New Dreddy Kruger Interview

[davida.b.]

What inspired the Think Differently movement?

One thing that a lot of writers that interview forget is that everybody on that project is unsigned. I mean it’s mind-boggling that brothers like GZA, RZA, Ras Kass…everybody on there is unsigned and independent.

That’s why folks like Ghostface didn't make the cut?

Exactly. I could have had Ghostface, Method Man, Redman…but those guys are on Def Jam. You know I’m A&R’ing the Ghost and Doom project for Nature Sounds. That was my concept as well.
What’s the title for that project?

Swift and Changeables. That’s the working title. That album was supposed to have been out a year ago, but Def Jam shut us down with that.
For those who don’t know, what exactly is an A&R?

A&R is Artist & Repertoire, A&R’s basically capture an artist’s sound…the real good A&R. Don’t get me wrong, you’ve got a lot of A&R’s at these labels that don’t do anything. So, the real good A&R arrange and sequence the album, pick out what artists should be on the project, even down to the production. The first record I A&R’ed was Masta Killah’s album [No Said Date]. Then I did the Black Market Militia. That’s when I decided doing mix cd’s for Sandboxautomatic and Hiphopsite.com and all that. That’s when I came up with the idea for Think Differently. I was looking for that RZA sound circa-90’s. A lot of Wu artists didn't really wanna be on that sound, but I kept telling them that's what the fans want. It ain't really about you as an artist, because you're making the music for the fans. You don't really make an album for yourself, you know what I'm saying?
Right, unless you're going to buy 1 million copies of the album yourseslf.

Exactly! I never understood that logic. So I kept telling them "this is what the fans want to hear you n***as on again. Plus you've heard all the Wu n***as matched up together before, but you've never heard GZA and Ras Kass. That's another thing I was trying to accomplish.
I've always wanted to hear GZA and Ras Kass on the same song. Those were some dream collaborations.

Exactly, imagine how I was feeling in the studio putting everything together. It was unbelievable for me, and everybody kept asking me "how did you get these guys together?" even with the Doom and RZA. I knew that would have the internet going nuts. I said "I'm not going to put RZA on a Doom beat, I'm going to put Doom on a RZA beat," especially since Doom is a big Wu-Tang fan anyway. So, he jumped at the opportunity.
Is the second Think Differently compilation going to be on Babygrande as well?

Basically, it's on Think Differently Music. Babygrande is really a distributor, but they handle all the marketing and promotional aspects of the record as well. I knew I would get the results that I wanted from Babygrande. Chuck Wilson [Babygrande CEO] did a phenomenal job with the project. A 50 Cent might be hot in the hood, but during the time, my CD was the hottest thing out. N***as were talking about my CD more than the DangerDoom[The Mouse & The Mask], more than the GZA/Muggs sh*t[Grandmasters], just because I had so much more to offer. The DangerDoom was basically Doom rhyming over Danger Mouse beats and GZA rhyming over....I had so much more, and I had GZA on two songs on my record. So, my CD is a great listen if you're a fan of these artists.
Or a fan of good music, period.

Yeah, exactly,if you're a fan of good hip-hop - the real elements. I made it a point not to do a lot of the songs with hooks. I thought a lot of writers would say something about that, like it wasn't structured. It was just like we did it back in the days.
Many people have structured 'ears' so to speak. If your goal is to reach a lot of people, don't you think that breaking that structure could prevent you from doing so?

Nah, not at all. I'm familiar with the hip-hop audience.

Well, think about Little Brother...They make good music in my opinion, but they don't reach as many people as they intend to reach.

Well, that's a marketing/promotion standpoint right there. That's where the labels train the audience like "this is what you need to get, this is what's hot." Little Brother definitely makes good music, I'm glad you brought that up. But, I think they made a bad decision by signing with a major label after coming off a highly successful independent record. That record did about 30-40,000 scans independently. They're only at 60,000 now with a major, it didn't even make sense. I think they lost their core audience when they signed with the major, because the majors don't really get Little Brother. They don't really know what to do with them.
That's crazy.

If you had to make some amendments on your second compilation, what would it be?

I wouldn't change too much, man. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Only thing is, I'll have a few major label artist on there this time. But, I'll get them cleared before I even record anything. I'm doing a song with The Game and GZA for the next one. Pharoahe Monch and GZA as well, it's going to be crazy. I've got Mos Def...I've got a lot of major label artists that are calling me after they heard the first one like "yo why didn't you call me to be on the album?"
With Game and Mos on the album, would you still call it Wu-Tang Meets Indie Culture or do you have a new title?

