FRED WRECK  (December 2006) | Interview By: Yash

   

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Interview was done in December 2006

Questions Asked By: Yash

Full Audio Interview Here (Part 2)
 

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Dubcnn: What’s up man? How was Jordan?

Man that shit was off the hook!


Dubcnn: Okay, let’s get started. Tell us how it was man, what happened?

I went out there to DJ at this thing called “Project Peace”, it’s like a peace festival that they have, all these different rap groups. Rap groups from everywhere, R&B singer Massari.


Dubcnn: Did you do any songs with them?

Well I kind of just DJ’d the show and DJ’d the set for Eccentric, The Nomad and this kid Narcy.


Dubcnn: So you were just DJ’ing? I thought that you might hook up and do some joints for some cats out there..

Nah, not out there. Nah.


Dubcnn: Alright, Snoop’s album just came out, I heard the joint “Crazy” that you did on there, that shit was tight man – how was that? How did Snoop choose that beat, I heard he’s real picky with beats..

Yeah, he’s picky and it doesn’t mean that just because were friends that he’s automatically going to use his friends to get on the album, you know what I mean? It’s still got to be competitive, and you can’t be mad at that. It’s just like if he’s rapping on something that I’m doing, and it don’t sound right then I’m going to tell him “ay, that shit don’t sound right.” I gave him a couple of other songs and he didn’t use them, but when we got to that one, I told him I got one that I know your going to love, and I sent it over to him, then the next thing I heard he’s done a song to it, I came into the studio the next day and he’s like “listen to this!” and played it for me and I was like “that’s a hit!”


Dubcnn: Damn! What happened to that song that was supposed to be on Cali Iz Active that had Nate Dogg on the hook that didn’t make it?

Which one?


Dubcnn: You told me last time that there was a song that you did that had Nate Dogg on the hook.

Oh yeah, Nate Dogg and B-Real, it was called “In my car”, yeah.


Dubcnn: Okay, do you know where that will end up?

Uhm, I have no idea. I don’t know. We’ll see.


Dubcnn: Yeah, because everybody thought that the song was “Crazy”, they thought that was it.

Nah, nah. That’s a brand new song that me and Nate Dogg did and gave it to Snoop. That’s that shit! *sings That’s That*.


Dubcnn: *Laughs* Yeah. When can people expect your album, “The Atoms” to come out?

You know man, I’ve been working on it and every time I do some tight songs for it, I end up having to give them away to somebody, so I keep pushing it back, but what I’m doing is I’ve got a couple of my solo artists that I’m putting together, so once I get their records and stuff, and get the sound together with their projects, then I’m going to start digging in and get to working on it, because id rather have a couple of artists come off of it, rather than just all well-known artists, its meant to be coming pretty soon, I hope to have something out by the summer time.


Dubcnn: Tight, and can you tell us about the songs that you produced on Kurupt’s upcoming album, and the group album that you’re doing with Kurupt?

Yeah, the Kurupt album, we started working on it, me and him have been working on it through him doing movies, he’s been doing a couple of movies and shit, he’s just moved down the street from me and shit, so that’s perfect – he comes over to my house every morning that he’s not shooting his movies, early in the morning and were just working like we did on the other two albums, he just comes over and I play him some beats that I’ve been working on, or I just cook one up for him from scratch right there and we just work on it, he’ll buck the verse, and after he does the verse ill be like “yeah that shit sounds cool, let me add something” or let me do a change or something. We’ve been working on it and this shits going to be real bangin’ man!


Dubcnn: Tight shit. Tell them about that group that you told me about last time man, you said you were going to do a group with him?

Yeah, we’ve got a little group that were doing, but its more like a test project album, were calling it “The Operators”.


Dubcnn: Okay, and how does this compare to when you were recording “The Streets Iz A Mutha” album, to working with Kurupt these days?

Yo, it’s the same – he’s grown and I’ve grown, he’s grown as a person and his skills have advanced and my skills have advanced, so its just going to be a reflection of that and its going to be the same flavour, we don’t chase the radio and we don’t chase trends. We ain’t going to be like “this down south bass shit is hot, that’s the fashion” – we don’t do that, we do what we do, we do our music that we like and try to keep it ahead of the curve and do something that the fans love and that we love too at the same time.


