DJ KHALIL (PART 2)(July 2009) | Interview By:
Nima Etminan
We're back with Part 2 of our in-depth interview with DJ Khalil! In the first
part, we discussed Khalil's upbringing, his introduction to the music game and
how he ended up hooking up with Chace Infinite and forming Self Scientific. We
then got into his introduction to Dr. Dre, becoming a staff producer, the
controversy around "Detox" and the reference tracks leaking, and much more.
In Part 2, Khalil describes a typical studio session with Dr. Dre, the creative
process, and he talks (or not) about Bishop Lamont's current situation at
Aftermath. We then get into his current projects, such as the Clipse and Kanye
track "Kinda Like A Big Deal" that he produced, the new Slaughterhouse single
"The One", which features Khalil's alternative group The New Royales, and
upcoming Self Scientific projects.
Read or listen to all of that and much more, in Part 2 of DJ Khalil's dubcnn
interview.
Download The Full Interview Audio:
Here
Download The DJ Khalil Dubcnn Drop:
Here
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Dubcnn: Can you describe a typical studio session with you and Dr. Dre?
How involved are the musicians in the creative process?
I don't even know if Dre wants me to give away his secrets... But without
giving away too much, it's like watching a conductor in an orchestra. He's
got his team of people and it's him standing at the board and everybody is
playing different stuff. He'll be pointing at one person saying "I want that!
Let's have this." You know? Putting it together like that with his musicians,
it's crazy. I've never seen a Hip-Hop producer really work that way. But he's
the conductor and he's got his people all in the studio and everybody's
throwing their ideas up on the wall. That's how I've seen him create. It's
different though, he doesn't always do it that way, but that's what he's been
doing lately. He creates so many different ways.
Dubcnn:
Who's all a part of the team right now? It's Dre, you, Dawaun Parker,
Mike Elizondo...
Jake One, Mark Batson... The usuals like Denaun, Hi-Tek is still around. Then
Dre just has his favorite producers that he goes to. So he's got the team
around to keep him inspired. I think that's what our drive is, keeping him
inspired and giving him something that will spark him to record and finish
his masterpiece. I think he's got a team of musicans and everything in place,
it's just the record!
Dubcnn:
I don't know if you can speak on that or not, but is Bishop Lamont
still signed to Aftermath as an artist?
I don't know. I'm not exactly sure.
Dubcnn:
There has been a lot of talk, is he signed, is he not. Then these new records
leaked, the "Hallelujah" with him and Xzibit over a Dre beat. So people don't
really know whether that was an official leak or something that they just slid
out there.
Man, I don't really know. Bishop is like my brother. I don't know where they're
at in terms of his deal over there and all that and I don't really like speaking
on other peoples stuff. I don't know the whole stories and I don't wanna say
anything.
Dubcnn:
I got you. Now apart from the Aftermath projects, you've been staying
very busy. You did the Clipse joint with Kanye earlier this year. How did
that get put together?
I co-produced that with my production partner Chin from Vancouver. He's
somebody that I do a lot of stuff with, and we've just been working on beats
for a long time. We made that over a year ago and then the Clipse's manager
brought Pusha T by the studio. It was really late, and he didn't know who
I was or know anything about me or whatever, but his manager had heard some
stuff. But Pusha T was really tired and was basically half sleep when I was
playing stuff. But then when that beat came on, he just woke up! *laughs* He
was looking at my computer screen and just started rhyming. He was like "Yo
bring that back, bring it back!" So I played that for him again, and he was
like "Yeah I need a beat CD right now, put that on first, I need that one!"
Then I didn't see him or hear from him for a month, then they came back,
played me the record, and it had Kanye on it!
Dubcnn:
You must've tripped out.
Yeah I was buggin' out, dude! Kanye murdered it and it was just dope! It was
a good record, I'm so proud to be a part of that record. Chin played all the
guitar parts and everything, and we put it all together. The fact that it
ended up being their first single, with a video, up against everything else
that's out - that's dope. People notice it, because it's different, it's a
breath of fresh air.
