Author Topic: Warren G Hopes To Return To His Crate Digging Ways (Read 717 times)

woof · « **on:** July 10, 2014, 04:51:09 PM »

DX: Switching gears a bit, in terms of your production, what was your process like? Were you a crate digger?

Warren G: Major. I’m kinda mad at myself right now, because I haven’t been at that formula. That’s when I’m at my best, and need to get back into it. I want to get that feeling back like when I did “Indo Smoke,” “Definition of a Thug Nigga,” and get back into digging like I used to. I felt like I was the coldest muthafucka digging for records in the game, because I had a lot of shit they just now finding. I’m like, “I had that shit 10 years ago.” I had a lot of shit—damn near everything you hearin’ as a sample. Let me see, I just heard a record from, “Diamonds Are Forever,” but I been had that shit. I got that record overseas.

That record J. Cole did—[“Can’t Get Enough”]—it was one of the big records. I dug a lot of records on The Chronic. I bought a bunch of ‘70s soundtracks from a store called As the World Turns or As The Records Turn. I swear to God they had at least a million records, if not more. There was records from the floor to the ceiling. They’d tell me where to find Italian Soul, or French Soul or English Soul ‘cause I basically went through our shit. I wanted to go through they shit and find out how they shit sound. I used to do dope ass shit. I found The Side Effect, a gold record overseas, it was see through and it was very antique. I think I paid 100 bucks for that muthafucka. It had the horns on it, and that shit was hard. I dig a lot, and it’s a couple of store in Long Beach that’s good. I hit the beat swap meet. I got to hit Fredwreck ‘cause he knows... They do shit where they just pop up, so I got to go to the next one. That’s when I’m at my best when I’m digging.

When I would dig in New York at the Sound Library, it would be me, Q-Tip, [Posdnuos of] De La Soul, all of us would be right there because they had the little counter. They had the turntable and headphones sitting there. I used to hit this little bodega with Cuban food. I would go there, and they would give me this bomb ass chicken over the rice. I hit that muthafucka every time I hit New York and I’d get a 22 ounce of Coors. I’d hit my little joint and just sit there and go.

That’s what I used to do. I used to dig for records, and I gotta get back into the mode again. Now you can just pull up the Internet and YouTube, but I gotta get out of that and go straight to the real shit. There’s shit that ain’t on YouTube that’s in the store that can change your life. I looked at it like this, “Fuck it. I’ll spend a hundred dollars on a record to make a million..fuck that.” Spend 20 dollars to make 50 or 60 thousand. As long as you find an idea that works, so what if it’s somebody’s shit. Just re-do it, like I did “Regulate.” I did that shit better than Michael McDonald, and that was just an album cut. I blew that muthafucka up, and he still getting checks. I know he down with me. That nigga getting checks. I can imagine what he getting. Shit, they owe me that.

Hack Wilson - real · « **Reply #1 on:** July 10, 2014, 04:52:03 PM »

definition of a thug nigga was one of his best beats for sure, i love the original version with the extra background layer (and Pac's cop killing line isn't censored)

midwestryder · « **Reply #2 on:** July 10, 2014, 05:17:05 PM »

Quote from: Hack Brodenheimer on July 10, 2014, 04:52:03 PM

definition of a thug nigga was one of his best beats for sure, i love the original version with the extra background layer (and Pac's cop killing line isn't censored)

does anybody have the original version of definition of a thug nigga is high quality ? that is one of my favorite songs of all times

Black Excellence · « **Reply #3 on:** July 10, 2014, 05:45:20 PM »

dope read !

aerroc · « **Reply #4 on:** July 10, 2014, 09:50:37 PM »

Quote from: midwestryder on July 10, 2014, 05:17:05 PM

Quote from: Hack Brodenheimer on July 10, 2014, 04:52:03 PM
definition of a thug nigga was one of his best beats for sure, i love the original version with the extra background layer (and Pac's cop killing line isn't censored)
does anybody have the original version of definition of a thug nigga is high quality ? that is one of my favorite songs of all times

http://www52.zippyshare.com/v/35910033/file.html

Will_B · « **Reply #5 on:** July 10, 2014, 11:57:49 PM »

Quote from: Hack Brodenheimer on July 10, 2014, 04:52:03 PM

definition of a thug nigga was one of his best beats for sure, i love the original version with the extra background layer (and Pac's cop killing line isn't censored)

Just a funk guitar break over Donald Byrds Wind Parade wasn't it?

I agree all producers should be using samples and its basically the cost of clearing the samples that stops them ?

Okka · « **Reply #6 on:** July 11, 2014, 02:20:28 AM »

Quote from: woof on July 10, 2014, 04:51:09 PM

DX: Switching gears a bit, in terms of your production, what was your process like? Were you a crate digger?

Warren G: Major. I’m kinda mad at myself right now, because I haven’t been at that formula. That’s when I’m at my best, and need to get back into it.

Let's hope he does.

dnjp4life · « **Reply #7 on:** July 11, 2014, 11:09:07 AM »

All hip-hop producers should be crate-diggers and it should never not be like that. Most of the best beats ever made were started, I'm assuming, by the producer going down to the local record store and listening to all kinds of music for hours on end and finding a few diamonds in the rough to take home/to the studio and study.
It just can't be the same feeling finding your inspiration by putting a few keywords into YouTube's search bar and then sampling what you find. It might make it a lot easier and accessible to a lot more people but I don't know, it just doesn't sound right to me.
I'm sure most beatmakers still do crate-dig; we know DJ Quik still does, and look at what DJ Shadow did back in 1996 - he made an entire album out of probably hundreds of hours of crate-digging and everything you hear on 'Endtroducing...' is sampled, and it turned out to be one of the most important albums in recent memory.