EA-SKI ahh new interview

[The_Ripper]

Bay area bred but world renown, EA Ski has been behind the boards tailoring hits since the early 90's. Signed to "No Limit" records when it was based in Richmond, Ca., he produced for Master P and his stable of artists, as well as for himself as one of the original members of No Limit's group TRU. As a prominent Bay area producer he put on for his city working with the likes of Ice T, Spice 1, Yukmouth, Messy Marv, Jayo Felony and more.

In 1995 he did a song for the Friday soundtrack titled "Blast If I Have To" and that is when he met his good friend Ice Cube. Fast forward to 2011 and he's still making hits and his current one sizzling the streets is "Please" feat. Ice Cube.  With several deals on the table and over a 500,000 YouTube.com views, EA Ski has no limits on where he wants to take his career and he took a little time out to talk to  about Cube, West Coast Hip-hop and the indie grind.

AllHipHop.com: Congrats on the single with Cube its been really buzzing the net. What have you been doing lately during your little hiatus?
EA Ski: I've just been working on my solo album. I was gonna for a lil bit just re:evaluating how i wanted to drop my album because I was with the major labels for awhile. I was at Columbia in 01,  02 and when they started merging and my A&R got fired, i ended up going hard independently and did a lot of dope stuff in the Bay when the whole Hyphy stuff kicked in which i didn't really like at all and kinda side stepped away from it but then I started working with my artist who's really dope named Mobsta. He was one of the top battle MC's around and we started working on his solo album and we really started making some impact with it and he ended up having a really big record with a song called Red Swan on MTV, but I really wanted to put on for the Bay. As far as the single goes Cube has been the homie since day one and I really just wanted to do a record that really made sense and that fit both of our personalities. I was sitting on this record for a little bit and said when Cube frees up we gotta do this record and i sent it to him in New York and he thought it was off the hook.

AllHipHop.com: It takes a special type of artist to be able to stand next to Ice Cube and deliver a comparable level of artistry.
EA Ski: I think your absolutely right and that's what makes it so dope, me and Cube were on Priority together and he respects what I do from an artist and a producers point of view and I'm just honored actually because that's my favorite artist and Cube doesn't exploit himself and if he supports something its authentic and that's what makes it dope. It means so much to me because he's iconic so it lets me know that I've put in the work and its definitely something you can make history with.

AllHipHop.com:  You've had the fortune of working with Master P from your No Limit days, and countless names along the way working as a producer how has the climate of Hip:Hop changed in your eyes?
EA Ski: A lot has changed. When i was making music in the late 90's early 2000s, it was great because you could be really creative. You didn't have any walls stopping you from doing and making records with No Limit or Suave House, no walls stopping you from doing remixes with Das Efx and different artists like Dre. People were into the creativity of music and that's what was so dope and that's why Hip:Hop was at its biggest point and also there was no segregation. I mean there was a little as far as New York was concerned, but they woke up quick when they started to see the West coast doing their thing and they were like hey we might not rap with them but we'll get some production.

AllHipHop.com: What do you think it is that had the East coast not checking for the West? Was it intimidation or did they feel the West was inferior?
EA Ski: I think its a combination of both. I think that they think we don't put our words together as good as they can. I think they think metaphorically their wordplay is better. They think they have the edge and that makes them feel superior to anyone calling themselves a lyricist, so when the West coast did it and was putting our lyrics down as far as the way we was feeling it more or less sounded dumbed down to them. Whereas, we might say "hey I'm about to go to the store" they would say it a different way that might go over someones head, but that's dope to them. I just think everyone's interpretation of what they think is hot just by the way they were raised and by what they know, so when the West coast started really doing their thing they didn't really want to embrace the way we rapped, but they couldn't deny that the production was just so dominant that it couldn't be denied. If you notice, they then started kinda dumbing down their stuff and trying to sound like us. If you listen to Biggie, he broke stuff down like a West coast artist.

AllHipHop.com: Would you go so far as to say that was Pac's influence over him since they were once friends?
EA Ski: We could say a lot of stuff (laughs) but I think it was a lot of different influences. I mean, Cube was the prime dude that showed a lot of people that we could really get down and he could go to New York and lay something down over the hottest production at the time and hold his own and let n***as know he's a problem, and as far as Pac goes he did his thing but a lot of people already looked at him as being from the East anyways so that's kinda a grey area right there.

AllHipHop.com: Unfortunately, that was a game changer as far as artist beefs go and theses days its at a whole new level. It seems as though the music has become a vehicle for gang:banging.
EA Ski:Yea, I think when Pac got shot it really resonated that its real and its not just records anymore. Before that people were saying all kinds of stuff on records and it was just that, a record. But when Pac got shot several times it really touched home that its real, this ain't a game. But what happens is, when you look at Hip:hop and the fact that its been around for over 30 years it can only go so far. Like you can't just be a gangsta rapper and perpetuate certain things because it has no choice but to become real because now people have to prove themselves. You can't just be a gangsta rapper no more, now people are like OK is he real? Did he really put in work in the streets? You got people trying to get points for going to jail, its insane. Now don't get me wrong, there's always been truth to music but its supposed to be a way to vent and let people know your mindset and move forward. Now though, you say something and people try to test you and that's the hard part about being a so:called gangsta rapper because you have these dudes who are on and they're not really rappers, they're really in the streets and you getting a little bit of your success from their lifestyle and they like "Aye ni**a what's up?"  So if you really rapping it you have to be able to handle the repercussions and the backlash that comes from rapping that lifestyle.

AllHipHop.com: How do you define your music as an artist vs. as a producer?
EA Ski: I just define it as little conversations with people to tap into their mental as a person and how I feel as a man. Like with the Cube record, I had a lot of stuff going on in my mind thinking about how people can take your niceness and no matter whether you come from the streets or what you can live your life and say man I'm spiritual and I don't want a reason to go back to being a certain way but  then there;s some people that take that for granted and will just push and push; so that's where the record came from, its please don't let me act a fool, please don't let me go back to doing what I know I'm capable of doing in a way where you gonna understand I'm not fu**ing around. I try to make records that really touch on reality. I like my music to say I come from that environment yes but I'm not about all that.

[dameons]

Dope !