Dubcnn:
Yeah it sounded like some grimey Mobb Deep shit, but it still had radio appeal.
Yeah the hook just makes it crazy and the way they're rhyming on it, you just
wanna sing along with it. It's just an anthem. It's great to be a part of it
and work with The Clipse, who I always wanted to work with, it's incredible.
Dubcnn:
You also just produced the new Slaughterhouse single "The One". That was a
different type of sound coming from you, tell us about the making of that
beat and how the song came up.
Well, I'm part of a group called the New Royales. There's four members,
three of them are from Canada, one of them is my production partner Chin
Injeti, and Liz Rodrigues and Erik Alcock. It's an alternative band, we
do alternative music, rock mixed with Hip-Hop and everything. So we send
ideas back and forth, and they sent me this idea, it was Erik and Liz
singing "Sex and drugs and dirty money", with these really raw guitars.
Dubcnn:
I thought that was a sample or something.
Nah, that's the group! Everything on there is original. They haven't put
the credit on there yet, but it should say featuring the New Royales.
Everything kinda just got thrown out last minute, but they didn't put the
credits on there. But that's the group and they're incredible, ridicolous.
Liz, that's her singing the hook on that record. Originally, I made it for
Eminem, but it never really happened. Then Slaughterhouse heard it, and they
were like "Yo, we need this like right now!" They moved on it really fast. All
the music was done on Garage Band, Eric and Liz sent me the audio vocals and
everything and they recorded it on Garage Band! *laughs* I just beefed it up
and made a beat out of it and now it's a crazy song! I just saw the video
yesterday, and it's dope. It's a great record for them, a good introduction.
Dubcnn:
I believe you also did another track on Slaughterhouse?
Yeah, we did another record, I just finished mixing that. It's straight spitting,
just a very raw beat and them killin it, basically.
Dubcnn:
Have you heard the whole album?
I haven't heard the whole record but I can't wait to hear it.
Dubcnn:
Me either! Another track that received crazy feedback on dubcnn but was overlooked
by a lot of people was "Show Some Love" that you produced for Defari. That was a
monster track right there.
Oh, word! Thank you, man.
Dubcnn:
That was some Detox shit!
Well. *laughs* Originally, that was heard by Dre, but, you know, sometimes he
just passes on stuff. But Defari, he hit me up and we hadn't worked together
officially yet. That was officially our first record that we had done together.
Something else was coming out around the same time and I was getting more
feedback from that. I think that was The Clipse record, cause I was seeing a
gang of stuff on that record and the Clipse record at the same time. I'm glad
people liked it, cause that's one of my favorite beats.
Dubcnn:
I quote Planet Asia on this: "The shit Khalil got will make producers not want
to make music anymore and just give up."
*laughs*
Dubcnn:
So what else do you have in store for us man. It seems like you haven't let
us hear your best shit!
I don't know, I just keep working! It's not even all just Hip-Hop, like the
New Royales, the group that I have, we have so much music, it goes beyond
just Hip-Hop what I'm trying to do. My next step is doing more alternative,
more hybrid kind of stuff, a little more creative. That's where I'm trying
to go with it. The Slaughterhouse record is a glimpse of that, because I
really wanna introduce this group, it's really an incredible project and
they're an incredible talent. That's the next phase in terms of what I'm
trying to do. I have a whole lot of music, not just beats, but ful songs,
over 40 songs. Then with Self Scientific, we've probably got over 40 songs
and we're gonna start dropping a lot of stuff. Over the next 6 months, we're
gonna be putting out a lot more music.
Dubcnn:
Chace Infinite is putting out a mixtape called "I Would've Killed This Shit",
rapping over beats you did for other people. How is that coming along?
I loved it! Chace called me and he was like "Yo, I need every beat that came
out, I need everything!" So, he's been working on that and it's dope! It's
perfect timing. We've been talking about doing it for a while, but right now
is the best time to do it.
