Interview with former deathrow producer Tyrone "Hurt M Badd" Wrice( hail mary)

[Darksider]

Question: Please introduce yourself to those who don’t know of you.

Tyrone Wrice: My birth name is Tyrone Wrice. I have been producing for eleven years. I was signed to Death Row Records, and before getting my shot on the Makaveli album, I worked with other artists that were also with Death Row Records but never got released. Since leaving Death Row Records, I have worked with a few underground artists.

Question: Tell us about your alias "Hurt M Badd". Does it have any meaning behind it?

Tyrone Wrice: It has no meaning behind it, just what I thought up.

Question: How did you get into the music industry?

Tyrone Wrice: My father was a musician. He played various instruments and that was a big influence on me. I ended up getting a turntable and a drum machine for my eleventh birthday and from then on, I just stuck with it. I then began writing just from being around music for so long.

Question: Were there certain artists that you listened to when you were younger that have influenced you in your work today?

Tyrone Wrice: I listened to everything. My father had a good record collection so I was listening to a lot of stuff. Not necessarily rap, I listened to Marvin Gaye, Jimmy Hendrix, Michael Jackson, Ray Charles, Louis Armstrong, James Brown, Prince, etc.

Question: Who or what are your influences as a music producer (Any artists that you still enjoy listening to)?

Tyrone Wrice: I listen to a lot of unsigned rap artists because that’s who I’ve been working with. I listen to everything in my free time.

Question: What would you say is your best piece of work, and why?

Tyrone Wrice: I’m always going to like “Hail Mary” the best because there was nothing better then hearing your song on the radio. The first time I heard it I didn’t like what Pac put over it but when I heard it the second time it hit me.

Question: What current projects you are working on?

Tyrone Wrice: I worked with a lot of underground artists, but I just recently got in the studio on my first big project in ten years. I was working with an artist who’s signed to The Game’s label. I don’t know what I’m suppose to reveal on that situation, but the tracks I did with him are classic.

Question: What was your inspiration on the Makaveli album? Did 2Pac explain to you how he wanted everything done or did you come up with the concepts yourself?

Tyrone Wrice: Pac played some records and hummed out the beats the way he wanted them to be and I was the one that made it happen.

Question: At the time of the recording sessions of the Makaveli album, it was said that everyone who was working on the album basically spent the whole time together for seven days in the studio until the album was complete. Can you tell what went on at that time?

Tyrone Wrice: We didn’t sleep there but we were there very late at night. I had no problem, I was just happy Pac was giving me the shot so I just made it happen. I was waiting around in the studio the whole time waiting to be called on. If you were too slow doing it then somebody else got the shot, Pac just told us how he wanted it to sound and we made it happen. It was no problem because I can work pretty fast. Some days in the studio Pac was real funny, other days he would be all business. There was always a lot of smoking and drinking going on.

Question: Were there any tracks you produced for the Makaveli album that were cut from the original track list? What were the names of these tracks?

Tyrone Wrice: I made four tracks that didn’t make the track listing. I can’t remember the names of the tracks because it was over ten years ago. I remember more then one person recording vocals for a few songs and they chose who was best for it. One day it was just me and Pac in the studio and he asked me if I could sing and get in the booth and that’s how I got on as a vocalist.

Question: If you had the chance, would you go back and change anything on that album?

Tyrone Wrice: A masterpiece is not something to be tampered with. I would not change a thing about it. I love everything about the album.

Question: Tell us about the first time you met 2Pac.

Tyrone Wrice: I was working at Death Row Records. I produced a lot for artists who were never going to release anything. Nobody big at Death Row wanted to work with me until some of the Outlawz came up to my room and told me Pac wanted to see me. I was so relieved when I found out that Pac wanted to work with me, I was hearing rumors that I was going to be fired any day. I was giving my beats to Snoop, but he would never use them or get back to me, so I was stuck working on stuff that would never be released. Snoop was recording his album and Tupacs crew and Snoops crew started getting tribal and would only work with their own. Pac had no other producers, Daz wouldn’t do it, and Johnny J started using a new style Pac didn’t feel, so he wanted to see what we could do.

Question: On your interview with Rap News Direct, you talked about working with Tupac inside the studio. Can you tell us how it was being around him on a personal level?

Tyrone Wrice: He was a funny person and had the people laughing all the time. Sometimes he would be more serious though. While he was writing some songs he would be in complete silence, just writing, and when he got done he just walked in the booth and started recording without telling anybody what the song was about.

Question:: How many tracks did you produce for 2Pac?

Tyrone Wrice: Around 40, we did a lot of stuff together after the Makaveli sessions. Sometimes it would just be Pac, me and a few of the engineers in the studio and those were the times where we had some real good conversations.

Question: What is your favorite 2Pac track, and why?

Tyrone Wrice: “Against All Odds”, he and I both worked on the production, he did get involved in the technical work so he and I both made that happen.

Question: Tell us a little bit about the track "Fame". Your name was mentioned on the credit line for the Better Dayz album and I would like to get it cleared on what you were credited for.

Tyrone Wrice: I produced the original and it was left that way.

Question: Where were you the night that 2Pac got shot?

Tyrone Wrice: I was at home with a few friends watching the fight.

Question: What was your reaction to his death?

Tyrone Wrice: His death was tragic, at only twenty-five years old he was still very young, too young to go. It hit me hard because we were really becoming good friends.

Question: What is your current relationship with Suge Knight?

Tyrone Wrice: I wish him the best of luck. I went my way because they had no respect for me. They wanted me to work on what was going to be the next 2Pac project before Pac’s mothers label got the rights to his music. I brought a few copies of DATS with me to work on at home and the next day Suge got real angry over it because I didn’t bring them back the next day because I didn’t see it as a big deal, so I just grabbed my stuff and walked out.

Question: Were you in contract with Tha Row?

Tyrone Wrice: Yes, I was signed to Death Row Records, I left in early 1997.

Question: What advice would you give to someone who is just starting out in the music industry, and wants to follow in your footsteps as a music producer?

Tyrone Wrice: Keep at it and don’t quit. Don’t give up for any reason.

Question: Where do you see yourself ten years from now?

Tyrone Wrice: I think I’m going to be getting a lot of work opportunities after the album on The Game’s label drops. If I don’t then I’m just going to stay in retirement. I recently retired, but I will still be selling my beats. I have over 1,500 beats that I made during my career that haven’t been used, so I’m going to sell all those.

Question: What artists would you like to work with in the future, and what artists are you currently working with?

Tyrone Wrice: Any serious artist that has faith in my work. Nobody specific, but I would like to enter the mainstream eye.

Be sure to visit HIS MySpace page, MySpace.com/TyroneWrice. You can stop by and send him a message.

[Soopafly]

why didnt they ask who da bws artist was

[The "Untouchable" DJR]

Nice interview thanks.

[Okka]

Nice interview thanks.