DX: Switching gears here, besides The Formula, at my last count Duck Down is putting out something like 78 albums this year. What’s up with all the recent additions to a label that used to just be BCC fam?
B: [Laughs]. What it was is that from the beginning, Buckshot and Dru Ha never intended for Duck Down to just be [Boot Camp Clik]. What it was [is that] we had to really go in the lab and make sure that we had our stuff down pat to the point where it was air tight. If you look at it, we was gonna sign Eminem. That was real. We didn’t sign him because of political reasons on our behalf. Like, we didn’t feel that everything was right. And we was happy that him and [his manager] Paul [Rosenberg] went over to [Interscope]. We had another group by the name of Flow that was signed to Duck Down. We was actually working with Anthony Hamilton back then. But the record never came out. So we had a few other [acts] that we was working with and the intentions was to make Duck Down a full label, but it’s just that we always had to keep our bread and butter on the table. We always had to keep the generals, the people that rule Duck Down, working. But now throughout all [these] years we’ve gotten our stuff down pat by giving help to other labels and companies [so] that we got in [this] position. Like, Dru Ha is a V.P. at Cornerstone right now because of the knowledge that he gained from [working] with all of [these companies].

DX: I spoke to one of your recent additions, KRS-ONE, a few months back [click here to read...], and he said that his alliance with Duck Down originated with you and him planning to do an album together?
B: Yeah, that’s pretty much what it is. People get the image that KRS-ONE is signed to Duck Down, that he signed on the dotted line and said, "Here, I’m giving my life to Buckshot." It’s not that. What it is is that I have the power to sign artists and put them out through a major system that is so complicated it would take you years to really decipher it. With that power I know veterans, people that I love, aren’t getting the opportunity to get out [there]. So I have the ability to say, "You know what, let’s get a KRS-ONE album out."

DX: When would you guesstimate KRS’ Duck Down debut will drop [click here to watch KRS and Buck work on the album...]?
B: I don’t know, but I know it’s gonna drop sometime this year. The album is a collaboration of me and Kris together. I didn’t say, "Kris, here’s a beat, go in and rhyme." It’s pretty much me and Kris, as two generals in Hip Hop, coming together and saying let’s unite a Buckshot fan with a KRS-ONE fan and create a new fan.  

DX: When I spoke to KRS I asked him if “Duck Down” off BDP’s Sex And Violence album was the inspiration for your label’s name. He seemed to think it was but wasn’t sure, so I thought I’d ask you if it was?
B: It was. During that era [that we were starting the label] he had a song called “Duck Down,” and I used to listen to that song all the time. And one day me and Dru were coming up with the idea [to start a label] and I said, “When people hear our label I want them to feel [our] presence. I want them to duck down.” When you hear that record “Duck Down,” that’s what you feel. So I said, “I want people to feel like duck down, these guys are coming thru.” And [Dru] said, “Well, why don’t we name [the label] Duck Down.” So [KRS] definitely influenced the label [name].

DX: KRS told me he plans to reunite with former collaborator Diamond D for his Duck Down debut. How did you score a beatmaking legend like Diamond for the label roster?
B: Just natural blessings from the most high. Diamond happened to work with us before… To be honest with you, I don’t even know how the topic of [doing this album came up]. Duck Down is [just] a place that puts out records. We’re not a label that signs [artists]. Diamond’s just gonna put out his own album. Diamond is just bringing an album to us. And of course, whatever beats we need, Diamond is fam. As far as us needing beats from Diamond though, that’s secondary to the fact that Diamond is gonna get a chance to present himself as an artist and his own entity and say, "Hey, I’m Diamond D and I did kinda make a big imprint in Hip Hop."

DX: You got any info on his album yet, like title, when it’s gonna drop?
B: I don’t got any info yet [on his album]. But he is gonna be working with all the greats, obviously D.I.T.C. I know he got Fat Joe [on the album]. Continued on page 3 »