The Klasix: “All Of Me” was one of the last tracks that Joe had recorded for Mood Muzik. It was done around the time when we thought MM3 was over and there would be no more beat submissions. We slipped up and let Joe hear the record and straight from the gate he had ideas to the ceiling. We all agreed that this should be another Emanny collabo, but this time we added a female vocalist by the name of Kitami, who helped make the track more moody. Joe then went in the booth and just let go of everything that was on his chest.

DX: When it comes to sampling, how important is it to tap into other genres of music?
The Klasix: We find it very important being that we aim for innovation. We sample just about everything from Soul, cultural music, Folk, Funk, Classical, Rock - just about every style of music. We feel every genre of music offers something new and sampling, or just experiencing a new culture or sound, will bring a new era to music. Sampling new genres is brilliant; that's why you have your Timbaland who was heavy into percussion and Euro Pop or your Neptunes who were more into the '80s synth and '80s Pop, or even Just Blaze who was more into Funk and live drums; and us who are a blend of all of that. It also opens up the close-minded listeners to new music. We do it all the time, you'll see real soon.

16 Foldgers’ Brother

DX: What made you think that Kanye’s parody would work on MM3?
Killah BH: It’s funny because a lot of my music comes from me having an idea and then fucking around with it. A lot of artists start out with an idea and then it changes into something much bigger at times. Whenever I’m around my crew I always say bars that are funny and then they’ll say, "Yo you should do this record," or "What do you think about doing this record over?" Kanye is an amazing artist who has a hit after a hit. I was in the process of listening to his album when I created my song.

DX: Do you really brush your teeth with Colgate? Have you tried Aquafresh Whitening?
Killah BH: Funny story - the whole Colgate shit really happened. Whenever Team Jump Off gets together, it’s always a fun and interesting environment. You never know what you’re gonna hear or come across. I really use Colgate but I switched to Aquafresh. The funny part about that whole switch is, in the process of me switching Joe forgot his toothpaste at home while we were on the road, and he saw that I had Aquafresh. He said he needed to use my shit and after he used it he said, "This shit ain’t bad." A few days later I see Aquafresh in his bathroom.

17 Long Way To Go featuring Mr. Probz

Soulsearchin’: Everything on that particular track is played even though we tend to use samples as well. Soulsearchin’ has four members. One person kicks off and then each member in the team can easily pick up on the concept. This beat started off as a completely different beat than what it eventually turned out to be. Different drums, other instruments, a whole other feel to it. But listening to the chords played we knew we had to turn it to another direction. That's where we started to add and change stuff until it turned out the way it did. We work a lot with Mr. Probz, he's a genius. We call him "Captain Hook" because he pulls hooks out of his sleeves like it's nothing. So we called him up, played him the beat and he just started mumbling the hook right away. In less than half an hour he wrote and recorded the hook. Eventually Neenah, another great artist we work, mixed Probz's vocals and did some background harmonies to finish it up.

When the hook was done, the first person Probz thought of was Joe Budden. Joey is one of the illest lyricists out there and he can really get into a track that's deeper than your average, so we thought the track would be a perfect fit. Probz and DJ On Point know each other from when On Point was here in Amsterdam, so the connection was there. Probz sent the track over, Joey heard it, loved it and wanted to use it for Mood Muzik 3.

18 Thou Shall Not Fall

The Klasix: When we did this track, we kept in mind that we wanted to give Joe a stadium record. So while creating it, we made the drums heavy and actually added a stomp behind the kick to give that stomp-clap feeling. So when he performs this track, the crowd will interact with Joe and create this "We Will Rock You"/"Champion", feel. That's going to be incredible.

19 Still My Hood – produced by Wyks

DX: As the executive producer, what was your vision for this project?
Dru Cartier: I knew Joe for years; I knew Joe when he got signed. I also know On Point, he made the best mixtape ever. I manage my own producers. With that said, I was like, "Okay, look Joe, take a listen to some records." He liked the records that were coming to him so he picked them out. And I just said, "You know what, you gotta let everybody know that you can still rap; and what is on your mind, what have you been doing," – Mood Muzik is actually an answer to everything, to every question to what he has been doing since MM2. We just tried to put that in 80 minutes, let everybody know what’s on his mind, what’s been going on in his life – and all that stuff is very true. MM is really not a fabrication, everything is his true feeling, every record from top to bottom. From the first record - some people say the first record is really an intro. The voice mails are for a reason. I hear a lot of people like the song “All of Me” – true story. The girl with the brain tumor - true story. Everything is a true story so that’s all we tried to do; bring in emotions to the audience.

DX: Because there was so much emotion reflected through the lyrics, were you also going for beats that would best exhibit that emotion?
Dru Cartier: There were so many beats that just hit that early on. [Joe Budden] didn’t start going into real work until August or September after he got hurt. He was doing some joints but he got sick. And a lot of this stuff was already in his brain before he got the beat…He brought it up to me at a party, we were outside, and said, "I got an idea for this record. I met this chick and she has a brain tumor. But I’m just waiting for a beat." So sometimes he has these ideas already prepped in his mind and he just gets the record and that’s what brings out that exact thought. "This is the record I’m gonna get mad on; this is the record I’m gonna get personal with; this is the record I’m gonna go and just rap to." Continued on page 5 »