ThaFormula.com - Now you seemed to have disappeared from the scene. What happened?

Rhythm D - I didn't disappear, I just stuck with the music and I didn't get to involved in the Hollywood part of it where you get a lot of publicity. Now I kind of realize that's what keeps you in the loop. If people don't see you, then they don't really know what's poppin' with you until they hear your music. I've just been working more behind the scenes then in front of it.

ThaFormula.com - So what have you been doing the last few years since Eazy passed away?

Rhythm D - The last thing I did that came out was the Flesh-N-Bone album. After Eazy passed, I got a deal with Priority. I had a million-dollar deal over there and I put out this group called Me & My Cousin. They were under my label and I put them out. I produced the record. It kind of flopped because I didn't know the politics in the game. Even if you got slammin' stuff, if it's not marketed right and your not rubbin' elbows with the folks that's doing that side of the game for you, then you can get lost in the loop. People don't care, you got to jump into the Hollywood side and be at all the industry things. I was really doing that. A lot of people see me and don't even know who I am. A lot of people think I play Pro ball or something. The label flopped, but that didn't keep me out the game because producing and havin' a label are 2 different things.

ThaFormula.com - So what happened after that?

Rhythm D - I produced some stuff for WC. I did "Money is Just a Touch Away" for Mack 10, I did Paperboy's second album, I'm still working with Bone and I did a lot of stuff on soundtracks.

ThaFormula.com - So what is the Rhythm D sound like now?

Rhythm D - It's like a genie thing, I can do anything. I can do any type of track anywhere, anytime. All forms of production from writing, engineering, mixing, anything. I'm more of a groove master.

ThaFormula.com - When you see a person like Battlecat disappear for a while and then just pop back up and become one of the most in-demand producers out there, does it motivate you a lot?

Rhythm D - Well me and Battlecat have always been homies since the beginning. When I was coming up he was someone I looked up to. He looked out after me as far as letting me use the studio and that's how I perfected my sound, by having outlets like him and other cats in the game that I dealt with. When I had my first success with the Paperboy thing, he came out with Domino. Then after Domino he started doing stuff with Dana Dane, and I was over there at Ruthless trying to pick up the bits and pieces of where the master producer who left from over there had left, it wasn't really doing too hot there as far as the production.

ThaFormula.com - So how did you end up at Ruthless, how did it all start?

Rhythm D - I was over at Death Row before Death Row started. Before the "Deep Cover" shit came out. I was over there while they were working on that. That's when I was working on Paperboy's album. I was still over there at the time trying to figure out where I wanted to be as a producer. I wanted to have mentors that I looked up to but I wasn't trying to be like them. I wanted to be my own man, so I took off from over there at mid thrust before "The Chronic" even came out. My boy Chris "The Glove" was over there, DJ Uknown was over there and I was the young cat. My sound wasn't as mature as everybody else because they had been in the game longer then me. I produced a song called "Down for My Niggaz" on the Deep Cover soundtrack. Me and DJ Uknown did this song with this girl named Paradise. So I got to see how political that side of the game was. I was doing a lot of good stuff back in like '90 when everybody wanted to be in the rap game and produce records. Suge wasn't the only one doing it. There were a hundred brothers out there doing the same thing trying to get it going. So they would come to cats like me, Battlecat, and Quik before he blew up. Everybody had their own entity as far as coming up. I grew up more as a loner because of how I grew up. I grew up in the streets, but I'm pretty well rounded. I done been everywhere, heard all kinds of music, but the streets is where I'm from.

ThaFormula.com - So you decided to leave Death Row?

Rhythm D - Yeah, at the time I had a track record. I didn't have no track record before then and I couldn't get nobody to pay me 25 to 30 thousand a track without having a track record. So when I turned on the radio and heard "The Ditty" on Power 106 and Kiss FM, I was like, wait a minute I don't even need to be over here. I'm already Rhythm D. I have a name for myself. I don't really need to be over here. Dre is doing his thing and it wasn't really his thing at the time. Musically it was, but business wise, he was caught up in a situation like I was in the streets. Being coerced to do it their way because they are paying.

ThaFormula.com - How did that Paperboy album do?

Rhythm D - It went Platinum. The single went Double Platinum, and the album went Gold.

