DAE ONE (March 2008) | Interview By: Eddie Gurrola

       Dubcnn linked up with producer Dae One for an exclusive video interview. In this feature, we take you to LNS Studios, where Dae One and his business partner Taje work on a lot of the hottest music coming from the West Coast. To celebrate their position in the game, LNS is dropping a two-disc compilation exclusively on Dubcnn, which will showcase familiar and unreleased hits that have come out of their studio. Dae One tells us all about this project, and about a lot of the mixtapes LNS has had a hand in over the years. We discuss the Dae One-produced Butch Cassidy song “All I See” and the impact that it’s had on the radio so far.

After this, we also hear about the forthcoming Dae One & Noni Spitz collaboration project “No One: The Substance”, and Taje’s “Get It Gang” street album. Read on to find out about all of these topics and much more.


As always we have both the transcript and the video for you to check and please feel free to send any feedback regarding the interview to: eddiegurolla@dubcnn.com
 

Interview was done in March 2008.

Questions Asked By : Eddie Gurrola

Full Interview In Video For Download : Here (Video: WMV)

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Watch The Video Interview (via the Dubcnn Brightcove Channel)
Press Play To Start Streaming Footage: Fast Connection Recommended

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Dubcnn: PR1ME’s “Transformation” street album just came out, and you mixed a lot of the record…

Yeah, PR1ME came to me and he let me hear a lot of the records. I liked them all, and there were just a few that needed a better quality mix so that the fans could really get a good conception of what he was trying to do with it. So yeah, I mixed a lot of those songs…and I don’t mean mixed as in “DJ-mixed”, I mean getting on the boards and leveling everything out.

Shouts out to PR1ME man, that’s my dude! Me and PR1ME sat in the studio, and [we] were up ‘til 7 in the morning mixing his records just so he could have it in time for the Magic show. So yeah, we put a lot of work into that!


Dubcnn: Everyone’s been talking about the new Butch Cassidy single that you produced, “All I See”. Tell us about what it was like doing that record…

I’m happy the record is doing good. We cut the record at the tail-end of last year. The record was a surprise to me too. I ended up meeting with Butch, and it was the first time we had ever worked together. I just gave him a beat CD, and he was like, “Yo man, I like the tracks you gave me, I’m rollin’ with two of them right now.” He actually did a rough version to the song just over the instrumental. Snoop wasn’t even on the record [yet]. Actually, Butch was rapping on the record!

I guess y’all will never hear that now, but Butch had a verse where Snoop was rapping. I was like, “Dogg, we’re not gonna leave this?”, and he was like, “Nah, that’s just there for play.” We had to take the record to Snoop for him to lay his part. Snoop jumped on the record, and I loved it. Bless you Snoop! It’s a beautiful thing.


Dubcnn: What are your hopes for this record on the radio? Are you shooting for it to be the number one record in L.A.?

Yeah, I would really love that! It would really be good for the West Coast. Of course, it would be good for myself as a new up-and-coming producer, there would be a lot of limelight shined on me. But aside from that, it would also put Butch at a better place where I really feel he should be, being 9 or 10 years in the game and having his first solo record. For me to listen to Butch as a fan, and then have his first real lead single, that’s a blessing to me. I’m just shocked - I’m a fan of Butch and Snoop! I remember being 13 and trying to go buy Snoop’s album. So it’s crazy that I’ve got a record with this dude rapping on it.

I just hope the record really does good for Butch, and puts him at a better place where he can establish himself as an entrepreneur. Hopefully it will give me a little more limelight, where I can have other artists interested in working with me. You know, your stock goes up when someone valuable views your work as valuable. We’re shooting for that number one spot, so let’s hope we get it! Call in, text in to 69106, and request it all day!

I have another record called “My Time” which is one of my favorite joints that’s on Butch’s album. It’s my production, and I ended up listening to the record, and I was like, “Man, something’s missing!” So I ended up grabbing my phone, I called my boy Terrace Martin, and he came through and played the sax on the record. The song is incredible! It’s one of my favorites. I think it’s one of Butch’s favorites too, although he may not admit it. *Laughs*

I’ve got another record with Butch Cassidy and Vanessa Marquez, which is really dope. It’s a real hot record, I love that record too. Vanessa Marquez is incredible. I’ve got another record with him and PR1ME too called “Chillin On The West Coast”.


