So after they recorded it, I asked them for permission to do further production on the song. The song is super chopped up, but before it was just a four-bar beat or whatever, and I wanted to get in and really program it. They’re like, “As long as it don’t sound wack, it’s all good.” So maybe a few weeks later, we recorded the song in this studio in Brooklyn, and that’s when I laid the beat down initially, the four-bar beat, how they initially rapped to it, so it wasn’t throwing them off. Once they laid their joints down, I retracked the beat. Man, I really fucked everybody’s heads up in the studio. They’re like, “Aw man, that sounds like a live band! With all the change-ups and stuff!” I got paid for the track, and I was on top of the world when that happened. The rest was pretty much history.

To this day, I’ve never really been on no political stuff. I’m one of the dumb guys that doesn’t read; play video games, make beats or whatever. I used to read Maxim, but that was the extent of it or whatever. I know the content of the song is deep and everything, and they’re real deep themselves when they want to be, and usually they are, but the song just touched me differently only because that was the first time I was able to take creative control of something and try my idea without somebody telling me “No.”

DX: You’re pretty well respected, but your catalog isn’t as widely-known as others. But it seems like you’re always working. Why is that ratio between how much you’re working on and what comes out with your name on it so skewed?
88-Keys: A lot of things go into that. Mainly, truth be told, I really couldn’t get a lot of beats sold, especially after Pro Tools came out. I got a lot of beats off, I tracked a lot of beats, I got paid a lot of front ends, which really sustained my lifestyle and helped out my family and all that. Got me a 4.6 Range [Rover] and all that! Or I had that, I should say. I’ll track a joint for cats, get the cheese or whatever, and it just wouldn’t come out. I guess whoever had the executive decision between the artist and whoever else was in charge had other material that they felt suited their albums better. I never really got discouraged, but at the same time, I was doing a lot of my own legwork until I met my current manager Daniel Glogower, with Skyscraper Management. And even then, it was kind of tough. I guess my stuff just wasn’t hitting cats’ ears like I would’ve liked, even though I felt otherwise. I felt a lot of artists I submitted work to was better than stuff they actually used for their albums. I did like three songs for The Pharcyde that were supposed to be on their album Plain Rap, I have no idea what happened but I did smokers for them. One had De La Soul, all three members rapping on it.

I just started thinking about this lately, because I guess with the little buzz I’m getting now about my upcoming debut album and the joints I’m putting on my MySpace from the mixtape I’m working on, my recent involvement with OkayPlayer. A lot of my fans, to their knowledge, the last thing I did was Black on Both Sides. At first, I was kind of perplexed. Not like, “I’m 88-Keys, and you should recognize me.” But just for them to know the track record, and to even know the samples that I use, and follow my career to the very beginning so to speak.

DX: Talk about the album, The Death of Adam.
88-Keys: Oh, boy. I’ve got to say, my other best friend, Kanye…I’ve got to preface this by saying a lot of cats really didn’t know where he was coming from, they mistakenly put the arrogant tag on him for saying he loves his album, and he’s got the best album out as far as albums that he’s heard and stuff. But I’ve got to honestly say that I feel the same way about my album. My album is so well put-together so far, I’m still in the trenches with it, I’m two or three songs short from completion which should be wrapped up in the next couple of days, God willing. I think my album is really nothing short of incredible, or at least really, really, really damn good. It’s called The Death of Adam, I’ve been working on this album for a little more than a year and a half. I feel like I stepped it up as a producer, and I learned a lot about myself with making this album, and I learned a lot about making music with this album as well.

In a nutshell, the album is about the power of the punani. It was mainly instrumental, but I have a few features on there to get my story across. The album details the life of any guy that you know, you could be that guy, we’ve all been this guy, and we’ve all come across the female in question on the album. It’s pretty descriptive, and I’ve put a lot into it. I have the instrumentals telling the story of Adam, who’s my character on the album, who represents man. It’s kind of ill. Continued on page 3 »