Dubcnn is right here in Los Angeles with Ice Cube at his video shoot. You're shooting a couple of videos right now…
Ice Cube: Yeah we shot one yesterday and we're shooting two today. We shot "She Couldn't Make It On Her Own" featuring OMG and Doughboy, now we're shooting "Too West Coast" with WC and Young Maylay and then other song I did with my sons (OMG & Doughboy), WC and Maylay called "Ya'll Know How I Am".
Dubcnn: How different was your approach for this album compared to "Raw Footage"?
Ice Cube: With "Raw Footage" I felt that we were in a critical year. This was before Obama was elected, so we didn't really know where the country was going, Bush had fucked everything up, we didn't know if McCain was about to come in and continue it. So that record to me was trying to get us to recognize where we're at and how we can change some of the conditions that we're in, here in America. So it was a record that to me was trying to go back to the old formula of trying to use the records as street knowledge, to get across messages that I thought people needed to hear. So that was the focus on "Raw Footage". This record is just fun, it's just Hip-Hop, B-Boy shit. It ain't big on political commentary or nothing, it's just big on rhymes, dope beats and celebrating who we are.
Dubcnn: You were a superstar in the old analog music world and you're doing it now in the digital world. Something that's changed is that artists are in direct contact with their fans. You've been doing that through your website icecube.com, talking to your people and blogging. How has that changed the way you market your music?
Ice Cube: It's good. I'm just now getting into it full force. Artists of my era resisted to computers for a while because it changed the game. No doubt, the computer definitely changed the game. But since Hip-Hop is more underground now, like it was when I first came out - it was underground before N.W.A. came out - and that's kind of where it's returned. So what's cool now is, it's not just underground but we can talk to the fans. You can hear from them, the good and the bad on what they think of what you're doing, which is cool. I listen to them sometimes - most of them times I'm on my own page. But for the most, it's good to hear some feedback, positive and negative, from fans.
Dubcnn: So you do feel that you should be accessible as an artist in 2010 for your fans to reach out to?
Ice Cube: Somewhat. I don't think you should be too accessible… It might take away from why people like you. My friend got a saying "no matter how good somebody looks, it's somebody in the world that's tired of they ass." A woman, no matter how fine she is, it's somebody in the world that's tired of her ass. It's kind of that scenario. I think too much access ain't good, because fans sometimes wanna participate in your decision making and that to me takes out the surprise in what you're doing and it takes out the anticipation of what you're doing. Some people have been waiting for this record "I Am The West" and when they hear it they're going to love it! Some people when they hear it they're gonna be like "Damn, I wish it was something else." But all that is a part of it, to me. If they know what they're going to get every time and they know everything about every move as I make it, how excited are they going to be to get it?
Dubcnn: It also makes it harder to adapt to change. Like I remember on one of your blogs you had announced that Dr. Dre would be on the album and later you said that he wouldn't be. People were like "What's going on? Why isn't Dre on there?"
Ice Cube: Well you know, when you first start working on music, you feel like some of it is going to make it here and some of it is going to make it there. We never got a chance to finish the music, and if we didn't get a chance to finish it, then it's just a track that's sitting there, half done. So we've got 2 or 3 tracks that's sitting there like half done! When he calls, I'll finish it. It won't make my record, not this one, but you know… I think people will take a Ice Cube and Dr. Dre record any chance that they get.
Dubcnn: What was the last one, "Hello"?
Ice Cube: Yeah the last one was "Hello".
Dubcnn: That's 10 years ago!
Ice Cube: I'd take it when I can get it, but that is one thing about being accessible. You let the fans know something and then it don't come to fruition. But that's part of it, welcome to Hip-Hop! What you thought was going to happen in January might not be popping in June or in September, that's the kind of way that we ride.
Dubcnn: We posted the album sampler on the site a few days ago and people were wondering what had happened to the DJ Quik and E-A Ski beats that you were supposed to get?
Ice Cube: Yeah I got stuff from them too. The songs really didn't fit this album. E-A Ski's track is going to be released on iTunes, it's called "Pros vs Joes" and that's going to be released as a bonus track on iTunes. I put together albums, I don't put together producer lists. I wouldn't care if I did get a beat from Dre or any of the top producers, if it didn't fit the album it's not going on the album! That don't mean it ain't never going to come out, but it just didn't fit this record.
Dubcnn: Last time we talked, we had a conversation about up and coming West Coast artist. At that time I mentioned Young Maylay to you and you said you were feeling him. Now he's on your new record on two songs I believe. What made you want to have him on there?
Ice Cube: He's dope. He's been paying his dues in a lot of ways, he's been with Dub as his right hand man in a lot of ways. It's just his time, to me. He's right, he's seasoned enough, lyrics are right, he's got one of the bombest verses on the record, so to me it was only smart to put him on. He's going to become a West Coast staple like all the other people that you're hearing when you think of straight West Coast.
Dubcnn: You also feature your sons on the album, OMG and Doughboy. Did you ever try to convince them not to rap?
Ice Cube: Nah, cause they have fun with it, it's cool. What I like about my sons is, they don't need me to make a record. They're going to make their own records and mixtapes. They're having fun with it like I used to when I first came out. It ain't all serious, it ain't no pressure on them at all to make a lot of money. The only pressure on them is to be hot, to be dope, spit, have fun with it and be ferocious. As long as they do that, they can be in the game! If they feel that they don't wanna do that, then they'll probably just stay fans.
Dubcnn: You've been in the game for over two decades, you've accomplished everything there is to accomplish in the music industry. What's your personal goal when you put out this new album? Are you looking for commercial success, are you looking to just satisfy your own drive to make music?
Ice Cube: Just doing the record satisfies my drive to make music, which is THE drive, that's the only drive. I have no expectations of this record, I just hope that my fans, Ice Cube West Coast hard core music lovers, love the record. If they don't, I'll be a little disappointed, but right now I don't expect no commercial success because we're independent and we're just not playing their game. I'm not about to pay people to play my music or none of that bullshit. My shit is going to be like either you find it or you don't. That's the beauty of it because to me it's pure Hip-Hop.
Dubcnn: Apart from music, what's next for you career wise?
Ice Cube: Me, I ain't thinking bout nothing but music man. I've got a record coming out September 28th, so to me that's all that matters right now. We're in awareness mode so we just want the fans to know it's coming, it's there. When you're done with dubcnn, go to icecube.com see what else I got going on, then you can come back to dubcnn, you know what I mean? *laughs*
Dubcnn: Alright man before we go is there anything else you want to let everybody know?
Ice Cube: Much love to dubcnn, always putting the West Coast first. We're on an island out here when it comes to Hip-Hop. It's good to see that somebody recognizes and throws out some smoke signals every now and then. That's some cool shit.
VIA
DubCNN
Friday, September 24, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Bishop Lamont Interview With The Source magazine 2010
With people still awaiting Dr. Dre’s Detox and the label shrinking by the day, Aftermath survivor and latest escapee Bishop Lamont sheds some light on his experience in the house that Andre built and his run-ins with industry rule #4080 on the way to his latest project The Shawshank Redemption
So Bishop, what's going on with the new project Shawshank Redemption?
Where did that title come from?
It started out as a joke really. That's what I would compare my label stint at aftermath at times! I felt like an innocent man being punished for some shit I didn't do!
Lets talk about it. What makes you say that?
I was there for almost five years with no release date! That's a bid nigga! (Laughs) But at the same time like the movie, it made me smarter, stronger, and more resourceful! And it never could break me!
Speaking of which, you dropped some pretty strong hints in your first single “Hollow Eyes” about some of the things that went on behind the scenes at Afterrmath. Care to elaborate?
Cut throat fellow artists for one! You’re busy helping them, feeding them on your food budget, and recording budget! You cut a record, come back the next day and they done re-recorded your joint (stole your idea) but kept the hook and turn it into Dre like they did it! Two, no A&R! You’re booking your own studio time and reaching out to the producers yourself! But with no front end funding for securing records, how you gonna get shit done? And all the hits you do get first you never get paid for, so records like the Nottz joint Scarface did, or the Jake One track that ended up the Hot Rod/Mary J. Blige, are just a few! Oh yeah! And the “Conglomerate” record! But Bussa Buss is the big homie so it’s all good! And it was a great look for one of the illest, most amazing producers, that nigga focus!
So you’re saying, you’d record records and they'd be given to other artists with no credit for you? What Did Dr Dre has to say about all this? Couldn’t you go to him and fix things?
Ah! Remember I tell any more and I'll ruin the ending! But just cause you're a wonderful guy I'll say this. In the case of the Nottz record, Dre was ready to go in, but by then it was too late! We heard it on the radio!
But you weren’t without your own hits I'm sure. What stopped you from putting out your own records? "Making yourself hot" as they say?
I tried! Hence all the street albums! Three singles on the radio back to back! “Do It” and “Up And Down” produced by Scott Storch, “Feel On It” produced by Focus, and finally “Grow Up!” That was a number one record on Power! Came back from research one hundred percent but the label issued a cease and desist against the station! Even threatened to sue them! Hilarious! Who does that? Thank you to all the DJ's who supported the record still, against orders even! Bless you especially Mr. Chock!
Did Dre respond to you asking why his label would put out a cease and desist to an artist on his label?
Lmao! You don't quit do you sir? Yes and no! Without giving away the movie. We even went back in the studio to discuss how to make it all work! Obviously it didn't! And at that point you gotta pull the parachute some time, or you're gonna go splat! It was an eye opening experience! But I must say Dre tried the best he could to a certain degree! Again with out giving away the movie, he would always say to me at a dinner or some engagement, or the studio "You came into my life at a weird time, a hard time, but just be patient with me!” So I will always have love for him and we will remain family. But business is business as I soon learned the hardest way!
I believe in "live and let live." Karma can handle her own business! So I should handle mine! I'm just thankful to still have an opportunity to have a career finally! To still be relevant and have more fans now and notoriety, when I signed back in 2005! A true blessing! Remember all that while, I never got to grace any magazine covers, no major features, and I'm still here! It was like sitting in a cell and watching life go by! I use to see Ne-Yo in the studio with my boy Six John way before he got signed, out of here now popping! I saw Rick Ross while I was living in Miami before he took off I met Drake working on Detoxrecords. Luckily he didn't sign, and look at him go! (Laughs) I think you get my point!
