They have been tagged as Diddy’s Hitmen, but these two Harlem honorees to the Producer's Corner are very definitely their own men. Having a discography that goes back as far as Jay-Z’s first album, where Sean C produced "Can’t Knock The Hustle," the duo has never strayed away from their auteur sound.

Now after their contribution to one of 2007s biggest selling Hip-Hop chronicles, Uptown's Sean C and LV are in the seat that all producers one day aspire to be in; people flocking to them for a sample of their product.
Conversing with them, you appreciate their established vibe is nothing short of a continuous appreciation for each other’s ideology, with a comedic twist. They have paid their dues, done their homework, so now the spot is on them, for a little while at least.

HipHopDX: Now growing up in Harlem did that school you in any way for the music business?
Sean C: Music is all around us in the hood, you either get into street shit, or you get into the music business and that is what it is.
LV: Or you got a wicked jump shot and we didn’t have that; we had music.

DX: Starting out as deejays, what made you take it to the production side?
LV: I wouldn’t say it was a mistake, but Sean was about to sell his old [Akai] MPC 2000 and I was like, "Let me borrow it until you sell it," and I just started doing beats, so I kept it.

DX: What does it take to make a production duo, like yourselves, work?
SC: I think the chemistry. Everyone works different together, but me and him, we kind of figured out that it is natural vibe. It is not something that is over thought. You know we will be in there with two MPC 4000 and I will load up something and then we will just collaborate with each other on the spot.
LV: Basically that is what it is. You know sometimes I might be in the room, and I might just start dancing and me dancing will give Sean a different idea. The only one thing we do all the time is make good music.

DX: Do you work alone or always together?
SC: We may start something separately and then come to the studio and have the other check it out and maybe LV will add something in there and it works both ways.
LV: It’s like 50/50, we might start it at home, and then bring it to the studio.

DX: Do you ever see yourselves being able to make something without the other putting their input into it?
SC: That is not even like a thought. We work together and that is what it is.

DX: You have quite an extensive discography to your names, what song to this day still gives you the bumps when you hear it?
SC: I still feel crazy when I hear "Roc Boys," even though it is played a million times. It still gives me a certain feel.
LV: It doesn’t get played as much, but a song called "Get Off Nigga" that we did for Puff. That makes me go crazy.

DX: When you were working on those joints that were picked up by Jay for American Gangster, did you have the feeling that they were going to be something big?
LV: When we started doing that project, we were on fire. Everything that was coming out of that MP was hotter than a motherfucker. This was us on a roll, and this is not me being cocky, but when you are on fire, you just can’t miss. That was how I felt. I thought everything we was working on was crazy.

DX: Where was your mind at when you making those tracks?
LV: I was real happy and I felt really good, you know I had a couple of drinks and it was like every time we were in the studio it was party time. That’s how I felt.
SC: There is always a vibe in the studio with us. You know it is never like some stale shit, it is just party time and there is always a certain vibe going on. It was back-to-back joints. For some reason it just kept happening and we never thought it wasn’t going to work. It was never a case of, "This one is hot, but the next two are wack," all those beats just kept coming right after each other. We were already in Jay-Z mode when we was doing those joints. He came in and heard a couple of records that we had, like "No Hook" and then once he was ready to go in, everything we were doing was for that project.
LV: Once you get an artist like Jay-Z and you are in there and working on a Jay Z album, it is pretty much a case of, "Fuck everyone else, we are focusing on this."
SC: We went crazy and went record shopping. You know we went out and bought stuff and then came back in.

DX: When you get to the level that you are at now, do you become selective about who jumps on your joints? Can you afford to be selective?
SC: We are ready to work with anyone, it ain’t even like that.
LV: It isn’t about who is going to get this and who is going to get that, it is about making the best music. I don’t give a shit if MC Bubbalicious hasn’t got a check, as long as he can rhyme and sing, there you go. Continued on page 2 »