Dubcnn: We heard that during the footage from “The Basement” radio show…

Yeah, I did that joint. That’s me!


Dubcnn: You were at the Glasses Malone “Certified” video shoot a few weeks ago, and that just looked like a whole bunch of West Coast unity!

Man, that was like one of the greatest feelings for me to be there because there were a whole lot of different West Coast cats from different areas, different genres. You’ve got gangsters, you’ve got backpackers; everybody was in the house. There were about 400 extra people that weren’t even in the video at the video shoot! Everybody came though and showed their support. Mistah FAB came through, Down came through, E-40, Butch Cassidy, Bishop, Mykestro, Lil Eazy – it was a lot of West Coast unity.

It’s funny because when I was there, Bishop came, and he brought Little Brother with him. We all went out to eat afterwards, and they were like, “Man, we ain’t never seen nothing like that out here on the West Coast. I know people that go places together and end up fighting. You guys has 600-700 people there and didn’t nothing pop off!” So that was good for the West Coast – it showed a lot of unity amongst the young cats. It was actually the first official video shoot for anyone that was claiming New West. That’s why I feel it’s a big step in the right direction. I was glad to be there and to be a part of it – that was history in the making.


Dubcnn: LNS, your company with Taje, is going to put out a two-album compilation for free download in the next couple of weeks…

Yeah, like a two-album compilation kind of deal. Our company [is] LNS. If you look at a lot of these tapes, you’ll find our logo on the back – it’s the angel with the wings, choosing if he’s going to do the music or the streets. We wanted to show that not only do we have artists that we deal with, but we also maintain a company that helps keep artists afloat. I’m not saying that people rely on us, but we lend our hand to a lot of different artists that are in certain situations.

We’re gonna drop this two-part compilation which is gonna be like an oversight of everything we’ve been involved with from the jump. Volume 1 is not consisting of just Dae One work, it’s just whatever work LNS feels is good or whatever the fans haven’t heard. We have some unreleased songs that people have never heard before! On Volume 1, we’ve got everyone from Crooked I, Butch Cassidy, Scipio, Hot Dollar, Bishop Lamont, and Roccett. Mike Anthony has a solo song, and Kurupt and Sir Jinx did the intro [to the project]! It’s a well-rounded record.

Then Volume 2 is gonna be the “Dae One Picks”, where I pick out records I like that I produced myself. So it’s gonna be a good look. It should be out in the next few weeks, because there’s really not much for us to do, we just finished picking the list of the songs.

We’re gonna release it strictly through Dubcnn, so it’ll be a download for all the fans on Dubcnn that have shown their support for us and our music. We’re giving this back to y’all. We’re not even gonna tag it. It’s gonna be strictly for the fans so they can appreciate the value of the music. And they’re all gonna be in .WAV form! I know a lot of y’all on the forums are like, “Oh, this ain’t CD quality!” A lot of the sessions are done at our spot, so we have the privilege to drop it in .WAV form. So it’s gonna be the highest quality of the music that you can get. Look out for the “LNS Presents” real soon!


Dubcnn: On the “Dae One Picks”, are there going to be some unreleased in there too?

After going through the list and getting all the songs that we had, it ended up that there is probably going to be a lot of unreleased stuff that people haven’t heard. The record that I’ve got with Lil Flip is gonna be on it. I’ve got a record with Kokane, WC, and Gangsta from The Comrads. There’s gonna be some nice surprises! If y’all like what I do, then you should come check this record out.


Dubcnn: LNS has been helping other artists out for years. Tell us about some of the projects people will remember that you guys had a hand in…

OK, let’s start from the jump. We had “Angel Dust” that we did with Scipio and DJ Warrior. We housed the whole project. That tape got everywhere from The Source to XXL. XXL even did a write-up on Tookie Williams and talked about a record I produced called “Dear Mr. Governor”. We did the “West In Full” with Roccett, which is kind of like an unreleased tape. That’s a real underground tape. If you’re a real [big] Roccett fan, you’ve got that tape. If you haven’t heard that tape, I’m trying to talk to Roccett and Rick now to find out a way to get the record out where people can hear it. At first it was done with another website, and we’re gonna try to figure out a way where we can get it re-printed up and get it out to y’all untagged, because it’s the 2nd-year anniversary.