I guess what makes this so crazy is that with all the behind the scenes insanity you’re alluding to, you were always in your interviews repping Aftermath and making it seem all good.
Well there's two points of Bishop Lamont when you look at the interviews. The fresh start happy, completely focused, didn't ever drink or smoke, green and young to the bull shit bishop! Then there's the drinking, hella-swole cause he was so angry and couldn't beat up the people doing this shit to him at the office, so all he could do was lift weights, Bishop. In the midst of beefs with niggas who he had helped get they deals, fed and clothed, or walked into a radio station for airplay! Stabbed in the back by damn near every one he put on! My grandmother died! The guilty will remain nameless, but they were playing with my checks! I take care of my whole family basically; my granny needed and deserved certain medical attention I couldn't provide for financially! And she died! I feel directly responsible even though I shouldn't! I remember holding her hand in that hospital and feeling like I had failed her! I've just barely come to terms with that and found peace as best I could! Lord have mercy! That was confession like a muthafucka right there!
So where are you now?
The full circle Bishop Lamont! The Andy at the end of Shawshank finally experiencing his dream! The no drinking, no drugs, MMA training, “Ram Dass” reading, Man vs. Food watching, retarded ass life loving nigga I was always meant to be! I have no regrets and I'm not angry or frustrated! I'm not running round beating niggas up outside clubs no more, or shaking down punk ass DJs for disrespecting! I'm working with the United Nations! Doing records with the Wailers proceeds going to the hungry all over the world! Real grown man shit! After school programs, prison outreach, and youth center projects! I'm doing and moving as God truly desired and intended for me to! Fuck these small minded, insecure, egotistical, make believe, godless, industry bitch ass niggas! U fighting over crumbs and destroying the art form, destroying the west coast, and holding up traffic! Hop yo fossilized old Asses in La Brea Tar-pits and let all these new artist in! That goes for the entire country! West coast, East coast! Where ever niggas got the runway backed up!
So Bishop, what's going on with the new project Shawshank Redemption?
Where did that title come from?
It started out as a joke really. That's what I would compare my label stint at aftermath at times! I felt like an innocent man being punished for some shit I didn't do!
Lets talk about it. What makes you say that?
I was there for almost five years with no release date! That's a bid nigga! (Laughs) But at the same time like the movie, it made me smarter, stronger, and more resourceful! And it never could break me!
Speaking of which, you dropped some pretty strong hints in your first single “Hollow Eyes” about some of the things that went on behind the scenes at Afterrmath. Care to elaborate?
Cut throat fellow artists for one! You’re busy helping them, feeding them on your food budget, and recording budget! You cut a record, come back the next day and they done re-recorded your joint (stole your idea) but kept the hook and turn it into Dre like they did it! Two, no A&R! You’re booking your own studio time and reaching out to the producers yourself! But with no front end funding for securing records, how you gonna get shit done? And all the hits you do get first you never get paid for, so records like the Nottz joint Scarface did, or the Jake One track that ended up the Hot Rod/Mary J. Blige, are just a few! Oh yeah! And the “Conglomerate” record! But Bussa Buss is the big homie so it’s all good! And it was a great look for one of the illest, most amazing producers, that nigga focus!
So you’re saying, you’d record records and they'd be given to other artists with no credit for you? What Did Dr Dre has to say about all this? Couldn’t you go to him and fix things?
Ah! Remember I tell any more and I'll ruin the ending! But just cause you're a wonderful guy I'll say this. In the case of the Nottz record, Dre was ready to go in, but by then it was too late! We heard it on the radio!
But you weren’t without your own hits I'm sure. What stopped you from putting out your own records? "Making yourself hot" as they say?
I tried! Hence all the street albums! Three singles on the radio back to back! “Do It” and “Up And Down” produced by Scott Storch, “Feel On It” produced by Focus, and finally “Grow Up!” That was a number one record on Power! Came back from research one hundred percent but the label issued a cease and desist against the station! Even threatened to sue them! Hilarious! Who does that? Thank you to all the DJ's who supported the record still, against orders even! Bless you especially Mr. Chock!
Did Dre respond to you asking why his label would put out a cease and desist to an artist on his label?
Lmao! You don't quit do you sir? Yes and no! Without giving away the movie. We even went back in the studio to discuss how to make it all work! Obviously it didn't! And at that point you gotta pull the parachute some time, or you're gonna go splat! It was an eye opening experience! But I must say Dre tried the best he could to a certain degree! Again with out giving away the movie, he would always say to me at a dinner or some engagement, or the studio "You came into my life at a weird time, a hard time, but just be patient with me!” So I will always have love for him and we will remain family. But business is business as I soon learned the hardest way!
I believe in "live and let live." Karma can handle her own business! So I should handle mine! I'm just thankful to still have an opportunity to have a career finally! To still be relevant and have more fans now and notoriety, when I signed back in 2005! A true blessing! Remember all that while, I never got to grace any magazine covers, no major features, and I'm still here! It was like sitting in a cell and watching life go by! I use to see Ne-Yo in the studio with my boy Six John way before he got signed, out of here now popping! I saw Rick Ross while I was living in Miami before he took off I met Drake working on Detoxrecords. Luckily he didn't sign, and look at him go! (Laughs) I think you get my point!
I guess what makes this so crazy is that with all the behind the scenes insanity you’re alluding to, you were always in your interviews repping Aftermath and making it seem all good.
Well there's two points of Bishop Lamont when you look at the interviews. The fresh start happy, completely focused, didn't ever drink or smoke, green and young to the bull shit bishop! Then there's the drinking, hella-swole cause he was so angry and couldn't beat up the people doing this shit to him at the office, so all he could do was lift weights, Bishop. In the midst of beefs with niggas who he had helped get they deals, fed and clothed, or walked into a radio station for airplay! Stabbed in the back by damn near every one he put on! My grandmother died! The guilty will remain nameless, but they were playing with my checks! I take care of my whole family basically; my granny needed and deserved certain medical attention I couldn't provide for financially! And she died! I feel directly responsible even though I shouldn't! I remember holding her hand in that hospital and feeling like I had failed her! I've just barely come to terms with that and found peace as best I could! Lord have mercy! That was confession like a muthafucka right there!
So where are you now?
The full circle Bishop Lamont! The Andy at the end of Shawshank finally experiencing his dream! The no drinking, no drugs, MMA training, “Ram Dass” reading, Man vs. Food watching, retarded ass life loving nigga I was always meant to be! I have no regrets and I'm not angry or frustrated! I'm not running round beating niggas up outside clubs no more, or shaking down punk ass DJs for disrespecting! I'm working with the United Nations! Doing records with the Wailers proceeds going to the hungry all over the world! Real grown man shit! After school programs, prison outreach, and youth center projects! I'm doing and moving as God truly desired and intended for me to! Fuck these small minded, insecure, egotistical, make believe, godless, industry bitch ass niggas! U fighting over crumbs and destroying the art form, destroying the west coast, and holding up traffic! Hop yo fossilized old Asses in La Brea Tar-pits and let all these new artist in! That goes for the entire country! West coast, East coast! Where ever niggas got the runway backed up!
Monday, September 20, 2010
EA-Ski: The Legacy, Dr. Dre and His New "Maschine"
By Dynasty Williams
Few figures in Hip-Hop can boast a career that spans over a couple of generations. With one hit wonders and trendy gimmicks in and out faster than a car wash, it’s hard to maintain a resemblance of any career.
Such is not the case with E.A. Ski. Ski has been a staple in Oakland, California for over 20 years. He has produced hits for artist such as Too Short, Spice 1, Ice-T, Ice Cube, and a host of others. Ski’s production talents are not limited to Hip-Hop. He recently teamed up with actor Danny Glover and won an award for his short film “No Problems” at the 13th Okanagan International Film Festival.
With Business booming and a packed schedule, Ski took the time out with AllHipHop.com to discuss his secret to longevity, fighting the shadow of Dr. Dre, and the "Maschine" by Native Instruments (click here for more info), his new choice in production equipment.
AllHipHop.com: What’s going on out there on the West Coast?
EA Ski: It's a nice day out here in Cali man. The sun is shining bright so you know it's lookin' real good.
AllHipHop.com: My first experience with your music came through the early Spice 1 albums. I'm from the East Coast though. So how does it feel to know your music influenced many people on the other coast?
EA Ski: That's always been the goal. Being from the West Coast we looked up to the East Coast. I grew up on East Coast music and I'm a fan of East Coast music. Being in the music game, that was always my goal to be able to make something that could move everywhere.
AllHipHop.com: You've been in the game about two decades. What do you attribute to your success and longevity?
EA Ski: Not being stubborn, and always knowing that you can be better. You can reinvent and make new stuff. A lot of older producers and rappers get stuck in a time zone. They feel like older is better. I'm not saying that I didn't like a lot of the older stuff because I do. But as times change, what are you still going to record on ADAT when you got Pro Tools, and Logic, and Reason? You have to adapt. You can learn from the youngsters as well as learn from the older generation. I'm always learning, listening, and staying relevant to what's going on.
AllHipHop.com: Even though you have decades under your belt, you've still managed to stay under the radar. Is that by design?
EA Ski: For me it's kind of both. When I was going to put out full products, I got caught in transitions with labels. I was signed to Columbia, I was signed to Priority, I was signed to a lot of labels that merged. It allowed me to go into the lab and put out stuff here and there and go under the radar. I figured that, until I'm able to drop a full length project the way I want to, on a scale that I would do it, I would do it that way instead of over-saturating the market.
AllHipHop.com: Sometimes I feel that Dr. Dre's dominance put a shadow over many West Coast producers. Do you feel that you may have gotten caught up in that?
