(February 2010) | Interview By: Jose Ho-Guanipa

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Interview was conducted in March 2010
 

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Terrace Martin // Video Interview // Dubcnn

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Dubcnn: What’s up Dubcnn? I’m Jose, and I’m here with Terrace Martin. What’s up dude?

Terrace: Hey, what’s happenin’?

Dubcnn: What’s crackin? So tell us what you been up to, we were just listening to your new album you put out, 808 And Sax Breaks right?

Terrace: Yup. It’s doing very well, 808s And Sax Breaks. I just got done doing that with Kenobi. Also I just released a free EP, on the internet called The Lovers Edition, I think that’s what they call it, The Demo. The Lovers Edition, The Demo. So that’s pretty much it, doing Problem’s record called History, just started Snoop’s new record, just stacking records.

Dubcnn: Alright for this one, the projects that you just came out with.

Terrace: Which one?

Dubcnn: The Sax Breaks. You know it’s kinda a little bit out of left field, it’s kinda…for this 808s and Sax Breaks that came out, it’s a little bit out of left field maybe not for you, but for most producers to do something like that. A lot of times there’s one event that kind of inspires you to say ok, im gonna do this project.

Terrace: At first, initially nothing inspired me to do this project. Ted Chung told me to do this project, which is my manager, and I was like you know me being on the saxophone a straight edge. At the time I thought it would be sacrilegious, kinda corny to cover a Kanye album on the saxophone. Then actually throughout that time I started getting back into my moms tables book, I read about 3 times a year and then when I realized that, Jazz, what made Jazz so hip and what everybody loved in the30’s 40’s 50’s and 60’s is that Miles and Tray and them would take these shows, these Broadway tunes, and these Disney tunes like “Someday My Prince Will Come” and “On Green Dolphin Street” and “I Remember April”. That was written in the 30’s, and they would play them in their own way, and make them popular. So I equated that to what’s going on now, you know with the whole Kanye thing, like to me Kanye is like our, I’m not gonna say our Duke Ellington on account, but Kanye’s like our modern day Cole Porter. If ya’ll don’t know who Cole Porter is you gotta look him up, I cant give you everything. But he’s like our modern day Cole Porter. Which was an excellent composer and everything. So later on I start vibing out, 6 months pass and I say, “Yo Ted, I wanna do that now.” I came in and I wiped it down I didn’t even know his songs, that album, I learned his music, then I went back and bought the CD, then I fell back in love with the music, then I recut all the songs again. Cause then I got to grow and learn his music, and live his music, I was going, it’s 808s and Sax Breaks, his thing is like 808s and Heartbreaks right? So as I’m doing this, I was going through my own little thing, emotionally with a relationship and everything like that so it was only right to do it.

Dubcnn: Alright so on the business side of things, did you have to get clearance from Kanye? Did you talk to him about it? Did Ted talk about it?

Terrace: Ted Chung did all that.

Dubcnn: Really cool project. The other thing I thought about that was cool, is that you’re donating some of the money to some schools' music programs, tell us about that.

Terrace: Well I figured, well all the money from the project. I did it cause I just love to play, so me and Ted got together and I said would it be cool if I donated a lot of the money to different programs that are lacking in the L.A. Unified School District, all the L.A. Unified School District music programs are lacking, actually a lot don’t even have em. They snatched everything out; they snatched out all the music. So I’m trying to help out the music back in the schools when you have a lot of good bands like Locke High, Crenshaw, Dorsey everything, Fremont, Jordan. You got a lot less violence in the areas cause the kids have something to do. I went to Locke High so I know music was a big part of me havin' something to do. We didn’t have time to get into stupid stuff because we always had after school activities, so that’s what I’m trying to get back into, that whole thing.

Dubcnn: Alright so tell me about you experience with school music programs growing up. How did that influence you, how did that shape you as a person?

Terrace: Um, somebody’s asked me that question recently. For me, the music program in school to me was like the best part of school. Like most kids that didn’t like school like I don’t like school P.E. was the best part. But the music to me was the best part, ‘cause the music actually helped me to get better grades. Reading music is nothing but math, and when you play an instrument, there’s a certain level of discipline that you have to have. We used to practice 8 hours every day, so doing school work was nothing after that. A couple of hours of that affected me a lot cause it showed me discipline. A lot of discipline.

