ThaFormula.com - Why did you stop working with Kane, Ace, Biz Markie, G. Rap, and them after a their first couple of albums?

Marley Marl - Well at that point I had just left Cold Chillin’ and I just couldn’t work with them anymore. So after I left there is when I went to work with LL, which rejuvenated his career. I was not an owner of Cold Chillin’ like a lot of people thought I was, and the compensation just wasn't there like it should have been so I just had to keep it movin’.

ThaFormula.com - So what's the situation with Cold Chillin now?

Marley Marl - Well as of five years ago I took over all the masters and the publishing. All the songs that I ever made for them I took control of the masters and the publishing for Cold Chillin’. But only what I made.

ThaFormula.com - So do you get a cut of the best of Masta Ace released on Landspeed?

Marley Marl - I authorized that. Yeah, they got my authorization.

ThaFormula.com - But what about Masta Ace. Does he get a cut of that?

Marley Marl - What I do is once we recoup, I got a little fund that I give to the artists. That's my whole thing. Another thing too, back in the Cold Chillin’ days a lot of those artists sold their rights away. They was getting’ a lot of money. Like Biz Markie and Masta Ace, they sold their rights away. A lot of the rights they signed away because they was getting money. What I would like to do is hook the artist up because that's really their shit. I don't wanna complete or end the circle of robbing them because that's how I got my rights back, because they wasn't paying me no royalties.

ThaFormula.com - How was it working with Roy Ayers?

Marley Marl - Roy Ayers is the man. I always admired some of the records that they did, but you can elaborate on the stories that you heard about artists not getting paid.

ThaFormula.com - Well I remember reading an interview with Ace where he said he wasn't getting a penny from that Landspeed deal. He sounded really upset about it because he had nothing to do with it.

Marley Marl - See what happens is that when they out, people live a certain lifestyle and they wanna keep livin’ that lifestyle so what happens is they accept a lot of money, and record companies don't give away all this money for no reason. There is always a reason behind it. It's an advance or something and you know Cold Chillin’ was a big money pot for a lot of these artists. Everybody, every week was going up there getting money. You know, $20,000 here, $30,000 here and this and that. Those guys at Cold Chillin’, they shiested me, and to shiest them is not a problem. I had to wait ‘till about 3 or 4 years ago to get all my rights back. Up until then I wasn't seeing a penny. I was seeing Mary J. Blige sample all my stuff on her album and I didn't see a penny off of that. The record company was getting all of that. The good thing about me was that I was able to maintain myself without them giving me no money. I didn't take money from them for almost ten years. What happened is when we went to court, they didn't have a record of me getting any money from them. They said “well if you was paying him this and that, show us some canceled checks or something,” and they couldn't produce it.

ThaFormula.com - Did you ever record anything under a different name?

Marley Marl - On my early records I used to put “M Square”, due to the fact that I worked at a radio station and I didn't want to have other radio stations not play my stuff when I knew it was hot, a lot of Mr. Magic alias records that I was involved with it was “M Square.”

ThaFormula.com - You seem to get a lot of love out here in L.A.

Marley Marl - Oh, no doubt. When I used to come around here before, a lot of cats would be like, “yo, we used to do a lot of shit to your music,” "You bring a lot of memories to everything.” “We used to do drive by's with your beats in the background,” and this and that.

ThaFormula.com - You got love from everybody because you were neutral. Everybody banged to your shit back in the day. The KDAY days when they used to rock all your stuff.

Marley Marl - I used to do the “Wake Up Show” when it was the East Coast and West Coast one. It was the best man.

ThaFormula.com - So what are your thoughts on KDAY? Do a lot of people in New York recognize KDAY or know the history about it?

Marley Marl - Only the industry people and people that travel. They don't really know the history of how you all did it. I used to come out here when KDAY was poppin’. I used to feel the remixes, the rap shows. It was crazy, 24-hour hip-hop on AM radio! That's crazy. That molded a lot of radio stations around the country right now that's daring to do it right now.

ThaFormula.com - So there was never a 24-hour hip-hop station in New York back then?

Marley Marl - There was shows like with Mr. Magic and stuff like that, but there was never a 24-hour hip-hop station. That's one thing that everybody knows, that the 24-hour hip-hop format started up here.

ThaFormula.com - Why is it that out here in L.A., the stations will show love to both the East and the West Coast underground artists, but out in the East all you mainly here is East Coast underground and maybe a couple of West Coast joints?

Marley Marl - It's kind of like this. It's like two different undergrounds. Where in the East Coast they play only the big artists like the Snoop’s, the Dre’s and the Xzibit’s, and it seems like they are only up on those types of artists. They are not up on the other cats that do underground because underground is kind of different in New York. I have “Fututre Flavas” on HOT 97 and it's strictly like New York underground and the reason that we support New York underground is because it's not getting played out there, so you know the reason why I'm sure a lot of cats support L.A. underground out here is because it's probably not the most stuff that you hear on the radio everyday, but you know it's there. So it's kind of like regional. That's the regional sound we do and out here they will play the L.A. underground.

ThaFormula.com - You heard about the Wake Up Show getting canceled right?

Marley Marl - Yeah I heard they ain't doing it no more. See they should have kept us doing that East Coast/West Coast thing.

