Features

ThaFormula.com - How did the first "Duck Season" mix tape end up doing for you?

DJ Babu - It was really great man 'cause it started off as just something on the side. It was really more about playing a whole bunch of music that I really felt didn't get enough light which is the way that game is these days, and while I was at it I actually produced a couple of joints on it. We moved like 30,000 units on that. Which is pretty good for a below the radar project so I was really pleased with that one and this one just kind of evolved more into like a big platform for my production. I still do a little selection on it but on this one I actually produced about 10 of the 16 cuts.

ThaFormula.com - Your production seems to be getting better as time passes man…

DJ Babu - Yeah, I've been really trying man.

ThaFormula.com - The single you dropped from the first album with the Beatnuts was real similar to a Beatnuts track and had some people thinking they had actually done that track…

DJ Babu - To me I wasn't trying to be all up in the shit like I did it, but to be honest with you half the reason I showed it (the beat) to them was because I couldn't really hear no one else spitting on it but them. To be honest I kind of liked that man. It's the biggest compliment I can get to have my beat mistaken for a Ju or Les beat. I was actually working with Juju on our last Dilated record when I showed it to them, and the funny thing is that he said "oh yeah I know that shit, I think I made a beat with that before." So he said "let me talk to Les and see what's up," and then not only did he get Les on it but they happened to be cool with Al Tariq at that moment in time. Another crazy thing with that track is that it was the last Beatnuts track with Al Tariq…as of now at least. They kind of have like a weird relationship but I actually got lucky to get them when they were trying to make it crack again and like a month later literally…they were on the outs again. In fact we were supposed to do another jam with the Beatnuts for the new Dilated album but because of the touring schedule it just didn't happen so right now we're actually talking to them to be on an exclusive B-side on the next 12" so there is gonna be another one still.

ThaFormula.com - Are you surprised at how fast you guys have moved up since the release of "The Platform" album?

DJ Babu - I don't even know. From then 'til now we just had that same attitude of just keeping our heads down and just keep doing what we do and just improving ourselves, and to answer your question I guess I'm not that surprised because me, Ev, and Rak are so hands on with our projects. Our label flips out on us 'cause no other band at Capitol comes into the label on a regular basis. They all have management being the liaison but for us we will just pop our head up in any department and critique something. We have management also but we been at that point where we didn't have managers and we had to do it ourselves. So with our hands that full I don't think we really have time to stop and smell the roses.

ThaFormula.com - With the way the economy has been, the way so many artists have been falling off in the last year, and the quality of the music being released nowadays, do you see the new Dilated album doing as good as the first one?

DJ Babu - Everything is turning into one corporation. The whole music industry is shook up man and those ripples are being felt by everybody throughout the industry, from artists to people behind the desks. The first album I think we capped off somewhere at like 175,000 copies. The next album went a little over 300,000 copies sold. I really felt the last one should have been gold but I'm not gonna be pointing fingers.

ThaFormula.com - It's pretty crazy how that album didn't go gold considering the amount of airplay you got for "Worst Comes To Worst?"

DJ Babu - I mean, to us like Primo says man, we felt we were at ghetto gold at least. Nonetheless we were happy because of the exposure and the light. This new album though I think we have a good shot if the label gets behind us at least 50 percent man, we should get that number at a good solid uh I mean I don't expect us to come out the first week all nutty and shit but I have real faith in our fans man. Dilated is a grassroots band. Our bread and butter is really more about doing shows and performing the music we make for the people first hand and those cats you know really come out and support man and I feel like that little army is growing and we got 300,000 last time, you know hopefully we can get 500,00 this time. But I like the growth man and I always tell this to Ev and Rak when they get frustrated and they don't feel like we're getting our shot. I just tell them. You know what though man, you know you don't want this shit overnight. We're enjoying every fucking step of the way.

ThaFormula.com - Does the label try to push certain producers on you sometimes?

DJ Babu - Yeah, that has happened on every album actually. They have mentioned Dre, Neptunes, Timbaland and to be honest for this album we feel confident enough in ourselves as a self-produced group that we feel we can step into any room with any producer and makes something that pleases us and pleases the producer. But to be honest with you, to work with some of them cats is fucking ridiculous man. The size budgets we get, like a quarter of our budget would go to work with just one of these producers. So that was a big thing too.

ThaFormula.com - So basically the risk is all yours and not the label as far as money goes since in reality you would be paying it all yourselves?

DJ Babu - Yeah and for us it's always kind of a catch 22 'cause we're a self produced group but obviously we do a lot of sampling. So even if we don't use outside producers, we kind of get got either way.

ThaFormula.com - Most people were surprised to hear that Devin Da Dude was on the album. It seems like a lot of people treat Devin like he's not a real Hip-Hop dude?

