FOCUS  (March 2008) | Interview By: Eddie Gurrola

       Dubcnn linked up with Aftermath producer Focus for an exclusive interview. In this feature, we discuss Focus’s debut street album “Dedicated”, which will be available for free download on Dubcnn. We explore what this record means to him, and find out more about the sound that he created for it. We also talk about Dr. Dre’s “Detox”, the process of production collaborations, and current and future work with artists like Bishop Lamont, Marsha Ambrosius, Taje, and PR1ME. Find out about all of these topics and more by checking out the interview.
 

As always we have both the transcript and the audio 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

Focus Gave Dubcnn.com A Shoutout! Check That Here

Full Interview In Audio For Download : Here

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Dubcnn: What’s up everybody, we’re here with Focus! What’s going on?

How are you?


Dubcnn: I’m good! You’re a very busy man right now, and you’ve got a lot of projects that you’re working on simultaneously. Can you give us a breakdown as to which projects you’re currently working on?

Right now I’ve been working with Marsha Ambrosius on her solo project. I’m currently working with the Doc on “Detox”. I’ve been working with Bishop Lamont on his joint, and I just finished my street album.


Dubcnn: Everyone has heard how time consuming and challenging the “Detox” studio sessions are. Can you walk us through a typical day of yours while working on “Detox”?

On the average, I try to get up about 12:30 or 1 O’clock, and get to the studio by about 2 or 3. We stay there until the vibe is dead, until I can’t do no more. The average day ends at about 4:30 or 5 O’clock the next morning.


Dubcnn: What motivates you to work this hard and keep up this pace?

Well, for the “Detox”, it’s the [most] anticipated album in the history of hip-hop. Just to keep saying that to yourself [brings] enough ambition to keep you in the studio. Also, really trying to make sure I get the right thing to the Doc keeps me in the studio.


Dubcnn: After being behind the boards for so long, what made you decide to get on the microphone and start rapping?

It wasn’t so much that. It was more along the lines that I need my production to get out there, and I need people to understand what I can do. So, just looking at certain artists [that] really got made by selling themselves, I just look at the fact that I’m my biggest billboard. I’m my biggest marketing and promotion. The best way for me to do it was to do an album.


Dubcnn: Do you feel it’s necessary as a producer in the world of hip-hop today to put yourself out there and make yourself familiar with the public?

Unfortunately, yes. I’ve always tried to be quiet behind-the-scenes and just make music, but there were a lot of cats that were taking credit for who I was, and taking meetings for who I was on music I had done. It just made things a lot harder for me to get where I wanted to get to. So people needed to see that I wasn’t just a myth [and] that I was real. People thought that I was more than one person, they didn’t really know what I was.


Dubcnn: Tell us about the new street album, “Dedicated”. What’s the concept behind this record?

“Dedicated”. There’s so many things that I am dedicated to. I’m dedicated to my kids. I’ve dedicated the album to my listeners. I’m very dedicated to music, and those that I love. The album is really personal. The people that I work with, I know them personally. It’s real. There’s nothing more I can say about the album than it’s just real. It’s not me toting guns, I’m not talking about the same crap they talk about in hip-hop. It’s just a real album from a different place.


Dubcnn: How would you describe the sound of the album?

Big! *Laughs* Very melodic, and very big. I tried to go as big as I could go without compromising who I was, so it definitely worked out.


Dubcnn: What’s part of this project is the most special to you personally?

To be honest, that it really got done! I’ve been talking about doing this for almost two years, and my brother Ph.d, Bishop Lamont, they were just in the studio like, “You’ve really gotta do it, you’ve gotta get it done!” My support system has been great. A lot of people were saying that it was about time, [because] people want to hear different music. I’m just happy that I really stuck to it and got it done.


Dubcnn: So you’re putting out “Dedicated” for free online. What is your opinion on the internet in regards to music? Do you feel that this current trend of putting out music for free is helping things in the long run?

To be honest, I think that it helps in a way that it builds fanbases. It gets these people excited about new projects coming out. The people that are putting it out for free obviously don’t have just that one album to put out. So it keeps [the fans] listening, and it keeps them wanting more. So I don’t think it’s hurting.


Dubcnn: PR1ME just put out his street album “The Transformation”, and you produced the track “Sabotage Me” with Butch Cassidy from the project. Tell us about that one…

PR1ME is my boy. I know him through Bishop Lamont. He’s a good cat. He heard the track and he said, “Let me run with it”. I gave it to him and I love what he did with it! A lot of these cats that I work with, I just personally know. I definitely want to see these cats get where they want to get to, and any help I can give them, I’m going to give them.


Dubcnn: Another artist you’ve been working with is Taje, for the “Hot Box 3” street album. Tell us about what that record is going to sound like…

[Taje] is an institution within himself. The whole “Hot Box” movement…he has his following. I told him that I needed to be on the third one, and he was like, “No question!” I just gave him what he wanted, and hopefully we’ll do some big things later on this year.


Dubcnn: Cool! So, tell us what your role will be on the “Detox” album, as far as what you guys have recorded so far…

Right now, as far as Dre is concerned, I’ve just been submitting a lot of tracks and giving him what I can. So I haven’t really put any hooks on anything, I haven’t done anything like that. I’ve just been giving him tracks so this project can move forward. If he asks for anything more from me, then of course I’m gonna do it, but that’s what it’s been so far.


Dubcnn: Can you tell us about how a production collaboration works? When you’re working with Dre it’s a team effort. Can you explain, for people who don’t get that aspect of the process, how that goes down?

For sure. That doesn’t really happen a lot in my case, but when we do collaborate, when we co-produce or do any kind of “co-s”, its basically total cooperation with each other. I’ll do my half of it, and he’ll do his half of it, and it just turns out to be a collaboration. When it comes down to Dre and his team, or Dre and myself when we do work together, a lot of times we’ll do the beats but Dre will mix it. And for anybody that listens to a Dre record, he has his way of hearing things, and he’s very meticulous with what he wants and where he wants it. So, as far as a lot of people thinking that I do the beat and Dre takes the credit, that’s not what’s going down.


Dubcnn: You did a recent interview with MTV, and there were a couple of things that were misquoted…

Right. I definitely am a big part of the Aftermath team. I’m working with Dre, I’m working with Marsha, but I have not worked with Marshall…Eminem. They had me quoted as saying I’ve been in the studio with him, and I haven’t.


Dubcnn: What do you hope that hip-hop fans will get out of “Dedicated” when they download it?

I hope that they see that I am a formidable producer, a heavyweight in the game. I’m trying to be more than just a producer for Aftermath - I’m trying to establish a name for myself. So I want people to understand who I am, see the characteristics that make me who I am, see the different kinds of music I can do, and stop pegging me as one of Dre’s producers. Even though that’s an honor in itself, it would be cool to just have a name for yourself.