Rakim Producing For Snoop Dogg, DMX on New Album
The project drops on July 26 but Rakim says a more solo-based album is coming next. Psst ... it just may feature his long-lost collaborator Dr. Dre!!!
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00:00You've been producing for a while, I know you produced on some of your previous albums.
00:06What do you use?
00:07What does Rakim use in the lab?
00:10Right now, I'm an MPC junkie, man.
00:15I got about four or five of them over here.
00:19It's got the MPXSE, and I try to stay, you know, that's my joint, it gives me a nice
00:31hip-hop feel when I'm producing.
00:33It allows me to kind of move around and do the things like we like to do as hip-hop producers,
00:39man.
00:40So that's like my go-to right now.
00:43You know DJ Premier and Pete Rock are dropping albums soon, and you're like encroaching on
00:48their territory, taking their jobs.
00:51Nah, never that, man.
00:53That's the kings right there, you know what I mean?
00:57This album right here, like we were speaking on, I've been producing for a long time.
01:02So this was a chance for me to produce some tracks and get my feet wet again and let the
01:08world know that I do that.
01:10The album is mostly, I did all the production on the album, I did the scratching on the
01:15album, I spit a couple bars on the album, but it's mainly me producing joints and getting
01:23artists to come in and smoke the tracks out, man.
01:28But it's dope to sit back and kind of enjoy it from, like you said, Primo's seat or Pete
01:36Rock's seat, you know what I mean?
01:37With the scratching, you know, since you're doing scratches, does that close the door
01:41on Eric B. collaborations down the line?
01:45You're a one-man shop.
01:47Nah, I wouldn't say close the door, but it's just a good platform for me to show what I do.
01:54You know what I mean?
01:56I got turntables here in my studio, I got turntables at my house.
02:02I love DJing, man.
02:04It's like, I was DJing, it kind of go hand-in-hand with MCing.
02:09I started DJing around the same time.
02:13They kept pushing me towards the mic, and I kind of gravitated towards it myself.
02:19But I've been DJing for a long time, and again, man, it was a good time for me to show what
02:25I do, man, beats and arranging and scratching and being able to scratch some of my favorite
02:31MCs at the same time, you know what I mean?
02:33So the whole project, to me, made sense, and I think it was long overdue.
02:39You got K.R.U.P.
02:40I don't know if you know, but K.R.U.P. just told TMZ a few months ago that you're the
02:45best ever.
02:47So I assume this song fulfills a lifelong dream for him, and then you got Masterkiller,
02:52the underrated lyricist of the Wu-Tang Clan.
02:57How did this one come about?
02:59It's dope, man.
03:00My man Matt Markoff, he put a bunch of MCs in the arena.
03:06He picked the proper tracks, or they picked the tracks they was vibing to, man.
03:12And it gelled together, man.
03:14But I gotta give Markoff, my man Matt, props for putting everybody in the building, man,
03:20and putting their ear on the project, man.
03:22Word up.
03:23He did a great job, man.
03:24Matt, what up?
03:25M-80, you got Deceased Legends, you got Nipsey Hussle, you got the prodigy of Mobb Deep,
03:34you got hardcore lyricists, you got King Crooked, Planet Asia, 38 Special, rest in
03:39peace to Fred the Godson, rest in peace to him, Sky Zoo.
03:43This is a hard-bodied track list.
03:45Yes, sir, man.
03:47And the way it all came together, man, was beautiful.
03:50Sometimes when I listen to it, man, you know what I mean, you can't help but get caught
03:54in the moment, man, and think about these brothers, man, and celebrate their life as
04:01you listening, man.
04:03The track with Nipsey on it, man, it's a heartfelt song, a song called Love is a Message.
04:09Word is born.
04:10Like, you know, every time I hear it, I can't help but just think about that brother, man,
04:13what he meant to us, his contribution to hip-hop, man, his mind, everything he was bringing
04:22to the table, man.
04:23So it's a good project, man, and for me, it's an honor to have these brothers affiliated
04:30with it.
04:31You know, it can take long hiatuses, you know, pop out whenever you feel like it, but, you
04:35know, this is obviously after the Hip-Hop 50 celebrations, you know.
04:41How does Rakim see the state of hip-hop, you know?
04:43Did you feel like you needed to add a contribution to balance out anything?
04:47No, I didn't feel I needed to.
04:51You know, the want is always there, you know what I mean, just the love of music, the love
04:56of the genre, you know what I mean, I'm always gonna make hip-hop music.
05:00The energy that took place in the last couple years for myself, man, I've been doing a lot,
05:06and I gotta take that energy and put it somewhere now, you know what I mean?
05:11Like I said, I only did a couple songs lyrically on this project we just did, but I got a project
05:19that I'm working on that's coming out after this one, man, I got Kings on it, Jazzy Jeff,
05:25you know, Primo, and that's all in the state, man, you know what I mean?
05:30So, yeah.
05:31Thank you.
05:32Thank you.
05:33Thank you.
05:34Thank you.