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interview 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.

DUBCNN Exclusive DJ Khalil Interview Part 1



As ever, you can read this exclusive interview below and we urge you to leave feedback on our forums or email them to nima@dubcnn.com.

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Interview was done in July 2009

Questions Asked By: Nima Etminan
 
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Related Media

Slaughterhouse - The One (Video)
Defari - Show Some Luv (Clean & Explicit) (Produced By DJ Khalil)
Cashis - Just Another Day (Produced by DJ Khalil)
ishop Lamont - Missile Testing (Death To Infidels) (Produced by DJ Khalil)
Bishop Lamont - Bitches On My Dick (Produced by DJ Khalil)
Xzibit - Gotta Get 'Em (ft. Kobe) (Produced by DJ Khalil)

Chino XL - I'm Coming (Produced By: DJ Khalil) (Explicit)

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Interview Audio



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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