Meyhem Lauren – The ProfileWild Interview
Some artists spend their entire career chasing a particular sound, and one of the most hip-hop of hip-hop soundscapes is that classic Queens sound. Gutter sample, hard drums, and the rhymes to match. While Meyhem Lauren can sound comfortable over any style of beat, he sounds most comfortable and most in his element over the gritty production of producers like J-Love, Harry Fraud, and of course Buckwild. Together, Meyhem worked with the legendary Diggin’ in the Crates producer on Silk Pyramids, an LP showcasing Meyhem’s talent for putting words together behind Buckwild’s classic brand of boom-bap. ProfileWild sits down with Meyhem Laurenovitch to talk about Silk Pyramids, what it’s like working with Buckwild, how his rhymes come together, his top ten or so Queens albums, his album with DJ Muggs, Action Bronson, what he’s been cooking, and how Dani’s House of Pizza fuels his rhymes.
Here are some quotes from the feature:
On working with Buckwild for their collaborative album Silk Pyramids:
You know, at this point in the game, I would say we’re friends. That’s my man right there. We started with a musical relationship. I tell him what beats I like and he’ll tell me his thoughts on it. 90% of the time, there really wasn’t much conversation, to be honest. It was just good money, like, ‘Wow, this beat is hot.’ He usually liked what I wrote. Once in awhile he might tell me to rewrite something. Nah, he never told me that. Once in a while he might tell me to spit it over or to spit it in a lower tone. But there wasn’t really any things that we wanted to change. I wouldn’t tell him to change the drums. It was smooth. Smooth sailing.
On creating imagery in his rhymes:
I have images and I try to turn them into rhymes, not the other way around. Like on the “Q.U. Cartilage” beat, like, I heard that beat and I saw Queens. It just reminded me of classic Queens records that I would listen to and had that sound to it and then it just made me think about driving through Queens or walking around. That’s why I went that direction with that song.
On how his album with DJ Muggs came about:
When Action was doing the Rare Chandeliers project with Alchemist, I was out there working with him. I was out there working with Al and Action and Muggs came through one day. He just came through randomly. There was a bunch of us in the crib. I know the Future kid was there. Earl Sweatshirt was there. There was a bunch of people. I think Schoolboy Q was in and out. I don’t even know. Al’s crib is like rap camp. Everybody was in and out but there was a lot of people in the building that day and they were working with Al all day. By the time Muggs pulled out some beats, we were all tired. Ac passed out. A bunch of people left. It was a long day. I stayed up and did three joints with Muggs. I didn’t know what they would be for but I just did them. Action woke up in the morning and he jumped on two of them. I didn’t know what those songs were gonna be used for. I just did ‘em and didn’t think twice. About a month later, Muggs hit me online like, ‘Yo, those songs you did are pretty dope. Let’s do a whole project together.’ That’s how it happened.
On the Rocksteady Anniversary:
Smoothe and Trigger killed it. ‘Mega killed it. M.O.P definitely killed it. I’m a huge M.O.P fan. Watching them perform, I’ve been watching them and driving around listening to them for over 12 years. It was definitely a plus. I’ve been to a lot of Rocksteady reunions and this was one of the best ones. Slick Rick killed it. It was good. It was a dope show.