DJ Babu - And that's funny cause if 90 percent of cats who aren't really hip to him were to listen to any of his 2 albums on Rap-A-Lot, they would realize this dude is more Hip-Hop then most of the shit that they call Hip-Hop out these days. He's got hard as beats and scratches on every song and ill song writing, so for us it was a no-brainer. For me, Ev and Rak we were all personal fans of Devin whether or not the underground or over ground scene recognized it. And it was real nice because Alchemist is working with him and we didn't even know. We were trying to think of someone within arms reach we could get to give us that little vibe for the tune. Originally we were trying to get Pharoahe (Monch) to do the hook. He was on tour and it ended up being Snoop, but then we all said "what about Devin?" and then we reached out to Rap-A-Lot and we told Alchemist about our idea while he was in New York. Alchemist was like, "Devin? Oh I just talked to him 15 minutes ago, I'm doing beats for him." So he made it crack and it was all beautiful. We have met our label more then half way as far as being underground artists on a commercial label, we've done more then try to grow and try to give them what they want without sellin' ourselves out and I think this one is really our best work to date and our chemistry has gotten so good man, I'm really excited for people to hear it. Our Kanye song is ridiculous and to be honest with you, unlike our last albums we actually had trouble picking what the next single is gonna be to be honest with you. We have too many options so I'm really excited and waiting for people to hear it.

ThaFormula.com - How do you feel when you hear all these so called DJ's screaming all over their CD's and calling them mix tapes?

DJ Babu - It used to bother me a lot but I attribute half of that to me being a little insecure about not being where I wanted to be, but for me mix tapes are a really broad term these days. DJ is a real broad term these days. But really, you know me and I'll be frank with you, I'm a real fan of the whole spectrum of DJ'ing. I love diggin' , I love club rockin', I love battling, I love producin', all of it. I think if you wanna be an all out king like that cat said in Style Wars, you gotta do everything and do everything well. You gotta do throw ups, you gotta do tags, you gotta do top to bottom and all that shit and it's the same way with this art and there's cats that just happen to specialize in one more then others. I'm a big fan of Kid Capri. His "52 Beats" mix tape back in the day that to me is like a staple tape in my collection of mix tapes. Steady skills, steady fuckin' on the mic, excellent selection. That was the ultimate shit to me right there. I'm a hardcore cat too and there is nothing like Q-Bert, Aladdin, Cash Money, Jazzy Jeff and I think all those guys could even tell that they weren't through all their eras of having to be complete DJ's. Having to go out there and dig, build up their equipment and skills. But I feel you man, there is guys who probably don't even touch the record, but like I said I guess it's just a broad term these days. As far as mix tapes go though, I kind of like that. To me mix tapes is just another way to trick the industry out and to get by without having to go through all that fucking bullshit to get your music out there man. I think it's great.

ThaFormula.com - You know I look at you and Jurassic 5 and see that you guys are basically one of the last few actual Hip-Hop groups with a DJ and are on a major. Now if the labels don't support you, Jurassic, and even Gangstarr like they should, where does this leave real Hip-Hop in the Major Label scene? I mean do you see what these labels are trying to do?

DJ Babu - I defiantly see what they are trying to do and for us man, we're not dependent on that world. I think that's always something that we kept in our mind. When we made the conscious decision to sign with Capitol, I don't think we did it as a dependent thing. All 3 of us in Dilated…like a big portion of us to survive is you know the advances we get from Capitol, but to be honest with you that ain't shit and if we all didn't have our little side hustle going on we would all have a hard time being on this fucking record label. You know this is Ev and Rak's second record deal so they went back independent and resurfaced and really made sure that they knew what was going on before they signed any papers this time. They really schooled me on a lot of this to 'cause I wasn't able to experience all of this with them. But for me a video is a bonus, a spin on the radio is a bonus. I just remember the days when "Work the Angles" and "Third Degree" came out and we didn't have that kind of shit, but it felt good man and we were in the streets hustling making contacts with DJ's ourselves. Making 16mm videos guerilla style, you know whatever it takes. It doesn't matter man 'cause we're the type of cats who aren't scared to get our hands dirty and if shit falls out man, so be it. We got a great clause in our contract where were the label to drop us, we get cheesed out. We're ready and we will take that money and invest it right back into ourselves and just keep putting out music without the one handcuff.

ThaFormula.com - Is production something that you always wanted to get into besides DJ'ing?

DJ Babu - Definitely 'cause I grew up listening to DJ's who were integral parts of rap groups, and Ev and Rak really helped me fulfill that dream. I'm really big on the science of making beats like, I'll go through the years with you from Marley to Kurtis Blow to King of Chill to 45 King, and Diamond D. I'm a lot about that shit you know, just diggin'.

ThaFormula.com - Is it tough to be accepted as a producer after you have been known as just a dope DJ for so long?

