The title of Black Milk’s 2007 album, Popular Demand, was more prophetic of his future than it was indicative of his status at the time. Sure, the Detroit producer/emcee had already served seven to eight years in the game, scored extensive beat placements with Slum Village and Phat Kat both as a solo producer and as part of the tandem BR Gunna, and he was turning heads with his Sound of the City Volume 1 mixtape and his Broken Wax EP. But once the aforementioned disc dropped earlier this year, things have gotten a lot busier for the 24-year-old. While continuing to lace the emcees in his city, he’s also nabbed placements with Pharaohe Monch and Lloyd Banks. Rounding out the year with the Caltroit album/mixtape with Aftermath’s Bishop Lamont, Milk is having a direct hand in some of the most anticipated music to hit stores in ’08: a full-length LP with Sean Price and Guilty Simpson, an EP with Michigan underground staple One Be Lo, and much more.
In an in-depth interview with HipHopDX’s Producer’s Corner, Black Milk talks about his continuous growth, managing a seemingly infinite workload, and gets readers ready for dream collaborations in the works.
HipHopDX: You’ve been doing you for a minute, but now you’re getting recognition. Does it seem fast, or like a long time coming?
Black Milk: I don’t feel like it came fast. I’ve been grinding out, doing music for the past seven or eight years, basically since ’99-2000 I’ve been making beats. I took it seriously around 2001, so I’ve really been grinding for a minute. It probably don’t seem like it, 'cause I’m still young, I started in my teenage years making beats and selling beats. I’m only 24 now, so I feel I’ve still got a long way to go, man. It feels like it took a minute, but I feel like I’m blessed to be able to accomplish what I’ve accomplished so far at this age. I’ve still got a lot more things I want to do and accomplish in the game.
DX: For a while, you were compared to J Dilla, but as of late, you’ve really found your own sound and hose comparisons have dwindled away. How difficult was it to get into your own groove?
BM: Well, it wasn’t difficult. To tell you the truth, people compared me to Dilla, but people didn’t compare me to Dilla until he passed. It seems people didn’t realize I was doing beats, or didn’t know who I was, or didn’t know I was already producing for artists before Dilla passed. I never heard that before, when he was alive, when we did collaborations together and stuff I did for Slum and other artists, production-wise. Of course, we’re from Detroit, we work with a lot of the same people in the same circles, so I can see where the comparisons come from. In a way it’s a compliment, but when people say, “You’re the next Dilla,” or “You’re the next dude to hold the torch”…I want to separate myself from that. I don’t want to be the new Dilla, that’s not why I’m here.
DX: So when those comparisons came up, did you feel the need to change what you were doing?
BM: A little, a little. My style of music is always going to have some kind of Detroit sound and feel to it, it’s a certain feel that we have in Detroit. I can’t really describe the sound or the feel, but it’s something that we have that people can recognize and connect with and know that it’s a Detroit producer: from me, to Wajeed, to Karreim Riggins, to Dilla. So it’s a certain Detroit thing that will always be in my beats. The soul vibe of it, which Dilla basically kind of created, he laid that blueprint out for all of the Detroit producers. But me, personally, my sound is going to change regardless.
DX: Yeah, it seems like you’ve changed quickly. I remember listening to Popular Demand, but I heard the beat CDs from the MySpace page, and they sounded light years ahead of it. How do you come up with new directions?
BM: A lot of people feel what I do. I get more love from what I do than bad criticism. But the criticism that I do see that’s negative, in one, two or three reviews, or some internet shit or someone on MySpace…some stuff I recognize as just hate and I don’t pay it no mind, but sometimes I do take certain things under consideration. Like, “Okay. They say they wasn’t feeling this,” so I go back in the lab like, “I gotta show up the people that don’t think I’m as good as other people think I am, or as good of a producer as some other producers. I’ve got to perfect my craft.” I’m all about perfecting my craft, and making sure it’s nothing you can say about my production that’s bad. [Laughs] That’s probably why the sound changed up from the album. Plus, to tell you the truth, the album was done for months before it came out. So I was kind of already on some other shit when the album dropped.
DX: What do you think you can get better at now?
