here's some more interviews from XXL with people who helped work on the album.
Jermaine Dupri:
Quote:
The dude Jermaine Dupri used to dance for Whodini, you pop tarts. Fix your face and show some respect.
Until now, you and Jay-Z hadn’t worked together since “Money Ain’t A Thang.” Why is that?
I know when two people get together and make a record and then they just leave it alone people think it wasn’t no magic there. I felt like “Money Aint A Thang” was like magic. I’ve been telling Jay like, “Let me do your album, you’ll sell way more records than you ever sold.” I kept pushing it. We’re going to the club and every time we in the club, they play that record and I remind him—10 years later and they still playing that song, so I guess it kinda got embedded in his mind. He called me to work on this record.
Think a lot of people are shocked about the type of records you contributed to the album. Especially “Fallin’”?
Yeah, I don’t know why. If you listened to Life in 1472, that’s what that album sounded like my records sounded like that type of music. But people pay more attention to the production on Usher and the more pop R&B records that I do than that type of stuff, so I guess that’s what it is. But what I did was, I went to the studio and he played me a lot of his records. I couldn’t really duplicate what he already had going on and I really wanted to be on the album so I had to figure out my role.
Did you know right away that you nailed it? Did you try different concepts first?
Nah, you never know as a producer whether you got it or not. But that [“Fallin’”] was the one I’d been working on the hardest. I was in the studio all night—and I just start coming up with the hook. Once I came up with the hook, I kinda felt like I was going to fight the issue if he didn’t really like it. But you got to understand, it wasn’t a fight with him. He knew the story—everybody know the story. You can’t be a gangster without the excitement of the fall. The rise is crazy, but it’s the fall that’s big. If you see the headlines it’s always the “Rise and Fall” so I felt like the “Fallin’” part—that’s it. Perfect. The hook and everything. It just let you know what the story was about and where he’s about to go.
How does the hook go again?
“I know, I shouldn’t have did that/I know it’s going to come right back/It’s probably going to destroy everything I made/It’s going to probably get your boy sent away/But this the game we play it ain’t no way to fix it/It’s inevitable, I’m ‘Fallin’.” The mindset of it was when you are a gangster, it’s one thing you always do—they make one bad move and your life is finished. And I don’t care what it is. Especially when I watched the movie, in the movie, Frank wore that fur and that was the beginning of the end and that’s where I wanted Jay to start his verse from. Once he saw where I was going with it, it was easy.
So it was like you was helping Jay tell the whole story. You helped the sequence of it—
Well, that’s pretty much how I work as a producer. I always tell people like I make suits for people as opposed to just making beats. I make custom made suits. What I made was the ending part of his story. I wouldn’t have made that if I didn’t listen to the records though. I don’t believe that.
What’d you think about the Puffy/Hitmen stuff?
I thought it was great and it definitely put me in a mind set of where I wanted to be. “Roc Boys”—that’s the song I left the studio singing. I left the studio with that song embedded in my head. Like, just all—every part of the song. When I left the studio the first night we got there, I pretty much had a clear vision of what I needed to make in order to make this album.
You’re used to controlling your sessions, but here you were going into a different environment.
Yeah it was a little weird ‘cause I work in my own studio all the time, so for me to go to New York and then to be in the studio where everything’s going on. There was like three people making beats in the studio at one time. That never happens around me. It was my crew, No I.D. is a So So Def producer and L-Rock so all three of us came to New York to work on one record. And then we just started separating. No I.D. got in a corner and start making a beat on his computer. I was in my headphones—and we all had to put our headphones on because we was in the same room where Jay was basically playing music for everybody that came by the studio. So it’s like Lebron and his crew was in there and they were getting a listening session at the same time we was making beats. Jay kept asking me if he was interrupting me or was he—or was I able to concentrate—of course I said no ‘cause I didn’t want to stop what he was doing, but it was awkward for me. Still it put the pressure on me to make the record I made.
How did the relationship develop between you and No I.D.?
He came to me as a person and was just like I wanna learn how to become more involved in projects. I think he felt that ‘cause he found like Kanye and Lupe—them people from Chicago all came from No I.D. basement. I think the one thing I talked to him about was just him learning how to take control of that. because you cant get nothing from telling people, “I found Kanye.” You can’t win by that. That’s cool you found him, but why you ain’t keep him? That’s the question I had and that’s the question everyone else had. So when he came around me, I just started showing him how to build his situation as well as getting him on projects and making sure people respect who he is ‘cause dude is definitely one of the realest producers out there and he got more knowledge in the game than damn near everybody. He taught a lot of producers how to make beats, but at the end of the day he didn’t get the credit for it and a lot of the artists didn’t even know. He’s a quiet dude, but I try to bring him out as much as I can. No I.D. be going on an island sometime hiding. But I try to keep him out and keep him in the mix as much as possible and keep him working ‘cause he got a lot of crazy beats.
