I love how music can create an audiovisual experience. To me, some of the best music is the music that does that.
— Adrian Younge
It's the ownership of what's off that's the beauty in art. Its not about being exactly perfect.
I know all my different formulas to get certain sounds. I've been doing this so long that I don't experiment anymore. Or let me rephrase: I've been doing this so long that I don't have to experiment as much. You always want to evolve and change, but if I go in and I know it's a certain type of song, I know exactly where I'm going to place the mics.
When people make the educated argument that things should go back, it's more like going back to a feeling they had when they heard some of the music that came out. Not going back to that music being rehashed. That's stupid.
Basically, if you work hard and practice an instrument every day, you'll learn how to play like a professional. You'll get better and better each day. And that's how it works for me. I wasn't magically inclined to play. I had to keep practicing and practicing to train my fingers.
I love the song 'Picasso Baby,' and I think the performance art piece was brilliant. I love that fact that Jay Z is continuing to raise the bar on hip hop.
To me, the Ennio Morricone kind of sound is a derivative of soul music.
'Luke Cage' came out in 1972 at the height of the blaxploitation era. It was a literary response to this notion of blaxploitation movies. It was the first time in American culture that Hollywood was embracing black movies.
My studio is fully analog. There's nothing modern. There's not even a computer in my studio.
A lot of people record on a laptop and use plug-ins, which might be OK for the kind of music that they're doing. But for the kind of music that I'm doing, that just doesn't work. I can't cut corners; everything has to be organic.
Luke Cage is seen in 'Jessica Jones,' but he doesn't really come into his own until the 'Luke Cage' series. That's when you really see who he is.
Having Ghost and Raekwon together on multiple tracks is almost like cheating because they fit so well together. Their chemistry is undeniable, and they clearly make each other better.
I don't like to focus on just hip-hop because with hip-hop, I can only do so much; with a vocalist, I can only do so much, but the limitations are varying.
I basically wake up at five in the morning and grab coffee and just get to the studio. And I have a list of things I need to get done every day. Sometimes it's just mixing, sometimes it's actually writing, sometimes it's writing, recording, and mixing. It all depends on what is necessary that day.
People like RZA and DJ Premier are really on the balcony to scope my musical theories. They also help me focus on making sure I make money, making sure I get the notoriety I should, just regular stuff that friends do when you're in the business. And to call them friends is amazing.
My music sounds different because the techniques are archaic, seeing as most people only record digitally.
I started buying ill, obscure records, and then I saw Portishead and Air live, and my mouth was on the ground.
I don't do anything digital. Everything is analog, and that's a limitation for me. However, in my world, it's not a limitation at all because I don't create the type of music that would generally be created by musicians that work with digital recording studios, and/or digital equipment, as far as production is concerned.
I'm a huge Stereolab fan.
When you're recording live, really good vintage instruments onto two-inch tape, it's the best fidelity you can get.
As me being somebody that makes arguably nostalgic music, I cannot stand when somebody tries to make old music just to sound old.
I love sampling, and RZA loves sampling, too.
I'm the black dude that loves old black culture. I also love old white culture. I just love history, but I'm the guy that wants to bring things back and push them forward.
I was really raised on hip-hop, and hip-hop introduced me basically to all the music I listen to now.
Like with me, like around '97, for Christmas my parents bought me an MPC 2000 sampler and a little eight-track cassette recorder. And I started sampling records and, you know, producing hip-hop beats. And it got to the point where I realized - I innately realized that the music I liked the most was made by people that played instruments.
A lot of Ennio Morricone's music is just - it's very soulful, very cinematic, and very psychedelic.
Sometimes, a concept is needed to spark myself and the vocalist; sometimes a concept isn't necessary for that spark. It all depends on the moment, because I don't want to be that dude that every album has to be this story or that story.
It's important for a young black kid to see a Mexican hero, just to know that we're all equal.
I want listeners to feel as though they went through an experience.
People don't realize how much it means to your music to record on tape, whether it be for new music or old music. People don't realize how much or how imperative it is to use actual hardware when making drums because those are actual percussion samplers. They're hardware instruments that are made to have the drum hit.
I remember those moments in my life when the tape came out on that Tuesday, and I went to Sam Goody to cop it. And sitting and listening to it. In awe of the music I was listening to, but also imagining this music at the hip-hop clubs and with the homies in the car.
I've always been a big fan of Kendrick's, but it's different when you hear him on your own production.
I'd never record digitally. It's not because its' a horrible way to record, it's just not the best way to record my music, because my music is rawer, darker and a little more nostalgic.
I like golden-era hip-hop because they were recording on a 2-inch tape. There was dirty, raw sampling. It's nasty. It has a vibe to it.
The ramifications that you set for yourself can inspire you to do things that you would have never thought of because, once you're trapped, your job is to persevere.
I try to find a vocalist that I don't have to make better. I try to find a vocalist that can make me better, and in turn, I can make them better so that we are, as a team, making ourselves better. I like the vocalist to challenge me. I love to challenge a vocalist.
Cee Lo - to me, his voice is classic; I've personally said to him before, 'For me, your voice is as special as a Michael Jackson vocal,' because of what he can do, his range. I said that to him, and I mean that.
'Luke Cage' is a gift. There's so many different ways you can look at it.
I have a J.D., but I'm not a practicing attorney as far as entertainment law goes.
I tell people, 'I don't make music, I make worlds.'
When Curtis Mayfield made 'Super Fly,' he used the lyric to make a statement.
I always say to people that I left hip-hop in '97, meaning that I departed from listening to predominately hip-hop and just started really getting into records from the late '60s, early '70s. And once I made that change, I realized how much great music was made back in the day, and it started to become apparent how much we've lost in music.
Change the sound. Make people rethink what they're doing. That's what I really wanna do.
I'm a hip hop dude who loves scoring for film.
It's important to the world to see superheroes that are spread across our demographic.
When I did 'Venice Dawn,' there were times where people would cry after listening to it.
I always compare myself to what I did last, so I've got to try and beat what I did last. I'm always upping my own bar.
I always feel like young people are more emotionally in tune with new and timeless music.
To me, recording with live instruments and tape takes things back to an older sound that I like but that's still fresh.
I can't do too much musical movement with a lot of MC's, because they don't know how to follow me. But with Souls of Mischief, I could go anywhere because they are musicians - they rap as musicians, and they play instruments and produce, so they get that.