Nah, it's going to have a different title but it'll still be Think Differently Music. I'll come up with a dope title, but it'll still be Wu-Tang-something because RZA even called me up like "Yo I wanna handle the bulk of the production for the next one" because he was very impressed with the project. People thought RZA had so much to do with the first one that even when Billboard talked about project, they put a picture of RZA next to it. But, I didn't have a problem with it, it's all Wu-Tang anyway. If anything, it helped. But RZA didn't even hear it until after I was finished with it, even the song that he did. But, I learned how to arrange and sequence from RZA.
How come RZA wasn't on Ghost's album, FishScale?

I love Ghost's record, but there's something missing from that record, man. And, I told Ghost "yo I don't think you should do this Doom record on here."
The only Doom joint I was anxious to hear was the one that didn't make the cut [Charlie Brown]

To me, Pete Rock had the best beat on there. But, "R.A.G.U." was the best song on there. Song-wise, "Kilo" was the best. Ghost is really separating himself from the Wu. You read the tabloids, you've seen what's going on. He's doing his own thing right now. People are gonna know when they hear how much better Raekwon's album is than Ghost's. People have no idea. I'm hearing the songs almost everyday. RZA's doing the whole album, and Dr. Dre will have 3 joints on there. The sh*t's going to be incredible.
So, it wasn't a matter of RZA not reaching out to Ghost, it was the other way around.

Yeah, exactly. The only reason he got a Wu-Tang song on there with a whack-ass MF Doom beat was because he knows he needs that for the core Wu-Tang fans. But, that's one of the worst songs on the album. How can you have the whole Wu on there and end up with one of the worst songs on the album. That's supposed to be the standout cut. That's supposed to the song everybody's talking about, everybody's playing right now. N***as should've been jumping on that more than the Ne-Yo song, more than "Be Easy." If that song was done right, if RZA would've produced it, that would be the highlight of FishScale. That's what would've pushed it to the next level.

Wow, you've got a ton of music coming this year.

Man, we got a whole lot. Inspectah Deck, GZA, and RZA's projects are going to be the highlights of the year. RZA's about to give GZA a whole album again on some Liquid Swords sh*t. He's doing the same with Deck. RZA's in the state of mind again, where he's just concentrating on putting his beats together to try and bring the Wu sound back. The "W" has bullet holes in it right now, and it's about to fall. I think when I released my compilation, I held it up a little bit. It gave us a little bit more life.
How soon should we look forward to the Ghostface and MF Doom record?

That's coming out this spring. All we're waiting on is for Def Jam to clear Ghostface. Def Jam still hasn't cleared Ghost. They kept telling us that we have to wait till Ghost's album drops. His album has dropped, but they still haven't signed the papers yet.
So, the record is done?

The record is done. We just can't do anything with it until Def Jam clears Ghost. We've got enough stuff to hold people over till next year. The second Think Differently compilation will be out January 2007. Raekwon is going to rock through the winter when he drops, I'm telling you.

Is that going to be a Rae and Ghost collaboration all through?

Cuban Linx 2? Nah, there ain't even no Ghost on it like that. Ghost's probably only on like 2-3 joints. Deck and GZA picked up the bulk of it.

What's up with Mathematics?

That's another producer he could have had on the Doom collaboration. Math and Ghost have the best chemistry outside of Ghost and RZA. In fact, Math gave Ghost two of his best songs ever: "Mighty Healthy" and "Wu-Banga 101." If you've listened to FishScale, you'll notice that Just Blaze tried to recreate that whole "Mighty Healthy" sound with that bullsh*t song, "The Champ." That wasn't even a classic Just Blaze sh*t yo. I was disappointed in that because Just Blaze is one of my favorite producers. Math was bugging off that sh*t as well, but I tried to explain to him that "Yo, he was trying to recreate your sound." I expect so much more from Just Blaze, because everyone knows Just Blaze got heat. But, like I said we've got a lot coming out this year.
I'm definitely looking forward to that. Thanks a lot for the interview, man.

Upcoming Think Differently Music/Wu-Tang Projects

Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2
Ghostface & MF Doom - Swift & Changeables
Bronze Nazareth - The Great Migration
Lord Jamar - The 5% Album

[UKnowWhatItIs: welcome to my traps....game over]

Dope read.

[The Watcher]

fuckin dope, another album

[jeromechickenbone]

Props for that interview.  I like what he's saying and the direction he wants things to go.  Also pretty interesting info about Fishscale.  My anticipation for Raekwon is really high right now.