CROWN ROYALE  (December 2010) | Interviewer J-Double

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Interview was done in December 2010

Questions Asked By: J-Double

Dubcnn: Rhettmatic, since we are on the heels of the “Crown Royale” release with you and Buff1, I wanted to ask as to whether or not doing collaborative efforts, such as this, as well as the critically acclaimed A.D.I.D.A.S effort with Ras Kass will be a reoccurring theme.

Rhettmatic: Buff1 and I actually started the “Crown Royale” project before the A.D.I.D.A.S project actually came about. In fact Ras Kass actually laid vocals for this “Crown Royale” project before we even got started on the A.D.I.D.A.S. project.


Dubcnn: Buff1, I’m starting to hear your name buzzing all over these days, but for our readers who may not be aware of your resume, give our readers a brief rundown as well as how the connection with DJ Rhettmatic came to be

Buff1: Well, I come from Michigan, (Ann Arbor area) I’m part of a group called the “Athletic Mic League” which consists of myself, Tres Styles, producer extraordinaire 14KT, as well as soul crooner, producer etc. Mayer Hawthorne to name a few of us…

We’ve been making music well over 10 years now and started releasing music around 2002 & 2004 with our first releases as a group. Then after the group slowed down a little I did a couple of mixtapes, then released my first album entitled “Pure” in 2007, then a second effort in 2008 entitled “There’s Only One”

During this time, Mayer Hawthorne had moved to L.A., so during my visit to see him, I would end up bumping into Rhettmatic, who at the time was already familiar with my group and our music. One of my homies ‘Now On’ suggested we work together, so we put it together and here it is.


Dubcnn: Buff1, when I heard about your connection with Mayer Hawthorne, I was surprised, as I didn’t know he rhymed at all.

Buff1: Yeah, he rhymes, does production, multiple instruments, etc. he’s gonna be big.
especially after he drops his second album, but yeah while in the Athletic Mic League he was our DJ, he went by the name DJ Haircut.

Rhettmatic: In my eyes he’s already a really big artists, he’s been co-signed by a lot of big names out there.


Dubcnn: So Rhettmatic are you considering focusing more on production now rather than DJ’ing?

Rhettmatic: Well, to me production is a natural progression from being a DJ, I’ve been doing production I just wasn’t always known for it. I’m a music lover and being surrounded by great talent wants to make me create good music, if you look at it a lot of the great producers were actually DJ’s first, like Premo, Pete Rock, Dr. Dre and so on.


Dubcnn: Rhettmatic, with your history as being a part of the world famous “Beat Junkies” as well as a part of the “Visionaries” and your legendary status on the underground scene, are you opposed to working with any artists say on a ‘broad mainstream’ level.

Rhettmatic: Not at all, as long as their able to work within the contexts of what I could bring to them. For example I’ve worked with and am good friends Will.I.Am of the “Black Eyed Peas” and he’s so ahead of everyone else out there musically, but he knows hip-hop, he can freestyle like crazy and he’s a great producer, I mean he produced for artists like Game, as well as Nas and it’s all been good.


Dubcnn: Going back to the “Crown Royale” project I know you guys have the video for the single “We Gotcha” do you guys plan on hitting the road to promote the album?

Buff1: We also have the EP “Crown Jewels for FREE download for the tracks that didn’t make the album and we plan to keep going and see just how far this record we’ll take us

DJ Rhettmatic: Whatever we do even if we don’t record another album, were always gonna be “Crown Royale” because we support each others work and outside of the music were really good friends.


Dubcnn: Buff1, after the “Crown Royale” album is released do you plan on dropping another solo album?

Buff1: immediately following this record, I plan on working another album with my crew “Atheltic Mic League” this will be our first group effort in 7years since the release of the “Jungle Gym Jungle” album. As far as a solo effort I don’t know if I’ll be dropping anything by myself in 2011


Dubcnn: So how long has the idea for this Crown Royale project been in the making?

Rhettmatic: This project has been in the making for well over two years now. We’ve started on the record towards the end of 2008 up until now where we are finally releasing it?


Dubcnn: How has the response been surrounding this project on the road?

Buff1: The people overseas in Europe have responding greatly to the records we’ve been performing and buying our single on Vinyl.

Rhettmatic: We’ve actually been really lucky that we’ve been able to promote the album before it drops and get such a good response.

We actually did our first show as “Crown Royale” in San Francisco earlier this year opening for ‘Souls of Mischief’ and they actually expressed interest in the project and really gave Buff1 and I props on the music, so much so that we were invited to be in one of their more recent videos.

Buff1: Yeah, and meeting ‘Souls of Mischief’ was like one of the best days in my life, especially since they’ve been such a great influence to me and my crew, the ‘Athletic Mic League’ most notably on our track “Livin Life” you could definitely sense their influence on our crew, so to meet them was real cool.


Dubcnn: Well before we end the interview I want to thank you both for taking the time talk with Dubcnn about the “Crown Royale” album and much continued success.

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