88-Keys born Charles Misodi Njapa, the last of five children of three older sisters and one older brother and the only one to be born on American soil. With his first solo endeavour with an album entitled The Death of Adam which refers to the power of the “P” (my mom reads this stuff) as well as bringing back the once strong and well knit African-American family and community. 88-Keys has had plenty of opportunities to make a name for himself working with the likes of Black Star together and respectivley, Musiq, DJ Spinna, J-Live, Consequence and more, luckily for us he did it his way. Through a spiritual journey this married man with a beautiful daughter and supporting wife is on a constant quest not to be boxed in and to prove that you can do everything and be a master of it all.

Scheme: Where are you originally from?

88-Keys: I’m originally from the Bronx, and then as I grew into my formative years and then my parents wanted to get us out of the hood so they moved us to the suburbs of Long Island and it had the grass, fence and trees, you weren’t seeing that in the Bronx (laughs).

Scheme: I read that you were introduced to music through a Roy Ayers track, Everybody Loves the Sunshine?

88-Keys: Yeah, this station we have back in New York called 98.7 Kiss FM on Sunday evenings would play a bunch of classic music like Roy Ayers, James Brown and Stevie Wonder and that was my first time hearing Roy Ayers and I thought it was a spin on a Brand Nubian song Wake Up but I didn’t know anything about hip hop beats or samples. Me being naive I thought some old guy was singing over a Brand Nubian beat. So I called the radio station to find out who it was and they told me who it was plus the album. I asked where I could find it and they said on vinyl but good luck finding it (laughs). At the time I was living with my parents and I started making trips to the record store. I met Red Carrero and his wife Amy Carrero who were record brokers and they referred me to their son who was also in the record business. I hooked up with John Carrero and I bought the record off of him for like eight bucks. I listened to the entire record and I was like man this record is dope. More specifically when I listened to Everybody Loves the Sunshine and I listened to the part that Brand Nubian sampled but I also heard other parts that they could have used as well. One thing lead to another and I started colleting records. Eventually I started catching some real nice pieces and I started formulating my ideas as far as sampling without even knowing what I was doing.

Scheme: How did you break into this art form?

88-Keys: I started meeting cats back in early 93′. John Carrero is a pretty famous record broker and he worked with the Roosevelt Record Convention that was notorious back in the early to mid 90’s and he would help me buy records from that convention. He always had the illest records. Everyone would come to our table from Q-Tip, Kid Capri, Da Beatminerz and so on and this is when producers were at their peak like Pete Rock so we had all the legends come to our table. I was lucky enough to be around those guys so I would ask them what do I need to do. I never had money like that but John started buying equipment for me to use. Just being inspired by my heroes like, A Tribe Called Quest and Pete Rock.

Fast forward to a guy named Matt Fingaz he had a guy with Nervous records and he had me do a remix for this group called Network Reps. The funny thing is to this day I got shorted but I don’t know how much I got shorted. I think I was supposed to get something like $900.00 dollars and I only got something like $500.00 but I was happy as hell! That group actually chose the very first beat I ever made which was on a MPC3000 which is what I use today, back then I was using the ASR10 but I was told that I should learn how to use an MPC3000 because it could change my life which it did. This is me using the MPC3000 without an owners manual or anything. So the track I did for them was my interpretation of what DJ Premier would do and by any stretch of the imagination did it sound anything close to that. The funny thing is by the time they picked that beat I had a slew of beats that were way better than that and I was trying to convince the group of the different beats I had and they were like nah we want that one. I’m more of a producer with integrity instead of just getting a check, I wouldn’t anything to be wack with my name on it jus to get a check.. (The second beat 88-Keys would sell was Thieves in the Night an incredible track used by Black Star).

“…don’t accept a no from a person who is not authorized to tell you no. I’d liked to get into some examples but I don’t want to put anybody out there.”

Scheme: What’s it like being on tour with the individuals that you’ve looked up too?

88-Keys: I’m no d*ck rider or anything but it’s an honor. I’ve known Tip since I was 13 or 14 years old and I’m a huge Tribe fan and he was the one to actually make me consider this being my lifestyle. I’ve gone to shows and been in shows before in the past. Philly, DC and stuff like that but to actually be on the road with this guy and to watch Q-Tip go on stage and he’s asking me for my critique like how was the show is crazy.

Scheme: I also understand you’ve worked and been in the studio with Kanye and you mentioned off the record you learned a lot from him, can you expand on that?

88-Keys: Oh yeah, I’ve learned a lot from that dude. Relationships in the industry but the biggest thing I learned that I’ve recently started applying to my everyday life is don’t accept a no from a person who is not authorized to tell you no. I’d liked to get into some examples but I don’t want to put anybody out there. I also learned how to be honest with myself and using constructive criticism and using it to my advantage and shape craft and most what I’m doing it a better product, but he’s definitely a force to be reckoned with and I sensed that from day one and he felt the same about me.

“I sort of took a sabbatical and removed myself from the entire business of it and I stopped making beats for other people and submitting beats to labels because I wanted to stop shucking and jiving for these A&R’s.”

Scheme: What is your current take on feeling on hip hop music and culture?

88-Keys: As far as the culture I’ve always embraced it but I never really participated in all facets of it. When I was younger I tried to breakdance and that didn’t work out to well. I was never able to do the graffiti thing. As far as the music and business aspect of it, I love it, you have to take it with a grain of salt. Basically if you allow yourself to be bullied by the industry you’ll get bullied you have to basically grab the reigns and steer your own path. It’s all easier said than done but if you believe in yourself and have the talent and many other people agree you have to go for it full force. I sort of took a sabbatical and removed myself from the entire business of it and I stopped making beats for other people and submitting beats to labels because I wanted to stop shucking and jiving for these A&R’s.

