thaFormula.com - What got you into the production side of things in Hip-Hop?

Hi-Tek - Just the whole curiosity of how people put together music. DJ'ing and playing those records kind of led to me making the beats. Just love for the music and wanting to make music. So I just started messing around with the drum machines.

thaFormula.com - How do you see the producers that are coming out today compared to say the ones that came out around your time and before then. It seems like a majority of the new producers do not seem to have a real understanding of the music?

Hi-Tek - I think a lot of cats really don't take the time out to study the music. They have to really understand that when you're making music, you have to be your own self production wise so that you will have your own sound. A lot of these new producers are using these computer programs where it doesn't really give them a lot of freedom as far as really putting their own swing into and really adding their own sound to it. I just think the technology made it real simple for people that weren't interested in making music good. It deprived the originality and kind of stagnated the music.

thaFormula.com - What was the first product you actually put out?

Hi-Tek - Something I produced for a group called Mood. They had got signed to TVT. Cats signed a bad deal though. I never was in the group but it did me some justice. It was just my homeboys from the city. I was kind of in the group, but I never actually signed. They signed a bad deal and made a lot of bad business moves and the shit just fell through. But it taught me a lot about the business. It gave a chance to go through the trials and errors. It was my first check actually and it really opened my mind as to what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

thaFormula.com - What was your next move from there?

Hi-Tek - Mood introduced me to Kweli in New York. So after the Mood situation, I just kept going to New York any time I had a chance. I was hooking up with Kweli and we was making songs. That basically birthed Reflection Eternal.

thaFormula.com - When you guys did the Black Star album, did you guys know that you had something special there?

Hi-Tek - We always knew we had something special. It was just all about getting it out. Just being in the group though, I didn't really know it would hit like it did. We were big fans of people that came before us and that was just our turn to let the people know what we liked about Hip-Hop. It was us paying our homage and displaying our skills.

thaFormula.com - Did you feel at that point that you had gotten the respect from your peers that you wanted?

Hi-Tek - Oh yeah. That was one of the highlights of my life.

thaFormula.com - Now as far as the Reflection Eternal LP goes, I wonder who had the most influence in putting that album together musically?

Hi-Tek - Musically, it was 90 percent me. Definitely if it wasn't for Kweli it wouldn't be "Reflection Eternal". Musically it was me. It was my version of Hip-Hop and basically me hooking up with a dope mc who could bring out the beats.

thaFormula.com - So once again you guys got together and made another dope album and really started making waves in the industry. How do you look at that album now in 2006?

Hi-Tek - I mean that's the best thing I put out so far. I love that album. Once I got that out, it made me feel real good just as far as just letting niggaz know that I could make a real album. I let them know with the Black Star, but with "Reflection" even the people that was around us it kind of let them know too.

thaFormula.com - Now after "Reflection," you guys branched out and did your own thing. I was surprised with some of the artists you chose to work with. What made you chose artists like Snoop, G-Unit, and Game and did you dig the West Coast artists a lot?

Hi-Tek - Oh yeah. I'm a big fan. I never really wanted to pigeon hole myself to a Kweli and Mos Def type artist. I'm a Midwest cat so my whole thing was becoming a musician so I could get down with anybody. I don't think Kweli or Mos Def run Hip-Hop. Hip-Hop is displayed in many ways. I'm a Midwest person and I grew up listening to music from the South, West, and East. So it's something I always wanted to do and I think it made my beats better. To be able to be acknowledged by a vet like (Dr) Dre and Snoop 'cause those are the people I look up to. They did a lot of shit production wise when it come to working in that studio that we never even embarked on yet. Them dudes is real professional and being around them really taught me a lot. They've been crafting albums, interludes, intros. A lot of underground cats weren't doing that besides Tribe and De La. Dre was coming with it. So I always wanted to be a person crafting albums and kind of go into the artist's worlds. I never just wanted to be with just Kweli. Kweli only brings out one side of me.

thaFormula.com - How did your connection with Dre and Snoop actually come about?

Hi-Tek - Reflection Eternal was definitely the door opener. It made that connection with Snoop. "The Blast" really got Snoop open. When I finally got to talk to Snoop, he was like, "we've been playing the Reflection Eternal album the whole tour." They was on the road promoting the Last Meal album. That's what connected me with Snoop. When I started doing the "Hi-Teknology" album I wanted Snoop on the album and I reached out to him. He told me that "we was already ready to work with you". He said they had an APB out on me so I was like, "yeah?" So that's what led to me connecting with Snoop. As far as Dre, I was submitting beats to other West Coast artists. I think I had submitted a beat CD to WC and WC had played it for Dre, which led to me getting production on the Truth Hurts album. Dre has been fucking with me ever since.

thaFormula.com - You've been in the studio with Dre. What do you say about the rumors that Dre is a ghost producer and the attempts to always try to discredit him?

