|
http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/interviews/id.1914/title.large-professor-on-90s-babies-nas-rakims-relationship-and-lupe-fiascos-rights-to-troy
A great read actually but I only am focused on the part about his contibutions on LTRH...Finaly he talks about it....but still dosnt give a complete answer
The interview also touches on Rakim's early assesment of Nas
DX: Would you be personally offended if an artist wanted to flip say “Looking At The Front Door” and they didn’t holla at you?
Large Professor: Dog, as soon as “Looking At The Front Door” came out Lisa Lisa and did they thing and they didn’t holla at all. They didn’t pay no homage or nothing and they just did it. So I’ve been over that feeling. It ain’t even take years for that to happen to me. That happened like automatically. “Looking At The Front Door” came out and then Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam came out like two months later. So I got an early dose of that. And they didn’t say nothing. Like, it wasn’t in no interviews like, “Yo, we jacked that shit from the Main Source shit,” or nothing. It was just like, yo, we took it, and we went gold off of that.
So when you get that early dose like that it’s like, alright, this is what the game is about. You start figuring it out. I came into the game thinking you thrive off of skills. Like, if your skills is ill that you gon’ go gold, you gon’ go platinum. That’s how I came in the game thinking, like, If your shit is ill, you gon’ do it. And it was like, nah, if you on the right label you’re gonna do it. Okay, yeah, of course you gotta have skills to begin with, but along with that you gotta be on the right label, and they gotta promote you, they gotta do videos and all of that shit for you . So I was just learning some wild shit right there. It was like, Oh shit, these people that took our whole idea flipped it and went gold. Ain’t paid no homage or nothing. And because they was on a bigger label, that’s just what it is. And you can’t go out here and say nothing.
That’s just like I felt The Beatnuts pain when Jennifer Lopez used for “Jenny From The Block.” When I was talking with them I’m like, “Yo, remember I been went through that, where it’s just like some straight they just nabbed the shit from niggas.”
DX: But you know the younger cats are like this is hypocrisy. Like, y’all nabbed it from the cats back in the ‘60s and ‘70s.
Large Professor: Yeah, true, but just putting that combination together that’s just like you throw on some blue shell-toe Adidas, you throw on this brand of jeans and you throw on this shirt right here and then somebody else puts that same outfit on and you know they seen you do that.
That’s why I don’t understand . It’s like, you don’t have to but it would have been nice. You would have been double coated if you would have paid homage. But you ain’t have to, because it’s free reign on all of that. But, when you give it up – I always tell anybody that Afrika Bambaataa and Jazzy Jay and them is the ones who got me into listening to records. When I used to listen to Zulu tapes it was like, “Yo, these are the records that pops got right here.” I always give it up to them, man. And that’s one reason why I’m still here.
DX: Speaking of artists holla’n at you, you know I gotta ask if Nas got at you for Life is Good?
Large Professor: I went to the session; I definitely gave him some joints. Nas is a master crafter builder. If people only knew the thought process that goes into Nas’ projects, they would really appreciate that man a lot more. I did give him some joints, we’ll see if they make it on there. I know he vocaled some joints; I know he put it all together. We’ll see.
His process when making a project, it’s really a project. It’s not just like, Yo, I’ma slap some songs together. There’s a thought process that goes into this. So, I maybe , maybe not, I don’t know. But he definitely has more joints . I mean, we still have joints from Nastradamus sessions. We still have joints from God’s Son sessions …. So, I’ve been here for a lot of the albums, and we have a lot of songs just in the cut. And like this project, I’ve given him more songs so … we’ll see.
DX: It sounds like you don’t take it personal though when Nas’ first producer doesn’t still get credits on his latest stuff.
Large Professor: Nah, nah, nah, ‘cause it’s just you know, this is music. It would be nice if all the long everything would have been . But, nah, he gotta build how he does and his idea. And if I give him a beat and it don’t fit that project idea, then it ain’t nothin’. Nah, we good. We brothers, so outside of that, that ain’t nothin’.
DX: While I’m asking about Nas, I gotta ask about your revelation during his recent Behind The Music episode that Nas and Rakim actually spoke back in ‘89/’90 when you snuck Nas in on Ra’s studio time, and that Ra actually gave Nas the thumbs up on what he was doing. I never knew that happened; I never knew they had even spoken. But I just wanted to know, truthfully, wasn’t Ra actually a little aggy about that whole situation, that these younger cats were taking his time to do their thing?
Large Professor: Nah, Rakim wasn’t aggravated at all. Rakim was on his own thought process, like his own thought track.
I mean, because we were divvying up a lot of time between . G Rap was working on his joint, . Eric B just had the studio booked. The studio was just booked. And, at that time, he was executive producing G. Rap’s album, he was executive producing his own album . And, sometimes G. Rap took like a big break in between and so was like, “Yo Paul, do some beats or do whatever you want, but I need something to come out of every session.” And so I was like, “Yo, I got my man down the block in Queensbridge, he rhymes.” “Alright, Paul, get him in the studio, man. Let’s just make sure every session counts.”