EA Ski: That's a real interesting question. I think Dre was so instrumental in being able to make a record that was so powerful on the West coast that it did overshadow a lot of people. I don't necessarily think that was a bad thing. I just think that it raised the bar so high that it made you have to go into the lab and figure out what your thing was. A lot of people tried to follow Dre's format and by the time they followed it, it was old. You can't keep on having the high pitched sound and he's already done that. People have to understand that Dre had a great team around him. He has a label and a lot of West Coast cats are independent. When you think about independent you have to work a little harder. Dre programmed so many people, and had so many people, and he had so much dope music, you had to be on point for people to say you were a dope producer. To get on that radar like Dre, you gotta come with it, and I like that.
AllHipHop.com: Music is constantly evolving and so is the equipment producers use. I hear you're using the "Maschine" by Native Instruments now.
EA Ski: That done changed the whole game again.
AllHipHop.com: I'm hearing a lot of noise about some of the top named producers switching over to this sequencer. What is it that makes it special for you?
EA Ski: To be honest with you I didn't know what to think about it until I got it. The way the work flow is allows it to convert from hardware to software. The way the pads swing give you that MPC feel but it's next level. Words can't even describe how incredible this machine is. The sounds in there are incredible. It's a small machine that you can take with you. You can't take a MPC with you. You can't carry that big thing with you like that. You can take this machine, put it in your backpack, take it on a plane and make some of the coldest records.
AllHipHop.com: What records have you done using this?
EA Ski: My last almost 20 records I've done using this. I just won an award for my video "No Problems" I did on the Maschine. I've been going crazy. I did the new Ice Cube and it's like the Maschine is just incredible.
AllHipHop.com: When you mention that it can switch from hardware to software, explain to people what you mean by that.
EA Ski: The hardware of it is that you can hit the pads, but you can still see it in your software if you go into Logic or Pro Tools or whatever. But for those who like to hit the pads, you have the hardware. It allows you to do both things at once. I work in "stand alone." That’s when you run the machine by itself. But they have a feature called the "Drag and Drop" where once you finish that track, you can drag that right into your Pro Tools or Logic session. Then boom, the track is right in there with no delay. It's the most incredible thing that I've seen being in Hip-Hop. They (Native Instruments) really were thinking about how to make producers be able work in a comfortable fashion without losing a step.
AllHipHop.com: Well since you’re cranking out all this material with the Maschine, what can people keep their ears open for from you?
EA Ski: Well right now I have an artist named Locksmith and this kid is incredible. I'm working on Ice Cube's new album called I Am The West that's dope. I'm working on my solo album The Fifth Of Skithoven and I got a lot of great features with Tech Nine, Ice Cube, and B-Real from Cypress Hill.
VIA
AllHipHop.com
Few figures in Hip-Hop can boast a career that spans over a couple of generations. With one hit wonders and trendy gimmicks in and out faster than a car wash, it’s hard to maintain a resemblance of any career.
Such is not the case with E.A. Ski. Ski has been a staple in Oakland, California for over 20 years. He has produced hits for artist such as Too Short, Spice 1, Ice-T, Ice Cube, and a host of others. Ski’s production talents are not limited to Hip-Hop. He recently teamed up with actor Danny Glover and won an award for his short film “No Problems” at the 13th Okanagan International Film Festival.
With Business booming and a packed schedule, Ski took the time out with AllHipHop.com to discuss his secret to longevity, fighting the shadow of Dr. Dre, and the "Maschine" by Native Instruments (click here for more info), his new choice in production equipment.
AllHipHop.com: What’s going on out there on the West Coast?
EA Ski: It's a nice day out here in Cali man. The sun is shining bright so you know it's lookin' real good.
AllHipHop.com: My first experience with your music came through the early Spice 1 albums. I'm from the East Coast though. So how does it feel to know your music influenced many people on the other coast?
EA Ski: That's always been the goal. Being from the West Coast we looked up to the East Coast. I grew up on East Coast music and I'm a fan of East Coast music. Being in the music game, that was always my goal to be able to make something that could move everywhere.
AllHipHop.com: You've been in the game about two decades. What do you attribute to your success and longevity?
EA Ski: Not being stubborn, and always knowing that you can be better. You can reinvent and make new stuff. A lot of older producers and rappers get stuck in a time zone. They feel like older is better. I'm not saying that I didn't like a lot of the older stuff because I do. But as times change, what are you still going to record on ADAT when you got Pro Tools, and Logic, and Reason? You have to adapt. You can learn from the youngsters as well as learn from the older generation. I'm always learning, listening, and staying relevant to what's going on.
AllHipHop.com: Even though you have decades under your belt, you've still managed to stay under the radar. Is that by design?
EA Ski: For me it's kind of both. When I was going to put out full products, I got caught in transitions with labels. I was signed to Columbia, I was signed to Priority, I was signed to a lot of labels that merged. It allowed me to go into the lab and put out stuff here and there and go under the radar. I figured that, until I'm able to drop a full length project the way I want to, on a scale that I would do it, I would do it that way instead of over-saturating the market.
AllHipHop.com: Sometimes I feel that Dr. Dre's dominance put a shadow over many West Coast producers. Do you feel that you may have gotten caught up in that?
EA Ski: That's a real interesting question. I think Dre was so instrumental in being able to make a record that was so powerful on the West coast that it did overshadow a lot of people. I don't necessarily think that was a bad thing. I just think that it raised the bar so high that it made you have to go into the lab and figure out what your thing was. A lot of people tried to follow Dre's format and by the time they followed it, it was old. You can't keep on having the high pitched sound and he's already done that. People have to understand that Dre had a great team around him. He has a label and a lot of West Coast cats are independent. When you think about independent you have to work a little harder. Dre programmed so many people, and had so many people, and he had so much dope music, you had to be on point for people to say you were a dope producer. To get on that radar like Dre, you gotta come with it, and I like that.
AllHipHop.com: Music is constantly evolving and so is the equipment producers use. I hear you're using the "Maschine" by Native Instruments now.
EA Ski: That done changed the whole game again.
AllHipHop.com: I'm hearing a lot of noise about some of the top named producers switching over to this sequencer. What is it that makes it special for you?
EA Ski: To be honest with you I didn't know what to think about it until I got it. The way the work flow is allows it to convert from hardware to software. The way the pads swing give you that MPC feel but it's next level. Words can't even describe how incredible this machine is. The sounds in there are incredible. It's a small machine that you can take with you. You can't take a MPC with you. You can't carry that big thing with you like that. You can take this machine, put it in your backpack, take it on a plane and make some of the coldest records.
AllHipHop.com: What records have you done using this?
EA Ski: My last almost 20 records I've done using this. I just won an award for my video "No Problems" I did on the Maschine. I've been going crazy. I did the new Ice Cube and it's like the Maschine is just incredible.
AllHipHop.com: When you mention that it can switch from hardware to software, explain to people what you mean by that.
EA Ski: The hardware of it is that you can hit the pads, but you can still see it in your software if you go into Logic or Pro Tools or whatever. But for those who like to hit the pads, you have the hardware. It allows you to do both things at once. I work in "stand alone." That’s when you run the machine by itself. But they have a feature called the "Drag and Drop" where once you finish that track, you can drag that right into your Pro Tools or Logic session. Then boom, the track is right in there with no delay. It's the most incredible thing that I've seen being in Hip-Hop. They (Native Instruments) really were thinking about how to make producers be able work in a comfortable fashion without losing a step.
AllHipHop.com: Well since you’re cranking out all this material with the Maschine, what can people keep their ears open for from you?
EA Ski: Well right now I have an artist named Locksmith and this kid is incredible. I'm working on Ice Cube's new album called I Am The West that's dope. I'm working on my solo album The Fifth Of Skithoven and I got a lot of great features with Tech Nine, Ice Cube, and B-Real from Cypress Hill.
VIA
AllHipHop.com
Big Daddy Kane: Rap Like No Equal
Author Paul Edwards sat down with one of Hip Hop's most respected emcees to discuss his influences, writing process, and an inside look at how to rap like Kane.
Big Daddy Kane was one of the 104 emcees interviewed exclusively for the book How to Rap: The Art and Science of the Hip-Hop MC. The following is the full, previously unreleased interview.
As well as breaking down his process, Big Daddy Kane also gives his thoughts on Notorious B.I.G., 2Pac, and why some rappers claim to write lyrics in their heads or never punch-in vocals. He also suggests how Hip Hop can get back to being more lyrical again and drops a ton of tips on performing live.
Interview by Paul Edwards
How to Rap: How did you learn how to rap?
Big Daddy Kane: It was something that I just started doing, I had an older cousin that was doing it, he was rapping. It was just something I wanted to do because I was a kid and I looked up to him, so I started just trying to write rhymes and just do what he was doing.
How to Rap: Did you memorize a lot of other people’s lyrics?
Big Daddy Kane: Yeah, I knew how to sing [The Fatback Band's] "King Tim III" and [Sugarhill Gang's] "Rapper’s Delight," you know, all that stuff.
How to Rap: Did you mainly write a lot or freestyle a lot?
Big Daddy Kane: Okay… what do you mean by "freestyle"?
How to Rap: Improvised, rather than written down on paper…
Big Daddy Kane: I always wrote things down on paper… but see that term "freestyle" is like a new term, because in the ‘80s when we said we wrote a freestyle rap that meant that it was a rhyme that you wrote that was free of style, meaning that it’s not a subject matter – it’s not a story about a woman, it’s not a story about poverty, it’s basically a rhyme just bragging about yourself, so it’s basically free of style. That’s really what a freestyle is.
You know, off the top of the head, we just called that off the dome, when you don’t write it and just say whatever comes to mind. But freestyle is really a written rhyme. Has anybody ever told you that before?
How to Rap: Yeah, though people often also use the other definition of it…
Big Daddy Kane: Yeah, that’s like some new term, but really a freestyle is a rhyme that you write basically that’s free of style.
How to Rap: So you always wrote everything down?
Big Daddy Kane: Yeah, I mean when we went off the top of the head that’d be something that we’d do just playing around like on the corner, just playing to see who mess up first.
How to Rap: Was that ever a good way of learning?
