Neo-Soul, a term that some love and others hate but despite your feelings on it Philadelphia had a big hand in its explosion on the music scene. Behind the artist that performed these songs, there is a select group of artist who crafted the sound that took over the industry. Among those meet Vidal & Dre, Dre & Vidal it doesn’t matter which way you put it because the duo works as a natural team, often complimenting each other and finishing the others sentence. Scheme had a chance to talk with the tandem about everything from drumming to Jill Scott painting to Beanie Sigel grilling at their studio and why they are so much more than just “Soul Guys”. Oh yeah, and they gave us a sneak peak of the new Beanie Sigel album…a classic in the making! Check out the production and learn something!

Scheme: So you guys have been friends since before the music, give us the history of your relationship and how it lead to the music.

Vidal: Well we’ve known each other since we were kids, like 7 or 8 and we were just running around being kids but we always played the drums at various church groups and in bands and stuff like that.

Dre: In high school we were both pretty hot on the drums so we had that bond but we had no idea that music would be our main thing man.

Vidal: We had no idea.

Scheme: So when did you guys first have that idea that this was something you could seriously do?

Dre: Well we loved music and we were serious about it but we had no idea that we would make our living doing it man, you couldn’t have told us that.

Vidal: I thought I was gonna be playing ball.

Dre: I guess the real start was when we were 17. Vidal came into some case money because unfortunately he was in an accident. When he got that money, you know as a young dude when you get money you want to blow it on dumb stuff. I was telling him, “yo buy this car man, we can grab some girls and kick it” Vidal tells me how he actually wants to go ahead and get some studio equipment and build a little studio. I’m telling him that my friend already has some equipment we can use lets get a car. Thankfully Vidal made the right choice.

Vidal: We still had Dre’s car, I mean it was a hooptie but we took it to get our equipment.

Dre: Man, so we went to Delaware and packed this car with like $12,000 worth of equipment. This car had no tags, was beat up and come to find out it was stolen just to let you know where we were in life! So we set this equipment up in his moms crib and as soon as he set it up he was making beats and I was feelin it.

Vidal: After a couple of weeks my moms kicked us out of there so we moved it over to Dre’s house.

Dre: Yeah so we set up at my parent’s house and played there for a bit but the neighbors complained and we ended up getting kicked out of there too.

Vidal: So we went back to my moms but this time we soundproofed the basement as much as we could.

Dre: So we are working, still playing drums and stuff when our friend Jeff Pelser who was more established on production and beats introduced us to Jazzy Jeff. He took us over to Jeff’s crib and we would just go over there whenever we could. Eventually Jeff just had a big sit down and told us that he was starting a new type of Jazz and he wanted us to be a part of it. That was the start of our “official” music careers back in 94’ or 95’.

Dre: Actually back then, we weren’t producers we were just beatmakers. A lot of people get that confused but we were just making beats and we eventually grew into becoming producers. We had to learn how to make good music first and after that we had to get those writers and mesh it together.

Scheme: That is one of my favorite topics, the difference between Beatmakers and Producers. I love to get different peoples definitions.

Vidal: A producer doesn’t have to touch nothing! For instance, Quincy Jones can produce an album for Frank Sinatra and not play or touch anything. He assembles the right musicians and writers and knows how to connect the pieces and blend them together to make that chemistry.

Dre: As a producer he knows how to get the job done and how to orchestrate the pieces together and achieve the sound he is going for. A big part of being a producer is knowing how to pick the right people to achieve the sounds you’re looking for. They are like a coach; they pick certain types of players that when they work together form the type of team the coach is looking for.

Vidal: As a producer you have to baby sit your records because you are starting it from scratch it growing it into a finished song.

Dre: Also, we play instruments so it allows us to add to the process and produce in all situations. We can do hip hop, Jazz, R&B, Pop just about anything.

Scheme: So did you guys ever see an advantage to being just beatmakers or was it just a stage to go through as a producer?

Dre: It’s a beginning stage. If you’re a beatmaker and they come to you like “Mariah Carey wants this beat you need to get in there and finish this song” as a beatmaker you are going to be lost in that situation, you won’t know how to direct Mariah Carey and craft that finished product. Will you know how to get the best vocals out of her?