Dubcnn: Alright. What’s the name of your production company and what sort of artists are you developing right now?

Well I’m starting a label called “Mystro Records”, and I got a couple of artists that I’m working with, I can’t really say their names but I got a couple of artists that I’m working with, a couple of R&B singers and a couple of rappers that I’m working with but I don’t really want to say their name because were in the middle of negotiating their deals so, you know how motherfuckers be hating and coming and trying to creep up on their, but you’ll be hearing about them soon, ill be putting out a press release, you guys are going to hear it first on dubcnn.com, you know its going to be some banging shit.


Dubcnn: Can you give any advice to up and coming producers coming up in the game and trying to really work it?

I try to tell them, get your equipment and learn your shit, learn everything you can about music and its sound and make as many beats as you can but don’t make shit that sounds like everybody else and make shit that sounds like everything on the radio. It’s cool to be influenced by somebody because everybody was influenced by somebody else, I have my influences and my influences have their influences. So its cool to be making beats and you like The Neptunes and you like Rick Ross or whoever; you’ve got a little bit of their flavour in your shit, but at the same time you’ve got to keep your shit original and make sure it doesn’t sound like everybody else’s shit; make a lot of beats and give them out to as many people as you can – make that music, try to network and get your beats out there and don’t be afraid to give out CD’s


Dubcnn: Yeah, give out CD’s for free.

Yea, give them out man!


Dubcnn: What equipment did you buy recently for the studio?

I just recently got one of those mini-moog’s “Little Phatty” which is pretty tight, a pretty good little keyboard, it’s made by moog, all their shit is classy, limited edition type of shit.


Dubcnn: Do you work on a [Apple] Macintosh or a PC?

Macintosh.


Dubcnn: What’s a typical day like for you; you hit the studio, then what do you do?

Man, you know I get up and then check all my E-Mails and get on the phone to my lawyers and business managers and make sure everything is going cool and get them on the right track for the day, and then I go into my lab man and listen to music, listen to records that I bought when I was on the road DJ’ing or whatever, listen to some songs and play the guitar or whatever, play some keyboard, DJ, scratch – sample some new drum sounds, just whatever. Being there working, me working isn’t necessarily me making the beats, a lot of it is research and getting inspired by something and being in that zone, in the studio fucking with my keyboards and finding some sounds on the keyboards that I like and messing with guitar pedals and guitar sounds; experiencing and experimenting in the studio.


Dubcnn: Have you ever considered writing some sort of tutorial book or DVD based on Hip-Hop production?

Nah, I’ve never really thought about it because, I don’t think it’s a good idea really, for somebody to watch it; its cool to watch somebody do their shit, but what happens is if I make a DVD or a tutorial on how to make beats, that might not be necessarily the right way for them, you know what I’m saying? That shit has got to come out from inside of you and you’ve got to learn how to do that for your own, what happens is if you see somebody doing it you might be like “oh, I got to do it that way” because its acceptable for him and making money doing it, so I got too do it just like that, whereas its more creative for you to be more creative on your own. It’s cool to learn a little something here and there, little techniques and stuff – but to actually make a DVD or tutorial, I don’t think it would be a good idea. I’ve never thought about actually doing that but I am actually doing a DVD called “Chairman of the board”.


Dubcnn: Tell us about that.

It’s a DVD about producers, like Hip-Hop producers, from the Bomb Squad, the Marley Marls, The Neptunes, Dre, DJ Pooh, Quik and all those people like that – DJ Muggs, and a little bit of the old school producers like Quincy Jones, so you can see the transition that rap music made and how producers from back in the day differ so much from production nowadays


Dubcnn: Yeah, and do you have them speaking on the DVD or is it just them working in the studio?

Yeah, all that – I’m going to have interviews with all the producers and everything.


Dubcnn: When can we expect that in the stores?

Uhm, that probably won’t be out till next year, next fall sometime.