Big Daddy Kane: Not really, because to me, this here Rap thing is an art form, and with art, you paint a picture, and I mean when you look at the list of the greatest lyricists that did they thing, they wrote their rhymes.
How to Rap: Was it harder learning back then, because people today can go back and study you or study Kool G Rap or Rakim, but back then you didn’t have as many people to build on?
Big Daddy Kane: There were great lyricists before us - I don’t know if you’ve heard any of the early Kool Moe Dee stuff when he was with the Treacherous 3, but Kool Moe Dee was an incredible emcee, early ‘80s, late ‘70s.
[Grandmaster] Melle Mel - that third verse on "Beat Street Breakdown," from that movie Beat Street, that third verse is one of the most incredible Hip Hop verses ever. And Grandmaster Caz is pretty much who I developed my style from, like my whole rap style once I started really developing it in the mid ‘80s was really based around what I heard from Grandmaster Caz. So we all had people we looked at, it’s like when you listen to Rakim, you can hear a heavy Kool Moe Dee influence.
How to Rap: Though you guys put in a lot of the work to keep it growing from there…
Big Daddy Kane: Yeah, I mean, as you come into something and you start doing it, there’s predecessors that basically set the stage that you’re following and I guess Caz was mine, I’m sure that Moe Dee was Rakim’s, and Melle Mel was the man because he had the biggest career.
How to Rap: When you sit down to write lyrics, is there a set process you go through?
Big Daddy Kane: Honestly, it differs, depending on the mood. There’s the type of thing where I’m really trying to target a certain subject, I might sit down and just think of all the types of twists and turns and different events that can happen in the situation, and I might just jot those down and then put it into rap form.
And then there’s sometimes where I’m just trying to write a rhyme, a regular rhyme and I’m just jotting down little hot, little slick lines that I thought of and then I just put it in the rap until a whole verse forms.
How to Rap: So sometimes you’ll have a concept beforehand and sometimes you’ll just write…
Big Daddy Kane: Yeah, sometimes I have a concept beforehand, sometimes I might just be laying in bed and something just comes to me and I just start building off of it.
How to Rap: Where do you normally write?
Big Daddy Kane: I guess it really depends on the situation. If someone gives me a track, then I sit at home and write to it. If it’s the type of thing where I have a studio session to do with another artist then, you know, it’s crunch-time so you gotta make it happen right then.
How to Rap: Do you ever write on a phone or laptop?
Big Daddy Kane: Nah, I’ve never done that, because when I started rapping there wasn’t no phones! There’s nothing wrong with that, that’s cool too, it’s all documenting an idea, so you know, whatever works for you.
How to Rap: Have you ever written lyrics in you head?
Big Daddy Kane: Write in my head? No, I do what works for me, because I’ve been a nice motherfucker since I started up until now, so there’s no need for me to change my gameplan.
How to Rap: Where do most of the ideas come from?
Big Daddy Kane: Ideas can come from anything. I mean this conversation we’re having can turn into an idea for a song. I could say, you know what, because of this here, I think I want to make a song about really explaining what a freestyle rhyme is. That comes from what we just got through talking about. So an idea can come from anywhere.
How to Rap: Do you find it helps to have a large vocabulary?
Big Daddy Kane: I do, and that’s my personal opinion. Now, you take someone like [Notorious B.I.G.], I think that he was a great rapper, but he didn’t use a large vocabulary, his word play was really simple, he just put his words together a slick way and it worked real good for him. But in my opinion, I think it is good to have a large vocabulary, but that’s just for me, I can’t really say that for everybody. Because you have other artists, like I just mentioned Biggie, who didn’t have to use a large vocabulary and still got his point across and was recognized as being a hot emcee.
How to Rap: Do you think you can go over listeners’ heads if you get too complex with it?
Big Daddy Kane: Yeah, if you go too far, like there’s some rappers that use words that just be a little too out there, it makes it where someone doesn’t really know what you’re talking about and don’t really have the time to sit and try to understand. Especially now – in the ‘80s there was a handful of rappers, now there’s a million rappers, so if you go over somebody’s head then it’s not like, “I’m curious about what he said,” it’s more or less about, “I ain’t got no time for that shit, let me listen to another rapper.”
How to Rap: Do you ever go and research any of the information?
Big Daddy Kane: Yeah, you want to make sure you’re saying the right thing and you’re not saying something that don’t make no sense, because I’ve made that mistake before, so I try to make sure that I don’t do it again.
How to Rap: How do you come up with the flow and the rhythms you’re going to use?
Big Daddy Kane: The flow that I use, I really developed my rap style in the mid ‘80s based on Grandmaster Caz from the Cold Crush Brothers, from listening to him. That’s like really who I pretty much patterned my style from and I just really took it to another level once I had the opportunity to get out amongst the world myself.
How to Rap: Do you write to the beat to help you pattern the rhythms?
Big Daddy Kane: Sometimes, especially if I want to go with a specific style, like sometimes you want your flow to go in the same rhythm as the beat, so you’re writing to the beat. In all honesty, I think that is something very important to do, that is something like that the generation after me started doing. Those cats that was coming out in the ‘90s, they’re the ones who really started making it where they sat and wrote to the beat and their style matched that beat perfectly. It was something that was created a generation after me, but I think was a beautiful thing that was brought to the game, because I think it makes a song more whole.
Because as an emcee from the ‘80s, really your mentality is battle format, so when you’re writing a rhyme the majority of the time, you’re writing a bragging and boasting rhyme about yourself being the nicest emcee and you just basically write that, you don’t really have to have a beat. Or just maybe play something on a cassette and write it to any particular beat and then when you say it, you say it over anything, you can say it over a hand clap or someone banging on the lunch room table. Because really what your focus was, was to have a hot rhyme in case you gotta battle someone. So that was your main focus, not really making a rhyme for a song.
How to Rap: So would you say it’s a very different process, writing a song to writing a battle rhyme?
Big Daddy Kane: Yeah, I would definitely say that because one thing is basically discussing a specific category, the other one is making a rhyme that’s gonna be better than what the next cat gonna say that you gonna battle.
How to Rap: Do you think it makes for better rhymes if you’re writing to battle someone, rather than writing a song?
Big Daddy Kane: It depends on what you’re looking for. If you’re looking to be accepted as the nicest emcee, then I guess your battle rhymes are gonna make you come across that way, because they’re like, “Yo, did you hear what he said? Oh my goodness,” because they’re listening to the rhymes that you’re saying like as far as how nice you are or the incredible stuff you’re saying.
Or if it’s where you’re really trying to create a song that someone’s going to feel, like take for example a Tupac Shakur or a Chuck D, these are cats that wrote songs that you felt. It wasn’t like the type of thing where they were trying to be recognized as the nicest emcee, like you don’t really hear cats saying like, “Yo, 2Pac was the illest emcee,” or “Chuck D was the illest emcee,” you respect them like, “Yo, I felt what they said… yo, that’s my jam right there… yo, he know what I’m going through.” So it can touch a person in a different way depending on where you’re trying to go with it.
How to Rap: Do you think that has to do with the flow?
Big Daddy Kane: Nah, I think when you look at artists like Melle Mel, Chuck D, Tupac Shakur, when you look at artists like these cats, it’s the type of thing where what they’re talking about is something that you’ve experienced, something that you’re probably having a problem with. A bad part of your life, something that you hate having to deal with and they just touched upon it in song and you felt it because this is something that’s been messing with you mentally. And you felt it and it touched you that way, it hits your heart.
How to Rap: Do you have any way of writing down the flow, where to pause, etc?
Big Daddy Kane: Yeah, the method I always used was commas, like I’d put a comma there. If someone else read it, it may not make no sense because you’d see a comma where it doesn’t go, but I would understand it because I know that that means there is a pause.
How to Rap: Have you ever forgotten the flow to anything you’ve written?
Big Daddy Kane: Not for me, something that I wrote for Biz [Markie], but he remembered it!
How to Rap: Is it ever hard to rhyme words together and also get your meaning across effectively at the same time?
Big Daddy Kane: Sometimes certain things I say might go a little over someone’s head, like to me it’s sounding real simple, but to someone else, they didn’t see it, like it went over their head.
How to Rap: Do you ever write rhymes to just practice rhyming words together?
Big Daddy Kane: If I do, I would say that it’s times when I’m really just playing with poetry, really maybe just writing a poem.
How to Rap: How long does it take to write a verse?
Big Daddy Kane: It differs, if you’re in your zone, you might bang it out in 15-20 minutes, you might bang it out in half an hour. Then sometimes it’s like somewhere I’m trying to go with this song, I’m trying to go somewhere and I’m creating it and now I’m almost finished and I’m realizing, nah, this ain’t right. And I end up just scratching lines out and I might just sit it down and come back the next day.
How to Rap: Do you find if it comes out quickly, it comes out better?
Big Daddy Kane: Me personally, I think that when I take my time with something, it comes out a lot better, because I can really, really get my point across, and if I see that like, this might be a little too deep, I figure out a way to dumb it down so that everybody can understand where I’m going.
How to Rap: Do you prefer to write hooks first or verses?
Big Daddy Kane: You know for some strange reason I like to write the verse first. I mean I know the majority of people do the chorus first and when I think about it, I guess it does make more sense to do the chorus first, but I just like to write the verses first, I don’t know why.
But then again, you know what, I never really been a dude who was good with hooks. Like lots of times back in the days, one of my dancers, Scoob [Lover], he might come up with a hook, or sometimes my deejay, Mister Cee. That’s never really been my forte, like I’ve never really been good at coming up with hooks. My brother even sometimes would help me with hooks, because I just wasn’t that creative with hooks.
How to Rap: How do you decide how many verses there will be and how long they’ll be?
Big Daddy Kane: I never really paid attention to the length of verses until probably the late ‘90s – I’d just write until it felt good. When I feel like I wanna end the verse there, sometimes it might be a 16, sometimes it might be a 32 – it just felt good. Some songs I’ve done through my career where it’s probably just one long hundred and eight bar verse, something like that.
How to Rap: Do you use most of the rhymes that you write?