Vidal: Well I see it as an advantage and as a beginning stage. On the advantage side some people just make hot beats and they sell that beat and get as much as a producer and then they are done. They don’t have to be in the studio all night with that artist and the musicians crafting the finished product so that is a good look for some people. It’s kind of whack because you are limited and pretty much one dimensional.

Dre: I mean it’s a hustle and we have benefited from that before and I won’t knock anyone but you just get to be more involved as a producer and I like the process of being involved.
Scheme: How long did it take you guys to evolve into really good producers?

Dre: Well of course being young you always have a tendency to think you’re the hottest thing around. That is until you get around someone else more established, who is more advanced than you and knows more than you and you realize you still have a lot of work to do. It took a while though, I mean you always have a sense of confidence like “Yo, we got some fire coming out of here” but you don’t really think about it until later on

Vidal: Ain’t that crazy?

Dre: When I say later on it’s once you have produced a large percentage of an album or you set the tone for an artist album that’s when you really start to realize it.

Vidal: We were producing for a while but we really didn’t know it. We would make up beats back at the old studio in like 96’ and we would call up different people because we thought it would be hot to get the right person to play certain parts and at the end of the day we had a hot track but we didn’t “know” that we were producing, we thought we were still just making hot beats and trying to get the music done.

Dre: The great thing is that we were in a studio situation with Jazzy Jeff that we were always around writers and musicians and in that environment you had to produce to stick around and we had real work coming through.

Scheme: What’s the number one thing you took away from working in that situation with Jazzy Jeff and being in that environment? What do you still use to this day?

Dre: Well we learned not to be selfish with the sound. What I mean by that is sure, I can play this part of the song myself but you need to realize when there is someone else who can just make it vibe better than you and you need to know when to step aside and put the right person in there to create.

Vidal: We used to mix the ingredients! We do it with each other a lot too. There are a lot of tracks where we could have easily played the drum tracks because we can both play each other under the table on the drums but we may have different twist or grooves on a certain track and we learned how to switch off to the right person. He taught that to us even to the point of business, you might have to use different attorneys for different things depending on their experience and contacts. We also learned simplicity man. Jeff is a simple guy; he taught us that it all comes down to that groove! You have to set that groove, you have to find the groove, always go with the groove. Once you find that groove everything else just falls into place, you always build around the groove.

Scheme: Did you always get support in your decisions from your family as far as your music careers are concerned?

Dre: Yeah, I think it’s because they saw we were serious and not to be cocky but we were showing real promise and makings some good things.

Vidal: Yeah, I mean you have to figure our parents were like 45 and I don’t care how good something is your parents don’t want to hear 808’s busting through the ceiling all day. I’ll tell you what, once they saw those first royalty checks and realized we could make a good living they knew we did right.

Dre: Yeah, that changes a lot.

Scheme: So what did ya’ll do with those first royalty checks?

Vidal: Well to be honest with you I got my first royalty check from Kenny Lattimore which was three years after we got that equipment and that royalty check was for the both of us. Now when we got our Jill (Scott) royalty checks, I got an apartment, got a car you know stuff like that. Of course you splurge and shop but we tried not to go overboard because by that time we had kids and started to budget our money because you have to survive between those checks.

Scheme: From what I understand you guys don’t just produce but are also pretty active business men. You have this brand new studio, you are really active with real estate properties and also own an audio equipment company called “Basement Audio”. Was there anything that you guys saw in your earlier years that made you diversify beyond just producing, any one particular incident? Many people think that the music industry is just a big music video where the money is easy and endless and I think a lot of people, especially the youth are grossly misled, so can you shed some light?

Dre: There were a couple of different things, I mean where I come from I was paying bills in high school so I already knew about real life struggles and responsibilities. Once you understand how music checks come, very sporadically you learn that you have to have a good budget and spend wisely. There are times when the money is just consistently flowing but then there are other times when there are months where you don’t make a dime. I told myself that I can’t put myself through that stress of waiting and that I needed to create other opportunities to stay right in the between times. Also, being in the same city as Gamble & Huff and seeing what they did with real estate in Philly it only makes sense to follow their lead and become owners. We were spending so much money on rent and other things, we blew a lot of money early on but you live and learn.

