DJ MUGGS & PLANET ASIA (September
2008) | Interview By: Jonathan Hay &
Chad Kiser
 Jonathan
Hay and Chad Kiser are back again with another two-on-two interview. This
time around, the Dubcnn duo is talking shop with DJ Muggs and Planet Asia.
This exclusive interview turns to Pain Language, the radical collaboration
album that will hit the earth like a comet invasion, together, Muggs and
Asia are half man, half-amazing. So take cover on September 16th, when the
album hits stores worldwide.
Pain Language features DJ Muggs' own Cypress Hill group member, B-Real,
along with GZA, Killah Priest and others. However, the main vocal focus on
the album is the visionary Planet Asia.
They came to bring the pain!
Interview was done in September 2008
Questions Asked By: Jonathan Hay and Chad Kiser
DJ Muggs Gave Dubcnn.com A Shoutout! Check That
Here
Please feel free to send any feedback regarding the interview to:
haywire@dubcnn.com
..........................................................................................
DJ Muggs & Planet Asia Collide
A Dubcnn Exclusive
By Jonathan Hay
www.myspace.com/jonathanhay
..........................................................................................
Dubcnn: Describe to everybody what the new project is going to be and
what to expect?
Planet Asia: Muggs and I put together an album called Pain Language. We have
been working on it for like a year now and the reason it took so long is
because we both had other obligations to attend to first.
Dubcnn: Why did you decide to name the album Pain Language?
Planet Asia: We were doing a song called “Pain language” and we were like,
‘Yo that would be a dope name for an album title,’ and we ran with that.
Dubcnn: What is it like working with DJ Muggs?
Planet Asia: To be working with somebody who sold over 18 million records
and to work on an underground record like we did -- and still have a cool
head -- speaks for itself. I think he understands where he comes from,
making all them classic hip hop albums like Cypress Hill and Soul Assassin
and all that other stuff -- it is only right to keep that tradition going
and not to stray away and try to fit in with what’s going on right now in
the music industry. I hate to see that. It’s like an old person trying to
act young and, you know…like you don't want to see your old ass uncle at the
BBQ in some True Religion gear. He kept it OG.
Dubcnn: What was the actual creation process of the music like?
Planet Asia: We enjoy the same type of music and we have the same musical
taste buds, you know what I am saying, so we would basically build the songs
together. When he would do a track, he would throw down a skeleton, then we
would get an idea together of what we wanted the song concept to be about,
then I would record the vocals -- and then he would finish the beat around
that. He has his way of doing things.
(DJ Muggs Joins The Interview…)
Dubcnn: What up, Muggs!
DJ Muggs: What’s up, Dubcnn…I got love for you all.
Dubcnn: And vice-versa. Right now, we are talking about how you all get
down in the studio together and it seems to be more of an organic thing
creatively…
DJ Muggs: Yeah, we get in there, roll up fat ones, smoke and then get busy.
I am usually like ‘here is a kick drum, here is a snare,’ and I start
cutting up the sample. That is how usually all the beats are made.
Dubcnn: How long did it take you all to create this album?
DJ Muggs: It took me about a year to make the record, ‘cause we went on
tour. We did about twenty-six songs, and it took us like two weeks to mix.
Dubcnn: So how many songs made the final album?
DJ Muggs: There will be sixteen songs on the album
Dubcnn: What about those other ten songs that didn’t make the album, what
are you going to do with them?
DJ Muggs: I let a couple of them leak, like four songs went on the [DJ]
Warrior Mixtape, and some of them we just never finished ‘cause I didn't
like them… or they just didn't get done.
Dubcnn: Working with Cypress Hill and Soul Assassins, how does this album
differ from others that you have worked on in the past?
DJ Muggs: It brings excitement and the love for music, we got in the studio
and we were like two kids having a good f*cking time, you know…it didn't
seem like a job, we got in there and had a good time. We both have musical
talent and an ear for it, so we just got in and did it.
Planet Asia: Yeah, I feed off him, watching him makes me want to get in and
do music. I made thousands of beats, but I just get bored going in and
making beats and no songs. Just sitting in the studio is boring, I like to
get in there, collaborate, and do music projects and start bouncing ideas
around.
Dubcnn: Since you have so many beats, do you ever go back on something
that may be about three years old and mess with it or re-create a track?
DJ Muggs: Yeah, sometimes I make a track and I don’t like it, then go back a
year later and hear it again, and be like ‘that shit is banging!’ There is
one track on the album called “Black Angels” and it is about three years
old. I just went in an added some drums and some instruments and it’s brand
new, you know what I mean. I always try to make classic timeless music so
cats like Asia can write to it.
Dubcnn: [Muggs] Did you do all the production on this album yourself?
DJ Muggs: Yeah.
