nature, how do I show somebody how to do it where you don't look like you've never done it before?
Speaker 2:So I was on set doing those things and the kid who played Ray was really, really dope, in the sense of I would say he was very much. They all were. But he was one of the first people that I worked with and he was really dedicated to getting all of the nuances of Ray Kwan correct. And I remember the director asking me and people looking at him funny, like why is he walking? Like that? He's walking like a cowboy. And I was like what do you mean? And then I was like oh no, that's how Ray walks. He oh nah that's how.
Speaker 2:Ray walks.
Speaker 1:He's walking like Ray.
Speaker 2:Exactly, he's walking like Ray you know he's bow legged, he walks, that's the way he walks. So he was like really dedicated to making sure he got all that, all those little nuances.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna wrap it up real quick. I don't wanna keep you too long, even though there's so much more shit, we could do this for three hours, to be honest, I mean the answer is so long, but I wanted to make sure you got it.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, it's all good. It's all good, it's all good. This is what people want to hear and people are going to be happy with this one. I know you've worked with Black Thought on his solo stuff as an A&R person or as a producer of both. No, as a producer. As a producer.
Speaker 2:Okay, so during that same period, when I was doing the Wu-Tang and I also I did the Raising King and stuff too. I worked on that.
Speaker 1:Oh, yes, right, yeah, raising King. Yeah, I actually have that power book and stuff written down, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, streets Need a Body and kind of the same thing I did on the Wu-Tang. But I produced that song for that season, but during that time or afterwards, tariq had went on Flex and spazzed out and did that, oh, when he spazzed on the freestyle yeah.
Speaker 2:I've known Tariq for years. I met him back during the Pun Days because he was on Pun's first album, super Lyrical, and we became cool. So we became really, really cool throughout the years and I hit him to just give him props on, you know, show him some love on Freestyle, and he's like yo, what's up, let's do something. I was like, bet, after the holidays we'll get in, and so we booked a session to just mess around or whatever, just to make some music. And he had done these streams of thought volumes. He had did streams of thought, volume one with Beth Wonder, he did volume two with Salam, so him and I did volume three together. So that series is him and one producer. So volume three is just me and him, you know, in the studio making it.
Speaker 1:You got a Grammy nomination right. Huh, you got a Grammy nomination right, or did you win?
Speaker 2:a.
Speaker 1:Grammy. Well, we got an NAACP nomination. Okay.
Speaker 2:I knew it was something. Yeah, we got an NAACP nomination. We went out to you know, I spent a lot of time on the Pacific Northwest so I got a whole just people out there as well and this group, portugal Le man, which is a rock group my girl actually knew them as well and connected and we got them on the record and made it a little. You know, I always try to think different, man, and think I do some other shit, some other shit. And then my boy, sam, ended up getting us signed over at a Republic. So it was like it came out on a major label during the period of time that all the marches and you know the protests and all that, george.
Speaker 1:Floyd and all that stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was something that's kind of spoke to that and I was going. You know I was seeing all of that Like in Seattle. You know we were feeding the protesters. I seen the whole like when they took over a whole neighborhood in Seattle. Wow, you know, like so a lot of that is in the album. You know that was what was feeding me during that time, wow wow, so tell me what's coming up.
Speaker 1:What's next?
Speaker 2:I've started this.
Speaker 1:My partner and I Dan.
Speaker 2:Glowgower and a couple other people. We have a new venture called Principles. It's just based on the timeless principles, principles. And it's just based on, you know, the timeless principles. You know principles endure time, the guidelines that help you endure time. So, even though we've been around for you know, we have the experience of being around certain things that don't change, and we're a music solutions company as well as consultants. So we have, like, paramount as a client, we have Red Bull as a client. So, yeah, it's been been. It's really dope.