Vidal: I mean living in an apartment downtown for 2 years paying $4k – $5k a month and just being young it can take a lot of people down. We were young and wanted to do it but thankfully we came out of that okay and we lived and learned. We look back and know it is a blessing that we are still here, we had situations that didn’t let all our money go.

Dre: It’s a blessing because it’s easy to make it to the top and get a hit record but the hard part is staying at the top and maintaining your success. You can’t live off one record; can you make 20 records like that?

Scheme: So how has the real estate worked for you?

Dre: I mean once you learn real estate as an investment it really starts to pay off. At first your kinda get upset because you drop a large sum of money at once and don’t see a quick turnaround and the neighborhood might be pretty messed up. Once you start to benefit and turn a profit, you start to understand and use your money wisely. Real estate teaches you to plant your seeds and water them and help them grow because they will blossom.

Scheme: Okay, so going back to the Jill (Scott) album that was a time when the Philly music scene was really starting to revive itself. Did you know at the time that you were part of something special that was just going to essential influence the music industry at that time?

Vidal: Yes we did!

Scheme: Was that scary at all?

Vidal: Naw, it was just a feeling of knowing your stuff was gonna be out there. The crazy thing with Jill is that we always knew Jill for doing poetry but never believed that she could sing, no one did. We all knew her as Jill, she used to be down at the studio and she would paint and stain wood and that was just Jill. She didn’t think anyone would work with her but she would still talk about it.

Dre: Well we had some time on our hands and decided all right Jill, we’ll cut a record. He first record was “A Long Walk” and we had to step back and go “Hold up, this is sounding like something”. See Jill’s vibe is so different because at that time we were working on straight R&B or Rap and she just has a different vibe. From there you had Floetry and Glenn Lewis and everyone come from that Jill album.

Vidal: The crazy thing is that we got pigeon holed from that experience; people began to know us as those “soul guys”. That’s a great thing but at the same time, we do all kinds of music and not just soul music. We had to kick that door down. Once we hit with “Ohh” from Ciara Feat. Ludacris and then Usher’s “Caught Up” people started to realize our other talents.

Scheme: Didn’t you guys do “War With God” from Ludacris?

Vidal: Yes

Scheme: How did that work for ya’ll because that song sent a few shockwaves through the rap game. It got people talking and speculating, did you get a sense of that when you were doing the track?

Dre: Well we were at his crib so when we heard that we knew he was gonna start some trouble, it was hot. He killed it!

Vidal: See the crazy thing with Luda is that we have chemistry with him. Whenever we have a beat for Luda we know it. We can have a batch of beats and know exactly which ones Luda will pick and sure enough he picks those beats.

Dre: One time we made a beat and knew it was his. He passed it the first time but then a few weeks later called and said he wanted it and we just looked at each other because we knew from the time we made it that it was a Luda beat.

“You have producers that want to make those beats so they can get that money. Then you have producers that’s like, “Yo man, don’t f&ck with my beats man, these sh&ts is my babies”. I think you have a difference in creators. I mean the clap and the 808, how many times do we have to hear the clap and the 808 when there are so many other sounds to use?”

Scheme: Luda is an established artist who has proven his versatility. Do you guys prefer to work with established artist or do you like working with new talent that you can mold?

Dre: Well we like both. With established artist you can get big singles and sales and more exposure but at the same time they are more likely to have an ego and don’t want to cooperate as much. New artist are great at times because they are more trusting and will allow you to guide them and you can help make something really special.

Vidal: With Cris (Luda) it was crazy because we really helped develop his whole sound, anybody will tell you because we placed eight records on his first album.

Dre: He’ll tell you.

Vidal: We knew however that he was gonna blow up, I mean from the first time you knew that he had it.

Dre: Yeah, he would come in the studio just full of energy, ready to go. He couldn’t even stop dancing. He knew what he wanted to do and used to say that. To this day, he is now established and a big star but he is still the same and we have nothing but respect for each other. It’s great when it turns out like that.

Scheme: Now coming from a drummers background, has it affected the way you produce? Do you find that you take a different approach than most producers?

Dre: Well, yeah because I look for the rhythm track of the song, it has to have a consistency to it. Whether it’s a double time or an uptempo you need to take care of the rhythm track and then you can color in the music section later. The drums are the backbone of a song, if a band is playing and the drummer is off the whole band is off.