Big Daddy Kane: Yeah, I think I use most of the rhymes that I write. Sometimes I’ve thrown stuff away, sometimes I’ve misplaced rhymes
How to Rap: Do you ever go back to rhymes you’ve written in the past?
Big Daddy Kane: There have been situations where I’ve used rhymes from the past. Sometimes you do a song with someone and you get this feeling like it’s just business, like it’s not fun, like there’s no love there, there’s no respect there and it’s just basically business and I look at it that way – “Aight, let me get to see a check.”
So therefore, if I’m not really feeling like you’re communicating with me or you’re being difficult in the session because it’s your song, then there have been times where I’ll just say, “well, fuck it,” and take a rhyme I may have written two years ago and just put that down, keep it moving - grab my check and keep it moving.
But when I’m in the studio with somebody and they’re showing a lot of love and we’re vibing real good – then I want it to be perfect for them.
How to Rap: Do you find it easier working on solo work or when you guest on someone else’s song?
Big Daddy Kane: I think the most fun I have is when I’m working with someone that’s a nice emcee, because it’s inspirational. I come from where you’re hearing cats like Kool G Rap, KRS-One, Rakim, you’re hearing a lot of rappers that’s spitting hard so it’s like you gotta stay on top of your toes, because there’s a lot of competition. Right now I don’t really hear no competition, I don’t really hear no nice emcees, so if I’m in the studio with someone who’s a nice emcee, it inspires me to really write.
Like for example I was on UGK's [Underground Kingz] album and you know I respect G Rap as a nice emcee and I respect Bun B as a nice emcee, so knowing I was going to be on a song with the two of those dudes was like I really had to step my pen game up, because I respect those dudes as emcees. I did something with Game, and when I came to the studio, I’ll be honest with you, I was pissy drunk and then KRS-One put his verse down and when I heard KRS’s verse, I sobered up real quick! And started really writing, because he wasn’t playing and I respect KRS as an emcee.
How to Rap: Do you ever lay a verse, then hear someone else’s verse on the same song and then re-write your verse?
Big Daddy Kane: Nah, that’s cheating!
How to Rap: So you think friendly competition helps everyone to step up their game?
Big Daddy Kane: Well with me, that’s all it is, it’s friendly competition. Like back in the ‘80s, me and Kool G Rap, we would be on the phone, like one, two o’clock in the morning… and I’m like, “Yo, check this verse out I just wrote,” and I spit the verse to G, and you know, he’s like, “Okay, that’s hot, that’s hot, that’s hot,” and it’d make him do his thing. The next night, G might call me and he’s like, “Yo, check this verse out,” and he spit his verse and I’m like, “Yeah, that’s fire, that’s fire,” and it’d make me step my game up. That’s the friendly competition that we had.
How to Rap: So do you think that it helps that you came up in a crew with so many talented people?
Big Daddy Kane: Oh yeah, definitely, when you surrounded by talent, it’s gonna keep you on your toes and also it makes the whole thing fun.
How to Rap: What do you think is more important, the subject matter or the flow?
Big Daddy Kane: Well, what I think is more important, is the subject matter, what I think is more important to today’s consumer, is the flow. Because really people just want to be able to dance and have something they can sing along to, today, it’s not like too many people are really listening to lyrics like they did back in the day, but to me, I think the subject matter.
How to Rap: Do you think it will get back to where people will respect that more, Hip Hop with more complex lyrics?
Big Daddy Kane: I think that the only way that it can get back to where people respect the lyrical art form is that if there were real hot lyricists as stars. Like if there were some real, real hot lyricists that was on the level of some of these other big rappers, then I think that it would get back to that.
How to Rap: Is ghost-writing for someone else harder?
Big Daddy Kane: For me, ghost-writing for someone else wasn’t hard, because if I did it in my style that’s pretty much something good for you, and doing it in someone else’s style, if they have a more simpler style then it makes my job easier, because now I ain’t got to think too complicated. For example, writing for Biz, it wasn’t really about having hot rhymes, it was about having something funny, Biz just wanted something funny to say. And with [Roxanne] Shanté I could try to pretty much put it in her flow, but really with Shanté she wanted to do what I liked doing, just basically being sarcastic and she is like the master of sarcasm. So basically I’d be sarcastic like I normally would, but just make it to fit a woman.
How to Rap: What was it like writing "Set It Off"?
Big Daddy Kane: With "Set It Off," it was like I really wanted to create that James Brown feel like on "Sex Machine" or "Pass The Peas" like, “can I count it off? One, two, three…” like on "Pass The Peas" my favorite part is when The JB's are screaming "Pass the peas, like we used to say," and James just sound like he can’t even take it no more and he’s just going, “Pass ‘em then!” And the beat drop – it’s like I wanted that feel so I started off with the lyrics first before the beat even dropped, like I was trying to really go after that James Brown feel. And "Set It Off," by the way, is like my favorite song I’ve ever done in my whole career and that was the feel we was trying to go and just keep the energy flowing, like I just wanted it to be a real energetic song, like a workout song.
How to Rap: Did you write it to the beat?
Big Daddy Kane: "Set It Off" was already a verse, the first verse ends before it actually does. When I had the beat, I added more on - some of that first verse I already had before I had the beat.
How to Rap: So you wrote it in different parts?
Big Daddy Kane: Yeah.
How to Rap: Did it take a long time to do?
Big Daddy Kane: Nah, what happened - Mark the 45 King, he played a beat for Biz, he said, “Biz, I got a beat that I think will be perfect for you.” Biz heard it and Biz said that it’s aight, it’s okay. Then when Biz got through, I said, “Yo, that first beat that you wanted Biz to rap on, can I hear it again?” And he played it, I was like, “Yo, is there any way that beat can go faster?” And he said, “It’s funny you say that, because it’s actually a 45 [RPM record] and I slowed it down,” then he played it at the real pace, which is the pace you hear on "Set It Off," and I was like, “I’ll take it…” I was like, “Give it to me, I’ll take it!”
I always wanted that sound, that James Brown sound. And I was like, “Yeah, I want this in it…” and he was like, “Alright, give me a few days, let me play with it and I’ma put something else with it too, for the hook.” And he put that, I don’t know whatever that other sound is, that thing, and when he brought it back I was like, “Yes sir!”
I already knew what verse I was going to put with it, I just had to figure out what else I was going to put. I ended up writing a second verse, never got around to writing a third one and then Marley [Marl] told me that I could have some time and I knew that I was dying to do that song, so I just said, “Fuck the third verse,” and just went in and just did two. Then for a third verse I basically did shout-outs.
How to Rap: Is it a difficult track to perform live because it’s fast?
Big Daddy Kane: Nah, that song is so imbedded in my head, that it’s like a walk through the park, and I mean I have faster songs. "Warm It Up Kane" and "Set It Off" are the same tempo, they both 113 [BPM] and "Wrath Of Kane" I think is like 120-125.
How to Rap: When you record the lyrics, do you have them memorized?
Big Daddy Kane: Sometimes I have lyrics memorized, sometimes I read them off the paper.
How to Rap: Do you think it turns out better when you have them memorized?
Big Daddy Kane: I think that when you have the lyrics memorized it’s a little better because it’s like now you’re not concentrating on reading the words and you can basically concentrate on the cadence, so it makes it a lot easier… like if you just want to play with it and deliver the words a little differently.
How to Rap: If you do have it memorized, do you still take the paper in with you?
Big Daddy Kane: If I have it memorized, yeah, sometimes I do take the paper in with me, just in case, you never know. You might be like, “Damn, what was that line again?” Yeah, you might forget.
How to Rap: Do you decide where you’re going to breathe within a track so you don’t run out of breath?
Big Daddy Kane: Yeah, I try to get those little spots where I can catch a breath, because I have asthma, so I try to catch those little spots where I can catch a breath. Because my whole thing is like, I’ve seen a lot of people try to do fast songs and then when they perform live they can’t even say their own lyrics and I think that’s embarrassing. So I try to make it where I have those spots where I can catch a breath here – I might slow up the flow for two bars or say something real sarcastic real fast so I can take a deep breath, so that it can run through because I’m not gonna look like that, like I’m on stage and can’t perform my own songs.
How to Rap: So have you practiced the verse a lot before you record it to find those breathing spots?
Big Daddy Kane: Nah, lots of times it’ll be like where I’m going with it and I found that I run out of breath right here, so right there on the spot I’ll figure out a different way to deliver that line, so that it’ll work.
How to Rap: How did you learn to say everything so quickly and clearly?
Big Daddy Kane: If you say the rhyme to the track and when you listen back, you’re listening and it sounds like something is mumbled to you – if it sounds like that to you then imagine how it’s going to sound to everybody else if you can’t recognize your own shit. So, I’ll just say it again.
How to Rap: Do you prefer to do verses all in one take or do you punch-in?
Big Daddy Kane: I’ll punch-in, if it’s the type of situation where because you messed up you’re going to say the entire verse over, you’re gonna mess around and be there all night. So if this is gonna make it move it faster, then I’ll punch it in. I don’t even worry about that, because I know on stage I’ll be able to say the whole thing.
You see lots of times, people try to blow certain things out of proportion just to make themselves sound good, but it’s not even that serious. Like you’ll hear sometimes a person say, “Yo, I did that verse in one take,” but it’s like, “Yeah, okay, but the verse was wack, so who gives a fuck!” It wasn’t even a hot verse, the verse was wack, so who really gives a shit.
How to Rap: Do you think there is a lot of that in Hip Hop?
Big Daddy Kane: Well yeah, it’s like this here - if you don’t have the skills to do something, you’ll find a way to make up for it in something else. Like, “This verse was wack, but yo, I did it in one take… yeah, but I didn’t write this, all that I said off the top of the head, I don’t even need no pen.” Well if that’s what you come up with off the top of the head then obviously you do need a pen. People come up with all types of stuff.
There are situations now, where it’s like, someone’s beaten somebody in a battle, the other cat wants to punch the dude in the face. So it’s like you come up with other things to make up for where you lack.
How to Rap: Do you prefer performing live or recording in the studio?
