New Sid Roams Interview

[D~Nice]

Nice interview. Producers that did beats for Prodigy, Big Shug, Evidence and more. Ran across it, check it out.

http://www.illuminati2g.com/sidroamsinterview.htm

[D~Nice]

Jehuniko: I'm a big fan of music to ride to. Sounds that evoke adrenaline, channel a feeling, and with hitting bass you can never go wrong. That is why I hit up Sid Roams. You might know them from producing for Prodigy of Mobb Deep, Evidence, Infamous Mobb, Jean Grae, Big Shug, Beastie Boys and much more. Check out what they had to say, their label and upcoming classic projects.


 

Your guy’s production puts you into that elite category alongside, in my opinion, Alchemist, and Havoc, who make that soundtrack to murk to, to ride to and ride on. Tell us about your individual history and how you joined forces.

 

SR: Both of our mothers are singers, so we grew up surrounded by music respectively. When we met in the 7th grade, our favorite things to do was post up in the crib and play the latest and greatest Hip Hop tapes and records. We were fiends for the music. 13 years old, mystified, we would talk about how it might have been put together. We were really just 2 kids completely flipped off of the beats. We got our hands on our first sampler 2 years later, and started making loops and triggering them with no sequencer on to a 4-track cassette recorder. These years we were just trying to produce what we were hearing.  When high school ended, Bravo moved out to the east coast to attend NYU and Chav stayed in LA. We gained a lot of experience individually until 2002 when we re-united out in NY.

 

You guys are from Califas right? What were some influential years and what events shaped your views on music, culture?

 



 

SR: In Cali, it was hard not to be influenced by the different cultures out there.  Skater/surfer culture, Chicano culture, graffiti culture.  They all coincide throughout the LA basin.  We were listening to NWA, King Tee, CMW, WC, Cypress Hill and all them, and also bumpin’ early Hiero and Freestyle Fellowship. But we mostly got stuck on east coast music.  The classics were RUN-DMC, Slick Rick, EPMD, Gang Starr, Rakim, Native Tongues, Mobb Deep, Nas and so on. We’re mainly products of that early 90’s sound as far as what influenced us most.

 

Who or what inspired you to begin producing?

 

SR: Well, first off, hip-hop music from that era was so different from everything else out there so it was inspiring just in its essence, but again, we were mystified. When Quincy Jones’ son, QD3, moved into the neighborhood when we were like 14, he welcomed a couple of us eager youngsters (Evidence and Alchemist as well) into his garage-turned-studio. This was our first encounter with a production studio.  It was like we were seeing a spaceship, for real.  Although we had no idea what was actually going on, we knew this was what we wanted to dedicate ourselves to!

 

Who is Sid Roams?

 

SR: Ha-Ha… We get this one a lot! One proper full name for two dudes throws some people. But we have always played this name game in our circle of friends. Making up cool-sounding names of characters that don’t exist. We would give names to each other, and actually refer to that person that way. So when the time came to choose a name for our production work, we felt that the team name was corny or cliché and how can you follow acts like “The” Neptunes or “The” Bomb squad in title. So we choose to go a different route. And we love it! We gotta laugh when we hear feedback like “who is this Sid Roams guy?” Sid Roams is our mythical beat guru.

 

If you could pick one movie to describe your production, what would it be?

 

SR: We like those dark 80s movies from when we were growin’ up so I’d have to say, “Escape from New York” by the god, John Carpenter.

 

Top 5 records?

 



 

SR: This is an impossible game ‘cuz it’s inevitable that you forget something essential.  Also, there’s no way to cover all the different genres.  But just for the readers, here’s a list of random non-hip hop LP’s: The Police- Zenyatta Mondatta, Sun Ra- Lanquidity, Marvin Gaye- Troubleman, Les McCann- Layers, and Michael Jackson- Thriller.  See that’s already five and we didn’t even get to the Beatles or Prince… it’s too hard. 

 

What do you think about the border walls, the Minutemen and this election madness?