Scheme: Music wise, say the last five years I have heard a lot of repetitive beats. I am by no means a production expert but beats are what I listen to. I’m drawn to beats before lyrics and will listen to a song literally 45 times in a row if the beat is crazy. How do you feel as professional producers when you hear everyone using the same drop or same snare or drum pattern? What’s the worst trend you have heard in the last five years on the production side?

Dre: Well I wouldn’t say it is really a wack thing but I think it’s a matter of people trying to get on the radio and get that check. You have producers that want to make those beats so they can get that money. Then you have producers that’s like, “Yo man, don’t f&ck with my beats man, these sh&ts is my babies”. I think you have a difference in creators. I mean the clap and the 808, how many times do we have to hear the clap and the 808 when there are so many other sounds to use?

Vidal: To each their own, I mean we will make a beat with a clap and an 808 but at the same time you better believe we will freak it and put a twist behind it. I think that also exposes people for what they are; we are musicians so we know how to use a wide range of sounds. Some people are not musicians so they may get stuck on sounds sometimes but at the same time that may be what works for them.

Dre: I must say that we may have consistency with our songs, but they don’t sound alike. You have “Long Walk” or “Is it the Way” by Jill (Scott) or you have “Ohhh” from Ciara and Luda and then you can go to “Butterflies” by Michael Jackson or “Don’t you Forget it” By Glenn (Lewis) they are all different vibes. I have a problem with someone putting out three records in a row that all sound the same, it’s not creative.

Vidal: The way we feel is that these artists are coming to get a fresh suit so we have to tailor make it to them to fit just right.

Dre: We will make tracks with certain artist in mind for the most part. We may vibe with the artist and see what they are trying to get across and just get a feel for it. No doubt there are times when we just make music and sell it but for the most part we like to custom tailor that sound for people. We like to give a fresh vibe!

Vidal: We get a lot of people that say they want the same vibe from “Caught Up” and we try to tell them but we’ll go ahead and do it. Once they realize it’s not working and we tell them we told you so, they start to listen to us and let us make a vibe just for them.

Scheme: Do you guys have an advisor, someone who you test your new sounds or vibes with besides each other.

Dre: The only people we really do that with are our managers and engineers, because they are also music people. They tell us when sh^t isn’t working! We might break our necks working on something and its great to have someone on your team that can reel you back in.

Vidal: We have a team that is brutally honest! Before anything gets sent out of here to any record label we have a serious filtration system that is brutally honest.

Dre: Between, Me and Vidal our management and our engineers it’s a real honest filter system.

“…you have some producers that are “Radio Chasers”. Just because they place tracks on the radio doesn’t mean they should be rated higher than another producer who is a better at production than they are.”

Scheme: Has there been that one song that got out there and you guys hear and you wish you tweaked something a little more or used a different pattern or anything different.

Dre: Oh yeah, you get to the point where it f*cks with you ever time you hear it.

Vidal: That’s why as we have gotten more experienced we have learned to listen to songs over and over and concentrate on new aspects each time to help cut down on that.

Dre: Of course you don’t want to over think music but you only have one time to get a song right because once it’s out there, it is out there hate it or love it.

Vidal: Then you have times, where you go through an Engineer phase. We had a period when we went through a few Engineers because we are really hard on sound. There will be times when the song is a certain way in the mix but when the album comes out the sound is changed because an Engineer decided to change stuff because they didn’t like it. That’s serious, how do you mess with someone’s sound?

Dre: That’s like messing with someone’s painting. We learned from that to keep the same crew and the same vibe because too many switch ups can lead to stuff like that and it really changes your sound.

Vidal: Yeah, I mean you might have a demo and when you’re working the product and go into the mixing phase you have people that want to keep it with that demo sound and keep it rough and your like “Nooo” it can’t sound like that.

Dre: That’s called “Demoitis”, when the artist is just in love with the demo and doesn’t want it to change.

Vidal: A song can be mixed a thousand times and if it works a certain way we will fold and give in if it sounds better.

Dre: We did that with Alicia Keys, the rough sounded so good we just needed to stay with it.

Scheme: Growing up on music and growing in the music game, what are the beats were you heard them and just thought “damn, how did they do that” or just wish you made that beat?

