DAWAUN PARKER (PART TWO) (November 2007) | Interview By: Conan Milne

       Dubcnn returns with the second part of our exclusive interview with The Dr.'s Apprentice, Dawaun Parker. This time we talk to one-half of The GodBody about everything from first linking up with the infamous Andre Young, to an entertaining account of his audition for D-R-E. Dawaun also reflects on his time at prestigious music college Berklee, shares his opinion on the critics that suggest Dre is saving his finest production for "Detox," and much more in this feature. Enjoy Part Two, and look out for the third and final entry in our interview series with Dawaun, coming soon!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

 

Interview was done in October 2007.

Questions Asked By : Conan Milne

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Read Part 1 of our exclusive interview with Dawaun Parker: Here
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

Dubcnn: Definitely man – I can't believe some of the things you've brought up already. From possibly co-producing with Just Blaze to having Dre and Busta on the album, this is some crazy news about GodBody.

Oh man, it's been awesome. I'm a pretty critical person of our work and I try real hard. The only other person besides myself who I've seen really strive for that perfection is Dre. You're always saying in your head, "I don't know if they're going to like our stuff," and all of that, but everyone has been really productive and really positive about our sound and what we're trying to do. They're talking, "Wait until the rest of the people find out about this," about this certain song or that certain song. Everyone I've told about it to reach out to collab with or whatever has always been down. It's been very positive to get that kind of support. I mean, Busta's come to one of our shows. We had a show out there a couple months ago in L.A. Bus' came to that and started rocking, said, "Let me know what you need," and all that. It's been cool, man.


Dubcnn: What I thought was interesting was when you touched on how people believe they know what single should drop first. Ultimately, I guess you have to pay those critics no mind. Personally, I thought that "Higher" had to be the first single for The Game!

(Laughs) You know, it's funny, man. Those kind of things – honestly I understand that when it comes to music, you're going to have your opinion of what appeals to you - “Oh, I love this song. This could be the joint." People are trying to have a thought process of, "Well, what is the most catchy? What is going to be the track that other people like?" The general public don't have the same kind of mindset or ears – or, rather, views – as people involved in the business of the game. They don't listen to stuff as astutely, obviously. We're trying to think about – well, there's a number of factors. You might be thinking, "Well, if I came out with this one first, I can drop this other one next because of my buzz. The response will come easier. They'll be more receptive to the next joint I put out." But I love "Higher." That's one of my favorite joints. It's interesting, though, because I can see how they put out the other things that they put out instead. They're thinking about play, and they're thinking about all kinds of stuff. "Higher" is a pretty hard track though. They play a clip of it every time Kobe scores at the Staples Center...


Dubcnn: Yeah, I appreciate that. Honestly, I think I was probably just so hyped to hear the words, "Look out for Detox!"

(Laughs) Ah man…


Dubcnn: Moving on, can you describe how you felt when you got your first credit?

Um, I think maybe I was supposed to have a bigger reaction than it was. You know that it's coming, so getting that record was an expected thing in a way. I was just hoping they were going to spell it right, you know what I mean? Uh, I think the first credit on 50's soundtrack actually spelled it wrong. I was like, "Aw, man!" But, uh, it was whatever. Yeah, I guess it's cool. For me, with the things I've done, I try not to hold my breath about any of it. I know how fickle the industry is. I try to be a person that doesn't let things gas me, but not at the expense of not enjoying it either. You know, and not being thankful of every opportunity and whatever.

At the same time, I know that it's – and I say this hoping that it doesn't diminish things and make it seem like I don't appreciate – but I know that it's not the biggest thing in the world. You know, there's other important things. I would never want to get into the mindset of, "Oh, I got a credit. Blah, blah, blah. I'm tight," or something, you know? I think when I saw that I thought, "Okay, can I get another one? Can this be the one, like, this is going to come up with more?" But it's been very cool, and it's cool getting a plaque and that whole thing. It's all part of your resume, you know? It's something that will always be indented. I can always say that I've been on this record or whatever. Hopefully I'll be on others.


