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11/29/2006 What’s up? I’m good. I’m kind of busy, just trying to grind it out. I’m really focusing on this EP I’m about to drop. How would you describe the Broken Wax EP? It’s like a continuation of my last album Sound of the City. I did all the production on it. Broken Wax is something to keep the buzz going and for me to stay on people’s minds. Why did you choose to put out an EP instead of making it a full-length? One, I knew that for my actual album, we wouldn’t have enough time to promote it. I knew I had to give my fans something and put it out. I never had any vinyl out with any of my music so I felt like this would be the perfect chance to do that. It’ll be for the DJ’s and it’ll be on iTunes for people to download it. I don’t think we’re going to put it out on CD anytime soon. The cover came out dope. Did you have any say in the cover design? Not really. I have an art guy who does my art. I told him what the title was and he came up with the idea of having two candles on top of a record. He shot it in my basement. You can see me in the background if you really look hard. I’m messing around with an MP. That was shot at the crib. The production, as can be expected, is very solid. What sound did you want for Broken Wax? Since it was a continuation of Sound of the City and that was very grimy, I wanted to keep Broken Wax in the same vein. I wanted to keep it raw hip-hop. I changed up the music a little bit. I made it a tad cleaner. I have a couple solo tracks on there like the intro and “You’s a Freak.” I have some rock samples in there. I tried to mix it up a little bit with the sound on Broken Wax. Since you’re rhyming on your own tracks, what are the best beats you can make for yourself? It’s funny because the stuff I basically use for myself are the beats I know other artists are not going to pick. The artists that I send my beat-CD’s out to, I know if I put the beats that I would rap on, I know they’re not going to pick them. I don’t know if it’s because it’s too raw or whatever. I like to get creative. On the intro to Broken Wax, I rapped over a beat with no drums. That wasn’t because I was trying to be lazy, it’s just that the sample sounded so crazy. I like to keep the quirky stuff for myself. Do you like producing or rhyming better? It’s funny because I was rapping first before I did beats. I was rhyming first, but if I had to choose, I would choose the beats because I really like to create sound and see how I can flip a sample. I like the production tip much more than coming up with lyrics. Can your emceeing ever take away from your production? Not really, to tell you the truth. I think it’s the other way around. I think it’s an iffy situation because I hear some of the past stuff I’ve done and people say the production takes away from my rhymes. If I’m rhyming over crazy beats, people aren’t really going to listen to what I’m saying because the beat is so dope. I think the beats can take away from my rhymes. I guess I have to put some accapellas on the vinyl. What are your goals for Broken Wax? Of course you want people to feel it. This is really to keep the underground in tune with me and to let everyone know that I’m working. The official album is coming and this is just to hold everyone over. I need something in the club for the DJ’s to spin. That used to be one of my biggest issues. DJ’s were like, Your shit is dope but you need to make us something we can play in the clubs. I’m trying to get the music out more. How will your album be different from Broken Wax? It’s not going to be too different because I understand that the people who do know who Black Milk is and know my sound, I’m trying to stick with that sound for the next few projects. It’s not too different because I want people to know my music when they hear it. After my next album, Popular Demand, I’ll probably start to switch up my sound. Popular Demand is going to follow in the footsteps of Sound of the City and Broken Wax but it will probably sound even cleaner. I want people who only listen to the radio and TV to be able to listen to my music. I don’t want to make it too underground. I want to have some joints on here that a regular cat can relate to. I try to keep the lyrics right up the middle and have the beats sound different. Popular Demand is going to be better than both of my previous projects. When are you releasing Popular Demand? It’s coming out on March 13. That date is 3-13. We didn’t even do that on purpose, but that’s the Detroit area code. How did you first get down with Slum Village? That came about around 2000, 2001, when they had started working on their Trinity album when they got their first major deal with Capital Records. I was still trying to find my sound with the beats. I had just started doing beats. One of my friends was real cool with Baatin and he went out on tour with him and passed him one of my beat-CD’s. When they got back from the tour, they wanted to hook up with me. I went to the studio, kicked it with them and the rest is history. I got a couple of beats on the Trinity album and then we did the two volumes of Dirty District. I did the majority of production on Detroit Deli with Young RJ. Then I did a lot of work on their last self-titled album. What’s it like working with Slum Village? They’re all real cool. I think T3 really made me into what I am today, beat-wise. He really changed how I thought about beats. I was working with a group who had one of the best producers ever. After J.Dilla left, their expectations were so high with who they would work with because they were so used to dope-ass beats. I think if I never got the opportunity to work with T3, I don’t know how my beats would be sounding now. I had to step up to the plate. I think that helped me stay consistent with the stuff I’m doing now. Did you ever talk to Dilla? I talked to Dilla on a few different occasions, like when they shot their video “Selfish” with Kanye. He did some joints for them on Dirty District around 2003, 2004. That’s when I was in contact with Dilla and then he got ill and it was very hard to get in contact with him. I’m just glad I had the opportunity to work with that dude on three different occasions. We recorded a song, I had my verse on a song with him and he rapped over a couple of my beats. One of the first times he rapped over one of my tracks was on “Reunion” on Detroit Deli. I thought that was great. What will you remember most about Dilla? I didn’t really sit in the studio a lot with Dilla. Whenever he would be making beats, I would be looking over his shoulder. I mostly saw him when he was doing cuts for the album. Usually we would drop something off at his house and come back in two or three days to pick it up. Everybody sleeps in the studio time to time, but we would do a lot at our cribs. I wish I could have seen more of his techniques. With Dilla’s passing, do you feel any added pressure to carry the torch for hip-hop production in Detroit? That’s hard to