Speaker 2:I'm really excited about everything that we're doing, you know, helping artists find their fan base, as well as helping established artists, just you know, see their vision Regenerate themselves. Yeah, a vision from beginning to end. And you know we have. We do everything from digital marketing to me making records for people. To, you know, helping market your catalog. To you know it's a full service, full service company.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's dope.
Speaker 2:Now Dan, does he live in?
Speaker 1:Jersey.
Speaker 2:Yeah, dan's in Jersey, dan's still in Jersey, yeah. Dan's in Jersey, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Telling myself what's up for sure. Yeah, telling myself what's up for sure. I haven't talked to him in quite a while, but he's a real good dude. All right, sean, I got a couple of questions for you. I ask everybody these questions at the end of the show. I want to get your feedback on them. So give me an artist that you wanted to Wow. Tell me the story. I was able to answer that mad fast. You was mad fast, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Pause baby, I don't know.
Speaker 2:I mean it was Kanye you know, and it was kind of self-explanatory Hip-hop had played me the album. We met a few times. Kanye actually worked on the first Dead Prez album, did a remix. I thought he was just super dope, you know. I mean, we all know what he turned into. I didn't see that but I knew that he was just dope. The music was. He was a throwback to what you know Native Tongues Tribe, just kind of like you know, we know what Kanye was. So it's kind of like you know, we know what Kanye was. So it's kind of sad and I wasn't able to do it because Lyle was folding at the time. So it was like right at that point when Lyle was folding, so I didn't want to even waste anybody's time.
Speaker 1:It wasn't public knowledge.
Speaker 2:But you know, I knew it. No one and Stephen Rich didn't even. Really they wouldn't admit to it, but we all knew it was coming.
Speaker 1:Yeah, rich didn't even really they wouldn't admit to it.
Speaker 2:But we all knew it was coming. You didn't want to get him jammed up.
Speaker 1:I had the album Dancer Kanye would have been a loud artist. That's interesting.
Speaker 2:I don't know if the deal would have happened, but I wanted it to I think it was during that period of time when he was going around to all of the different labels because we saw the doc and that was. That was one of the artists that I that I wanted to sign um at loud okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 1:So tell me three of your favorite artists and why and I'm not talking about it, could be anybody, not not people that you work with, but just in life, in life, yeah just in general.
Speaker 2:My favorite rap group is De La Soul because of the same reason why I wanted to sign Kanye Because I felt like they pushed the envelope. They were the first to be introspective. I don't know if I want to say introspective but be vulnerable. There was nothing like them before. I always liked artists that break new ground. There was nothing like them and they really spoke to me. I love the way they flip the samples and all that. My favorite rapper right now, though this could be anything.
Speaker 1:It could be anything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got you. James Brown would be my favorite as far as when it comes to just music in general.
Speaker 2:He covered so much ground, he broke ground you know what's so interesting is about James Brown that I didn't think about till later on, like maybe in the last 10, 15 years years? Is that realizing that back then there was so many people that even though he was like he was the king at one point, but there were a lot of people that didn't like him because they felt like he was just yelling and he wasn't really being musical. He wasn't like making conventional songs was more groove, he was a little Motown type thing, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was more like just, it was like jamming almost thing. You know? Yeah, it was more like just, it was like jamming almost.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm saying yeah that's just a lot of it and it was mostly feeling. A lot of it didn't musically make sense and something you know on some songs and you can equate that to like party records now or you know party records in the 2000s and what, what cool and scoop and all those guys. It's like that kind of feel I mean he had this is a man's world and he had his ballads.
Speaker 1:But, um, for the most part, yeah, james is one of my, one of my favorites, just because I mean I think that's self-explanatory too yeah, it's an interesting thing about james, like if you really and I know you've figured this out when you really listen, he's actually telling the band what to do. Yeah, he's telling them come in now break it down. That means break it down. He's not just saying that shit, and the way the band is moving, what he's telling them to do is incredible.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly Two times. Yeah, two times. He's amazing.
Speaker 1:Give me a third.
