Links...
'I like to listen to people that have mastered their craft and try to go from there. It helps me to see music in a different light.' -DJ Dust
Links...
'I like to listen to people that have mastered their craft and try to go from there. It helps me to see music in a different light.' -DJ Dust
MQ: On the business side...I'd like to talk about the 'ghost album'...
all: laughing
Dust: You've been on our website, huh?
MQ: Yeah, just doing some research...
manCHILD: Well, ghost writing is something that has happened on the mainstream side for a long time...it happens all the time...where somebody pays somebody and takes the credit for it...
Dust: Let's make something clear, as artists we would never, ever do that.
manCHILD: I don't really subscribe to the idea of somebody ghostwriting for me. In hip hop, it's like...
Dust: It's extremely frowned upon.
manCHILD: ...for Celine Dion to sing a song that someone wrote is no big deal. But the silence and secrecy part is...you know...if someone knows that I wrote your raps, then you're going to get beat up.
Dust: It would take a lot to actually do that...to do an album that was ghost written and produced by us...that would take some guts. (laughing) I don't know if I'd really want to do that. But we, more or less, want people know that our services are available to help your product be better....
manCHILD: Yeah, if they sell more than 50 thousand units, we come out publicly...and diss them ...
MQ: Hold a press conference...
manCHILD: ...and tell them that we did it! (laughing) No....
Dust: - Milli Vanilli style! We'll show footage of them recording. (laughing) Yeah, but more or less, we want to work that angle because we've put in a lot of years...he's been around for a long time...I've been producing for 10 plus years and I think people could benefit from our stuff.
manCHILD: I'm sort of experimenting... writing hooks for other types of music and I don't know if that will become anything, I have no idea.
MQ: Do you guys want to talk about the writing process...?
manCHILD: It's different over the years...I think with me and him - not falling into a formula - but we've found a good way to work.
Dust: You definitely want to stay away from formulas - as far as 'let's do this,'...'we gotta have this, this and this'...but I think as a general rule, we've found a way to work together in terms of 'what influences what.' I think that the beats and production comes first. I think that is the only rule of thumb with us. Then he comes back with the vocals and works with the beat. Then after that I'll come back over the top of it and shape it around what he does.
manCHILD: And then sometimes I've got a concept and I'm waiting for the right beat and when I hear it, I'm like, 'Ok I can start writing for that now.' Or on a rare occasion, he'll bring me a vocal sample from a jazz singer or something and ask me to write a concept around it.
Dust: I think a formula, or any kind of starting point, at least in my mind, already puts you in a hole. I really try to start with an open mind. I like to sit down and listen to old music, that's pretty much my process. I like to listen to people that have mastered their craft and try to go from there. It helps me to see music in a different light. Especially with hip hop, there is so much - just 'same ol same ol' stuff out there. It's just garbage to me. I want to break from that - but still holding on to the traditions and tenets of hip hop music and working within that structure.