Dubcnn: Cool. So you got this really great album you just put out, and I know your always busy, you always got projects going on. What’s your next project that you got coming up that’s gonna be big? I heard you got something with Kurupt?

Terrace: Kurupt has an album called Street Lights coming out, on 4/20. I guess that’s national smoke day, 420. Yeah I don’t smoke so, 420, April 20th; he has an album called Street Lights, which I produced about 95% of the album, mixed the whole album, which is excellent. Kurupt is back, he sounds great.

Dubcnn: So tell us about that project. I know you were involved heavily in the Blaqkout thing, I interviewed them for Blaqkout, and they couldn’t stop talking about you. So tell us about that, what’s it gonna sound like?

Terrace: New. It’s gonna sound like it feels so familiar, but it’s so new. Does that make sense to you?

Dubcnn: Yeah.

Terrace: No does it really make sense to you? Like you know when you hear something and it’s like, I heard that before, but you really haven’t but it feel like you’ve heard it before? That’s what this Kurupt album sounds like. All I did was I produced a Kurupt album from a fan standpoint. I picked up where Streets Is A Mother left off. I didn’t pick up where Space Odyssey, Space Boogie? I don’t know I picked up where Streets Is A Mother left off, creatively, and just made it new. Even him, he sounds brand new, It’s amazing. He’s not the same Kurupt, he’s not in the same space. It’s a fun thing.

Dubcnn: Dope. So another thing I wanna touch on is, I ask this to a lot of people, artists mostly, I don’t get to talk to producers as much, but you’re the go to guy for the West Coast pretty much, the producer. What do you think is lacking for the West Coast to break out on a national level, the way it was 10-15 years ago, 20 years ago? Well maybe not 20 but you know what I mean? West Coast was top of the list for Top 40 and the whole pop music thing.

Terrace: I think the biggest problem with the West Coast is, that we just don’t support our own. A lot of the big producers don’t really support some of the West Coast artists.(phone rings, he looks at it). Ah dude, this is crazy, I gotta take this. Hello? I’m doing an interview on camera right now but I’m on Centinela and LaBrea right? Alright so can you meet me at the studio on Centinela and LaBrea right now? Hold on, I’m gonna give the phone to my friend, they gonna give you the address.(hands the phone to his friend). Alright so this gonna mean something one day. Alright where were we. I feel like we don’t support each other out here. From the artists, to the producers, to the label to the radio, we just, I say we I mean, a lot of us don’t support each other, some of us do. I think Snoop Dogg supports people, I think I support people as much as I can, but I think the powers that be, we all have to support each other, we all have to make a fist. If 2 fingers are missing, then you have this, and this is the West Coast to me right now. I try not to get into the whole East Coast, West Coast side of music, but I live out here, I’m from out here, so I’m not gonna abandon it at the same time either. I believe that that is the issue. That’s the problem, you know what I’m sayin? Until we get the DJ artist support and start playin some music out here, not everything, not everything, cause a lot of West Coast music is horrible. When I go to these sites like Dubcnn and all the West Coast sites, it’s a lot of random people. It’s like you could call somebody be say alright gimmie an interview on Dubcnn and fly, when at one point in Hip-Hop you actually had to be dope. You had to be dope for any recognition, now it’s like the internet has made it very accessible for the wackest people that do it cause you may get the girls, or you may get the jewelery, and rent your homeboy’s car. Now it’s so simple to get a buzz, you go and get a certain amount of youtube hits and they think they're crackin'. It’s so easy to be wack and good now. But I think if it was back to how it used to be, where you actually had to be dope, dope to get played, dope to get on anything, I think it would be a lot better to but it’s not a lot of filtering going on. I try, If I do a record to Dr. Dre, or for Jay or for Snoop or anybody, I give a record that I’m about to leak that same effort. I don’t say this shit’s weak I’m gonna throw it out. It’s the same thing and I think if more people thought like that, give everything their best shot, we’d be a lot better off. You know?

Dubcnn: Yeah, so what about creatively? Where do you think the West Coast is at creatively? Where do you think it’s headed?

