|
 9/20/2005
Impacting
the streets October 18th, "Dreddy Kruger Presents...Think Differently
Music: Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture" is an unprecedented pairing
of Wu-Tang artists, producers and affiliates with some of independent
hip-hop's East and West Coast elite. RZA, GZA, U-God, MF Doom, Ras Kass,
Aesop Rock, Del tha Funky Homosapien, Sean Price, J-Live, Tragedy Khadafi,
C-Rayz Walz, Planet Asia, RA the Rugged Man, Littles, Cannibal Ox, and
many more artists, producers and even award winning filmmaker Jim Jarmusch,
have come together for what will be a milestone release in the hip-hop
landscape.
Dreddy
Kruger, who conceptualized and A&R’ed the album, began his career
as an artist signed to RZA's Wu-Tang Records label. Most recently, he
A&R'd the debut albums for Masta Killa and Black Market Militia which
led to the formation of Think Differently Music Group and the A&R’ing
of this first release, "Dreddy Kruger Presents...Think Differently
Music: Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture."
Today
marks the premiere of the album's first single, "Biochemical Equation"
feat. RZA & MF Doom, available exclusively on ITUNES.
HipHopGame.com
sat down with Dreddy Kruger to discuss the story behind the album and
these monumental creative pairings.
What's
good man?
I'm
good man. Everything is coming along real nice. Right now I just want
this record out so I can relax.
What
can you tell us about "Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture?"
It's
not a Wu-Tang Clan album. It's Wu-Tang members mixed in with independent
artists from the East to the West.
The
RZA and MF Doom track sounds crazy…
Yeah,
that's called "Biochemical Equation." It's going on iTunes today.
I met Doom through Devin from Nature Sounds a few years ago, and Doom
wanted RZA to do a beat but the budget was real limited, and they reached
out to me to try to make it happen. Niggas didn't even know who Doom was
at the time and they were like "I don't think I can do it."
That's how I first met Doom, and then when I first started this compilation
that's the first pairing I had in mind. But I wanted it to be on a RZA
beat, not an MF Doom beat.
How
did you go about choosing the artists and beats for this project?
The
beats came first. Some of these beats, I've just been sitting on for four
or five years. I explain everything in the liner notes how each track
came together. These beats were the foundation of the project. And then
from knowing the MC's, their styles, their flows, that's when I started
A&R'ing the project and deciding who I wanted on a track together.
I wanted to do something monumental. RZA and Doom had never done a track
together, GZA and Ras Kass had never done a song together, and they're
two of the best lyricists in the game. The outcome was phenomenal. Watch
when niggas hear it.
What
separates this project from any other producer or DJ compilation?
The
chemistry, for one. And the compilations that dudes put out, they just
get verses from niggas. This is bigger than that. This is something that
should have happened 10 years ago. Niggas have been waiting to hear Wu-Tang
matched up with different artists. This is not just me putting other artists
together with Wu-Tang on some mixtape shit. I A&R'd this project,
this is a Wu-Tang sounding album with niggas like Ras, Planet Asia, and
Littles. Those are the special, invited guests. That's what separates
this. And the lyrical content, there's never been a compilation like this
that has that much talent on one album. Even on a major label, this has
never happened. This is going to be the most explosive compilation ever
to come out on an independent label.
Did
RZA help on this project?
All
I had on this was his guidance and his blessing for this. Basically, he
told me if I needed a beat that I could come through and pick it out.
He asked me if I wanted samples or no samples, and I told him I wanted
that original RZA sound from like '93 to '97. That's what I wanted, that
Wu-Tang sound from that era. I didn't want to recreate that music, but
I wanted to recreate that whole feel from that era with how niggas were
making records.
Who
handled the production on this?
RZA
did one of the tracks, and Bronze Nazareth handled the bulk of the production.
He's RZA's top disciple. Allah Mathematics did one, and we got this new
cat named Preservation that did three or four, he's coming up under the
Wu-umbrella.
What
are your goals with running your label Think Differently?
Just
to put out good music. Everything has to be thinking out of the box with
some type of story behind it. It's more than beats and rhymes. I'm just
trying to make good music. And my ultimate goal is not to just sign artists
to my label, I want to do big projects. I got a big soundtrack I'm doing
that I can't even reveal yet. It's not going to be my next release, it'll
probably be out in a year. Everybody claims they got their own label,
but I'm here to do something that's functionally different. And I'm here
to do something monumental that will leave a stamp on the Hip Hop game.
I had independent MC's calling me asking why I didn't call them. A lot
of the dudes I had to turn down, because I couldn't take every MC. I wanted
to do something different, and I thought about this over and over because
Wu-Tang never did songs with other guys. If you go back, the only guys
that really got light on Wu-Tang songs is Nas, Busta, and Redman, and
they're not even independent artists. There's a whole independent market
that loves Wu and these niggas basically started from listening to Wu.
The love is there, but the Wu never really extended the love out to the
independent market. They never did songs with a lot of people, the major
label ones too. I said I have to do something with Wu, because I came
from out of this thing too. But it has to be different. And the whole
thing is, I didn't want to put no boundaries on it. I just wanted the
artists to go with what they felt, and let me put it together. And I'm
telling you, the outcome is phenomenal.
You
were originally signed to RZA back in the day, how did that experience
affect who you are today?
Oh
man. Me and Timbo King were a group named Royal Fam. I've been down with
the Wu since day one, since about 1990 or 1991. I'll be the first one
to tell you, it was never one of my dreams to be an MC. You know how niggas
say they wanted to be an MC after hearing Rakim…nah, not me, that
was impossible for me at that time. I came in dancing for GZA. Me and
Ol' Dirty used to dance for GZA when he was on Cold Chillin' back in the
day. I didn't start rhyming until after RZA was on "6 Feet Deep."
RZA loved the rhyme, and he was like "we can do shit." I told
him I wasn't ready to put an album out by myself. Me and Timbo became
a group and recorded the album. It never came out in the U.S. but it came
out overseas and it did about 100,000. We had a lot of fans over in Europe.
The whole reason why I wanted to switch my focus is because I got tired
of niggas coming up to me and looking at me a certain way, and I just
got tired of it. I just didn't like it anymore. I didn't want to be looked
at as a rapper anymore. That's why I'm not on the compilation as well.
I don't even want to be looked at in that light. Basically, I'm trying
to do a 360O for my career in a couple of years. What I'm trying to do
will last longer and there's longevity in it.
What
do you want to say to everyone out there reading this?
Niggas
need to get it. I know niggas be applying that "classic" label
to shit the public hasn't even heard yet. How can you say that when the
people haven't heard it and it hasn't yet stood the test of time? How
can you say something is classic when you're playing it up in your office.
An album can't be considered a classic unless it's been out for at least
two years, when you know that people are going back to listen to the album.
All of the albums that are now considered classics weren't considered
"classics" when they first came out. I don't feel nobody's shit
can compare to this compilation when niggas hear this. There's nothing
like it out there, I'm telling you.
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