Big Daddy Kane: Right now, I prefer performing live, I like that more.
How to Rap: Why do you find that better?
Big Daddy Kane: Because back in the days it was the type of thing where when you were in the studio, you’re putting this together, it’s like in your mind you could just see the picture – “Aw, when they hear this! I can’t wait for them to hear this.” So you enjoyed that whole thing, just the anticipation. It’s like you’re waiting for your woman to give birth and you’re trying to figure out if it’s a boy or a girl, that type of thing, it used to be that type of feel. But like what we said earlier, it’s not as if people really care about lyrics anymore. As long as they can sing the hook and dance, they’re good.
So therefore I like the performances because it’s like when you’re on stage, the crowd is into what you’re doing, you’re creating an energy and making everybody feel good, and that’s fun to me. But to me, you know this whole thing is a job, to entertain my public.
How to Rap: What do you think makes a good live performance?
Big Daddy Kane: First of all, no lip-syncing, second – general stage movement, like you know how to work the stage. You understand that there is a stage left and a stage right, you understand that you have to interact with the crowd, making eye contact with a chick in the audience, snatch somebody’s hat off, put it on your head, stuff like that where they know that you recognize them, you’re not just performing like, “whatever, let me get up out of here.” You recognize them.
People on the right side don’t feel cheated because you stood on the center of the stage the whole show. You didn’t bring a whole entourage of motherfuckers that’s trying to get shine and they can’t even see the person that’s singing the song. And then also I feel like you have to give somebody something extra, you shouldn’t just come to a show and perform your hit songs and bounce, because if that’s the case then they could have just stayed at home and listened to the album.
Give them something extra, give them a freestyle or two, maybe some dancing if you want to take it there, I don’t know how B-boy you get. Your deejay got a solo where he doing some fancy scratching, whatever the case may be, throwing some t-shirts in the crowd, just something extra other than what they hear on the song all the time. Even if you’re doing a song, you take the last four lines of a verse and switch it to something else, just something extra where there was some type of twist where they felt like they got something different than what they got on the album.
How to Rap: What do you think about today’s emcees compared to older emcees?
Big Daddy Kane: There’s some skillful emcees out there, I’ve heard a lot of emcees with skills. I feel bad that they don’t get the exposure, but I hear a lot of emcees who got skills. I like that kid Saigon.
How to Rap: Though do you think back in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s there were more lyrical emcees?
Big Daddy Kane: Yeah. Well, before I say that, hold up. I know that the lyrical emcees got the exposure, from the late ‘70s to the early ‘90s - the lyrical emcees got the exposure. I’m sure that there are a lot of lyrical emcees out there right now, but they don’t receive the exposure.
How to Rap: So what do you think changed?
Big Daddy Kane: Well I mean pretty much with anything else - once quantity comes in, quality goes out.
How to Rap: What advice would you give to people who want to be better at emceeing?
Big Daddy Kane: Basically just try being original, just be original. Throughout the years I’ve seen a lot of people that people have said, “Yo, he’s nice! Yo, he’s ill!” and it’s like in my mind I’m like, “Yeah, but he sound just like this motherfucker.” And it’s like as soon as this motherfucker ain’t hot then nobody is talking about them anymore, they’re not even relevant anymore, they’re not a relevant factor in the game anymore, that’s it, because you sounded like somebody else – he’s over, so you’re over.
[On the opposite side,] you take Big Pun, Big Pun had a kind of G Rap kind of flow, but it was like during a time when no one else was trying to have that faster flow, everybody else was either trying to sound like Jay-Z or Jadakiss. And Pun came with that fast G Rap kind of flow and he won! He was different, he stood out.
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Related links;
Purchase How to Rap: The Art and Science of the Hip-Hop MC by Paul Edwards
and
Purchase Music by Big Daddy Kane
Big Daddy Kane was one of the 104 emcees interviewed exclusively for the book How to Rap: The Art and Science of the Hip-Hop MC. The following is the full, previously unreleased interview.
As well as breaking down his process, Big Daddy Kane also gives his thoughts on Notorious B.I.G., 2Pac, and why some rappers claim to write lyrics in their heads or never punch-in vocals. He also suggests how Hip Hop can get back to being more lyrical again and drops a ton of tips on performing live.
Interview by Paul Edwards
How to Rap: How did you learn how to rap?
Big Daddy Kane: It was something that I just started doing, I had an older cousin that was doing it, he was rapping. It was just something I wanted to do because I was a kid and I looked up to him, so I started just trying to write rhymes and just do what he was doing.
How to Rap: Did you memorize a lot of other people’s lyrics?
Big Daddy Kane: Yeah, I knew how to sing [The Fatback Band's] "King Tim III" and [Sugarhill Gang's] "Rapper’s Delight," you know, all that stuff.
How to Rap: Did you mainly write a lot or freestyle a lot?
Big Daddy Kane: Okay… what do you mean by "freestyle"?
How to Rap: Improvised, rather than written down on paper…
Big Daddy Kane: I always wrote things down on paper… but see that term "freestyle" is like a new term, because in the ‘80s when we said we wrote a freestyle rap that meant that it was a rhyme that you wrote that was free of style, meaning that it’s not a subject matter – it’s not a story about a woman, it’s not a story about poverty, it’s basically a rhyme just bragging about yourself, so it’s basically free of style. That’s really what a freestyle is.
You know, off the top of the head, we just called that off the dome, when you don’t write it and just say whatever comes to mind. But freestyle is really a written rhyme. Has anybody ever told you that before?
How to Rap: Yeah, though people often also use the other definition of it…
Big Daddy Kane: Yeah, that’s like some new term, but really a freestyle is a rhyme that you write basically that’s free of style.
How to Rap: So you always wrote everything down?
Big Daddy Kane: Yeah, I mean when we went off the top of the head that’d be something that we’d do just playing around like on the corner, just playing to see who mess up first.
How to Rap: Was that ever a good way of learning?
Big Daddy Kane: Not really, because to me, this here Rap thing is an art form, and with art, you paint a picture, and I mean when you look at the list of the greatest lyricists that did they thing, they wrote their rhymes.
How to Rap: Was it harder learning back then, because people today can go back and study you or study Kool G Rap or Rakim, but back then you didn’t have as many people to build on?
Big Daddy Kane: There were great lyricists before us - I don’t know if you’ve heard any of the early Kool Moe Dee stuff when he was with the Treacherous 3, but Kool Moe Dee was an incredible emcee, early ‘80s, late ‘70s.
[Grandmaster] Melle Mel - that third verse on "Beat Street Breakdown," from that movie Beat Street, that third verse is one of the most incredible Hip Hop verses ever. And Grandmaster Caz is pretty much who I developed my style from, like my whole rap style once I started really developing it in the mid ‘80s was really based around what I heard from Grandmaster Caz. So we all had people we looked at, it’s like when you listen to Rakim, you can hear a heavy Kool Moe Dee influence.
How to Rap: Though you guys put in a lot of the work to keep it growing from there…
Big Daddy Kane: Yeah, I mean, as you come into something and you start doing it, there’s predecessors that basically set the stage that you’re following and I guess Caz was mine, I’m sure that Moe Dee was Rakim’s, and Melle Mel was the man because he had the biggest career.
How to Rap: When you sit down to write lyrics, is there a set process you go through?
Big Daddy Kane: Honestly, it differs, depending on the mood. There’s the type of thing where I’m really trying to target a certain subject, I might sit down and just think of all the types of twists and turns and different events that can happen in the situation, and I might just jot those down and then put it into rap form.
And then there’s sometimes where I’m just trying to write a rhyme, a regular rhyme and I’m just jotting down little hot, little slick lines that I thought of and then I just put it in the rap until a whole verse forms.
How to Rap: So sometimes you’ll have a concept beforehand and sometimes you’ll just write…
Big Daddy Kane: Yeah, sometimes I have a concept beforehand, sometimes I might just be laying in bed and something just comes to me and I just start building off of it.
How to Rap: Where do you normally write?
Big Daddy Kane: I guess it really depends on the situation. If someone gives me a track, then I sit at home and write to it. If it’s the type of thing where I have a studio session to do with another artist then, you know, it’s crunch-time so you gotta make it happen right then.
How to Rap: Do you ever write on a phone or laptop?
Big Daddy Kane: Nah, I’ve never done that, because when I started rapping there wasn’t no phones! There’s nothing wrong with that, that’s cool too, it’s all documenting an idea, so you know, whatever works for you.
How to Rap: Have you ever written lyrics in you head?
Big Daddy Kane: Write in my head? No, I do what works for me, because I’ve been a nice motherfucker since I started up until now, so there’s no need for me to change my gameplan.
How to Rap: Where do most of the ideas come from?
Big Daddy Kane: Ideas can come from anything. I mean this conversation we’re having can turn into an idea for a song. I could say, you know what, because of this here, I think I want to make a song about really explaining what a freestyle rhyme is. That comes from what we just got through talking about. So an idea can come from anywhere.
How to Rap: Do you find it helps to have a large vocabulary?
Big Daddy Kane: I do, and that’s my personal opinion. Now, you take someone like [Notorious B.I.G.], I think that he was a great rapper, but he didn’t use a large vocabulary, his word play was really simple, he just put his words together a slick way and it worked real good for him. But in my opinion, I think it is good to have a large vocabulary, but that’s just for me, I can’t really say that for everybody. Because you have other artists, like I just mentioned Biggie, who didn’t have to use a large vocabulary and still got his point across and was recognized as being a hot emcee.
How to Rap: Do you think you can go over listeners’ heads if you get too complex with it?
Big Daddy Kane: Yeah, if you go too far, like there’s some rappers that use words that just be a little too out there, it makes it where someone doesn’t really know what you’re talking about and don’t really have the time to sit and try to understand. Especially now – in the ‘80s there was a handful of rappers, now there’s a million rappers, so if you go over somebody’s head then it’s not like, “I’m curious about what he said,” it’s more or less about, “I ain’t got no time for that shit, let me listen to another rapper.”
How to Rap: Do you ever go and research any of the information?