Dubcnn: A lot of Hip-Hop producers recently have just a couple of tracks on an artists album, do you have any artists in mind that one time you will just sit down and do an entire album LP with, besides your artists?

Besides Kurupt?


Dubcnn: Nah, besides the artists that are signed to your label and stuff

Oh, id like to, I think that’s the best way to make records.


Dubcnn: Yeah. Could you do one with Kurupt maybe?

Oh yea, with Kurupt – that’s what were doing with Kurupt, and him and Snoop are actually overseeing it. Why his records were so successful is because one producer or two producers were overseeing the whole thing, whether it was Daz, Soopafly or me.


Dubcnn: What’s up with Nate Dogg’s album, I know your real good friends with him – can you shed some lights on his project?

Nate Dogg’s just getting his business paperwork together with his new label and he should be on his way man, were just waiting on that to happen and in between that were just working on a thousand projects at the same time, Nate Dogg himself is a selfmade artist, so he doesn’t need to do an album for everybody to keep up with him, he’s always got shit coming out, whether its on other peoples stuff or not, but he’s always out there in the limelight, but I know a lot of people are anticipating him. He’s a perfectionist too, from the music to the business – he wants to make sure everything is right, and all his situations are all clear and all that comes out, but he’ll be out pretty soon man.


Dubcnn: What does it take from an artist to impress you.

Yeah, I come across a lot of rappers, rappers hit me up on Myspace – and when I’m out, people give me a CD and I try to listen to it, I try to listen to them all because I know when I was first coming up I’d like for people to listen to my shit, but the thing is there’s so much shit out there, its hard to listen to everything, you cant listen to everything and everybody, everybody can make a hit record, everybody’s got one hit record but it’s just a matter of some stuff is good but some stuff ain’t what I like, or ain’t what I’m looking for, or just some stuff doesn’t go with what I’m doing at the time – but I like to listen to everybody’s stuff and try to listen to as much music as possible because you never know who’s going to be the new kid on the block


Dubcnn: Yeah. You told me last time that you were working on not just Hip-Hop artists, but Britney Spears and stuff; can you tell us about that?

Yeah, I’m working on Britney Spears album, Hilary Duff. Doing some pop records with them and some other artists too that I got contracts with but can’t expose, but yeah I’m doing some pop records with them, Hilary Duff album is coming out real bangin’ and Britney Spears, we did like three songs and all of them have come out bangin’.


Dubcnn: What kind of sound does she have on the album?

It’s just like an up-tempo gangsta shit man, so it’s bangin’ man!


Dubcnn: For Real? Tight.

Yeah, she’s just letting her producers be creative, I know that J.R Rotem got a song with her too, giving her some of that West Coast flavour on there.


Dubcnn: Good. What about 50’s record, you got something on there too?

Nah, not yet, I sent over a couple of beats for him but I got to send something else, 50’s particular with this because each one of his album has a certain atmosphere that he’s trying to create, so he’s looking for that specific shit, but what happens is once I send him a few and he kind of tells me what he likes, then I know what kind of direction he’s going in, I’m cooking something up for him.


Dubcnn: Tight. There was a rumour on the forum that you co-produced or gave the beat skeleton to that track, “Lightspeed” on Dre’s album “Chronic 2001”. Is there any truth to that?

Nah, that’s not true no.


Dubcnn: Okay, and to end the interview, can you tell the fans about that time you were flying with Snoop and the aeroplane ran out of gas?

He just called me one day and was like “Aye man, what you doing today?”, I was like “I ain’t doing shit”, he was like “Aight man I’m going to come pick you up, were going to got to Canada”, I was like “Canada?!”, he was like “Yeah, were going to go and shoot my video” for that one song he did *sings Snoop Dogg – Snoop Dogg*. So we got on the fucking plane and about two or three security on this private jet flying and shit, in more ways than one too. Then all of a sudden the plane lands and we were like “Damn! That was fast!”, then we landed and shit and were like “What in the hell? This don’t look like no Canada and shit!.” The pilot was like “Nah man, this is Tahoe, we had to stop and get some gas”, I was like “Oh my god!”.