Hi-Tek - Dre is the truth. The thing is people don't understand the word production or producer. There is a lot of people who call themselves producers, but aren't really producers. Quincy Jones and George Clinton had good ears. It's like producing the orchestra. You can't play the violin, but you got it in your head. That violinist that's playing don't have what you're hearing in their head, so they need somebody to produce them. Dre is like the ultimate producer man. He has a whole world of music going on in his head and he fucks the drum machine up at the same time. I seen him and it's just crazy amazing. Just to be able to watch him and see his mind going is crazy. He's the ultimate producer.

thaFormula.com - I see and read so many people always dissin' Dre as far as not being the real deal. But I notice that the top producers always have the utmost respect for Dre. It has me always wondering why that is?

Hi-Tek - These are people that don't really be in the studio, so people don't know what a producer really is. Somebody that can craft a whole song and it still sounds good without a rapper is a producer.

thaFormula.com - So would you say that you learned a lot from Dre as a producer?

Hi-Tek - Yeah, I learned a lot from Dre. From the time I shook his hand, I think he put some powers in me. Straight up, I ain't gonna lie. Just meeting him and being able to be in his presence taught me a lot.

thaFormula.com - So after all this when did you decide it was time for you to do the "Hi-Teknology Vol. 1" album?

Hi-Tek - That was kind of accidental man. I was forced to do that album after the "Reflection Eternal" got good reviews. Initially before the "Reflection" album, I was doing an EP that Rawkus was doing. It was like a beat makers thing they were doing and I had did like 3 or 4 songs like 2 years before the "Reflection" album. What was on the EP was the Mos Def song, one of the Kweli interludes. I forget what else was on there. Actually "Tekzilla" by Common was on the original EP also. By the time I had all these songs together, they didn't wanna put it out no more. It was a little too late so I didn't meet the deadline. During that time we was still doing the "Reflection Eternal" album. We had finished that up, put that out, got good reviews and all of a sudden they decided they wanted to put out the EP. I felt it was dated and didn't want to put it out so I told them that I needed to beef it up or to just let me make an album. I actually made the album in like a month because I didn't want a dated EP to be put out. So I was kind of forced into that.

thaFormula.com - So since you only had a month to put it together, were you happy or upset with how the album turned out?

Hi-Tek - I was both man. It did exactly what I knew it was gonna. I knew people were gonna like but I didn't think the Jonelle "Round & Round" record would take off the way it did. I knew it was something different and dope which was my whole purpose, but I didn't know it would hit like that.

thaFormula.com - So when did you decide to do "Hi-Teknology Vol. 2" and is it something you been working on for a while?

Hi-Tek - Same with this album man. I wanted it to come out a couple of years ago. Actually like 3 years ago. Once I moved from Rawkus to these majors and started messing with these major labels, they really ain't hip to putting out a producing record, unless your rappin' on the record like that. They didn't even believe in Kanye for real and he was a rapper/producer. He was actually rappin'. I'm not really rappin' on my shit like that. I'm rappin' on certain songs, but the major labels don't really believe in putting out producer record or compilation type records. I understand where they are coming from, but my approach is different. It took me like 3 years to put this record out due to messing with the major labels and the business and at the same time musically trying to get it together and trying to organize my time. I was working on the Jonnelle album and my album at the same time. My whole strategy was to put out an R&B album and a Hip-Hop album at the same time, but it really didn't work.

thaFormula.com - So what's the sound gonna be like for the new album?

Hi-Tek - Same thing, it's just upgraded. That's why I called it "Hi-Teknology Vol. 2 - The Chip." Basically, it's just an upgrade to the first "Hi-Teknology" album. I'm basically displaying my versatility on the production and that's really what the album is about. Me showing what a true Midwest producer is actually about. Most of the artists I worked with are people that I just always wanted to hear on my beats. Everything worked out fine with everybody I worked with and you are definitely gonna get your money's worth and your ear full. I got Q-Tip, Nas, Bun B, Slim Thug, Snoop, The Game, Jada Kiss, Papoose, Raekwon, Common, Talib, Mos, and more. It drops October 17th. Basically, this "Hi-Teknology 2" is a Reflection Eternal album without Kweli. I mean musically that's where it's at and people are gonna understand when they hear this album. Their gonna say, "okay that's what's missing from what Kweli is doing right now." I got Kweli on like 5 songs. Musically it's the Reflection vibe.

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