Both of the “Hot Box” mixtapes were housed by us. We did songs for the “N*gger Noize” tape, we did songs for the “Pope Mobile” tape. We did the Noni Spitz record, “WIMS Radio”. Lil Bam had a street record that we did there called “20/20 Vision”. We housed some of the PR1ME record, with my mixing and assistance. I mixed and recorded the [“Megatron”] record. There’s a lot of fly records that we’re lending our hands to. Chevy Jones had a tape that we did that was really hot, it was a dope R&B tape. Just a lot of records! You guys can go back and check the artwork and see the logo there.


Dubcnn: What is your goal for LNS in the next couple of years?

Right now we’re gonna start figuring out a way to get into branding. A lot of sponsors are getting at us, so we’re taking offers from different sponsors. But, we’re gonna become a major company out here on the West Coast, putting out great new music, good talent, and showing people that it’s another avenue to come to, instead of having to go to the same three powerhouses. Either it’ll be independently, or we’ll find a way to break the genetic code on the internet. I can’t give away too much game on that, but it’s all about making profit, making money, and establishing yourself as a businessman. That’s what we’re gonna do with that.


Dubcnn: For everyone that’s looking for new Dae One productions, you’ve got a lot of new stuff coming out. Bangloose’s record “Rats and Roaches” is coming out…

Yeah, I’m on the Bangloose record “Rats & Roaches”. I’m not on “Sonically Correct”; I just cleared that right now with Bang. Bangloose, what up boy! That’s my dude. Y’all be sure to check that out. I think it’s a record with him, Mike Anthony, and Problem. It’s really dope. I’m on that record, I’m on The Bloc Boyz [street album & mixtape].

Also, the “No One” record with me and Noni Spitz is coming soon. That’s a joint venture between my company, LNS, and Hood Tight, which is Noni Spitz’s corporation. I’m also rapping on the tape alongside Noni. You’re gonna see a lot of surprises, a lot of guest appearances and stuff like that. That’s coming soon!


Dubcnn: What’s the concept behind the “No One” record?

It’s called “No One” because of our names [“No” from Noni Spitz and “One” from Dae One]. The meaning behind it is, we feel no one is representing music like they should nowadays. Everybody is doing what they feel people are going to like. We’re trying to get back to the roots of doing stuff that feels good. It’s not gonna be like, “Oh, I need a song for the radio.” It’s not really for that. This record is more or less based around the art form of creating music. It’s not based around gangsta rap music, because neither one of us are gangsta rappers, but it’s still West Coast. It’s bringing that to the forefront. The album is gonna be titled “The Substance”, and [that doesn’t mean] the substance in the music. Substance is something that matters, takes up space, and really has a purpose. That’s what we feel this music we’re giving you really is, so we’re calling it [that].

Right now, we’re about nine songs in. You’re gonna see [guest] features and production from Bishop Lamont, Glasses, Focus, & Thayod. It’s just gotta be real fresh music.


Dubcnn: Then we’ve got Taje’s “Get It Gang” tape…

“Get It Gang” is gonna be a monster tape. That’s really gonna be on a level of some real street shit. It’s just niggas going hard and doing the music for themselves. It’s a “Taje Presents” kind of thing, like how 2Pac did the whole “Thug Life” movement. It’s gonna be something like that. I would say we’re almost done with it. That’s gonna come real quick, and it’s gonna be real rider-ish. Kind of like how 50 did the whole “G-Unit” thing, it’s gonna be along the lines of that. It’s gonna be real street music, and people are gonna love it.

Then after that, we’re trying to push for “Hot Box 3”. I know y’all are ready, because “Hot Box 2” was a good one. “Hot Box 3” is starting off real crazy. So, we’ll see where it takes us. We’re trying to push for a mid-to-late summer date right now.


Dubcnn: Is there anything you want to say to the fans, and everyone who has been checking you out?

I just want to say thank y’all for y’all support! I don’t want artists feeling like, “He’s doing such big things,” because I’m really not. I’m really the most humble cat you may ever meet. I’m open to work with artists. People just need to find a way to get into contact with Dae One. Shoot me some stuff, or let me hear your music, and we’ll see what we can do. I’m always open for new ideas and [for] working with new artists as long as they’re hot. They can hit me on my gmail account if they’re looking for beats. Y’all can send all your beat requests, mixing requests, whatever y’all got for me, send it there and somebody will reply back to you. If not, check my MySpace. Hit that up anytime, let me know what it is.

God is good, y’all stay great! Stay supporting the music man, this is that new West Coast music. Y’all stay behind that!