 

SR: Its fuckin’ insanity.  The backwards-colonial madness that the US demonstrates is baffling.  There are so many aspects to it that don’t make any sense, and now, more than ever, nations need to be thinking on a global humane and diplomatic level.  Didn’t we learn anything from the Berlin Wall?  And since when is it acceptable to serve vigilante justice?  I don’t know, we’ll see what happens in November but its all getting pretty scary.  I mean, ultimately, you inherently cant trust any politician but I kind of want to see Obama in the white house.  Then at least it wont be Hillary or, god save us, John McCain…

 

Tell us 2 songs that you’ve produced that really stand out in your minds?

 

SR: Prodigy’s “Real Power” and Ev’s “Mr. Slow Flow”.

 

How long have you been working with Prodigy and have you talked to him since he got locked up?

 

SR: We had been working with P for the past year before he got locked up. Big Twins had been telling him about us for a while. And since we were already working on Twins solo record and the Hard White record, P had a chance to hear what we were doing. When he finally came thru, the chemistry just flowed right. He wanted to keep coming back.

Unfortunately we have not seen him since his bid started. We were discussing going to see him, and then he got moved to a new prison waaaaaay upstate.

 

You also produced Evidence’s “Mr. Slow Flow,” what else might people know you for?

 

SR: Over the years we have been involved in all of the Dilated Peoples projects. We also did work for Purple City, Infamous Mobb, Jean Grae, Krumbsnatcha, Big Shug, Beastie Boys, Aceyalone, Phil Tha Agony, and Planet Asia.  Recently did some stuff with Papoose.  Over the years we have gone from left coast to right coast to fuck the coasts… lets just make good music we enjoy. 

 

 

 

Tell me about your lab, and the daily grind. What is a day like in the mind of Sid Roams?

 

SR: Man, seven days a week we are either making new beats, recording for the artists around us, mixing albums, administrating for our production group or our record label. It’s really a daily process and commitment getting all the pieces set up!  The studio is in constant use, we steady in there.

 

 

I see that you guys are behind Big Twins solo album, which is hella overdue…can you shed some light on that long awaited album.

 

SR: You know we have been sitting on this one for a long time for many different reasons but mainly we’re just waiting for the opportune moment to drop it on heads.  We’ve been leaking a lot of material over the years to keep people aware but the timing was never quite right. We have been told over the years by a lot of people whom we trust to never rush the creative process in order to appease some sort of release schedule. It’s taken this long ‘cuz that’s just the speed that this particular project moved at. Five Other projects have been started and completed since we began working with Twins in 2004. But we are now finally scheduled for the official album release in November of this year!   

 

So your album, SRMD dropped in March on your label Dirt Class Records. Tell us about your label and what projects are coming up?

 



 

SR: Damn, this year is real exciting for us.  We got Big Twins- The Grimey Collection (pre-album) on shelves now!!! Go grab that!!  In August we’re dropping an instrumental LP from Evidence.  Then, the next project is an all-exclusives mixtape from the far-rock camp, Hard White.  We did 98% of the production on there. But in October, around Halloween, we’re dropping our DCR secret weapon- a Prodigy LP feat. Big Twins & Un Pacino.  Prodigy is on all of the 14 songs and we shared production duties with Jake One & Sebb.  Just wait till ya’ll here this one!!

 

How can people get at you if they’re interested in production?

 

SR: We really make an effort to answer everybody’s messages, so get at us: www.myspace.com/sidroams or www.dirtclass.com.

 

Good looking out you guys, thanks for your time.

 

SR: We appreciate it… Peace mayn…

[Travis G]

Haha I always though Sid Roams was one dude, my bad!

[sav]

But in October, around Halloween, we’re dropping our DCR secret weapon- a Prodigy LP feat. Big Twins & Un Pacino.  Prodigy is on all of the 14 songs and we shared production duties with Jake One & Sebb.  Just wait till ya’ll here this one!