Dubcnn: I notice a lot of parallels there between what you're saying and getting printed in magazines. I know when I got my first magazine publishing a lot of my friends were like, "How does it feel?" It's quite similar, man. I had a fairly subdued reaction. All I was thinking was, "I hope I can get more."

Right! To me, it was kind of hard to think about it like, "Wow!" A lot of my friends and them bugged out, "Oh man!", to which my reply was, "Wow, it seems like you guys are more excited than me". At least that's how it seemed from how they acted. It was more of an internal thing for me, like, "Praise God, and let's keep it moving." You know what I mean? "Let's get out some more stuff."


Dubcnn: I was never more humbled than when I was once credited as "Colin Milne!" So, do you remember when you first thought about approaching music as a career path?

Yeah, that wasn't until my last year, or junior year I would say, of High School. I pretty much wanted to be – I wanted to do Law. I always thought that I was going to do that my whole life, basically. I was going to go to NYU. I had my whole plan. I was then going to go to Columbia for Law school. I didn't really start playing music aggressively or frequently until ninth grade. It was really like ninth grade when I started playing and getting really into it. I was making beats in my head and stuff. I didn't make a Hip-Hop track until I was, like, a sophomore in High School. You know, I didn't know how to make beats or anything prior to that. I was already a fan of Dilla (Jay Dee). I was already a fan of Primo and certain producers.

Like I said earlier, I was a credit reader, so I knew that if I was ever to make a track or something, I was think, "Oh, I'd do it like this." I was already getting into the instrumentals and stuff like that. Just to listen to the instrumentals, and not necessarily to rap over them. The virus or whatever I guess was really starting to grow, or was already there without me realizing it. Again, I wanted to just go to a regular college, get my MBA and then go to Law school. I wanted to do that whole thing, and maybe just have a piano for my house. As I got more into the production thing, the virus just kind of grew more and more. By the time I was a junior, it was a full blown sickness, and I knew I wanted to go to Berklee. I don't remember how I found out about the school, but if you were playing classical you wanted to go to Julliard. If you played anything else you wanted to go to Berklee. I just followed the reputation of how prominent the school was, and it got to me like, "This is where I want to go." It ended up being the only school I applied to. By that point, I knew wanted to be involved in music. Not necessarily a musician or a playing kind of guy. I wanted to do production. I wanted to have a presence in the Hip-Hop medium in particular, and then be able to branch out and do all kinds of things. So, yeah, second to last year of High School was when I was convinced that this is what I wanted to do and I was going to try and make it happen.


Dubcnn: That's what's up. So how did you enjoy your time at Berklee?

I always tell the people that it was one of the greatest times of my life! It was a very, very positive experience for me. I mean, of course there was some negative aspects or things that you could diss or whatever, or say that were similar to High School, but I feel that's pretty standard for everyone's educational experience or college experience. First of all, I got a full scholarship to Berklee. That was a great blessing because I needed all of it to go. I did pretty decent there. My craft got better during school. Pretty much everyone I was around loved music as much as I did. I was always the guy – or I always felt like this guy growing up – whom was pretty isolated with that. Of course I was into other things. I played ball and hustled all of that, but any time a song would come on or anything, I felt like I was a little bit more into it than my friends and the general, casual people I was around. At Berklee, everyone loved music as much as I did, if not more. That was a cool experience to be in for a while. I'm definitely glad to be done with school though. I would never want to go back. I've definitely closed that chapter of my life.

It was a great time, and necessary for honing my skills and all that. It felt like I got zoned into production at Berklee. I would pretty much just work on beats on an MPC up in my dorm room. Just being around the music environment like that, you get to discover a lot. Any time – whether it's three or four AM – there's going to be somebody up practicing, or somebody up that's willing to talk about some Miles Davis solo. I think that was very cool. From being at school, I was able to do a lot of gigs. I got to do a lot of school sponsored stuff in their concert halls and recitals and things like that. My major was Business, so I stayed aggressive on that. That's helped me a lot now because you really need to understand the games of the business and what's going on. There's so many contracts, and there's little things that come with how people do deals, how people get paid, and how people try to get your money. Especially in Hip-Hop, because Hip-Hop's got all the hustlers! You've got to be on point, and make sure that your teams strong. I'm glad I've got a good manager and a good lawyer. My manager Sean Collins is great. But, uh, Berklee was dope, man. Great time. Anybody who has the opportunity to pursue their education and is good with an instrument should give that a try. Go check Berklee out...