ThaFormula.com - So in all the years that you took off from production how were you surviving?

Marley Marl - I was always doing something. A remix here... even if I do one or 2 remixes a year, f I'm charging like $30,000 a mix or something like that. I'm the type a guy that's not too flamboyant. Luckily back in the Cold Chillin’ era I bought my house. I bought a studio and when that money was flowin’ I wasn't just blowing it. I got 2 studios in my house, I got a radio station and just by having my own studio kept me getting paper. In between times I was doing King Tee out here. We blew that record up. You know I was doing BBD too.

ThaFormula.com - Why did you record so little? Was the demand low or was it something else?

Marley Marl - I didn't wanna even work with everybody basically, and a lot of things I felt in the music industry was getting kind of wack and I didn't wanna be part of it. I’d rather be a part of it now. Your man Jay-Z bringing the loops back and it seems like a resurgence of goodness is about to come.

ThaFormula.com - Do you do see things changing?

Marley Marl - Oh, no doubt, and independence is the key, because when your dealing with them majors, the majors will suck you up and just let you not make money. Like with Cold Chillin’, they was independent and then Warner Brothers got into the fold and it became a big money thing. Now we got to make records that play on the radio. Now we can't just do what we feel.

ThaFormula.com - Why didn't you bring back Biz, Ace, G. Rap and all them on your new album? Why did you decide to go with new MC's?

Marley Marl - One thing I don't want to be known just for only the things I did in the past. It's the year 2002 and that's done already. Kane I wanted to work with again. I didn't want to do another Shan record or Shante record. I didn't want to do all that because it's been basically done already. So I wanted to show what I could do with new cats, new rhymes, new type beats. I just didn't want to get stuck on stupid or stuck in the 80's. It's like a lot of cats from the 80's get stuck in that timeframe. Even if it's an interview or documentary with too many old school people, sometimes I don't wanna participate because I don't want to get locked in there. You know Marley Marl is old school. I don't want to get stuck in that old school mode. A lot of times if there is something, I'm askin’ who’s on the bill with us or so and so. I might not even participate because I don't wanna get locked into that. That's how I survived in the game. I don't go to old school shows and perform or all of that. It's all good, but hey it was done already. I would rather go check out a DMX concert or something like that you know. Get props over there. What's funny is cats give me props there too! So hey I just want to be known for what I've done in the past. I'm still doing it and that's why I didn't want to dwell on all of that.

ThaFormula.com - At your age Marley, how does it feel to know that you are setting history right now? You’re still in the game, getting mad props all over the world in a music that's not even 30 years old. Hip-hop is in a position right now where it's never been and your one of the reasons why. How do you feel to still be in the game right now after so many years?

Marley Marl - It feels great. Not to take anything away from Puff, but I'd like to see in 20 years, will he get that respect in the street. Because I can walk through here and get respect. You see, we doing this interview here and cats are coming to me giving genuine love. That's real genuine love from the streets. I'd like to see 15 or 20 years later, because you know I made my first record in ’81. So let's see 20 years later if other people will get that type of love. People give me love because they figure I never sold out what I do. I still keep it thoro’. I got an underground show that plays only strictly underground beats for cats in the street. It's not about all the industry shine or all that. It's all about what people can feel in their hearts.

ThaFormula.com - Now that your Beat Generation album dropped, is that it or will there be more projects on the way?

Marley Marl - It's funny because I did a single with Salaam for that group Blaque, Left Eye’s group, and with that song I got record companies calling me like crazy right now. It's like resurgence of Marley Marl. Everybody is realizing what was missing in their music. I'm getting calls crazy right now.

ThaFormula.com - So are you planning on dropping an official Marley Marl, album other than this Beat Generation one?

Marley Marl - Yeah, you can say it like that.

ThaFormula.com - Will you have any input in the Pete Rock's upcoming album, “Soul Survivor 2"

Marley Marl - What I do with Pete Rock is I consult him a lot. I consulted him so hard to get back with C.L. Smooth. I told him you all are Icons in the music. You all need to be together. Don't let all these cats come out now and get all the paper and you all ain't gettin nothing! Drop a classic and get back together. I got them back together. I made them meet, I sat with them and said “yo, you all take it from here man.”

ThaFormula.com - Why do you think that all the premier artists from back in the day that seemed to have fallen off are all starting to shine again?

Marley Marl - Because the substance wasn't there in the music any more. Most of the old school cats are performers. A lot of cats got deals off the strength of their man got a deal and he possibly could be on the album. I can name numerous stars whose friends got deals just because they know them, they gave him a deal and they not even good themselves. The substance just wasn't there like it should be, and everybody was missing that substance.

ThaFormula.com - What happened to tracks like the Vapors? I mean what happened to those tracks that used to give you chills back in the day every time you heard them?

Marley Marl - The ingredients is just not in them no more. It's about something different right now. I mean a lot of new producers are so anti-sample, but rap was built off of sampling and scratching somebody's break and rhymin’ over it, so that's the elements. When you make spaghetti and you don't put spaghetti sauce on it, you don't have spaghetti and meatballs, you have spaghetti and meat. Aight, and I'll close it on that.

ThaFormula.com - No doubt.

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