Vidal: Oh yeah, Teddy Riley used to get me like that.

Dre: Yeah, Teddy did it a lot of times, just freaked things.

Vidal: Man, Timbaland used to get me like that all the time.

Dre: Yeah, Timbaland early on just changed the whole time signature on drums. He changed the standard of how cats program now.

Vidal: He innovated a whole new sound.

Scheme: Who do you think is really underrated on the production side? You know producers kind of have your own society because a lot of producers are not out in the forefront in terms of having your own albums or videos etc.

Vidal: I think we are underrated sometimes to be honest.

Dre: Well you have so many who will never get their due just cause they are not in every video like other producers. I like however being able to spend my money and go shopping without anyone bothering me. I know all the people I need to know and that’s the check writers and more importantly they know who I am.

Vidal: I think Chucky Thompson is very underrated, and he is still killing it in the game.

Dre: It also depends on who is rating it. You have people out here that work they asses off and make a good living at it but the average person will have no idea who they are. You can’t really say that the person is underrated because they are working their ass off and making a good living at it.

Vidal: Yeah, it depends on who rates it. I mean you have some producers that are “Radio Chasers”. Just because they place tracks on the radio doesn’t mean they should be rated higher than another producer who is a better at production than they are.

Scheme: So how is the Beanie album coming along? I can only imagine that you are taking his sound where it hasn’t really been before.

Dre: I wouldn’t really say we took his sound in a different direction I would just say this time around we have kept it more consistent.

Vidal: It’s more East Coast, consistent East Coast sound.

Dre: Yeah, we really just let him concentrate on the lyrics and we did the damn thing with the production.

Vidal: He only takes what he likes so it’s coming together.

Dre: His lyrics right now are detrimental because the game needs his lyricism. No doubt that Down South shit is banging and that’s all good but a lot of it has no substance with the lyrics.

Vidal: He has a five mic album this time around man. He has some great features, from Scarface to Jamie Blount, Styles P., Chris from the Young Gunners and features from his new movement. He still has State Property in effect but he also has a new movement he is working on.

Scheme: How do you feel about technology in the production game?

Dre: I like the advances it has given producers because it has allowed for more options and new techniques. It gives us more to work with from the hardware down to the software. It has however made making “music” much easier and more accessible which has its upsides and downsides.

Vidal: I mean it’s great at times that I have sat on a plane and made a beat! That’s crazy to me.

Dre: Also, as studio owners we are aware of the good and the bad. On one end of the spectrum you have more technology to offer to artist at your studio however on the downside a lot of studios are loosing business and closing down like Sony Studios in New York and the Hit Factory because people can now make whole albums in their bedrooms.

Vidal: I mean we started off with keyboards but you look around now we don’t even have anymore keyboards, we use a program called Logic. It took us a while, but it has advanced so much that it’s warm now, more of an analog sound and no longer that digital sound.

Dre: It just adds on for us because we are still live musicians and still play our samples so it helps us.

Vidal: We still play everyday!

Scheme: How involved where you guys with building this studio?

Vidal: 100%, this whole place is me and him and of course our engineers.

Dre: Yeah, we’ve worked in so many studios and you see so many things you start to know how to build a studio.

Vidal: Technology wise you have to keep up when you own a studio or else you loose out. It advances so quickly that you have to stay in touch with it.

Dre: It’s like the iPhone, we were at a meeting the other day at ESPN and this guy was saying a few negative things about Beans. With my iPhone I was able to show him his new video on the iPhone and it changed the dudes whole perspective, that’s crazy!

“The first thing I think is trying to figure out how to get these guns off the streets. The killings are one of the main issues and we need to figure out how to teach the young to resolve things with out having to kill each other.”

Scheme: Outside of music and the industry, what do you guys do for fun? How do you relax?

Vidal: Play pool, go work out at the Gym, play basketball and play the four wheelers.

Dre: Go bowling, all of that stuff. Man, we enjoy life and still run around sometimes like when we were teenagers and have fun. We are blessed that we can still do that.

Vidal: Man, we crack a lot of jokes! I mean, don’t slip up in the studio because we pull practical jokes all the time and we get it on video!