And so when Rakim came in it was like, “Yo Ra, check this out.” And he really listened to it and was like, “Yeah, alright, no doubt baby pa.” You know, that kind of thing. And, the only thing with me is that I really wish brothers would have had they real mogul hat on, where it’s like, “Alright, yo, let me hear something else.” Or like, “Yo, who is that?” He kinda was just like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s alright, now let me get to work.
I just wish he would have been a little bit more .
DX: Of a mentor kind of thing?
Large Professor: Yeah. Something like that, definitely.
DX: I always thought it wasn’t so much personal or anything but that the media kind of did that in when they started anointing Nas “the second coming.”
Large Professor: Right.
DX: I always just speculated that Ra took a little offense to that and that’s why he never really worked with Nas.
Large Professor: Right, right, right.
DX: You don’t have any extra insight into that, if that’s true or not?
Large Professor: Well, with Rakim and Nas, it wasn’t nurtured.
The dudes who were co-signing Nas couldn’t really get to Rakim like that, like Supreme , Hot Day, Ant Live – Ant Live was Eric B’s brother. Like, a lot of times when I’d be doing the sessions I’d be in there getting busy and I’d be doing Nas shit and Supreme would come in and be like, “Yo, that shit is hot!” Or Hot Day would be in there and be like, “Yo Paul, that shit is hot right there, y’all doing good” kind of thing.
But Rakim was kinda in his own zone, where it was like, “Yo, be quiet.” Like, “When Ra is here, just let that man think.” We gonna chill and let him get his work done kind of shit. So, you know, for it to be like that to begin with, you wouldn’t come and overlap and be like, Yo Ra, by the way, Nas man – It was just good that he came in on it and that he did have knowledge of . I wasn’t even trying to push the issue. I wasn’t like, Yo, you should sign him! It was just like, nah, now Ra gotta get and do what Ra gotta do. ‘Cause that’s the God right there, so it’s like, “Alright, we gotta turn this shit off, wrap this shit up real quick and let Rakim do what he gotta do.”
I just wish Rakim was more – Rakim took precedence over everything in there. When Rakim rolled up it was like, "Yo, alright, get in your place, do what you do now. Like, straighten up and shit." That was the kind of . I just wish Ra would have been like, "Yo, young blood, you should have did like this," - you know, that kind of thing. But, he had to write an album, so I guess that’s where that came from. But I know if we would have had his blessings, it would have been just some stellar shit. Like, these dudes have just got the hierarchy.
DX: One more ’89 question, I gotta ask it while I got you here, can you clarify once and forever what you actually did on Let The Rhythm Hit ‘Em? What you did, what Paul C. did, and what Ra did himself behind the boards.
Large Professor: Well, on a lot of that is Rakim and Stevie Blass. That’s instruments right there. That’s playing the bassline. They played the shit over. But I noticed in the beginning they had the drum loop and they had The Commodores’ shit in there, and I took the “huh” out of it. We went through a few different drum loops. That’s funny you brought this up because I was going through my tapes the other day and I heard where I put another drum loop with it and I was like, “Wow, I remember that.” But, we didn’t want the “huh” in there, so I had got the “huh” out of it. That was all for that one, me just tweaking it up with some edits and shit like that.
DX: And did you do that throughout the album? ‘Cause I know you did like “In The Ghetto.”
Large Professor: A lot of the beats I did from scratch, like “Step Back.” A few of ‘em I did from scratch. Like, I totally did .
DX: I was always under the impression that Paul had pieces in place and you kinda just took the pieces and put ‘em together after Paul passed.
Large Professor: Nah, Paul, he entirely did “Run For Cover.” There were a few other ones, um … “Untouchables,” Paul did that entirely. And then a few of them other joints I did entirely.
DX: “No Omega”?
Large Professor: “I’m the alpha with no omega.” I know I did the drums on that. I think Rakim started that and I put all the drums on there, like all them Kool & The Gang drums I threw on there. ‘Cause that was just mad crazy drums. Rakim liked the way I did drums. And then with some of the joints you even got some good musical schemes and so he was like, “Yo, lay that one down.”
DX: “Mahogany”? Who did “Mahogany”?
Large Professor: That was all them. That was Eric B & Rakim.
DX: Aw man, I thought you could claim credit for that classic.
Large Professor: Nah. And that was one of the best ones on there. My joints sounded more dusty.
--------------------
"Good hair"-Uzi
1619 the 1st slaves are brought to American shores
thus begins the phrase “mine is better than yours?” (huh?)
forced to serve-too broke to by freedom
the systematic rape of African culture has begun
little time
|
Printer-friendly copy 
Email this topic to a friend
The Lesson
#/media/File:Firefly.png)
