ThaFormula.com - You and 9th Wonder started making beats around the same time and actually lived together for a while, what was that like?

Khrysis – We were making beats before we even knew each other, we were both using Fruity Loops. Well, I wouldn’t say before we knew each other but before we knew each other like that. I met him when I was using a program called SAW back in like 2000 and and 9th was making beats straight off Cool Edit. When I went to college I started using Fruity Loops and he just like popped up. I ran into him at a recreational basketball game and I told him I had just started using Fruity Loops and he told me he had just started using it too. Then we started staying together for a minute, fighting over the computer, silly shit like that. It was damn near a factory over there, the music didn’t fuckin’ stop. It kind worked out because I preferred to make beats at night, he liked to make beats first thing in the morning. 

ThaFormula.Com – So you used the same records to sample from too?

Khrysis – Yeah, yeah somewhat. There was certain records that we were both like, “nah you can’t have this one, not these. No, no, no. I just got these!”

ThaFormula.Com – Yeah, because you’d probably end up hearing a joint he sampled off one of your records and be like “damn, how did I miss that one?”

Khrysis – Yeah! We both did that shit. Sometimes even today. We’ll trade a record like “yo let me hold that one, let me hold that..” and we’ll use a different part of the same song and think to ourselves “damn, how’d he miss that? It’s mine now!”

ThaFormula.Com – Have you both ever sampled the same exact record unknowingly and then when you both eventually heard the others joint wonder how you missed a part of it?

Khrysis – Yeah! That happens too. That happens a lot yo. There was this one record in particular that we just went to town on, and they ended up being two totally different joints. The one he did ended up being an R&B type joint and the one I did was a real hard ass, loud ass beat a kind of an MOP joint and they were both from the same song but you would never know the way we both chopped them up.

ThaFormula.Com – You weren’t officially in the Justus League (JL) until after the recording of the Foreign Exchange album, I thought you were in it before that?

Khrysis – Yeah, it wasn’t until like it was finished that I was voted in.

ThaFormula.Com – I could have swore someone sent me a JL T-Shirt that had the Away Team on it way before the Foreign Exchange album?

Khrysis – Right, I was a member of the Away Team but I was not a member of the JL.

ThaFormula.Com – But the Away Team was a member of JL?

Khrysis – Exactly. I was a member of the JL by way of the Away Team, but not individually, not everyone in the Away Team was in the JL at the time. It’s hard to explain.

ThaFormula.Com – Now you said you were voted in, what was the vote?

Khrysis – One person said no, that was it.

ThaFormula.Com – You gonna put ‘em on blast?

Khrysis – I ain’t gonna put em on blast, it ain’t even like that. It wasn’t like he didn’t have a valid point, but the rest said “yeah, why not.”

ThaFormula.Com – When did you realize that you could actually make beats for a living and not have to rely on a 9to5 anymore? Did you hear joint on the radio, get a call from someone asking for a beat?

Khrysis – Really, I ain’t gonna lie. It was the Little Brother situation. Watching them and how they got it. That first day when they got signed and went to LA and back, that’s when I was like “yeah, this could really go down.” What really sealed the deal was when 9th got the joint with Jay-Z and I got the joint with Masta Ace. That’s when I realized that I could really do this for a living. Not to mention I was at the point in time when I had got fired from a job and I was like “maybe this shit ain’t for me.” My hours were too crazy with music and a job going out with Little Brother, you know. Something had to go. I just went ahead and went into music full force. I was already at it, but I wasn’t sold on the idea until all those things happened.

ThaFormula.Com – That first record you got with Masta Ace, how was it landing that and landing the single on top of that?

Khrysis – Wow, I felt blessed off of that. I was going through some crazy shit at that time. I felt honored that someone like Masta Ace was like “yo, how can I get in touch with this dude, where’s he at, I need some beats.” I was pretty geeked at the moment, I was like “wow, I may be onto somethin’.”

ThaFormula.Com – On top of that he had just come off a really dope album (Disposable Arts) and had a lot of people checking for his next move…

Khrysis – Yeah, it was an honor man.

ThaFormula.Com – What do you get a bigger rush off of, being on stage as part of The Away Team or hearing an MC rip one of your joints?

Khrysis – Both just as much, I love ‘em both. They are both really good things. But yo, that first time when were on the road, and the first time were in L.A. where I met you at, I feel like that was the best show on that tour, it was great.

ThaFormula.Com – Yeah, at that small spot, The Troubador.

Khrysis – Yeah, that was it! The little spot. That was my first time in LA ever. People were singing along with the words and I was pumped and stunned at the same time. I didn’t know whether to just stop the show and ask everyone “y’all are really feelin’ this shit?” or to fuckin’ crowd surf you know? I’m gonna do that one of these days! (laughs) Because that shit looks fun! I’m just having a ball. As for hearing my song on the radio, that’s cool man. It’s cool. I like being out there though, o.k., I have to say it. I like being out there, fuck it. Because I haven’t heard my songs on major radio yet, any of my joints. I know I get BDS spins because ASCAP has sent me somethin’, but I haven’t heard it for myself yet, but when I get there I’ll tell ya. The only place I hear my joints is on college radio, and that’s cool, I got love for college radio.

ThaFormula.Com – What’s been you best experience in the studio so far, collaborating with someone on the spot, not just handing them a beat CD and then hearing the joint 6 months later?

Khrysis – I will say I have the most fun recording with Sean Price. Because we don’t do anything but bug out, we just bug the fuck out. He wilds out and I just let him go. It’s always fun for me. You know some people would complain, “ah the hook don’t sound complete, dah, dah, dah,” fuck that, let that shit run. I feel confident in what I hear. It’s fun you know, but at the same time I am trying to do something creative. As far as sitting down and actually making the songs and shit, I’d have to say Sean Boog (The Away Team). Because when we get it, we got it. We just build off of that, and feed off of each other. This new Away Team shit we’re working on sounds completely different than the last album.