Dre: We’ll catch people falling asleep and we’ll place some speakers’ right next to them and just blast the music to scare them and catch it on video. We’re going to put together a small novelty book about things that happen at the studio like pictures of everyone falling asleep. Catching celebrities is funny!

Vidal: You’ll see the coolest motherf*ckers scream, it’s great! I mean four in the morning you’re walking in the dark to the bathroom, you’re vulnerable and we’ll catch you on tape. It’s all good fun man and it keeps the work environment happy.

Scheme: Being native sons of Philadelphia, we are as a city going through a pretty tough time in terms of violent crime on the streets. You see things like Charlie Mack and others coming together to start the 10,000 man march and try to change things. From your standpoint, where do we need to start to move towards getting things back on track?

Dre: Man it’s hard because things have spiraled so far out of control on some aspects.

Vidal: The first thing I think is trying to figure out how to get these guns off the streets. The killings are one of the main issues and we need to figure out how to teach the young to resolve things with out having to kill each other. We need to get programs together. We have programs here at the studio where some of the young kids come here and we teach them about music. They need to be occupied and kept busy or else they can start heading down the wrong path.

Dre: Yeah, when you’re young and bored you can head down the wrong path and really quick.

Vidal: It’s crazy because we just lost one of our young bouls here at the studio, only 21 and he got two to the head and two to the back. He was always coming down here and that hurts to loose someone that way who was really trying to better his life.

Dre: We need to teach the younger kids that you have to work for success in life, it doesn’t just come quick. We need to set better examples of successful people that worked for what they have and took the long route to an honest living. No knock to any hustle but there is always a better way to do it.

Vidal: At the end of the day, we need to help them realize what they are getting themselves into. If you are gonna get into the hustle game you need to know, you are in it and there are no time outs and no do overs.

Dre: We need to get involved in our kids lives and talk to them. It’s essential that the elders get involved in the kids lives and help them understand things better.

Scheme: How old are your kids?

Vidal: My son is six.

Dre: I have an eleven year old, seven and one.

Scheme: Being parents, has that changed your approach to music?

Vidal: Of course!

Dre: As artist you want to keep the integrity and you want your kids to be able to listen to your music.

Vidal: Those are our A&R’s too, they keep us honest man.

Dre: There are records that they are gonna hear and even like that I don’t agree with. My job as a parent is to make sure they know what’s right and what’s wrong and what just entertainment is and how it separates from real life.

Vidal: Our kids love our songs; you can’t tell them they are not hot and that is a great feeling man.

Dre: See plus our kids see the real Beanie Sigel. They know beans from coming down here and cooking on the grill and they can separate him from his music and see he is a person just like the rest of us.

Vidal: It doesn’t mean anything to our kids because it’s what they know, they treat everyone the same and that’s important. The people we work with love to see our kids and that’s a great thing.

Dre: It’s also fulfilling that our kids see us work for our money and make a living and we make it a point not to spoil them. I’m sure they are better off than a lot of kids because as parents you want your kids to have things and enjoy life but we teach them values and that you just can’t have something because you want it. We teach them values and love and a respect for work.

Scheme: Okay, time for the lightening round! A few quick questions and tell me the first thing that comes to mind.

Scheme: Favorite artist?

Dre: Stevie Wonder

Scheme: Favorite musician?

Dre: Damn, that’s too hard right now. There are so many.

Scheme: Okay, favorite drummers?

Dre: Dennis Chambers

Vidal: Dave Weckel

Scheme: Favorite studio besides your own?

Vidal: Marvin’s Room in Los Angels, California!

Dre: I have to agree!!!

Scheme: Favorite album you have worked on where you have done at least 50% of the production?

Dre: Glenn Lewis

Vidal: Yeah

Dre: And that’s because we spent the summer in Toronto working on that album and it was insane.

Scheme: What’s the music scene like there?

Dre: You know what there is a ton of talent in Toronto.

Vidal: They have a tight music scene there.

Dre: The city kind of reminds me of Baltimore, D.C, Philly and New York Squished into one but it isn’t flashy it is very calm. There is an earthly vibe there.

Vidal: It’s a very international city!

Dre: Very beautiful women, all shapes, sizes and backgrounds.

Scheme: Favorite Philadelphia Moment?

Dre: When the 76er’s won the championship

Vidal: Yessir

Scheme: Worst Philadelphia Moment?