Terrace: Man I can’t answer that, I can’t answer about the whole coast creatively cause I don’t say in tune with just one thing like that creatively. I can say it looks like hip-hop is growing. You know one thing, hip-hop is growing. I think record sales are down, but I think musically it’s kinda growing. But the West Coast music, I don’t know, cause What is West Coast music? I just wanna ask that question now, people when they hear (makes beats with his mouth), is that West Coast music? Or is that Midwest? Cause Roger Troutman ain’t from Ohio, but I don’t really understand what it is, I don’t know.

Dubcnn: So one of the persons your always heavily involved with is Snoop right?

Terrace: (Nods).

Dubcnn: So you’re working on his new album, the follow up to Malice In Wonderland. What can you tell us about that, without telling us too much obviously?

Terrace: I think the more mature Snoop gets as an artist, 'cause you never stop maturing as an artist, you always a student. I think the older he gets, it’s funny, to me it gets doper and doper. I think you’re just gonna get another segment of him just being doper and doper on his album. I’m heavily involved in his album, actually a lot more than the last album. J-Black he know, excellent songwriter and all that stuff with Snoop and everything. This album we plan to take it by storm, me and Problem, me and Problem, J-Black, Wild Jones and Tone Treasure, we planning to take this next Snoop album by storm. Like a new sound, but it still sounds familiar, that’s the whole thing, And kudos to DJ Quik, he taught me that. You wanna get a good record that everybody loves? Make it sound so new but yet like it’s been heard before. That’s a hit record.

Dubcnn: So let me ask you this, you and Snoop have the production team Niggarachi. What’s it like working with him? You’re the musician obviously, But he’s coming from a different area. What’s it like working with him as a production team and how does he like to get stuff done as a producer?

Terrace: He’s like a giant music library. Snoop is like a walking iPod. He just knows so much music to where he’ll hum you something, hey man, hey T let’s do something like this (makes beats with his mouth) and he be like hey play some of that Smokey Robinson on it (makes music with his mouth) and it’s like, I don’t know a lot of them tunes like that, he knows all them tunes, you know? So that’s what he brings to the table as a production team. The vocabulary’s ridiculous.

Dubcnn: Has your partnership evolved as you’ve done more together? I hear you do other stuff for other people sometimes?

Terrace: Yeah, well me and Snoop are really friends, so It gets better every time. It gets better with time. But we are gonna work with a few other people this year. I don’t wanna say too much, but they gonna be shocked when they see the names up on the back of these particular records, cause it ain’t hip-hop.

Dubcnn: Give us a hint.

Terrace: Um, we’ve already went in with Amy Winehouse. I’ll stop there.

Dubcnn: Yeah I’ve heard that.

Terrace, But recently, I’m gonna stop there. But it’s going in that direction. Hip-hop is one thing, we just love music, you know what I mean? That’s where that’s going.

Dubcnn: Alright man, well good luck with all your future projects, I know you got a lot of them. Tell us about where people can go check out the 808 and Sax Breaks, where they can find all the latest stuff, and all the new info on you.

Terrace: You can definitely find 808’s and Sax Breaks on iTunes. You can stay on Twitter, I’m always talking on Twitter. @terracemartin all the updates on Twitter. Twitter has made it the easiest thing for everybody. That’s the hottest thing right there, for music, updates like that, you know you can download the free EP I just dropped, The Lovers Edition EP which is excellent. That’s with me, J-Black, Tone Treasure, Snoop Dogg, Problem. I think The Love EP is my best work up to date right now. This is the first project in my life where I was just able to be me. I don’t gotta do what somebody think I should be doing, I can just be melodic, with big drums, playing on the saxophone, talkin about love.

Dubcnn: Alright.

Terrace: For real, I just love to love and hate to hate. What do we say J-Black?

J-Black: Don’t run from the love man, the hate will find you. Just love to love homie.

Terrace: Love to love. You checkin' out J-black, @, man tell them your twitter.

J-Black: @mrblackmarket, that's the twitter. You know we know Jakai music group.

Terrace: It’s going big, J-Black gotta a lot of records, Fresh Pair, Game, just a lot of records. So that’s where we at man, and thank you for your time. Thank you for your time cause you didn’t have to come all the way out here to do this. I appreciate that, sincerely.

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Terrace Martin // Video Interview // Dubcnn