ThaFormula.Com – Oh so you already started on that?

Khrysis – Yeah. Whatever we felt like we weren’t going to use, a lot of that shit got put on Sean Boog’s mixtape. You know, we just wanted to build a little more, put some of it out there before it gets old, and work on some new shit. They were great songs but we finished two or three other songs that took in us in a whole other direction and basically that’s what’s going on right now.

ThaFormula.Com – You just dropped an instrumental mixtape with like 40 joints on it, were you surprised at just how many joints you have recorded in a relatively short amount of time?

Khrysis – When I started tallying it up…man. At first I wasn’t really with it. I didn’t think I had that much stuff out that niggas had heard. So I just sat down, counted up all the songs I had that was on niggas albums, mixtapes, on the internet, and next thing I know I had 50 joints. Then I was like wow, I could do it, it was crazy I didn’t even realize it. There are like 3 joints on there that’s missing, I really wanted them on there but didn’t get on there for whatever reason, but I’ll save them for something else.

ThaFormula.Com – New joints or ones that you had already recorded?

Khrysis – Ones I had already recorded. “Starvation” for Little Brother was one of them. The two Smif N’ Wessun joints are missing and there was a couple others that slipped through the cracks, but I feel pretty confident with the mixtape.

ThaFormula.Com – Are we gonna hear you do any R&B joints, or are you just the grimy cat…

Khrysis – Yeah, I’ll do some R&B. I got a joint with Darien (Brockington) already. It’s something totally different that what you heard already. It’s R&B. It’s actual R&B. I didn’t take a damn rap beat and make him sing over that and call it an R&B joint I actually did an R&B joint. It’s still me choppin’ a record, but yeah.

ThaFormula.Com – When you make a joint like that, do you go into it trying to or does it just happen? You know, sit down with the intention of making an R&B joint. Because I know you usually don’t make no soft shit…

Khrysis – (laughs) I have before and I still do. Sometimes it will be smooth joint and I’ll think that a nigga could rap on it or sing on it, but it would sound better if a nigga sang on it. That’s how I come to the conclusion if its gonna be an R&B joint. I also got another R&B joint, I can’t talk about it but it’s in the works.

ThaFormula.Com – You mentioned Sean Price earlier, you’ve got like 8 joints on his upcoming album, how’s the album coming?

Khrysis – Yeah. As far as the recording for the album it’s done. It just needs to be mixed, marketed, packaged and all that, it drops on September 19th.

ThaFormula.Com – Pretty much since the JL popped up on the radar, it seems like everyone wants to talk about drums and criticize them. Back when you were coming up as a kid did you ever hear anyone say “that was a nice verse, but that snare could be a little looser, or that kick drum was weak?” What is it these days with people analyzing drums like that?

Khrysis – I don’t know…..(long pause, laughs) I wish you could see my facial expression, wow. I really don’t know. I don’t know what they’re looking for. You can’t please everyone. I don’t ever remember anyone complaining about shit like that before. I think they are being a little over critical. It’s just some nit-picky shit. When you put it all together, it just sounds like hate. Either you like the joint or you don’t.  As a producer I have said “I’d have used a different snare, but that shit’s dope” I’ve said “I would have done this, but that shit’s hot.”

ThaFormula.Com – Yeah, I understand that when you make beats of course you’re curious about or have an opinion of how someone else put some shit together, but when you’re just an average Joe it seems like you would either just like a joint or not.

Khrysis – Is it hot or is it not, yeah.

ThaFormula.Com – You did a few joints with Ness from that Making the Band show, and they never came out, have you heard anything about that?

Khrysis – Nah, I haven’t. He’s supposed to be back out here soon though. We’re about to work some more.

ThaFormula.Com – Yeah, because at one point you were supposed to have the lead single off the album right?

Khrysis – Right, I don’t know what happened, but I know he’s coming out here soon and I will be out here for it.

ThaFormula.Com – So you’re finished up the Sean Price, and you said you were working on Sean Boog’s mixtape, what else are you working on?

Khrysis – Oh Boog’s mixtape is already done. It’s about to be out in a minute. The Embassy album, I did most of that. That’s L.E.G.A.C.Y. and Chaundon as a group. The next Away Team album, Chaundon’s album, Joe Scudda’s album, I got something on just about everything. I’m just over here cranking out beats right now trying to get some shit placed. Plus there’s gonna be some more mixtapes coming out, a whole bunch of Hall of Justus stuff. I got joints with Skyzoo…I got lots of shit coming.

ThaFormula.Com – Alright man, I got one more and I’ll let you get back to the studio…What do you consider your best joint, or your favorite joint that was the best combination of one of your beats and the MC?

Khrysis – Favorite, or the one that just clicked the best…I think it would have to be “Jamaican” by Sean Price. He did exactly what I had in mind for him to do. That has the potential to be a hit. It’s still Sean, it still Ruck, it’s still raw. It’s still me, it’s just a little different. It’s a more mature version of me than what’s expected. Niggas is expecting some loud ass drums and all that shit, it’s like that a little bit. It’s clean but its still rock hard. It’s what you expect for a producer to go through after a few years. Because most of the time, niggas hear my shit and it’s already a year old. Between the Sean Price, The Embassy album and the Boog mixtape, that’s all new shit. But in my opinion “Jamaican” is the one that just clicked the best. It’s between that one and this joint called “Back Up” by Sean Boog, that’s also on his mixtape.

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