Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap Page #14

I come in all blue,

I don't know red

And I don't throw dough,

I make it rain lead

Coked out, I'm boiling

bricks in the kitchen

It don't matter if you got it

nigga, tricking is tricking

Algebraic,

I multiply my metaphors

I'm so spa from deep tissues

and pedicures

Overlord of niggas

in ski masks

Westside rider for life,

you ain't gotta ask

L.A.,

home of the triple beam

My niggas run all up

in your crib like a swat team

I'll make your suv lean

Full metal jackets have it

rockin' like a raft in rapids

The last nigga in life

that you want to meet

Keep talking sh*t on the net

I'll see you in the street

Who is the man

with the master plan?

A nigga with

a motherfucking gun

44 reasons come to mind

Why your motherfucking brother

is hard to find

He been walking on the streets

and f***ing with mine

Stupid punk can't f***

with a mastermind

See I never take a step

on a compton block

Or I.A. Without the a.K.

Ready to pop

'Cause them punk motherfuckers

in black and white

Ain't the only motherfuckers

I gots to fight

I think it's better

to be telling the facts

Than cuffed up

and jacked and f***ed up

What you niggas

Lookin' at? You going

Everybody knows

dr. Dre don't drop a record a week.

It's like...

It's... it's a process.

What's your process

before we get to hear a track?

You know, it's, um... it's not

the same thing every time.

It really depends

on who I'm working with.

I try to get inside

of the head of the artist I'm working with,

and the record

has to be them.

I don't go approach

an artist and say, "okay",

this is... this is the way

I think your record should be."

I just try to... to make

what they're bringing better

and just add

whatever they're bringing...

Add my thing to whatever

they're bringing.

So I just try to get in...

Get in touch with the artist,

try to get in touch

with their personality

and what they're trying

to do and try to just

take that to... you know,

to levels unheard of, you know.

That's real talk.

So that's... that's just my thing.

I just...

It's no set foundation or no set way of doing it.

I'm thinking like...

'Cause, okay,

everybody knows

your gangster sh*t

and what you did

with snoop,

but when we heard eminem

for the first time,

you know, hi.

My name is,

we like...

But it was him.

Right.

It was perfect.

It wasn't 50 cent.

You captured eminem.

Right. You know, and I

think that's the reason

for longevity,

you know what I'm saying?

You just... you vibe

with the artist,

and you just elaborate

on what they have to give,

and you just, like,

make what, you know...

I just add my thing

to what they have,

and that's all it is to it.

Eminem, I'm gonna add

my thing to eminem.

Snoop, I can't

go in the studio with snoop with...

In an eminem state of mind,

if that makes

any sense, you know.

Absolutely.

I just have to just...

Just be them almost.

You know what I'm saying?

That's what makes the projects

come out so good.

You got a young kid,

he want to be a producer like you.

He want to...

He want to live the dr. Dre life.

He... he admires

you that... you see something in him.

What would be the first

lesson you teach him

about this game

of hip-hop?

First of all,

you have to make sure that this thing is for you

and it's who you are

and you're built for this, you know.

And then you

have to give it the passion that's necessary, you know.

Like I said, I don't

do it for the money.

The money is gonna come.

I do it because of the love

that I have for it,

you know what I'm saying?

If I was a plumber

or something like that,

I still would make

hip-hop records.

That's how much love

I have for it, you know.

I feel like right now,

I've been in the game close to 27 years,

and I've actually thought

about this just recently.

Out of the entire 27...

My 27-year career,

there's only been

There's... I've never

been out of the studio

longer than two weeks

in my entire career.

That's how much love I have

for this thing that I do.

So that's the thing,

just the passion that you have for it,

and really, really

put your all into it,

and make sure that

your word is the last word.

That way,

you don't, you know...

You don't play the blame game

or anything like that.

If it comes out hot,

it's on you.

If it doesn't come out hot,

it's on you,

you know what I'm saying?

That's all it is to it.

I think, uh,

people I've talked to

that have been...

That had the privilege of working with you

have said the same thing

in another way.

They like, when you go

in the studio with dre, it's not a game.

He's not your friend.

He's in there,

he's working,

and you gonna

do it till dre thinks it's right.

And they all

appreciate that. Yeah.

That's a big difference

between a beat maker and a producer.

Yeah, yeah. I...

You know what?

There's definitely

a big difference between a beat maker and a producer,

'cause you...

Once you finish the beats,

you have to produce the record.

You know what I'm saying?

And I think there's

a big difference between the rapper

and the songwriter,

you know what I'm saying?

Rappers, you know,

anybody can go spit a 16, you know.

The minute you ask the mc to...

To give me the hook first,

most of them get lost.

Mm-Hmm.

You know what I'm saying?

I look for songwriters,

you know.

So that's all it is.

I know, you know,

I'm a little bit tough in the studio,

but everybody's

happy once they come out of the booth.

Mm-Hmm.

Well, you as close

as we can get to pac.

What was

the experience like?

It was incredible,

you know.

I remember being

in the studio with pac,

and, um, he actually

went in the mic booth

to write, you know,

and I'm like, okay, that's different.

So I'm

in the control room, and, um, he writes the lyrics.

"All right,

I'm ready," you know.

He spits california love.

One or two takes,

it was like, all right, put the next thing up.

And he would just sit

in the booth, you know,

like, put the next thing up,

write, put the next thing up.

You know, I think

that's the reason why

he has so many songs and

so much material, you know.

It was just...

It was incredible.

He's like a machine.

Serious machine.

Serious talent.

When I speak

of you, of course I'm incorporating nwa,

'cause you were

a movement.

What... what stroke

did you guys

put on the painting

that wasn't there?

I think, um,

just the element of... of the street,

you know what I'm saying?

That's what

we were going for.

I think you were

a big part of that,

because our first record

was basically just a...

Um, almost a remix

of what you did

with 6 n' the morning,

you know what I mean?

We did boyz n the hood

because of...

Because of the love

for that record so much,

but we just wanted

to basically put where we came from on the map.

Back then, it was just

a lot of new york going on,

and we wanted

to represent compton,

and we wanted to put

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