Interview with DJ Mathematics: Beat Kings the DVD

Beat Kings, lead by Wu-Tang Clan Prodcuer/DJ Mathematics is a documentary about hip hop production. Beat Kings higlights the past, present and future of beatmaking from Marley Marl to Kanye West. DJ Mathematics features stories of the equipment used by prodcuers, how they learned to make beats and anything else an aspiring producer would want to know about beatmaking. The DVD features interviews with Kanye West, Just Blaze, Havoc (Mobb Deep), Trackmasters, Swiss Beats, RZA, Premier, Pete Rock, Marley Marl, Alchemist, Easy Moe Bee, Prince Paul and more. Check what DJ Mathematics had to say about technology, who inspired him to become a prodcuer and how he would compare himself to the producers he’s interviewed.

Scheme: How did you choose the producers you wanted to include in this DVD?

Mathematics: Basically the producers on there, their track record speaks for itself. The majority of the producers on there are people who have been around for a while and have put out quality work. There are a lot of other producers I would’ve liked to get at, so more than likely there’s going to be a part two.

Scheme: Who are some past producers not specifically in the rap genre, but producers in general that may have shaped who you are todayas a producer?

Mathematics: I would say R&B and hip hop. With hip hop there’s Dr.Dre, Pete Rock, Premier, the Bomb Squad and Prince Paul. On the R&B side it would be Isaac Hayes, James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson.

Scheme: The internet has played a major role for up and coming hip hop producers, what is your view on the internet, blogs, myspace things of that nature?

Mathematics: I think the internet, that’s the future, that’s tomorrow. It’s tomorrow but it’s today, it’s here and now and it’s successfully growing and getting bigger.

Scheme: Is there anyway that these producers that are producing is totally opposite or the same from what you do when your creating a sound?

Mathematics: Everybody has their own technique, everybody is not going to do certain things the same way as far as in the studio making music. Some producers go to the drums first, some producers go to the sound of music first. Myself, I kind of do both. Business wise there is a lot of good information on that DVD and a lot of advice. A producer today has to be on his/her grind business wise and music wise.

Scheme: What type of equipment are you using these days?

Mathematics: I use a little but of everything, I have reasons but I really don’t use it. I have not had the chance to get into it yet. I’m using Pro tools and my ASR-10.

Scheme: Ever since the release of the Blueprint the soul sample has pretty much paved the way for the formula to a hot record. What are your thoughts on that?

Mathematics: It might have been overlooked, but brothers like Kanye and Just Blaze have kept it alive and they’ve put their twist on it and you have 9th Wonder he’s kind of killing right now, I like 9th.

Scheme: When you make a beat, do you have a certain rapper in mind that’s going to go over the beat, or do you just make the beat?

Mathematics: Sometimes I have a certain individual in mind and I make those type of beats for them. Sometimes I’m making a beat and as it starts progressing I start to picture who could possibly be on that beat. I might kind of cater to that or I’ll just let it be. Sometimes you have to let a beat be free and as a producer, when it’s finished you’ll know where it should go.

Scheme: What are your future projects besides the unreleased album that’s going to drop?

Mathematics: Yeah, the unlreleased album Wu-Tang and Friends which is to coincide with the DVD because like I said, doing the DVD I learned a lot from these other producers. So I felt like when I went back to my beats they went up a notch. At the time I had started recording the Solution which was a follow up to the Problem. I noticed that my beats were going somewhere else, so I took the beats I was making, put them together with some unreleased Wu-Tang stuff and put together the album. I basically did it to get it out my system, and that basically set the tone for what I’m about to come with next.