BM: My whole thing right now is that I’m working on making sure my music sounds good sonically. I do admit that was one of my flaws. Well not one of my flaws, but one of the things I was used to doing, my music being dirty and grimy. I know that’s one of the elements that people liked about my music, is was it was grimy and dirty. I’ve still got that element in my music, but I want to make sure my engineer skills are good, too. So if I want to do something that sounds two-track and dirty and grimy, I can do it. But if I want to flip something and sound big and just the mix sounds incredible and sonically good, I can do that too—for a commercial record, or even my record. … My next album is going to sound way better than Popular Demand, sonically. Beat-wise too, but sonically, it’s going to sound better. That’s what I’m on right now: trying to learn to make sure my EQs are right, and everything about engineering a song and a beat, and just making sure the dynamics are all right.
DX: How’d the Caltroit project with Bishop Lamont happen?
BM: The first time I hooked up with him, I met him at Slum Village’s video shoot out in Cali. He was out there doing his thing, just politicking with cats. I had a CD called Sound of the City that I was pushing. I connected with him, we kicked it back and forth, he let me know what was going on, and I gave him my CD. When I went back to the D, he hit me up like, “I’m feeling this shit.” My manager [Hex Murda] was the person that had the idea of, “Why don’t y’all do a project on some Cali/Detroit shit?” And we were with it. We looked at it from a standpoint that I’m basically doing my thing on the underground level…one of the top artists on the underground, and he’s on Aftermath, the biggest Hip Hop label you can be on right now. So it’s like, let’s come together on some underground mainstream shit.
DX: You’re taking on a lot of full-length projects: the joint with Bishop Lamont, the joint with Sean Price and Guilty Simpson, the joint with One Be Lo. What do you like about taking on full albums like that?
BM: That’s my thing, I kind of figured it out. Some of the best Hip Hop projects are produced by…no more than three producers. And if it is a project that’s produced by a lot of different producers, it’s producers that have the same vibe or sound and whatnot. I just wanted to take on some of the artists that I feel that’s dope out here and do projects for them.
DX: A lot of projects like this end up being urban legends, sounding good in concept but getting pushed back forever. What do you think it is about those projects that has other artists so excited to work with you extensively?
BM: To tell you the truth, I don’t know. People thought Caltroit would’ve been an urban legend, ‘cause we were working on that for a minute and talking about that for a while. But we finally dropped it, to show people we’re serious about it. I don’t have no ties, I’m not locked down in any deals where I can’t work with other people. So if I’m working with another artist who’s somewhat in that same position and in that same boat, it’s dropping. If we say it’s dropping, it’s dropping. The Sean P thing, he’s on Duck Down Records. [Duck Down CEO] Dru Ha was like, “Yo, let’s do it.” He gave him the green light, Fat Beats definitely gave me the green light, and Stones Throw gave Guilty the green light. It’s all good. We aren’t really on labels that feel like that’ll hurt what they’re trying to do as a label, or hurt the artist. We’re all on independent labels, so that’s the good thing about it too.
DX: How difficult is it for you to work on so much shit at once?
BM: Man, it was difficult in the beginning, when everyone was throwing these ideas at me. I was excited and I was trying to do it, but there came a time when I was like, “Man, I’ve got to stop taking on all these projects, because it’s getting crazy now, and I can’t keep up with all of them, plus it’s going to be time to do my next album in a minute.” This has something to do with me getting better on my craft, too. Once I started figuring out certain techniques with the beats, and certain things with production to make mine sound better, I have a certain formula now for my beats that I can make certain tracks faster than I used to. That helps me knock out some of the stuff a little faster, because now I can do two, three or four beats in a day, and all of ‘em are hittin’ hard. That’s helping me, because if we can do that and record that many songs in a week, we’re knocking that out.
DX: On all these projects, have there been any where it’s difficult for you to get on the same page as the artist?
BM: Yeah, a little bit with the Caltroit project. Me and Bishop, for that whole project, we were only in the studio about three times when we were working on it. So that was the only project that was kind of a little difficult, because I couldn’t do certain things I wanted to do, just because we were working through e-mail back and forth, and tell each other our ideas over the phone, hoping that it comes out right. That’s how it was, but we still made it happen. Other than that, it’s been all good.
