If you don’t know by now, you should. Detroit native Black Milk is up next. Born and raised from a family who might as well been labeled “the Golden Years”, Black Milk was immersed in hip hop culture. Just like the child who was born out of a family of professors or doctors, it was only right that young Curtis Cross follow in the footsteps of the path that was laid before him by family. Please do not characterize this Detroit artist by his residence, his musical IQ which he says, “grows monthly…” will not allow him to make the same sound twice. A pure fiend for music will be the reason for his longevity and with Popular Demand dropping March 13th he hopes to serve hip hop the best glass of “Milk” it’s ever had.

Scheme: How did you get introduced to this whole hip hop thing?

Black Milk: Just being around family and some of my homies who were all into hip hop. Being around them and listening to what they listen to from A Tribe Called Quest, Outkast, Biggie and Gangstarr. So just being around that atmosphere all the time I picked up on it and developed a passion, and I wanted to see if I could do it myself from the beatside and the emcee side.

Scheme: What were you doing before you started doing the mkaing beats?

Black Milk: I was rhyming, I only seriously started doing beats two years before, so I already had the writing ability down, that was kind of second nature to me. I was trying to be an emcee and what not. I didn’t even know I had an ear for making beats.

Scheme: When did that set in for you that you had that ability as well?

Black Milk: Being around my cousins, they had their studio at the house and I used to always go over there and watch them record and do beats on the little sampler keyboard. One day I was just interested in it and messed around with it and made a couple of beats, it became a hobbie all of the sudden and I just started doing it more and trying to master it. From that I learned I had an ear for music and I was like damn I could really do this. I started out on cheap keyboard samplers and casios, eventually when I knew I wanted to take it serious and step my game up I bought the MP and just practiced on my craft.

Scheme: Besides family, who were some of the mentors you came up with that were established in the industry?

Black Milk: I eventually got hooked up with Slum Village, they were the cats I sold my first big beats to on the Trinity album and the other was “What is this”. So being around them dudes and T3 put me on to some game and he taught me a couple of tricks on the MP on the production side that Dilla showed him, I’ve been working with them ever since. Being with them I got introduced to some other cats in the game.

“The beats man, producing, my passion for beats…if I had to pick between the beats or the rhymes for the rest of my life it would be the beats man, just programming and finding loops, the whole process of beatmaking I love it.”

Scheme: Who else are you working with this year?

Black Milk: I have a couple of tracks on Pharoahe Monch’s album Desire, one joint called “Let’s Go” and another called “Bar Tap”. Of course I have my own album coming out on March 13th, Popular Demand. I’m working with Aftermath artist Bishop Lamont on this project called “Caltroit” which features Cali artists and Detroit artists all on one joint, we have a few Cali producers and I’m going to do the production on the Detroit side. Just to do something different, like a ten or eleven song type deal. Also working on a Sean Price-Guilty Simpson duo album and I’m doing the majority of the production on that, that’s going to be crazy, we’re about two songs deep into that right now. A new Slum Village record as well.

Scheme: How did Guilty and Sean P. come about?

Black Milk: I have the same manager as Guilty and he was trying to get Sean Price on Guilt’s album and he was down to for it; and I don’t know it just turned into a whole thing. I was like why don’t we do two or three songs together and Sean P. was down to do it. Then it was like why don’t we do a whole project. Sean Price was familiar with Guilt and I was surprised he was familiar with my stuff. Hopefully we can have it done and put it out by the summertime. I know Sean Price beats and what he usually raps on and Guilt but I’m trying to change it up and have them rap on something different.

Scheme: So what can we expect from Popular Demand?

Black Milk: It’s just one of those albums that has that classic hip hop sound to it. I wanted to capture the feel from certain albums that I felt when I first heard them, like Pete Rock “Soul Survivor”, Slum Village “Fantastic Vol.1 & 2″ and Tribe Called Quest, joints like that. Like when you first heard it you had that timeless element to it where you can go back and listen to those records today and it still sounds great. So I tried to capture that feeling with Popular Demand, I didn’t want to go too left or to far off of the production side. I was about to get into some other shit with the beats but I held back and did a dope hip hop record that everyone can enjoy and has its elements in it to make the record timeless and it’s some good hip hop music! Soulness to the beat but with a hard street edge to it. I have a couple tracks that are rock influenced, a couple of joints that are jazz influenced, and a couple that are electronic influenced. It has that Detroit bounce but it’s just a good hip hop record. I have a song with Slum Village with Baatin on the same song. I have a song with One Be-lo and Phat Kat.