The “Success” joint is going to shake a lot of people up.
I’m a give you the play by play of what happened when we was in the studio. That session came from when we was making “Fallin’.” I played that song for Jay and it was like a joke in the room, who else had something. So then No I.D. was like, “Yo I got something” and Jay was like, “You ain’t got nothing!” Then Guru listened to it through the headphones and listened to what No I.D. had and his face started to crinkle up. I was happy ‘cause that was a bright moment for No I.D. to really let these people know who he is ‘cause he does this all time. Like I’m not surprised you came up with a beat like this, you got a hundred beats like this. People don’t know him and I believe after this record people are going to be like, I need No I.D. on my album.
So that’s really your producing partner-in-crime?
What I do, I provide the vision for him. Like when we did the Bow Wow record, “Let Me Hold You,” I gave him the type of vision I wanted and we put that record together. That was the beginning of our relationship and from then on, we’ve been making records. So when me and him go in the studio, I provide what were looking for and the ear for it and he’ll definitely go find it and put it together and the whole movie comes together like that.
This interview was done before No I.D. was fully aware that Nas was gonna be the feature on “Success.”
If you’ve never heard Accept Your Own and Be Yourself a.k.a. The Original Black Album—you are not hip-hop.
I like to pretend Vol. 1 never existed.
How’d you end up on American Gangster?
What happened was JD was like, “Let’s go work on Jay-Z.” So we went up to the studio and it was like Jay was so specific with what he wanted. It was a lot of people coming in playing joints and it just wasn’t what he wanted. It wasn’t even that it wasn’t good. It was a real tight environment and Jay was like, “Yo man, I’m a listen to you a couple, if you don’t catch me with the first few beats, that’s it.” I do my beats on a laptop, so I just kinda sat in a corner and just did what he was saying he needed right there. But when I did that beat, which is the second beat I did—I kinda wyled out. I stood up, took my headphones off and walked around the room. So anyway I played it, everybody loved it on the spot then he just shook my hand and was like, “Yo man, you need to tell Apple you need an endorsement, ‘cause you walked in with your laptop and did a crazy record for my album on the spot.”
JD was in there at the time too?
Yeah, the whole joke was like, JD had all his equipment set up and I looked like I was maybe on the Internet or something.
So JD is credited as co-producer on the song you did “Success” and you’re co-producer of the song he did “Fallin’.”
In all honesty, JD really did that beat [“Fallin’”]. I really just was, “Man I think you should do this.” He really did that. We surprised each other.
How did you develop a relationship with JD?
With us being from creatively opposite sides from the world so to speak… I used to be like, Yo this dude is stupid successful and makes stuff that I might not. I looked at how most of the producers from my era don’t exist anymore, so I was like, I’m a humble myself and tell ‘em, Let’s work together. I felt like there was things I could help him learn or bring him closer to my world and he could bring me closer to his world.
Have you developed even more respect for him from working with him?
It’s more than just respect, I actually learned from him. I understand totally now why he’s successful and I think we pick up things from each other. There was always respect there, but now it’s like, I understand why it’s a respect. Not I respect you ‘cause you sold some records, like I really respect your thinking process and why you make hits now.
So what’s Don Chi Chi’s secret?
Um, it’s the song writing element of producing and how to make a record really be effective for a person.
So it looks like your song is gonna feature the second collabo between Jay and Nas. How does that feel?
Well all we did when we first recorded the song was come up with the topic and then I left it so I don’t know if whether Nas did his verse or not. They told me Nas was going to be on it. I know certain lines but I ain’t really hear it yet, but I’ll know soon. I’m going to mix it tomorrow.
Seems like your contribution is filling the “PSA” street banger/stadium rocker spot.
That’s what he said he wanted. He said, “I need another ‘PSA’” and I wasn’t going to like bite “PSA” but I knew the elements.
That’s crazy. You know I got to ask you what’s your take on the “Big Brother” record?
Well it wasn’t like a shock to me ‘cause Kanye and I still talk. So, I mean, I love the song.
I guess it feels good to be acknowledged.
Yeah, but I never felt like I wasn’t acknowledged. Like, Ye’s the type of dude, if we woulda been in the studio and Tom Cruise walked in he’d be like, “Man this the dude that taught me everything I know.” So I be like, “Come on man, enough at some point.” It was him acknowledging me at a point where he ain’t necessarily have to.