Dubcnn: Can you explain how you went from your time at Berklee to linking with Dr. Dre?

Sure man. I have to give a little bit of a back story. Around '99 I was in Rhode Island and making tracks with this group called Ground Floor. They were like hometown heroes. They had done a few things with Lord Finesse back in the day and all that. Like, back in the mid '90's. They had a video on BET, and they had a little indie deal. That label ended up going bust or something like that. It was just some guys as a crew that would make tracks. Kind of like an extended group of people into music and rap or whatever. One of the guys had a studio in, like, his grandfather's basement or something. It was pretty comfortable, and I hooked up with one of those guys one day in, like, '98, '99. Dude was like, "Yo, I heard you play the keys. You should come play us some R&B beats." You know what I mean? I went down there one day, and the first thing I did was a track that I had heard in my head. Like I said, "If I was ever to make a beat, I would kind of play this melody," or whatever. They brought in some drums, and I just started playing something on top. The thought was that this might work out. From then on I'd just go hang out there more and more. I became, like, a part of the extended crew.

Anyway, they knew a few people in the game, like Kay Gee from Naughty By Nature and a couple other cats. They knew this dude named Che, who was like an A&R for Warner or something at the time. He was working with Wyclef. He had worked on The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill and all kinds of stuff. I didn't know this guy, but my man Sean did at the time. This beat tape got to Che, and I guess he played some stuff for Zhane? You remember Zhane, the girl group? They were this R&B group. (Reciting lyrics) "Hey Mr. DJ," or whatever. They were working on a new record at the time. I guess they were signed to Motown or Warner then. I'm not exactly sure of the particulars. They were working on that, and I think that – yeah, they took one of our joints. We went to New York to lay it down and this is when I got to meet Che. We laid the track down, but they never came out. I don't know if they got dropped or shelved or whatever happened. That never came out, and I never really heard from Che again. I wasn't the guy who knew him - it was Sean. We never really talked that much.

I finished school, eventually went to Berklee, that whole thing. Two days after I finished Berklee, I got word that Doc was looking for another guy for the team. Another Scott Storch kind of guy to help make tracks and play keys I guess. Che, as it turns out, ended up being an assistant for Dre. He called Sean and mentioned it. He said, like, "Remember that keyboard player that you made tracks with? Are you still around with him so I can get a hold of him?" They flew us out the next day! I came out and there was a couple other keyboard players there. I guess they were auditioning, so to speak. I, uh, I never went home, man. You know, it's been a pretty positive experience for me. I get flown to L.A. You know what I mean? I go over to the studio and the first time meeting Doc he just comes out the room like, "What up? Who's first?" You know, he didn't really have much to say. I think someone commented on how he looks! I don't know if you saw him on the VMA's?


Dubcnn: Oh yeah, I saw it!

He's pretty ripped. He's pretty buff. He's been working out, and he's been in great shape for a while now! It's been at least the past few years, because it's been about two years out here for me now. I remember one of the guys who was auditioning or whatever was like, "Yo man, what've you been doing?" Dre says, "Oh yeah, I've been working it out. Whatever. Yeah, it's all good." He was very chill. He's a very, very cool dude. Basically, he was like, "Okay, who's first?" They all point at me. I go in. I go in and relax and do my thing.


Dubcnn: Wow, that is a crazy story, man. Were you intimidated when you first met him or anything like that?

Uh, not necessarily meeting him. When it was time to get on the keyboard, obviously there were nerves. I think my legs were probably shaking. I definitely – I'm not like Iron Man or whatever. I definitely felt the pressure of wanting to make sure that I did well, and that I brought what I could. I've always realized that people are people. They are all like us, and that's not to disrespect or diminish anything that they accomplish. Dre's cool. He's a boss, he's a legend, and all that. I don't think he would want me to, like, cower or cringe. You know what I'm saying? And when I see him, be like, "Oh my God! Oh my God!" No. If he doesn't feel like I can be myself, then he probably wouldn't want the situation to be there. Doc's very good about wanting to have a cool environment, where it can be fun and it can be comfortable. You know what I mean? That's a big part of the music. The music is about the feeling. It's not so much about everything that's happening around it. It's about the feeling that you get. We want everyone to be having fun.