Scheme: The Detroit sound is major right now, do you feel you’ll be boxed in or is that even a problem or concern of yours?

Black Milk: Nah, I don’t think I’m going to get boxed in because I have a lot of ideas and a lot of places I want to take the music. The beats I’m doing right now don’t even sound like the beats I did for the album because I’m growing musically almost every month, and I’m always trying to figure out something new musically. They’re really never going to be able to put me in a box because I’m going to change my style. On the next album I’m going to try and get into live instrumentation so I have plenty of ideas and I’m going to keep reinventing what I’m doing. I also want to work with certain artists that aren’t considered backpack or underground so I won’t get boxed in to that underground beatmaker or whatever you want to call it.

Scheme: What do you enjoy more the production side or mcing?

Black Milk: The beats man, producing, my passion for beats…if I had to pick between the beats or the rhymes for the rest of my life it would be the beats man, just programming and finding loops, the whole process of beatmaking I love it. I enjoy more than sitting and writing lyrics on a piece of paper or getting behind a mic free-styling.

Scheme: What are the best records shops that people should hit up when in Detroit?

Black Milk: You have Record Collectors and their good for finding the abstract records, dope rock records and jazz records. People’s Records which is downtown their good for the old soul records from the 60’s and 70’s. Then you have Record Time that’s good for the classic hip hop vinyl. Those are the three spots I hit up the majority of the time.

“They don’t even know how much power they really got, anytime you can have a million people that are behind you and support what you do that’s a lot of power.”

Scheme: I read that you traveled to Melbourne, Australia for the Red Bull Music Academy. Talk about how that came about and what was your experience like over there.

Black Milk: They basically just fly different people in the music industry from different genres and we sit in the room with people and kick it on some music shit. It was real chill and laid back, they had some studios set up. It was like a warehouse with three or four different levels and each level had something different to do. One level was the studio, another level was people constantly talking about the music, another level has some computer and internet stuff set up but it was still about the music. I was surprised they knew about me and wanted me to be a part of it. I met up with a lot of people, and I actually got the chance to go record shopping with Just Blaze so it was real cool.

“When people have that type of power people should accomplish more things, they have a responsibility and an obligation to give back to the community.”

Scheme: Where else travel wise has hip hop taken you?

Black Milk: That was my first time being out of the country but we’re setting up tour dates with plans to head back over there because they really have an appreciation for the music. So I plan gettin’ it poppin’ in Europe or Japan or wherever they appreciate what I’m doing.

Scheme: Hip hop or few people in general are beefing with Oprah; she just created this 40 million dollar school in Africa. Someone asked her why didn’t she build one here in the states and her reply was, “because kids here are more concerned with the next pair of sneakers and their ipod’s.” I wanted to get your take on hip hop and how it’s affecting the youth, and do you think it could be used as a better tool for the youth in general?

“…right now my whole focus is the music and trying to be great and incredible at what I do and understand the whole art form of music, not just beatmaking but music period.”

Black Milk: Yeah we could be doing a lot more with this hip hop thing. There are a lot of these big artists that have a lot pf power. They don’t even know how much power they really got, anytime you can have a million people that are behind you and support what you do, that’s a lot of power. I think some of the artists could really take more responsibility in what they do, what they say and how they act. There are artists that are doing good for the community and giving back but there could be so much more.

The whole Oprah thing, I look at that as ole’ heads that really don’t understand the culture or the artists that are in hip hop, or their backgrounds and they look at one side of things, and that’s why a lot of cats are beefing with these people. I feel them on some points because again, once you have power you can control how a million people think from the way you dress and what you say, you’re a trend maker and setter and people are going to do what you say. When people have that type of power people should accomplish more things, they have a responsibility and an obligation to give back to the community.

Scheme: What are the goals you want to accomplish musically in 2007?

Black Milk: Business wise I want to be my own boss, I am in a way right now, I’m free to do what I want to do period, but I’m on fatbeats records. Eventually I do want to have my own my own label. I have my own label now but I want my own independent label that’s successful. Eventually I’m going to get into the business side but right now my whole focus is the music and trying to be great and incredible at what I do and understand the whole art form of music, not just beatmaking but music period. I want to be one of those great minds that go down in the books as being one of the dopest producers, musicians, all of that so there it is.