I’m guessing with the impact of the record, you got people constantly approaching you about it.
Ah man, forget about it. Everyday.
You’re gonna have to change your name to No I.D. The Mentor.
When I look at the press now, that’s who I am—No I.D. The Mentor. I go in the club, they be like, “Yo my mentor!” But all I’m a do now is focus on some music all the other stuff is just a bunch of propaganda.
What other projects you got coming out?
I really want to work on Nas’ album. I want to do some hip-hop. I want to work on Common’s next album, I want to work with Kanye on his next album, I want to do the projects that I want to do now. Working with JD gave me enough commercial stuff to keep that there, and now I’ma just go after the stuff that I really want to do. Like to me, “Success” was No I.D. elevated.
Yeah. Seems like “Success” is going to bring you more success.
Yeah. I told them when we was coming up with the concept, I feel like, when I did this beat, I had like a boastful proud moment in a room full of people. I took a chance. I coulda played that beat and everybody would’ve been like, “C’mon man. You’re wasting our time.” But that’s what the music said to me—that moment when you stand proud.
Diddy did it. Don’t hate the player. Study the game.
Obviously people are surprised that you have such a huge role in Jay’s new album. How did this musical connection finally come together?
You know for a while, I’ve always been on Jay about doing one of his albums. I think that’s one of the things I think I’m best at—executive producing and creating a whole vision for a whole album. He hit me and was like, “Yo I already got the vision.” So I was like, “Cool I can respect that. What’s the vision?” And when he told me the vision, it was something similar to like a lot of the tracks I had already in pre-production. The original Bad Boy sound was always that Harlem type of, Black exploitation, American Gangster film sound. That’s what we specialized in. So, it wasn’t really something that was a reach for me. It was something that, you know, over the years, sometimes I would store tracks and I would just call ‘em “Biggie Tracks” ‘cause there was nobody really to rap on them.
Jay told me that you called him one day was like, “You gotta come to Daddy’s House.” He said he was headed home and had the car turn around to come see you in the studio.
Yeah, one day, I was just came upon a couple joints and I was like, “Let me finally do it.” I was like these ***** sound crazy so, “Come over here now.” But I had procrastinated for like six months really before that saying I was going to do it, and it never got done. That day, it just felt right. So I had these tracks and played it for him and it was right in line with what he was talking about. He was like, “Where did these joints come from?” We have a whole catalog and arsenal of unreleased tracks but Jay is an artist that really motivated me to get back behind the board and really produce.
You said “We,” and I know you have plans to push a new revamped version of Hitmen, right?
Yeah I decided to do it before that though. For the No Way Out anniversary, we were working on some stuff and I was just playing around saying you know, I may put it back together. It was also being inspired by seeing all the success the producers were having from Timbaland to Kanye and Swizz. Sometimes you get that hunger, you get that bug back and I started to get it back but it never really like came back all the way until the Jay project came up. I was like this is the perfect project to really put the Hitmen together and the overall concept is really, just bringing us all working together and bringing the best out of people.
I know LV and Sean C played a heavy role in those six tracks on the album.
It has to really start from somebody really giving the energy and Shawn C and LV—they were the cats that were in the MIDI room. That’s where the whole thing starts and then it goes to the different rooms and they were the ones that were in there everyday. Anytime I would walk in the studio and I would just be hearing joints and they had that creative bug and that new freshness. It was similar to the style and the sound that we had created in the past, but it was like they had a new improved swagger.
So who are officially the Hitmen now?
Me, Shawn C, LV, D-Dot, and Mario Winans.
So you got “Pray,” “American Dreamin’,” “No Hook,” “Roc Boys,” “Party Life,” and “Sweet.” You was bogarting everything, huh?
You know what it was? It was natural. Everybody knows the name of the game—the hottest tracks they win and we was lucky this time. We woulda been happy to get two tracks on there. We feel it’s going to be a big album, and feel proud to relaunch the Hitmen and for me personally to get back behind the boards producing. It don’t really get no bigger than this. So I felt like I wasn’t going to put out no statement or make no announcement. I was going to let the music speak for itself. So really the announcement is on November 6th.
Which one of the joints you worked on is your favorite?
“Pray” is my favorite joint. Beyonce does the voice and made the **** really, really crazy. I told Jay if there’s an event you know 2000 years from now and they giving him a tribute and if they play that “Pray” joint, they going to know who he was. They gonna know who he was and what he was about and what he stood for. When I make a record, I try to think about that. What joints you have that’s going to represent what you meant to the game.