ThaFormula.com - Did you get paid well off that album?

Rhythm D - Yeah, I got paid as good as I thought was good. I'm still living off of it. Publishing is really the key. I'm still living off of that. Getting paid as far as points wise on a major is not like being independent. If it was, I would be set for life. But the publishing end was cool and I have lived off of that for years. They still play that song. It was a cool little jam. It's kind of wack sounding to me now, but they still play it on the radio.

ThaFormula.com - So how did you go from Death Row to Ruthless?

Rhythm D - It wasn't even planned that way. When I first got over there I had no idea E and Dre were beefin' till I met Dre and found out they weren't cool. At the time niggaz were still bumpin "Niggaz4Life". That was still the bangin' shit. The condition Ruthless was under music wise was doo-doo after Dre left. Everybody and they momma know that.

ThaFormula.com - So how did you get there?

Rhythm D - I got there through my home girl Tracy, who's Eazy's baby mama. She had started rappin' and she had told me that her baby's daddy needed some beats and that she was rappin' and she needed some songs. At the time I was listening to everybody cause you never know when somebody will blow up. So I did a couple of tracks for her and then she finally told me that her baby daddy was Eazy. I was like, "Damn that's your baby daddy"?" because I just left from a camp that's about to blow the fuck up and diss the shit out of that nigga. I knew what was happening. He didn't even know what I knew. "The Chronic" was being worked on like a muthafucka and his ass was about to be royally dissed for real. You can't fuck with a production mastermind. That's what he was missing over there big time. So I met him and he was the coolest, realest nigga man. None of these fools that's in the industry was like E. Everybody was on that Hollywood shit. He was real, and that's what hip-hop is all about. That's why the East don't have respect for us on that tip, because we got raps and beats. They got MC's. That's the difference between the East and the West. Now they got beats again because they got they sound and it's the shit. At the time the West was winning because we had that real musical shit. Now they are killing us because we just kind of stuck on the same shit, and now females be buying 90 percent of the music. A lot of them don't even have the ear. As long as it makes them shake.

ThaFormula.com - How did the "Real Compton City G'z" track come about and how did you feel about doing that track?

Rhythm D - It's a trip man, at the time we were really losing the battle big time. At the time I did that, it was like "boy you better come out with something or were gonna lose." I did maybe a thousand tracks, but it was kind of difficult to convince him unless somebody else jumped on it. He liked hip-hop because at the time he was messing with Naughty By Nature, and that's not the people that give him his sound. Then he came out with that wack 5150. At the time I was staying with him at his crib, he was a real generous dude. He would give you cars and all kinds of stuff and made your life better. So I was out there and you know he gave me a studio to work in. I was out there one time and I left the studio to go up to Larry Parker's, which was a eating spot where all the stars in hip-hop would come to late at night after clubs. They had T.V.'s and everything. So "Dre Day" came on and everybody in that muthafucka knew that I was with Ruthless. Everybody in that muthafucka turned around and was like, "Ooh, nigga what you gonna do now." That was right after that 5150 came out and that was like super garbage. So I was like "damn", and went home and rolled up a fatty and just sat there like "man what am I gonna do now?" So me and E had a little argument. He just wasn't listening to me because I was tellin' him that this funk is what's crackin', it's some new shit and we're gonna innovate. So I was at this studio called "Kitchen Sink" just thinkin what does this nigga have that can really be true about him. I got real cinematical with him and he was the only real O.G. nigga on the camp. In all the pictures you would see him wearing the same shit, Khakis and he never wore no lip stick and lace! He always been that nigga hustlin' in the streets. He may not have been the tightest rapper, but he had a voice like a muthafucka. He had a crazy ass voice and the nigga was O.G. So I was sittin' there blowin' smoke like, "Ahh, real muthafuckin' G" and started making this track. I was vibing kind of like on the Curtis Mayfield meets Parliament and The Mack type shit. Just as gangsta as I could get it. So I sat in there till like 3:30 in the morning creating "Real Compton City G'z", and it ended up being monumental. Everybody is still playing that shit till this day. I probably couldn't even make it no more.

ThaFormula.com - How did that album do sales wise?