Dubcnn: It must have been a crazy audition.

Oh man! It was very short, man. I go in, sit at Dre's piano, and kind of just start doodling. You know, like when anyone picks up an instrument and you're just doodling around! I basically just put my hands on the keyboard literally. I don't remember what I said. It was just whatever, and I didn't play a song or anything like that. I was just fooling around. He kind of just looked at me and was like, "Okay." I say to him, you know, "What would you like to hear?" He says something along the lines of, "Well, I like dark stuff. I like melodies." You know, whatever. It was just a general provision. I played a minor riff or motif or something like that. He's like, "Okay, let's go in the main lab. You go in the main lab." That was a crazy experience for me. I've been in some studios, but nothing like what we've been in and where we are now. I'd never seen anything like that. It was big and just had great equipment and a lot of lights everywhere and all of that. It was like, "Oh boy!" There were mad machines, and he was like, "Alright, do your thing."

Me, I did beats! I had it in my head like, 'Alright.' They pulled up a basic drum track, pulled a piano patch for me and then I just did my thug thizzle haha. Someone said, "This kid might have the bounce." He was like, "Alright, cool. Thanks." The other guys then went in after. After that someone came out and was like, "They'd like to thank all of you guys for coming out. He's going to continue to look around but that doesn't mean that there's not going to be another opportunity for you in the future." Then they pointed at me and were like, "Uh, you. Unpack your bags." That was pretty fun.


Dubcnn: Okay, so let's get into it: what role does Dawaun Parker play in Detox?

(Sly laughter) Wow…uh, the same that it would be on other records. You know what I mean? Like, we make music together so, uh, yeah. That's just what to look out for – look out for some beats. (Laughs) And we'll see if there's any other extent. You know what I mean? It's going to be crazy.


Dubcnn: I know we've just walked into Area 51…

Yeah, it's, uh, you know. (Laughs) It's being cooked up. Doc's the coach and I'm one of the team members. That's probably how I could speak on it or whatever. It's coming along, man. It's coming along, and obviously we want to make sure that it's fire.


Dubcnn: I can appreciate that. It seems like you want to speak on it more, but you know you can't!

(Laughs) I mean, you know. There's some liberties. You know what I mean? It's all good.


Dubcnn: Well let's see if you can speak about this then. Some time ago Scratch did an article on the Detox project. It mentioned tracks that Dre affiliates thought were possibly produced with Detox in mind. Examples cited were Obie Trice's "The Set Up" and The Game's "Runnin'." Do you know of any other beats that were at one point considered for Dre's album?

Nah, at least in stuff prior to me getting there, I wouldn't know at all. I haven't asked Doc too much about that stuff. You know, most articles and all that stuff aren't super-legit. You know what I mean? I think that when it comes to this project, and the Doc's stuff in particular and all that, people just want to have any kind of information. You got internet kids who really believe it when they see Detox downloads and stuff online, it's so crazy! But anyway, If they can somehow attribute it to that, they're like, "Oh, well, we heard that Detox is supposed to come out. We've been hearing about it for a while." They're kind of assuming that every beat that they think is hot and Dre is attached to which ends up on someone else's record, they're thinking that that's stuff that was for Detox and it's not.

I mean, to me, I think that if it would have been for Detox, it will be on Detox! You know what I'm saying? I think people aren't looking at it like that. The stuff that's for the record is for the record! You're going to hear it when it's on the record. I don't really know about anything that maybe he was considering then decided, "Nah. I'ma use that on another project." I don't – I can't confirm any of that. I've another thing about that, too. I think Dre has the quality of coming out with the best stuff that he can for his artists. I wouldn't think he or any of us have the mentality of, "Oh, let's keep this beat for this and just give you this." It's like, "Nah, let's put the best thing that's going to work out for whatever record."
 

Stay tuned for part three of this exclusive interview