Yeah, it’s almost like in honor to Biggie in a lot of ways. You guys finally come together but it’s a natural organic thing. It’s not forced.
Yeah, to be honest, it’s only one degree of separation with me and him, creatively. I never was working with him closely because I was doing my thing with Bad Boy and he was doing his thing with Roc-A-Fella. We were friends, we were cool and the whole nine but we wasn’t really all up in each other’s business like that. But over the last two years, we’ve gotten closer. We spent more time with each other. And now, it feels right so that’s why we were able to get busy.
Jay was talking to me about how impressed he was of the mixes of the songs that he was getting back. Like even he forgot your production pedigree.
I think that’s because since becoming a producer, I’ve done a lot of things. I know for a fact that a lot of people don’t really remember, as far as what I do in the studio as a producer. People see me as far as the glamorous life **** or just think of me as someone who’s **** crossed over, going pop or whatever. Sometimes they may forget about the Lox album, the Biggie albums the Mary—My Life, 411 albums and some of the hardest rawest **** ever to come out of New York in the last 10 years, we did those albums. To be honest the hardest album to come from a New York rapper, I produced it. Nobody can ever take that **** away from me. And now being on this American Gangster, I’m humbled by it and I’m going to let the work of it speak for itself. But you know, be clear that it’s like riding a bike.
who gives a **** what it debuts at. Jay has nothing left to prove sales wise. he made one of the best albums of his whole career which is really all what should count.
Grammy(R) Winning Icon and Entrepreneur Jay-Z to Take Over Channel Exclusively on SIRIUS Satellite Radio
"Jay-Z Nation" to premiere on November 5th at 5 pm ET
November 02, 2007: 12:54 PM EST
NEW YORK, Nov. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SIRIUS Satellite Radio today announced that cultural icon and industry mogul JAY-Z will take over SIRIUS' Hip-Hop Nation channel 40 for one week.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19991118/NYTH125)
JAY-Z Nation will premiere on November 5th at 5 pm ET. The launch of JAY-Z Nation coincides with the release of American Gangster, JAY-Z's new album in stores on November 6th. The channel will feature music from American Gangster as well as other JAY-Z songs and will include personal introductions by the artist himself. JAY-Z will also play some of his other favorite Hip Hop artists and discuss what each means to him.
JAY-Z Nation will also air a special live concert playback from JAY-Z forthcoming performance at the House of Blues in Chicago as well as special editions of Street Certified, DJ Green Lantern: The Invasion, and The Nation's Top 20 Hip Hop Countdown hosted by JAY-Z.
"JAY-Z is one of the preeminent creative forces in the music industry. Over the last decade, he has truly changed the face of hip-hop and music culture," said Scott Greenstein, SIRIUS President of Entertainment and Sports. "We are excited to have him take over our airwaves and provide our listeners with this unique and exclusive experience."
American Gangster, JAY-Z's tenth studio album, is inspired by the film with the same title based on the life of drug kingpin Frank Lucas. After screening the film, JAY-Z was inspired to create, American Gangster, his first 'conceptual album' depicting the birth, rise and fall of a hustler.
JAY-Z Nation continues SIRIUS' tradition of creating exclusive artist branded channels dedicated to iconic figures at the top of their game. Recent exclusive channels launched on SIRIUS include Grateful Dead Channel, E Street Radio, and Garth Brooks Radio among many others.
To learn more about JAY-Z Nation please visit www.sirius.com.
now here's an interview with Sean C & LV of The Hitmen who helped produce 6 songs on American Gangster.
Quote:
Truth be told Sean C and LV are the real production muscle behind American Gangster. Don’t call it a comeback, but Jay is hotter than he’s been since the Black Album and these two studio rats are the ones to thank. You’re invited to the new generation Hitmen’s coming out party.
So you guys were already working together before becoming part of Puffy’s new Hitmen, correct?
LV: Yeah Shawn and I have Grind Music. We’ve worked a lot with Puff. On Press Play we had a song called “I Am.” We did a song called “Get Off.” That was like his James Brown—Puff’s 2007 James Brown.
Were you guys involved with the process when Jay came by Puff’s studio and heard the tracks the first time?
LV: Definitely. How it all started was we were in the studio one day vibing with Puff like, Yo, we just got mad beats. He was like, “You know what?” ***** just called Jay. 15-20 minutes later Jay just walked in the studio. It was crazy ‘cause he was supposed to stay for 15 minutes and wound up staying for three hours just listening to beats.
He said he heard like 30 tracks.
LV: Yeah. He came back probably like a week later and then he played us a couple of songs and then, he was like, “Okay, we know where we got to go now.” We just went in from there.