Dubcnn:
If I was him I'd have been like "Muthafucka those should've been my beats,
you were my producer, give me that shit!" *laughs*
*laughs* Yeah, exactly. But Chace and I, we have crazy records too, that fit what
we do. We've leaked records already, like the "Quality Game" record and the "Good
Evening Los Angeles", "It's On" and all that stuff. We got way more stuff coming,
we're ready to put out more music.
Dubcnn:
I'd like to ask you what up and coming producers you're feeling right now. Who are
you pushing for.
I just signed a young producer from Minnesota named Rocky, and this kid is amazing.
He's a drummer and he's crazy. I've been mentoring him for like a year or so, two
years maybe. Now he's part of my team. In terms of up and coming producers, there's
too many, I don't wanna leave anybody out.
Dubcnn:
I think Tone mentioned this dude G Rocka, who worked on the Soul Assassins album?
Yep, G Rocka, he's crazy. I met Emphasis, he's crazy. I don't even say they're up
and coming cause they're doing their thing already.
Dubcnn:
Okay let's say producers, period.
All of my favorite producers like Focus, Jelly Roll, Jake One, Vitamin D, Just Blaze,
Illmind, those are all people that come to my mind, also Mr. Porter.
Dubcnn:
You produced that Michael Jackson tribute that Game put out, right?
Yeah.
Dubcnn:
Where were Usher and Mario Winans on that record?
Usher is not on the record.
Dubcnn:
It says he's featured on it!
I think people made a mistake. There were some sites that were putting Usher on
there, but it's only Chris Brown on the hook. Mario Winans just played some strings
on there, he's not singing or anything, so he kind off added a little bit of
production to it. They just attached a lot of people on to it, because it was Game's
vision and he wanted to have as many people as possible on the record. He had been in
the studio with everybody the past few nights, so when it happened, he called me that
morning and said "Dude, we gotta do this, Boyz II Men are in the studio across the way
from us, so they came in, Randy Jackson from American Idol was there. We started on the
track, then took the track over to where Chris Brown was working, he did his thing, then
they brought it back and sent it to Puffy, he did his thing, and we mixed it that night!
Dubcnn:
Yeah the track was out barely 24 hours after the news broke.
I had never done anything like that, where you go straight to radio! We were mixing
it until the very last minute, I wasn't even really crazy about the mix, but they
said it's gotta go! Everybody loved it, the downloads on it were crazy, people that
don't even listen to Hip-Hop liked it! It was great to pay tribute to an icon. and
do it right. Everybody was really willing to do it and it was to pay tribute, so it
was great to be a part of that.
Dubcnn:
Did we miss anything? Anything I forgot to ask you about?
Hmm... My blog!
Dubcnn:
Go ahead and let us know about your blog.
My blog is called IMadeItInc.com,
and it basically focuses on the creative process
of what I'm doing and the people that I'm associated with. I have tons of footage
that I haven't even put up yet, I'm about to really start killing it with the footage.
I got exclusive Nas in studio footage, Game, I got a full interview with Dr. Dre!
Dubcnn:
You got an interview with Dre?
Yup, I got a full interview with Dre.
Dubcnn:
What did you ask him?
Man, everything, but really mostly about the creative process, because that's really
what my blog focuses on, more than anything. The creative process, what his approach
is. So I asked him a lot of questions about that.
Dubcnn:
Now that's an exclusive! Nobody gets a Dre interview, but Khalil got a Dre interview.
*laughs* I got tons of stuff, dude. I'm gonna start up with the Nas thing pretty soon,
it was a song that was supposed to be for his last album, but it didn't make it. It's
a great record, really dope, so I'm hoping I'll put that up in the next week or so. But
there will be a lot of exclusive footage, I'm also gonna be putting up my own sounds for
producers to download and stuff like that. It's more on the creative production side of
things.
Dubcnn:
Sounds good man. You have a lot on your plate, you've had a big year so far, it's probably
gonna get even bigger. We wish you the best of luck for everything you got coming in the future!
Thank you man, appreciate it.
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Download The Full Interview Audio:
Here
Download The DJ Khalil Dubcnn Drop:
Here
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