Speaker 2:Yeah, third Artists of all time. Yeah, damn, you caught me off guard with that Everybody says, that Everybody says that, yeah, because it's hard to pinpoint down the three artists because there's so many. And then, as soon as we were finished, I'm going to be like oh. I should have said this, and then you want to say you want to say the answer. That makes you look real artsy. Yeah, I'm deep.
Speaker 1:I'm deep with it.
Speaker 2:No, oh, but yeah, I think Daylight is my favorite. They're just one of my favorite groups. They're just one of my favorite groups. James, oh, man, hard yo, because I'm thinking producers as well. I'm thinking damn, jeff.
Speaker 1:These questions stump everybody. Every time I ask them they be like what? They be really thrown.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because you got to give me more than three.
Speaker 1:Nah, you only get three because we got to move on to the next topic. You only getting three.
Speaker 2:Every topic is three.
Speaker 1:Oh man, Every topic is three.
Speaker 2:Man I'm going to say it's not really true though. There's so many yo, it's hard to pin it down to three man. So I'm going to just say you know, well, I said Daylight is hip-hop and James is hip-hop too, but you know, hip-hop too, but you know, yeah, so Damn. I'm going to say damn, that's damn, because I would say Jay, as a rapper, I thought you were going to say Jay yeah.
Speaker 1:I'll say Jay.
Speaker 2:I'll say Jay as a rapper.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's a good one. Now name me three of your favorite songs you worked on and tell me why.
Speaker 2:Not artists. Songs, Three of them. Okay, I'll say song, the whole song, not just the beat, the song.
Speaker 1:Whatever, whatever.
Speaker 2:Doesn't matter. Well, one of my favorite beats Okay, I will say 100% from Big Pun is one of my favorite beats and songs that I ever did, because of what it meant, what it meant to a certain demographic, and I always say like that you wouldn't think that a black dude made the Puerto Rican anthem, right, and it's such a mix, like the things that made that record. It's a mix of different cultures. So it's a black dude that made the beat. The engineer Soundboy is Colombian, the guy who played percussions on it was Dominican. Okay, the sample is some Che Guevara, some of the Che Guevara soundtrack, wow. And then the rapper was Puerto Rican.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so it was like a mix. You know how do you bite that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like a big gumbo of black and Latin. Yeah, you know that made that record and you know, and it's always going to be around for a certain oh, yeah, always.
Speaker 1:You're going to hear that in the summertime somewhere.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for a certain. Oh yeah, Always You're going to hear that in the summertime somewhere. Yeah, it's going to mean so much. So I'm proud that I was there, that God put me in that position to be able to make that song where all the pieces kind of came together for that. And then I'd say Rock Boys would be my second that I produced, because it marked a specific. I mean, every song marks a time, but that for me marked a specific time of a change in my life of things changing and going in a certain direction.
Speaker 2:And then the third song would be you know what I'm going to say a song that probably nobody ever heard. I wouldn't say ever heard, but it was like a song that didn't even do anything, because it was the first beat that I ever saw. Okay, and it's on the Bad Boys soundtrack. The first, the Will Smith and Martin movie. It's called Clouds of Smoke, by this group, called Call of the Wild from Polar Grounds. My boy, barry I went to high school with him Okay, and that's the first beat that I. That's the first time I made a beat and got money for making a beat, got paid for it and I got paid for it.
Speaker 1:That was your intro into actual business.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's the first time I ever got paid for making a beat Cool, so that meant that meant a lot to me paid for making a beat, so that meant that meant a lot to me.
Speaker 1:okay, okay, and this is the last one, name me three of your favorite producers, and why quincy jones?
Speaker 2:okay, again, self-explanatory we don't know what. You know quincy jones, because he, he covered all genres and he did so much throughout his whole decade and he never, and I feel like he is the you. You know he's a North Star, you know what I mean? Yeah, you know, he's the example of how long you could do it too, true, and doing television music. Just him as an entity.