So Sean, you were also behind that “Cant Knock The Hustle” joint. You actually already had worked with Jay.
Sean C: Yeah, that was in the beginning.
So how is it like working with him now compared to back then, is it pretty much the same vibe?
Sean C: Well, he’s much, much, much richer…
[Laughs]
Sean C: It’s definitely a little different. It’s still creative though he’s still crazy creative and all that.
So I heard “Sweet” was one of the first joints that came together right away.
Sean C: Yeah we gave ‘em the joint and he put the vocals on it and we added everything afterwards. Like, we just kept going back and forth. He came by Daddy’s House a couple times and we were just in there working. He’d hear a joint like, “Yeah oh ****! I need that!” and he’s like, “Yo send that over to me.” So we send beats over to Roc The Mic and he send ‘em back with vocals.
So what did y’all think when you first heard “Sweet”?
LV: It was like—honestly that **** is like—I hate to say it even though it may sound corny but it’s like a dream. Most of the time when you work with people and you give them your beat and you’ll get the finished product and sometimes you are like, “Damn! He ain’t really kill it!” But Jay just took the **** to like another level. Further than I would think somebody might be able kill the beat. So I was just like, “Oh.” We actually heard “Sweet” and then “No Hook.” So that’s when we really got amped and we came up with “Roc Boys.” And it’s a coincidence Jay heard it and he’s like it’s a celebration. That’s how we felt.
So it looks like “Roc Boys” is gonna be a single. Bet y’all can’t wait to hear that joint rock in the club.
LV: I’ma bug out ‘cause I bug out in the club already. But when I hear the Roc Boys joint… pshh—Jesus Christ!
Sean C: I’m excited to hear what people are going to say about it. Cause you got the horns, and all that—it don’t sound like any record out right now. That one was something we did that we want people to be like, “Damn I wish I did that beat!”
So these tracks are sample driven but with live instrumentation on top, right?
Sean C: Yeah like with “Roc Boys,” the horn sample is crazy. But, it’s much better if you have the live horns so you can put extra parts. We got my man Wolverine, he plays bass. He comes in and plays on all our joints, we was doing that since we had a little studio uptown.
So explain how Puff gets heavily involved with the final arrangements.
LV: Puff come in the studio and he’s like, “Aight, that’s hot, but I want it to sound like, this!” and he makes movements with his hands and we’re like, “What the **** does that mean?!” [Laughs] Puff’s whole thing is to make the records sound big. He wants all the records to sound real, real big. So, he’ll go back and forth, back and forth with you like—“Yo, we should just change this one little part. Just bring up the strings right there or play one little string part here or one little guitar part.” Like, he’s real on some detail ****. He’s on the details real hard.
He’s doing a lot of the final mixing and stuff too, right?
LV: Yeah, it’s all a collaborative effort. He definitely knows what he’s doing, we add to that. He adds to us and the final product is the Reasonable Blueprint. That’s kind of how it comes in. It’s a good marriage, with the knowledge he got and what we bring to the table to make the records huge.
Six joints is crazy placement. You guys must be excited.
Sean C: Yeah, definitely. I’m still digesting that. I just hit L about that this morning about that, like “Yo, we got six joints yo!”
LV: This is one of the best ***** of my life. Like, for real. I’m stupid happy.
So LV you also roll with TS as Fat Joe’s DJ. How does Crack feel about you giving all that fire away to someone else?
LV: Actually, like for real, I knew he was going to be real proud of me. Like he calls me just to be like, “Six joints!” No one is thinking about that. This **** is crazy.
If you’re looking to purchase the new Jay-Z album, which hits stores today, don’t bother checking Apple’s iTunes music store. Citing the cinematic feel of American Gangster, Hova has decided not to allow it to be sold on the popular digital music outlet. According to Jay, he feels the project—which is a concept album based on the Denzel Washington film of the same name—should be digested as a whole, and not as single tracks. “As movies are not sold scene by scene, this collection will not be sold as individual singles,” Jay said in a statement. Since its debut in 2003, iTunes has let users download individual tracks from officially released albums, allowing them to purchase only the songs they want rather than an entire LP. While the album is currently still listed on iTunes, customers will receive an error message if they attempt to purchase it. American Gangster will be available for digital download, in its entirety, at rocafella.com, amazon.com and rhapsody.com.
wow!! This is a huge statement!! Its going to be hard for singles to chart though without that boost...I hope he will at least release singles...thats kind of upsetting...I wanted to see Roc Boys on the Hot 100, and not near the bottom because of airplay but in the upper section with airplay AND downloads