Scheme: Speak on your debut album the Death of Adam and how you came up with the whole concept.

88-Keys: The Death of Adam is basically conceptualized around the power of the p*ssy. It’s a storyline that follows Adam who basically represents man and it’s very detailed about his relationship with a particular woman and how he gets caught up because he was chasing after it and things of that nature. One thing I have to stress about the album is like it’s very, very detailed and each song is part of a story. The people that have heard it so far have been able to relate. If guys don’t feel like they’ve been in these situations themselves then they know someone who has been in that situation. The parts of the story aren’t far-fetched they could be things that everyone has gone through even people’s parents. I have a song called M.I.L.F featuring Bilal and the song is about having a child with a person that you’re no longer in love with or you probably never really in love with and trying to work that out. My album is mainly instrumental but I have a few pieces on it to create the storyboard. I don’t have people on the album like Kanye West because he’s Kanye West. He actually wanted to be on my album when he heard I got my shot because we’re best friends and it’s funny because the day I told him we were in the studio with Hov (Jay-Z) he Kanye was like, “Yo, you know I’m going to be on your album.”, and I was like, “Yeah I hope I can get clearance from Def Jam.” and we both looked at Hov and he turned, looked at us and laughed. I have a song I’m about to record for the next few days out in LA with Redman and the name of the song is called the burning bush. In that song Adam gets burnt by the bush and so I crafted each beat to stand alone by the story. Redman’s role is to play Funkdoctor Spot and so everyone on the album is really significant to that particular song. I never wanted to make an album with a tone of features. I don’t even like soundtracks because of the whole compilation part but that’s me being quirky.

Scheme: So then how would you describe your album?

88-Keys: Very good, very dope.

“I was hoping that my music would make some men in there relationships change or rethink how they are with the women in their lives, like maybe I should stop ducking this child support or maybe I should become a family with my baby’s momma.”

Scheme: It’s interesting because when you mentioned not liking soundtracks but when I hear an album that has instrumentals I usually apply it to what’s going on outside and I think of the music as the soundtrack and sometimes it fits, sometimes it doesn’t.

88-Keys: I’d rather not label it because I have a little bit of everything on there. The first single “The Friends Zone” featuring Shitake Monkey co-produced by Shitake Monkey has a rock appeal to it. Then I have a song with Phonte (Little Brother) and that’s for people who are interested in that real hip hop song and it’s called Close Call. Then I have a song with J*Davey which brings the style they’re bringing to the game which is the futuristic soul kind of stuff. Then I have Bilal who I consider soulful and to me and he’s definitely my favorite singer of all time in the history of music and that’s saying a lot but I feel like I can back it up (laughs). So the album is all over the place but at the end of the day it’s all good. Even all the way down to the instrumentals I wouldn’t know what to call them. I have some that are really hard and then I have some that are really melodic.

Scheme: How do you want your catalogue of work to be remembered because it’s already very extensive what do you hope people get out of your discography but more importantly the Death of Adam?

88-Keys: As far as my catalogue I would hope people would think my music is dope and it just brings fond memories of what they were going through at different times. As far as the album this is the first of many albums that I actually plan on doing. I have about seven albums in my head that I have already conceptualized and can see. Initially about midway through the album I was hoping I could be the voice of the good guy trying to straighten out. I was hoping that my music would make some men in there relationships change or rethink how they are with the women in their lives, like maybe I should stop ducking this child support or maybe I should become a family with my baby’s momma. I never wanted that, I never wanted to have a child out of wedlock and that’s the kind of family I come from, my parents have been married for over 35 years and they had their ups and downs but divorce was never a question. So with this album I want to bring the family unit back into existence. I got married May 27, 2006 and then I had my daughter on New Years Day. It’s mind boggling to me that people are so surprised that I’m married then had a child and I’m doing things the tradition way like that’s almost non-existent and so that’s one thing I want to do with this album is bring that back.

Scheme: So how many tracks are on the album, did you produce the whole thing, did you have any help?

88-Keys: Right now there are 21 songs on the album plus four interludes. I have one song that has co-production with “co-production with Brook D’Leau of J*Davey” and I love the group so I wanted the group to be involved. Other than that and another track everything else is all me.

Scheme: In Common’s album Finding Forever at the end is father asks a great question when he asked himself what was he going to leave? So I ask that to you, what are you going to leave and what are you trying to accomplish with this music?

88-Keys: Even though this is an independent release I’m trying to do Gnarls Barkley numbers and I’m trying to see platinum sales off of it. Anyone who says they strictly do this for the love, I mean I love what I do but I also love to take care of my family (laughs). I would hope to have a successful album that touches people in a way that they haven’t been touched before. The next album I’m going to touch on the issue of being a first generation American from parents who weren’t born on this soil.

Scheme: How much of this album was influenced by your personal relationship with your wife?

88-Keys: In different ways I would say 100% of it because she was there through the struggles of it and like I said this is all God’s work so the times when I was like f*ck the industry, taking the meetings for nothing and making these good ass beats for nothing and turning down opportunities because He told me not to do it and put my blood sweat and tears in my own sh*t. So there were times at the crib when it was like how is this going to get paid? Low behold every single time without fail something would just fall into my lap.