DX: Are there any projects you’ve gotten approached about where it sounds great, but you’ve had to postpone it or turn it down because you’ve got too many others going on?
BM: I still plan on doing a project with Pharaohe Monch. Me and him have been going back and forth talking about doing something for a minute. He actually recorded over four or five of my tracks, I was sending him beats after his album came out, plus I’ve seen him at a few of these shows where I’ve opened up for him. That’s a project that I really want to make happen. I’m not sure about his situation with his label and whatnot, or if that project would be an urban legend or not. That’s something I really want to tackle, but I’ve got to wait till I get some of this other stuff knocked out.
DX: You’re working on a lot, and you put out Caltroit online for free download. The industry is known for exploiting talent and hunger like that without a paycheck, so how do you plan to combat that?
BM: These projects, there’s money involved, believe that. [Laughs] I don’t really do stuff for free. These projects, it’s cash involved. You can still make your money even if you’re on the so-called underground level, or independent level.
DX: You’ve gotten a lot of critical acclaim. Do you think it’ll require a major label push to balance that out.
BM: Yeah, man, I do. I’m just trying to figure out how am I going to be on a major label and still do what I do? Where are we going to meet in the middle? … I know they’re going to want certain things that I might not feel, on some mainstream, commercial type shit. I have to figure out, what can I do to still give them what they want, but still do what I do without having to compromise too much. So when that time comes, it’ll come, but I think a major will definitely help me go to that next level. The good thing about a major, if any, you know your CD is going to be in stores everywhere, for people to see.
DX: Have any major labels come at you yet?
BM: Yeah, a few tried to holla at me. It’s funny, a couple of labels had tried to holla at me before I even got my Fat Beats deal. But now, they’re recognizing [pauses] I’m on their radar, basically. A couple of them know my situation, but they’re like, “Keep us in tune to what you’re doing.”
DX: Michigan has had a really big year in terms of hip-hop, but I think that you, more than any other artist, have been able to expand really well. You’re still in the D, but you’ve got joints with Sean P, Bishop Lamont, Lloyd Banks. Do you think that you’ve been able to diversify your sound itself, or just that your sound is easy to adapt to?
BM: I don’t think my sound is one-dimensional, especially when it comes to the production side. I feel like I can do any style of music. You want a commercial beat? Here you go. You want an R&B track? Here you go. You want some dirty, underground stuff? Here you go, I can do it all. So that gives me an advantage over other artists—not just in the D, but just other artists period—because I’m an emcee, plus I produce, I produce well. So certain crowds are just going to take my music and take me in just because of that. So I kind of got an advantage with the beat thing. That’s the only reason I can think of right now that’s separating me from other people that are doing their thing, from out the city or anywhere else. I’m not just an emcee.
DX: I’m from Saginaw, so I’ve got to end this off on a Michigan note. If you got to record your fantasy track with three Michigan rappers, who would they be and why?
BM: Just a track? Or an album?
DX: [Laughs] Fuck it, either/or.
BM: To tell you the truth, that fantasy track or project is kind of in the works, man. You made me remember, I forgot all about it. it’s another one of those projects where somebody gave me the idea and both of the artists are down with it, but we’re taking on so many projects that I’ve got to put it on the backburner for a little bit. But, Royce Da 5’9” and Elzhi. I consider me as that third person. I’m not even trying to come close to the mic with those two dudes. Those two guys are the best emcees, not even from Detroit, but in the game period.
DX: It’s crazy, it seems like Michigan artists are working together more than they ever have in the past.
BM: Yeah, they have. I feel like everybody put what little things they had against each other aside now. Now it’s all about Detroit winning. Especially after Dilla passed and Proof passed, I feel like everybody’s on that page right now. We’ve got to work together if we want to win. Those were the two dudes that were really about Detroit winning, two pioneers of Detroit Hip Hop, easy. Without them here…like children without their parents, you’ve got to figure out that way to come together and make that shit happen, and live and win. So that’s what I think everybody is on right now, just having Detroit win. So that’s a good thing, man. I’m definitely feeling it.
No comments:
Post a Comment