Speaker 1:Film, all kinds of everything, yeah, he trumps.
Speaker 2:You know, he trumps everything, yeah, yeah, and all genres and a similar reason. Rick Rubin for a similar reason. Okay, and a similar reason. Rick Rubin for a similar reason. Not the movie, film thing, but the fact that he was able to do LL Cool J, the Beastie Boys and Johnny Cash, yeah, and Red Hot Chili Peppers and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then come back and do Jay-Z. Yeah, you know what I mean. And I like to work with alternative rock shit too, like Portugal. Man, my guys, you know we worked at Linkin Park. I've always kind of seen that as not being something that was so much of a stretch, like it's all music. You know what I mean when it comes down to it. So Rick Rubin for that reason, and then Dre.
Speaker 1:Self-explanatory as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, self-explanatory. He's Dr Dre and he's always able to create the world and have his own sound and all those guys have that sound. He created this whole thing and I always looked at producing and beat making. Like we know, they're two different things, totally different. It's ill dudes that can chop up samples and you know now pharrell is super ill, like it's it's. It's not fair to ask three man, because then you got pharrell and you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:Like I mean, there's a yeah, there's a million, but yeah, and the time?
Speaker 2:and just that. Longevity. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:And pharrell, tim like this is like yeah, you got.
Speaker 2:Pharrell Primo, you know what I'm saying, but I think I don't think anybody could argue with me about those three guys and they transcend trends and you know what I mean and whatever's going on the wave, or they just still stay doing what they do.
Speaker 1:It's not like Quincy Jones started trying to make rap records and shit.
Speaker 2:Right, right, I mean he did do the joint with Big Daddy Kane. I forgot about that.
Speaker 1:I forgot about that. I forgot about that one Cool. That's it, man. Those are the questions I ask everybody at the end of the show to see where they're at with it. You sure you want to change any answers before we go? I?
Speaker 2:mean I did want to add some younger shit in there, because I did say all old ass niggas.
Speaker 1:Name a couple young niggas.
Speaker 2:You know who I think is a super dope producer right now is Soundwave, soundwave, soundtrack, soundwave, soundwave. I feel like Soundwave doesn't get talked about enough at all he's ill that kid is fucking and he's not a kid, but that dude is amazing. Like listen to all those. Kendrick records and how he's able to weave all that stuff together. And Sonics, he's super dope. I really really like that kid a lot, you know. No, he's dope Next time.
Speaker 1:I have really like that kid a lot, you know. Yeah, no, he's dope. Next time I have you on, we'll talk about your foodie shit.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, without a doubt. You know I'm the other kind of snap boy bro.
Speaker 1:You know, talk about your palate as they say yes, yes, so my brother's a chef, so that's the thing.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Exactly, and I'm seeing like it's interesting to me because you know social media you see so much more and I'm definitely seeing a foodie growth with young, younger black people that are really into it. I'm seeing I think I was supposed to forward that to you and I don't know if I did yet but there's a guy in New York that does the dinner parties. Like it's kind of becoming a whole thing and I think it could be a way somehow to incorporate music into that. I'm not sure how, but it feels like some cross-pollination with it.
Speaker 2:You know, I was talking to Shy Money yesterday and I told him and it's just, I kind of freestyled it it just actually came up, we were just catching, just talking, and you know how you talk to someone or see someone you haven't seen in a while and you're always like yo, we got to catch up, man, yo, we got to catch up. And with us losing so many people, I want to start like I don't know monthly probably not monthly, but maybe every few months a little get-together. It could be drinks, it could be food, with like-minded individuals that we all came up. Either we came up together or six degrees of separation with yeah, you know, but like you, me, you know yeah, yeah yeah, we have like-minded friends.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean. We all have a certain thing, and it doesn't have to always be about business, but business will probably get done during that, but just making sure everybody kind of stays in touch.