Big Daddy Kane: Yeah, you want to make sure you’re saying the right thing and you’re not saying something that don’t make no sense, because I’ve made that mistake before, so I try to make sure that I don’t do it again.
How to Rap: How do you come up with the flow and the rhythms you’re going to use?
Big Daddy Kane: The flow that I use, I really developed my rap style in the mid ‘80s based on Grandmaster Caz from the Cold Crush Brothers, from listening to him. That’s like really who I pretty much patterned my style from and I just really took it to another level once I had the opportunity to get out amongst the world myself.
How to Rap: Do you write to the beat to help you pattern the rhythms?
Big Daddy Kane: Sometimes, especially if I want to go with a specific style, like sometimes you want your flow to go in the same rhythm as the beat, so you’re writing to the beat. In all honesty, I think that is something very important to do, that is something like that the generation after me started doing. Those cats that was coming out in the ‘90s, they’re the ones who really started making it where they sat and wrote to the beat and their style matched that beat perfectly. It was something that was created a generation after me, but I think was a beautiful thing that was brought to the game, because I think it makes a song more whole.
Because as an emcee from the ‘80s, really your mentality is battle format, so when you’re writing a rhyme the majority of the time, you’re writing a bragging and boasting rhyme about yourself being the nicest emcee and you just basically write that, you don’t really have to have a beat. Or just maybe play something on a cassette and write it to any particular beat and then when you say it, you say it over anything, you can say it over a hand clap or someone banging on the lunch room table. Because really what your focus was, was to have a hot rhyme in case you gotta battle someone. So that was your main focus, not really making a rhyme for a song.
How to Rap: So would you say it’s a very different process, writing a song to writing a battle rhyme?
Big Daddy Kane: Yeah, I would definitely say that because one thing is basically discussing a specific category, the other one is making a rhyme that’s gonna be better than what the next cat gonna say that you gonna battle.
How to Rap: Do you think it makes for better rhymes if you’re writing to battle someone, rather than writing a song?
Big Daddy Kane: It depends on what you’re looking for. If you’re looking to be accepted as the nicest emcee, then I guess your battle rhymes are gonna make you come across that way, because they’re like, “Yo, did you hear what he said? Oh my goodness,” because they’re listening to the rhymes that you’re saying like as far as how nice you are or the incredible stuff you’re saying.
Or if it’s where you’re really trying to create a song that someone’s going to feel, like take for example a Tupac Shakur or a Chuck D, these are cats that wrote songs that you felt. It wasn’t like the type of thing where they were trying to be recognized as the nicest emcee, like you don’t really hear cats saying like, “Yo, 2Pac was the illest emcee,” or “Chuck D was the illest emcee,” you respect them like, “Yo, I felt what they said… yo, that’s my jam right there… yo, he know what I’m going through.” So it can touch a person in a different way depending on where you’re trying to go with it.
How to Rap: Do you think that has to do with the flow?
Big Daddy Kane: Nah, I think when you look at artists like Melle Mel, Chuck D, Tupac Shakur, when you look at artists like these cats, it’s the type of thing where what they’re talking about is something that you’ve experienced, something that you’re probably having a problem with. A bad part of your life, something that you hate having to deal with and they just touched upon it in song and you felt it because this is something that’s been messing with you mentally. And you felt it and it touched you that way, it hits your heart.
How to Rap: Do you have any way of writing down the flow, where to pause, etc?
Big Daddy Kane: Yeah, the method I always used was commas, like I’d put a comma there. If someone else read it, it may not make no sense because you’d see a comma where it doesn’t go, but I would understand it because I know that that means there is a pause.
How to Rap: Have you ever forgotten the flow to anything you’ve written?
Big Daddy Kane: Not for me, something that I wrote for Biz [Markie], but he remembered it!
How to Rap: Is it ever hard to rhyme words together and also get your meaning across effectively at the same time?
Big Daddy Kane: Sometimes certain things I say might go a little over someone’s head, like to me it’s sounding real simple, but to someone else, they didn’t see it, like it went over their head.
How to Rap: Do you ever write rhymes to just practice rhyming words together?
Big Daddy Kane: If I do, I would say that it’s times when I’m really just playing with poetry, really maybe just writing a poem.
How to Rap: How long does it take to write a verse?
Big Daddy Kane: It differs, if you’re in your zone, you might bang it out in 15-20 minutes, you might bang it out in half an hour. Then sometimes it’s like somewhere I’m trying to go with this song, I’m trying to go somewhere and I’m creating it and now I’m almost finished and I’m realizing, nah, this ain’t right. And I end up just scratching lines out and I might just sit it down and come back the next day.
How to Rap: Do you find if it comes out quickly, it comes out better?
Big Daddy Kane: Me personally, I think that when I take my time with something, it comes out a lot better, because I can really, really get my point across, and if I see that like, this might be a little too deep, I figure out a way to dumb it down so that everybody can understand where I’m going.
How to Rap: Do you prefer to write hooks first or verses?
Big Daddy Kane: You know for some strange reason I like to write the verse first. I mean I know the majority of people do the chorus first and when I think about it, I guess it does make more sense to do the chorus first, but I just like to write the verses first, I don’t know why.
But then again, you know what, I never really been a dude who was good with hooks. Like lots of times back in the days, one of my dancers, Scoob [Lover], he might come up with a hook, or sometimes my deejay, Mister Cee. That’s never really been my forte, like I’ve never really been good at coming up with hooks. My brother even sometimes would help me with hooks, because I just wasn’t that creative with hooks.
How to Rap: How do you decide how many verses there will be and how long they’ll be?
Big Daddy Kane: I never really paid attention to the length of verses until probably the late ‘90s – I’d just write until it felt good. When I feel like I wanna end the verse there, sometimes it might be a 16, sometimes it might be a 32 – it just felt good. Some songs I’ve done through my career where it’s probably just one long hundred and eight bar verse, something like that.
How to Rap: Do you use most of the rhymes that you write?
Big Daddy Kane: Yeah, I think I use most of the rhymes that I write. Sometimes I’ve thrown stuff away, sometimes I’ve misplaced rhymes
How to Rap: Do you ever go back to rhymes you’ve written in the past?
Big Daddy Kane: There have been situations where I’ve used rhymes from the past. Sometimes you do a song with someone and you get this feeling like it’s just business, like it’s not fun, like there’s no love there, there’s no respect there and it’s just basically business and I look at it that way – “Aight, let me get to see a check.”
So therefore, if I’m not really feeling like you’re communicating with me or you’re being difficult in the session because it’s your song, then there have been times where I’ll just say, “well, fuck it,” and take a rhyme I may have written two years ago and just put that down, keep it moving - grab my check and keep it moving.
But when I’m in the studio with somebody and they’re showing a lot of love and we’re vibing real good – then I want it to be perfect for them.
How to Rap: Do you find it easier working on solo work or when you guest on someone else’s song?
Big Daddy Kane: I think the most fun I have is when I’m working with someone that’s a nice emcee, because it’s inspirational. I come from where you’re hearing cats like Kool G Rap, KRS-One, Rakim, you’re hearing a lot of rappers that’s spitting hard so it’s like you gotta stay on top of your toes, because there’s a lot of competition. Right now I don’t really hear no competition, I don’t really hear no nice emcees, so if I’m in the studio with someone who’s a nice emcee, it inspires me to really write.
Like for example I was on UGK's [Underground Kingz] album and you know I respect G Rap as a nice emcee and I respect Bun B as a nice emcee, so knowing I was going to be on a song with the two of those dudes was like I really had to step my pen game up, because I respect those dudes as emcees. I did something with Game, and when I came to the studio, I’ll be honest with you, I was pissy drunk and then KRS-One put his verse down and when I heard KRS’s verse, I sobered up real quick! And started really writing, because he wasn’t playing and I respect KRS as an emcee.
How to Rap: Do you ever lay a verse, then hear someone else’s verse on the same song and then re-write your verse?
Big Daddy Kane: Nah, that’s cheating!
How to Rap: So you think friendly competition helps everyone to step up their game?
Big Daddy Kane: Well with me, that’s all it is, it’s friendly competition. Like back in the ‘80s, me and Kool G Rap, we would be on the phone, like one, two o’clock in the morning… and I’m like, “Yo, check this verse out I just wrote,” and I spit the verse to G, and you know, he’s like, “Okay, that’s hot, that’s hot, that’s hot,” and it’d make him do his thing. The next night, G might call me and he’s like, “Yo, check this verse out,” and he spit his verse and I’m like, “Yeah, that’s fire, that’s fire,” and it’d make me step my game up. That’s the friendly competition that we had.
How to Rap: So do you think that it helps that you came up in a crew with so many talented people?
Big Daddy Kane: Oh yeah, definitely, when you surrounded by talent, it’s gonna keep you on your toes and also it makes the whole thing fun.
How to Rap: What do you think is more important, the subject matter or the flow?
Big Daddy Kane: Well, what I think is more important, is the subject matter, what I think is more important to today’s consumer, is the flow. Because really people just want to be able to dance and have something they can sing along to, today, it’s not like too many people are really listening to lyrics like they did back in the day, but to me, I think the subject matter.
How to Rap: Do you think it will get back to where people will respect that more, Hip Hop with more complex lyrics?
Big Daddy Kane: I think that the only way that it can get back to where people respect the lyrical art form is that if there were real hot lyricists as stars. Like if there were some real, real hot lyricists that was on the level of some of these other big rappers, then I think that it would get back to that.
How to Rap: Is ghost-writing for someone else harder?
Big Daddy Kane: For me, ghost-writing for someone else wasn’t hard, because if I did it in my style that’s pretty much something good for you, and doing it in someone else’s style, if they have a more simpler style then it makes my job easier, because now I ain’t got to think too complicated. For example, writing for Biz, it wasn’t really about having hot rhymes, it was about having something funny, Biz just wanted something funny to say. And with [Roxanne] Shanté I could try to pretty much put it in her flow, but really with Shanté she wanted to do what I liked doing, just basically being sarcastic and she is like the master of sarcasm. So basically I’d be sarcastic like I normally would, but just make it to fit a woman.