answer. I don’t really feel pressure because I’m not trying to do what Dilla did. I’m trying to leave a legacy with what I do. I’m really not trying to fill his shoes. I don’t even really want that attention. I’m trying to separate myself from that but I know that’s going to be hard because I’m a producer from Detroit that raps. Plus I’m young. I can see the similarities, but to tell you the truth, I don’t really want that pressure. Those shoes are too big to fill. I don’t know if anybody would be able to fill those. The songs he produced and the sound he brought to the music, people are still trying to figure that out to this day. It’s a compliment to be compared to Dilla, but I try to stay away from the whole Dilla thing. He gave me the co-sign and told me to keep doing my thing and he felt what I was doing. What’s going on with Slum Village now? As you know, it’s just T3 and Elzhi now. They’re still tight and we’re just trying to figure out what’s next. They’re trying to get in a certain situation, label-wise. They want to get the proper promotion. The music we did on the last album was so dope. I just wish more people could have heard it but the label didn’t really do their job in letting people know there was a new Slum Village album out. That was a great album. A lot of people compared that album to “Fantastic Volume 2.” I think once they can find a good label situation that will get behind them, Slum Village will be good. Are you still working with Young RJ as the duo BR Gunna? Not really. One of the reasons we kind of stopped working together was because of the label Slum Village is on. I was never signed to Barak Records. The BR Gunna thing was cool. We had a whole album done but it didn’t come out for whatever reasons. The label was bullshitting and it was just a wack situation. Me, personally, I couldn’t deal with it anymore. I wasn’t signed to them and I could still do beats with Slum. They’ll always be my niggas. I had to find a situation I could get in where a label could put my music out and people would hear it. That’s the situation I’m in now. What was it about Fat Beats that made them stand out against the other indies? There were a couple labels trying to get at me. They wanted to holler at me after I put Sound of the City out. A lot of people were saying it was one of the dopest underground releases of 2005. Fat Beats is one of the best underground labels. They really do their thing on the underground tip. I wasn’t really trying to get a major deal like that and get on a Sony or Capital. If it would have came, it would have came, but I don’t want to get put on the shelf. I knew that could happen if I signed a major deal. I didn’t want to change my sound. I wanted to make my money and I was content with Fat Beats. Plus everybody knows Fat Beats. How was it working with Pharoahe Monch on “Let’s Go”? It was crazy. I couldn’t believe I got that call. My boy told me Pharoahe Monch was looking for beats. I sent them some beats and Denaun Porter hit me up like, Pharoahe’s got one of them. You need to come over and lay it down. I went over there and Pharoahe was like, I’m really feeling what you’re doing. He took another one of my beats for his Desire album. I heard the sample you used on “Let’s Go” before, but it was never flipped the same way you did. How did you make that beat? I can’t even remember what record I chopped on that. It was a rock record. The stab I used sounded like it could have been on a few records. It wasn’t that hard to put together. I chopped up the samples and put the drums down. I put a little bit of live guitar under the sample so I didn’t have to clear the shit. How important is live instrumentation to your production? I’m really getting into it now. If I had the chance to rewind time and do stuff for my album, I would, because I feel that that’s where hip-hop production is going. People are really getting into live instrumentation. It’s a good thing as long as it doesn’t get too watered down or sound too R&B. “Call Me” on Slum Village’s album is an Isley Brothers sample chopped up with some live guitar. There are a couple of other tracks on Slum’s album that has live instrumentation on it. I think my next album after this one is going to have live instrumentation on it. The tracks sound much more full when you have that. There’s nothing wrong with programming drums on the MP, but the live instrumentation gives it another feel. What equipment do you use? Not too much. I use an MPC2000 XL. I use the turntable, a MicroKorg keyboard. A lot of people mess with those. I got a Moog keyboard. I got a Sonic Sampler. It’s like an ASR10. I got a lot of weapons. I do the majority of my shit on the MPC2000 XL and Pro Tools. Of course everybody has Pro Tools. I use live instrumentation whenever I can. What are your goals, production-wise, heading into 2007? With my name being kind of new to people in the game, I’m just trying to have them understand what I’m doing. I want to keep a solid sound right now. I have a sound I want people to hear right now which is like a soul and rock feel. After I get off that tip, I’m going to try for more live instrumentation and bring in live musicians to really make the tracks feel bigger. I want the sound of hip-hop to grow a little bit instead of just being programmed drums and a keyboard sound. We have to get a little better with that. That’s my goal with the beats. Hopefully people will see that I am one of the dopest producers and rappers in the hip-hop game right now. I’m just trying to work with anybody in the game right now. I’m trying to hook up with cats I admire like Ghostface and Nas. Those types of artists I really want to link up with and get them some production. I’m going to keep working with Slum too. What advice do you have for up-and-coming producers? Try to find your sound and try not to go with the trends. Don’t try to follow what everybody else is doing. Every single artist that ever came had someone that inspired them. That’s cool, but make sure you find your own sound. That may take awhile. With me, I don’t even think I found my sound yet because I’m attracted to so many different sounds. I dabble in everything. If you’re trying to get in the game and have your own lane where people are like, I want this sound so I know I have to go here, you have to find your own sound. What do you want to say to everybody? Be on the lookout for the up-and-coming Black Milk projects. Broken Wax is out now and Popular Demand is dropping March 13. I got features from Guilty Sampson, Phat Kat, Slum Village and some others. Look out for Popular Demand. It’s going to be a nice underground hip-hop project. Also look out for Broken Wax. I have features from Denaun Porter and T3 on that. And be on the lookout for Pharoahe Monch’s new album, Desire. Also be on the lookout for Phat Kat’s album coming in February. I also have three tracks on Guilty Sampson’s album. Be on the lookout for that and plenty more.

By Brian Kayser

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