Well they had been trying to do a remix for a while now, I had givEn it a shot a few times, at first it was gonna be Alicia Keys, so I had made a mean joint with her in mind... but Kiss wanted something similar to the original just spiced up a little.. So basically that's what I did, chopped it up, added a bassline, some extra sounds... I just tried to add a little energy to it

"Shootouts" on the Jada album was sick, how'd you go about making that beat?

the first version i did of that joint had a mean sample in it that we weren't gonna be able to clear, so i had to go in the studio and replay EVERYthing.. which was hard cause it was a heavy sample - crazy sounds not easy to recreate plus we had to change the melody around... it took a long time to do, i got my boy Hanan on the guitars and DP One to scratch up a mean hook

What beat are you most proud of?

Probably that one cause i spent so much time on it

What work have you done for the Ruff Ryders?

the first joint i did was "Fireman" by Drag-On from the Cradle 2 the Grave soundtrack, i also did a joint for Drag called "The Race" which was the b-side to his single "tell your friends", "Peel Off" by Jin from the 2 Fast 2 Furious soundtrack, I got a joint on Jin's new album featuring Styles, a joint on Styles new album bout to come out, Inf & Cross, pretty much everythin from RR ima be workin on, thats the fam right there

Who else are you working with right now?

I'm doing work wit Flashy Freddy who got a single deal right now wit SRC i did 2 joints for him you can find on the mixtapes "My Destiny" and "let's ride" feat. Dipset, me and freddy workin on his album now he's real sick look out for him

What artists (alive) would you give free beats too?

haha good question... maybe Canibus cause i used to think he was dope and i'd like to see him come back

What other producers do you respect in the game?

Timbaland is that dude.. he's the most innovative in my opinion... Just Blaze is sick, he knows how to bring the full potential out of a sample, im feelin what Scott Storch is doin right now too

Let's talk about how you got your start in production, what was your first equipment?

My PC... Acid Pro.. same shit i use now lol

How did your first beats sound?

the first few beats i ever made really aren't too bad... but i got into a stage where i was doing some real WING shit like... you couldn't even rap to it , my boys would have to snap me back into reality cuz my shit was soundin too weird.

What equipment do you use now?

I got my PC... Acid Pro, Reason, Cakewalk, Protools... turntables, the yamaha cs2x, i jus recently copped the motif rack which is real nice... i got the mpc2000 but i rarely use it.. jus for drums sometimes

When you sit down to make a beat, what's the first thing that you do?

it's different everytime... if i'm doing a joint without a sample i'll try to come up with a basic vision in my head for what i want the beat to be like a melody, start hummin out ideas, beatboxin u know.. stuff like that

What do you look for in samples?

i listen until i hear something that makes my face cringe like oooooooohhhhhhh daaaamn.... sometimes i'll try and make somethin out of a sample that sounds like "it could work" and those beats end up comin out mediocre... the hot ones are the ones that move you right off the bat

How do you know when a beat is finished?

man i guess when i'm sick of workin on it cause i'm a perfectionist i be workin on beats for mad long i'm not one of those producers that bangs out mad beats in a day, i'll spend a lot of time on one if i could i would still go back in and change some things around on shoot outs and all the joints i ever did lol i can always hear room for improvement.

What's coming up for you?

Basically just all these RR projects... if anyone likes what they hear and wants beats holla at me!!!

Any last words?

thanks for the opportunity and interview ! shouts to meddafore forever fam phenom and QN5

Interview by Brian Kayser
email Brian Kayser