Vidal: The M.O.V.E. incident

Dre: Yeah, that was crazy. The young bouls don’t even know about that.

Scheme: Top 3 musical influences?

Vidal: Teddy Riley

Dre: Quincy Jones

Vidal: Gamble & Huff

Dre: Stevie Wonder

Scheme: Best Live Performer?

Vidal: Teddy Pendergrass

Dre: I give it to Prince

Scheme: Best rerformance drummer?

Dre & Vidal in Unison: Gotta give it to John Roberts!

Vidal: I was contemplating at first but he kills it! That’s our boy from Philly and he plays with everyone.

Dre: And Questlove…

Vidal: Yeah, Ahmir puts on a crazy show, he just blacks out sometimes.

Dre: He plays the shit out the music, just like on the records man I love that.

Scheme: Favorite DJ?

Vidal: I’d say Jazzy Jeff

Dre: I’d have to go with Jeff too, cause we have seen all sides of his DJ abilities.

Scheme: Yeah, let’s side track for a little. A lot of people, even those who are somewhat knowledgeable about music don’t understand his importance to the DJ profession. How does that make ya’ll feel that he doesn’t always get the proper respect?

Dre: He’s a serious dude, man a real musical cat.

Vidal: Jeff is great with it because he’s a real serious dude man. He still works out and practices his DJ routines and watches videotape on it. He still works on it, tours and does it hard. He knows his place so we are just try to put people up on game if we can.

Dre: Past just being a DJ he pretty much orchestrated the whole new Philadelphia sound.

Scheme: Okay, this question might be a little loaded but I need you to the best of your ability; remove yourselves from the hand you played on some of these albums. I had a conversation with someone a few months ago and we talked for probably a good half hour on the subject and had a great time doing it. From these three albums, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill”, “Who Is Jill Scott”, and “Erykah Badu’s “Mama’s Gun”, which album had the best overall all flow musically and the most comprehensive sound?

Dre: Damn, that’s rough. I have to think about that for a minute.

Vidal: Yeah man, that’s some food for thought.

Dre: I’m gonna have to go with Lauryn Hill first. You know why, because she is an MC so the lyrics and her great vocal abilities helped her grab both sides of the fence and pull it together with out sounding forced. See was right down the middle, clever but very powerful.

Vidal: They were all real empowering albums, especially for women too.

Dre: Yeah, they were. Also, Lauryn’s album was real consistent with her sound.

Vidal: Yeah, Lauryn was real hip hop but still it had soul.

Dre: It had Reggae, still hip hop R&B feel to it. She had a lot of singles; as opposed to Jill’s album she had a different vibe. Jill had a classic album but she has so many sides to her music. She had some live music, some go-go, some poetry which was fresh and different especially at that time. Erykah’s shit was real soulful and groovy, real funky.

Vidal: Her joint was real sexy too. Her joint made you want to roll up on something. She had that dirty, low end sound too. Her joints where just hitting!!

Dre: Yeah, like those 808’s from her first album, remember in the studio (they start to make the beat with their mouths). Remember “Rimshot”, and it was just shaking?

Vidal: Yeah, Bob Powers mixed that, kept it really dirty and it worked so well.

Dre: Plus, you had 1 person mixing some of those albums so it kept the consistently where as with Jill’s album there is a bit more variety because we all had a hand in mixing that.

Vidal: I love all of them, and Jill’s holds that special place with me but Lauryn’s to me just had that steadiness. When I heard that joint, it did it.

Dre: And I think she’s a stronger vocalist to the type of music I personally like.

Vidal: That album had a strong influence on our musical career. I remember after hearing that album it made us think and experiment. We were working towards that kind of sound but they beat us to it. It still had that Philly sound because James Poyser played a lot of keys on that.

Dre: See the crazy thing with Jill is that she is the best at getting her feelings across. She is a beast at that live performance, I mean we have seen her make people cry, laugh and just dance all in 10 minutes.

Vidal: Yeah, that girl can do it with her voice; it’s really an instrument for her feelings.

So there you have it, the modern day Gamble & Huff helping progress the Philadelphia sound, tradition and recognition. Next time you take on a seemingly difficult task, remember to find the groove and everything else will fall in place.