Rhythm D - The album went triple platinum and the single went Double Platinum. We didn't know how big it was because Death Row was still kickin' our asses, but it made the respect come back to where people were like, "Damn nigga." But then E got sick and passed away. So after that, it was pretty much it. You couldn't really diss him no more. It was kind of messed up, but there is a longer story to that that the public don't really know about. He looked like he was well! It was like I was sittin' here today and you here about me dying tomorrow. He didn't look sick at all. That's what is so cold about it. At the time before he died, I had kind of broke away because I was getting larger as a producer. E had kind of a way about him where he still wanted you to be up under him in a way. He didn't really like for you to become your own entity. He still wanted to keep it a family thing and I think that's what a lot of the artists and producers that was over there kind of disliked about him. He didn't want you to elevate in a way. Sometimes people would want tracks from me and he would pay me more money just to keep the track for the camp instead of me getting' the work. If people would have communicated, a lot of stuff would have been different.

ThaFormula.com - So what's the deal with the new Eazy album that's coming out?

Rhythm D - I did the whole record.

ThaFormula.com - Is this a remix album with old songs?

Rhythm D - No. It's an album with all new stuff. Everything is new with maybe one remix. It's stuff that you haven't heard. It also has my new artists on it.

ThaFormula.com - So what are you working on right now?

Rhythm D - Right now I'm working on Phalos' new album, who is on the Eazy project. I'm working on the B- Side to the single right now. The first single is gonna be called "Cali Hit." This song here is called "Pimp Harder." So we about to do it big again. God's blessing me and everything is coming back around full circle. My sound is a different sound. I keep to myself, and I'm not really nobody to jock another producer and try to be down with they're camp. There is a lot of haters out here and if you're not down with a certain camp, you know there is a lot of hating in the West.

ThaFormula.com - So what's the release date for your project?

Rhythm D - Were gonna drop the single in mid to late January, and then we gonna drop the record in April. All independent, with the backing of a major. I got 2 labels. Ha Ha Entertainment and Doughmayn Ent., and we will be distributed by Universal. I also got a whole album that's about to drop that's gonna be bananas. I been working on it for years. It's gonna be about 20 songs. I'm pickin' everything out right now, so by the time my name starts circulating around again, I'll have something to just hit em with. Out of 20 songs they are gonna like at least 3 of them on each side. I'm going to try and put out a double CD to get the most out of it.

ThaFormula.com - Now when you and Eazy recorded "Real Compton City G'z", I know you recorded something else beside that that didn't make the album, or is that the only track that was recorded?

Rhythm D - No, the songs that are coming out on the Eazy album are the songs that I did with Eazy around that time that never came out. Those are songs that I recorded with him and one I think Above The Law's Hutch did. But I took it and remixed it and threw most of my camp on it.

ThaFormula.com - How is your relationship with Ruthless now?

Rhythm D - Me and Tamika were cool. She is cool people. She been through a lot and now I'm here to help out where I can as far as seeing my boy's record label get back on it's feet because that's the core of West Coast hip hop which people really don't realize. That nigga is the Godfather of gangsta rap. No matter how many people are writing his lyrics you can't take that away from him. Nobody gives a fuck. It's who is spittin' them on the wax, and he was the coolest dude in the game that was more real and not Hollywood. I have been around the cheesiest niggaz in this game and they all bustaz. That's why Suge was able to slap fools around because they all bustaz. All of them scary and put up a front, but they gonna find out who the real niggaz is.

ThaFormula.com - Were you signed to Ruthless?

Rhythm D - Yeah. Eazy signed me to Ruthless. He had a lot of the cats that was over there trying to reproduce Dre's sounds, but they didn't even know what he was doing.

ThaFormula.com - So you managed to get the sound that Eazy wanted right?

Rhythm D - Yeah, but he wasn't feeling it at first. The boy paid you and that's how he got you there. He wasn't no bully or nothing. He paid you what you didn't have in your pocket. If you ain't got nothing and somebody comes along and gives you something, you gonna feel better then not having nothing at all. That's how he kept you on, to where Death Row would kind of punk you into doing what they wanted. They would take care of who they felt like taking care of, which wasn't cool. Eazy had sort of a family type organization to where nobody was really hurting. Some niggaz was making more money then a doctor.

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