Dubcnn: Like back in the day, when Quincy Jones used to do an entire
album and you would have one sound, one producer and an overall sonic
continuity…
DJ Muggs: Public Enemy, Gang Starr, Cypress Hill, all them classic records,
man. We take it to a whole new level and musical identity. Like, every other
producer with Asia was like, ‘this is what you should sound like’ or this
and that is like one sound. This record is not like that, and I think that
it will open you up to a whole new way of looking at Asia.
Dubcnn: How long have you all known each other?
DJ Muggs: We have known each other about four or five years, but we never
really got into the studio, until about a year ago. Once Asia came through
and recorded a few songs, we already knew what we had to do to do.
Dubcnn: Why did you all choose to go with a record company overseas (Gold
Dust Media) and not a company from the U.S.?
DJ Muggs: I was introduced to Dave Watkins from Gold Dust Media and he
immediately understood the vision. We sat down, played him the finished
album, showed him the video, he understood me as an artist…, and he
understood Asia as an artist. He knows our history and what he said matched
u -- which means he stuck to his word, which is unheard of in this music
industry. Gold Dust understands the markets and where to distribute the
records and they understand the strengths and weakness of the record and how
to hit the strengths hard. To get somebody to understand in the business now
is hard.
Dubcnn: Will you all be doing a touring Pain Language?
DJ Muggs: Yeah, we are setting up tour dates right now. SoulAssassins.com
has up to the minute info on everything we do.
Dubcnn: Planet Asia – are the majority of the verses on Pain Language
mostly you, or do you have a lot of other guest features with you?
Planet Asia: We have Turban, Tri-State, B-Real, Sick Jacken, GZA and Killer
Priest. We also got Scratch from the Roots to throw some cuts on there. It
is hot record, man! A good thing about it is, it does not seem like there is
somebody on every song, so you get a lot of me on Pain Language. I like to
make music so you want to hear more of me when a song comes on.
Dubcnn: What do you use as inspiration for your music?
Planet Asia: Man, it could be anything, but it depends on the mood and the
booth that I am in…a lot of the time we will be having a deep discussion
about something and I will somehow put that discussion into my lyrics.
Dubcnn: Do you write much without music?
Planet Asia: I do all my writing in the studio ‘cause I write off feeling
and vibe, and sometimes when that vibe runs out I am done, so I will leave a
track and come back to it. If I don't really feel the vibe anymore, I’d end
up forcing it and that is what happens when you pay for a high priced studio
and you get rushed into doing something. I do not like rushing, especially
when I can go home and come back to it the next day.
Dubcnn: So was there was one specific studio that you all recorded the
majority of the album?
DJ Muggs: Yeah, we recorded everything at my studio. You know, that is me in
my comfort zone. Like I said, this project wasn't a job, it was fun to get
in and do the work. We did what we felt…
Dubcnn: What is the difference between a producer and a beat maker?
DJ Muggs: Kids send their beats out and they have nothing to do with the
development of the song. Yeah, there are people who work with their engineer
and stretch the beat out and then send it back, etc. I do that too, but I
will send it back and say that second verse is good, but I think that it
could be better you know…I will help make the track.
Planet Asia: Yeah it is better to be in the studio with the Producer so you
can get that vibe from him.
DJ Muggs: In the song-writing world, there are songwriters and there are
producers. Hip-hop is the only place where the guy who wrote the music is a
producer as well.
Dubcnn: Random question Muggs…have you heard new Zach de la Rocha project
[One Day As A Lion]?
DJ Muggs: It is incredible. I love it! When I heard it, I was like this shit
is banging. That is another brother that can take his time and do what he
wants and how he wants to. He can walk away from a group [Rage Against The
Machine] and just go play congas on the beach and just fucking chill. That
is a real artist he wanted to put an EP out and so he did. Everybody wants
everything that comes along with being an artist, but they don't want to be
an artist, which is cool, but I just choose not to be like that. I consider
myself more of a Led Zeppelin than a Britney Spears.
Dubcnn: Everybody wants to know when are you and Dr. Dre are going to
hook back up and do something again?
DJ Muggs: The last time I saw Dre, he hit me up asking me when I am going to
do another Soul Assassins record. Me, Alchemist, and DJ Khalil are producing
the Soul Assassins 3 together and Dre was like I got you. So when I am
ready, I will go talk to Dre and he will get on it. Dre is super humble and
a cool as fuck dude, he is respectful and has no ego. Yet I have new cats
that come in and be like, yo I can't change that son that is my shit, yo.
Get out of here with that bullsh*t. So when cats come in talking like that,
I just leave and go home….
P.S. - Message to everyone, respect the architects…
.........................................................................................
DJ Muggs Gave Dubcnn.com A Shoutout! Check That
Here
..........................................................................................
|