Speaker 1:I think you're right. You said something key. I think a lot of times when we all talk about getting together, it feels like, oh yeah, we're going to get together and there's something business will come out of that. And it doesn't necessarily have to be like that.
Speaker 1:It should just be getting together because you know we're not 22 anymore and to get together because you know we're not 22 anymore and you know people, we've lost some people and we just need to kind of stay in touch and business probably will come out of it. But that should not be the goal. It should just be like, no, we're getting together just because we haven't seen each other in a while. We're talking and catching up Exactly.
Speaker 1:You know, and if business comes out of it, then so be it, but it shouldn't be the focus. Like I'm doing this shit because I'm trying to get this project off.
Speaker 2:Right, exactly. It should just be catching up Because you have so you see people, you have incredible conversations and then you know about what's going on with their family and their health and you know what I mean. Exactly, exactly. It's something that we should definitely do. I'm going to try to set that up this year. At least do one or two of them, please.
Speaker 1:I think it's, and I mean going along. I'm going to wrap it up after this. I think I'm watching, even on the club kind of club I'm doing air quotes scene. I'm watching things become. People kind of want more intimacy, like the whole kind of big club, and it's 2,000 people in there. I don't know if that I mean there's going to be that, but I think I'm watching on social media people doing parties in their crib and in their house or small spaces and people kind of want that intimacy. And I think that leads to what you're talking about too Just a few people getting together and just chopping it up about, like I said, about their family or whatever it is. And it doesn't have to be this big, overblown thing. It could just be like you know, it doesn't have to be some super fly restaurant we went to fucking Friday's.
Speaker 1:You know what I'm saying as long as we all got together. You know, without a doubt, I really appreciate you coming through, man. Like I said, we could have done an easy three hours, you know, but I think there's a lot of information spread, a lot of good stories told. I mean, this is a good episode. I hope I was able to fulfill the content needs the content guys.
Speaker 2:I appreciate it, but you know, I think people don't really realize. You know and I talked to you about this on the phone of what you have done and who you are. So I'm happy that you have this platform because, even though you're asking the questions, we could, all you know, always still get back to you and give people information about you. You, the og, really you know what I mean from you as well. You, og, really you know what.
Speaker 1:I mean yeah.
Speaker 2:I learned from you as well, you know, just being that first person that I knew that had an A&R job.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you, I appreciate that man. I just wanted to do this because I think I mean, I don't think I know there's a lot of people with a lot of stories that don't get told, and you know this because people like Quincy Jones and Clara St Vaughn have passed away I'm like damn, like some of those, some of those stories will never be told because they're not here.
Speaker 1:So, I was like let me get get with you know my generation of of music people and let them tell their stories. You know, in the work words of the American poet Lauret CeeLo Green, I thank the Lord that my voice was recordable. You know what I'm saying. That's a dope-ass line. Yeah, I mean, ceelo was amazing. So you know, I want to put people's story on tape, film, whatever you call it, and just have it. It's always going to be there for them, for their kids, you know, for everybody.
Speaker 2:I appreciate it, man. I got a blessed life man and I'm super grateful man. I'm so grateful I'm in a happy place, I'm in a great place, like just being able to do what I love and always kind of navigate myself. In this part of my life, in this part of my career. I try to choose things that are feeding either my growth or just that are just making me happy, things that make me grow. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:That's how I feel about doing this. I think I'm happy doing this. It's making me happy. I don't know where it's going to go, I don't know, but I'm riding it, yeah, just do it Every time. I do one of these interviews. I'm like I. Every time I do another one of these interviews, I'm like I think I got something.
Speaker 4:I'm really happy with this. You do, you do, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Thank you, Sean C. All right man, Thank you, bro. Mixed and mastered. I appreciate it. You can catch Mixed and Mastered on Apple Podcasts, spotify, iheart or wherever you get your podcasts. Hit that follow button, leave a review and tell.