How to Rap: What was it like writing "Set It Off"?
Big Daddy Kane: With "Set It Off," it was like I really wanted to create that James Brown feel like on "Sex Machine" or "Pass The Peas" like, “can I count it off? One, two, three…” like on "Pass The Peas" my favorite part is when The JB's are screaming "Pass the peas, like we used to say," and James just sound like he can’t even take it no more and he’s just going, “Pass ‘em then!” And the beat drop – it’s like I wanted that feel so I started off with the lyrics first before the beat even dropped, like I was trying to really go after that James Brown feel. And "Set It Off," by the way, is like my favorite song I’ve ever done in my whole career and that was the feel we was trying to go and just keep the energy flowing, like I just wanted it to be a real energetic song, like a workout song.
How to Rap: Did you write it to the beat?
Big Daddy Kane: "Set It Off" was already a verse, the first verse ends before it actually does. When I had the beat, I added more on - some of that first verse I already had before I had the beat.
How to Rap: So you wrote it in different parts?
Big Daddy Kane: Yeah.
How to Rap: Did it take a long time to do?
Big Daddy Kane: Nah, what happened - Mark the 45 King, he played a beat for Biz, he said, “Biz, I got a beat that I think will be perfect for you.” Biz heard it and Biz said that it’s aight, it’s okay. Then when Biz got through, I said, “Yo, that first beat that you wanted Biz to rap on, can I hear it again?” And he played it, I was like, “Yo, is there any way that beat can go faster?” And he said, “It’s funny you say that, because it’s actually a 45 [RPM record] and I slowed it down,” then he played it at the real pace, which is the pace you hear on "Set It Off," and I was like, “I’ll take it…” I was like, “Give it to me, I’ll take it!”
I always wanted that sound, that James Brown sound. And I was like, “Yeah, I want this in it…” and he was like, “Alright, give me a few days, let me play with it and I’ma put something else with it too, for the hook.” And he put that, I don’t know whatever that other sound is, that thing, and when he brought it back I was like, “Yes sir!”
I already knew what verse I was going to put with it, I just had to figure out what else I was going to put. I ended up writing a second verse, never got around to writing a third one and then Marley [Marl] told me that I could have some time and I knew that I was dying to do that song, so I just said, “Fuck the third verse,” and just went in and just did two. Then for a third verse I basically did shout-outs.
How to Rap: Is it a difficult track to perform live because it’s fast?
Big Daddy Kane: Nah, that song is so imbedded in my head, that it’s like a walk through the park, and I mean I have faster songs. "Warm It Up Kane" and "Set It Off" are the same tempo, they both 113 [BPM] and "Wrath Of Kane" I think is like 120-125.
How to Rap: When you record the lyrics, do you have them memorized?
Big Daddy Kane: Sometimes I have lyrics memorized, sometimes I read them off the paper.
How to Rap: Do you think it turns out better when you have them memorized?
Big Daddy Kane: I think that when you have the lyrics memorized it’s a little better because it’s like now you’re not concentrating on reading the words and you can basically concentrate on the cadence, so it makes it a lot easier… like if you just want to play with it and deliver the words a little differently.
How to Rap: If you do have it memorized, do you still take the paper in with you?
Big Daddy Kane: If I have it memorized, yeah, sometimes I do take the paper in with me, just in case, you never know. You might be like, “Damn, what was that line again?” Yeah, you might forget.
How to Rap: Do you decide where you’re going to breathe within a track so you don’t run out of breath?
Big Daddy Kane: Yeah, I try to get those little spots where I can catch a breath, because I have asthma, so I try to catch those little spots where I can catch a breath. Because my whole thing is like, I’ve seen a lot of people try to do fast songs and then when they perform live they can’t even say their own lyrics and I think that’s embarrassing. So I try to make it where I have those spots where I can catch a breath here – I might slow up the flow for two bars or say something real sarcastic real fast so I can take a deep breath, so that it can run through because I’m not gonna look like that, like I’m on stage and can’t perform my own songs.
How to Rap: So have you practiced the verse a lot before you record it to find those breathing spots?
Big Daddy Kane: Nah, lots of times it’ll be like where I’m going with it and I found that I run out of breath right here, so right there on the spot I’ll figure out a different way to deliver that line, so that it’ll work.
How to Rap: How did you learn to say everything so quickly and clearly?
Big Daddy Kane: If you say the rhyme to the track and when you listen back, you’re listening and it sounds like something is mumbled to you – if it sounds like that to you then imagine how it’s going to sound to everybody else if you can’t recognize your own shit. So, I’ll just say it again.
How to Rap: Do you prefer to do verses all in one take or do you punch-in?
Big Daddy Kane: I’ll punch-in, if it’s the type of situation where because you messed up you’re going to say the entire verse over, you’re gonna mess around and be there all night. So if this is gonna make it move it faster, then I’ll punch it in. I don’t even worry about that, because I know on stage I’ll be able to say the whole thing.
You see lots of times, people try to blow certain things out of proportion just to make themselves sound good, but it’s not even that serious. Like you’ll hear sometimes a person say, “Yo, I did that verse in one take,” but it’s like, “Yeah, okay, but the verse was wack, so who gives a fuck!” It wasn’t even a hot verse, the verse was wack, so who really gives a shit.
How to Rap: Do you think there is a lot of that in Hip Hop?
Big Daddy Kane: Well yeah, it’s like this here - if you don’t have the skills to do something, you’ll find a way to make up for it in something else. Like, “This verse was wack, but yo, I did it in one take… yeah, but I didn’t write this, all that I said off the top of the head, I don’t even need no pen.” Well if that’s what you come up with off the top of the head then obviously you do need a pen. People come up with all types of stuff.
There are situations now, where it’s like, someone’s beaten somebody in a battle, the other cat wants to punch the dude in the face. So it’s like you come up with other things to make up for where you lack.
How to Rap: Do you prefer performing live or recording in the studio?
Big Daddy Kane: Right now, I prefer performing live, I like that more.
How to Rap: Why do you find that better?
Big Daddy Kane: Because back in the days it was the type of thing where when you were in the studio, you’re putting this together, it’s like in your mind you could just see the picture – “Aw, when they hear this! I can’t wait for them to hear this.” So you enjoyed that whole thing, just the anticipation. It’s like you’re waiting for your woman to give birth and you’re trying to figure out if it’s a boy or a girl, that type of thing, it used to be that type of feel. But like what we said earlier, it’s not as if people really care about lyrics anymore. As long as they can sing the hook and dance, they’re good.
So therefore I like the performances because it’s like when you’re on stage, the crowd is into what you’re doing, you’re creating an energy and making everybody feel good, and that’s fun to me. But to me, you know this whole thing is a job, to entertain my public.
How to Rap: What do you think makes a good live performance?
Big Daddy Kane: First of all, no lip-syncing, second – general stage movement, like you know how to work the stage. You understand that there is a stage left and a stage right, you understand that you have to interact with the crowd, making eye contact with a chick in the audience, snatch somebody’s hat off, put it on your head, stuff like that where they know that you recognize them, you’re not just performing like, “whatever, let me get up out of here.” You recognize them.
People on the right side don’t feel cheated because you stood on the center of the stage the whole show. You didn’t bring a whole entourage of motherfuckers that’s trying to get shine and they can’t even see the person that’s singing the song. And then also I feel like you have to give somebody something extra, you shouldn’t just come to a show and perform your hit songs and bounce, because if that’s the case then they could have just stayed at home and listened to the album.
Give them something extra, give them a freestyle or two, maybe some dancing if you want to take it there, I don’t know how B-boy you get. Your deejay got a solo where he doing some fancy scratching, whatever the case may be, throwing some t-shirts in the crowd, just something extra other than what they hear on the song all the time. Even if you’re doing a song, you take the last four lines of a verse and switch it to something else, just something extra where there was some type of twist where they felt like they got something different than what they got on the album.
How to Rap: What do you think about today’s emcees compared to older emcees?
Big Daddy Kane: There’s some skillful emcees out there, I’ve heard a lot of emcees with skills. I feel bad that they don’t get the exposure, but I hear a lot of emcees who got skills. I like that kid Saigon.
How to Rap: Though do you think back in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s there were more lyrical emcees?
Big Daddy Kane: Yeah. Well, before I say that, hold up. I know that the lyrical emcees got the exposure, from the late ‘70s to the early ‘90s - the lyrical emcees got the exposure. I’m sure that there are a lot of lyrical emcees out there right now, but they don’t receive the exposure.
How to Rap: So what do you think changed?
Big Daddy Kane: Well I mean pretty much with anything else - once quantity comes in, quality goes out.
How to Rap: What advice would you give to people who want to be better at emceeing?
Big Daddy Kane: Basically just try being original, just be original. Throughout the years I’ve seen a lot of people that people have said, “Yo, he’s nice! Yo, he’s ill!” and it’s like in my mind I’m like, “Yeah, but he sound just like this motherfucker.” And it’s like as soon as this motherfucker ain’t hot then nobody is talking about them anymore, they’re not even relevant anymore, they’re not a relevant factor in the game anymore, that’s it, because you sounded like somebody else – he’s over, so you’re over.
[On the opposite side,] you take Big Pun, Big Pun had a kind of G Rap kind of flow, but it was like during a time when no one else was trying to have that faster flow, everybody else was either trying to sound like Jay-Z or Jadakiss. And Pun came with that fast G Rap kind of flow and he won! He was different, he stood out.
VIA
HipHopDX
Related links;
Purchase How to Rap: The Art and Science of the Hip-Hop MC by Paul Edwards
and
Purchase Music by Big Daddy Kane
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Kokane; Funk Upon A Rhyme & 5th Ward Boyz; Ghetto Funk EP (Source Magazine reviews May 1994)
^click images to enlarge^
Related links;
Kokane; Who Am I? Addictive Hip Hip Muzik (Source Magazine review October 91 #25)
and
Kokane; Funk Upon A Rhyme & 5th Ward Boyz; Ghetto Funk EP (Source Magazine reviews May 1994)
Saturday, September 4, 2010
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