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Yo, this was the spot right here! PayJay Studios (though i always joked with Jay that it should be called Electric Jaydee Land), just around the corner from where i stay at the moment. I remember seeing that studio being built, slowly but surely, from a plain ass basement to the illest studio i've ever set foot in. The only thing missing was the hot tub we joked about him having down there (that's some shit you aint seen on Cribs yet- hot tub in the studio bitches!). The pro-tools board was insane! I remember when that shit first got hooked up after Jay was fuckin' with it, he set that shit on autopilot or some shit and all the lights were flashing, faders were moving, shit was crazy, Jay was so amused with that. I miss it all. Layed my first beat in there. Smoked a whole lot of trees in there. I remember one night in there with just Dilla and me. It was a litte while after he first got sick (we didn't even know what it was exactly that was wrong), he was on some medication at the time and it made him tired alot. We had been in the studio for a while listening to records and Jay fuckin' with some beats. After a while, he seemed a bit worn out and asked me what i had been up to music wise. I rarely played him beats of mine, cause damn it was like soloing in front of Coltrane or something- abit intimidating even though we were friends. I pulled out a cd a played hima couple tracks. Jay got geeked, kind of perked up and said they were dope. One track in particular, he bugged and said "those drums are fuckin' bananas!" Man i couldn't contain myself. Here was the muthafuckin' King of Drums tellin' me my drums were tight! I'll never forget that. Even though i know i was just a blip on the radar, Jay showed love and supported everybody. He was by far one of the best people i've known in my life, just on a personal level, aside from anything to do with music. But on top of that, he was a fuckin' genius that would get embarassed when you told him so! As far as in the studio he was all about work. If he was in there, he was grindin', lookin' for samples, fuckin' with beats, whatever, he was about work. The crib wasn't even really furnished that much, but my man had a million-dollar studio in the basement- that's all that mattered to him! I'm glad everyone gets a chance to see this shit, since i was disappointed that "Behind the Beat" book only had the tiny LA spot in it. Now y'all can see that PayJay was killin' every studio in that bitch! I always wondered if the folks that lived in this quiet, little suburban white neighborhood had any idea of the crazy, quiet, humble genius they had in their hood- the magic that was being produced from the unassuming spot on the corner. Damn.
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