DJ Babu - Definitely. Ever since I got with Dilated it's been like a big transition period for me. Even before Dilated I was gigging and going out and doing gigs solo as a DJ and my battle DJ history precedes my reputation. It makes it hard not only for production, but just to go out and DJ at a club dog, it's like yo man, I don't know if they're hiring me to DJ a club or they're hiring me to have a staring contest with muthafuckas bro. Like its hard for me to get out and play a crate of records man because fools will just sit there and wait for me to do fucking back flips, but its something that I got to work at. I've got to work out and spin at clubs more, I've got to get my production out there more. Its really something I've been trying to do the last few years, especially on the production tip. But at the end of the day my DJ'ing has been nothing but a great springboard to get me more attention.

ThaFormula.com - Right...

DJ Babu - I talk to so many of my producer friends who are trying to get their shine and get their crack and I realize that I really got to take advantage of me having the notoriety as a DJ and it really helps. For a while I think fools really had a hard time thinking this cat has real beats. Most of the time I think early on people were more like trying to work with me just for the name sake to say they got DJ Babu doing cuts on this shit. More often fools would be hitting me up to do cuts and I would be like "I can do cuts its all good man but check out this beat tape, I got some serious shit" and you know thank goodness for Ev and Rak for having faith in me and cats like Defari and The Visionaries and a lot of other cats who put me on to let me get any work that I've gotten now. I just gotta get my shit out there and that's the big thing with this "Duck Season 2." What it was for me man was I said "fuck it man, if I can't get Jay-Z or none of these muthafuckas to buy beats, fuck it I'm just gonna go reach as far as my arms can go and fucking put this shit out myself." I have this reputation as a DJ, I'ma take advantage of it and do it, but through the years if you look at what I've done I've always tried to sneak things in. Soundbombing, that was really my first production with that song with Dilated and Tash. Now I got to the point where I snuck 10 in out of 16 tracks (on Duck Season 2) so I'm really happy.

ThaFormula.com - So other than "Duck Season 2" and the new Dilated LP, what other projects can we catch you on?

DJ Babu - I got a lot of stuff in the works but my big thing right now is Tha Likwit Junkies project, which is one of my side groups which is me and Defari. That started as an accident. Me and him started recording tunes at the house and 2 months went by and all of a sudden we got like 11 serious jams here. So we got our one 12" out now "Keep Doin' It" with the B-side "S.C.A.N.S." and its really heavy. It's a full album coming out on ABB records. I don't know when but hopefully before the end of the year. Beat Junkies Sound also, you know we got a lot in the works. You're gonna see a full length Beat Junkie album and right now we got a DVD by the name of "Private Stash" which is like a little behind the scenes look at the Beat Junkies on the road and in the studio and stuff. And "Neighborhood Watch," April 6th man. That shit is ready to fucking go man. I can't wait for cats to hear it.

ThaFormula.com - Is the main problem most of the time support and money put into your project when it comes to your label?

DJ Babu - I think for us personally money is never an issue. I'm not gonna say numbers but our labels are decent man and like I said we're not a real extravagant group. I think various times in our careers it has been different problems man. I think in general a big part of our problem with Capitol is that they have had so much hiring and firing and mergers happening. It's like what's happening all over the industry man. We've already been through two presidents at our label. We're on our third album and we have went through two presidents, we went to having a urban department to having the whole urban department wiped out, to having a whole new label (Priority) slide in and then there is literally 5 people in the building who have been with us as long as we've been on the label. It's like every album there's a new regime up there. It's like we might as well have been on a new label every fucking record and it's really hard to get momentum and energy within a label when cats don't feel responsible for you.

ThaFormula.com - That's crazy man...

DJ Babu - Yeah and like right now our problem is that we actually have a pretty good urban machine in the building with Priority but I don't think they necessarily feel responsible for us 'cause were looked at more as Ron's group at Capitol who is our A&R, and Ron is a great guy and A&R but before us he signed Jane's Addiction. He used to be Megadeth's manager. He knows good music when he hears it but to be honest with you not everyone in the building understands us. Every time over and over we got to invite them to a show and make them understand. But we're working on it man and a lot of the time too…sometimes I kind of feel like we're treated like step children over there man, 'cause if you really look at our numbers compared to any other group they have had as long as we've been over there, our numbers ring true man. For as much as we spent and as much as we have made back our numbers have only grown. We got a nice steady growth and we're not in the red. I know artists that are five albums deep you know, are still paying for their first album. Any kind of buzz that we have done is really 'cause of our own hard work and sweat man.  

Be  sure to join the over 300,000 Industry Heads that have signed up to our exclusive mailing list!!  Click here to join and receive exclusive interviews only available to members. Leave contact info ( name & email address) at info@thaformula.com and we will contact you to confirm your membership.