DX: Nowadays are artists looking to dictate the direction of production to keep in the vein of what we are already listening to?
DC: I think certain artists are lazy now, now they just leave it up to the producer to give them beats. That is why you don’t hear all these hot producers. To be anybody, people are just going to the hottest producer to get the hottest record and think that getting the beat is it. But no its doesn’t work like that; it is a mutual thing to make a record and make history. You have to get out there and make those records. The deejay is nothing without the artist and the artist is never something without the deejay; it is never a one footed thing. It is a mutual thing where everyone has to get out there and work. A great beat and a bad artist still leaves a bad song just as a great artist with a bad beat till leaves a bad song. It all works hand in hand.

DX: Why do you think that artists have got so lazy then when production is so strong?
DC: I think artists go for big name because they want the quickest thing available that will get them to the masses. If that means getting a Cool & Dre beat, then that’s what they do. If that means getting a Swizz Beatz beat, then that is what they will do. But "Hot Dog Man" over here might have the craziest beats in the world, but they won’t touch his beats because everyone is looking for a name to associate. The more association with a name the more credit the artist will have. It will give more people a chance to pick it up. If there are a million people trying to promote their CDs, you might not look at one until you see a DJ Premier beat or something like that. This is no disrespect to the artists saying they are lazy, but people don’t want to grind it out. They don’t have patience these days and they don’t want to strive for perfection. I give a person like Lil Wayne and a person like Lupe [Fiasco] credit. People look at Lil Wayne and think he might be the best rapper or might not be the best rapper, but one thing for sure is that he and Juelz Santana always mess with new producers. People never look at that though. Lupe Fiasco stays with new producers and one thing about Jay-Z and 50 Cent was they always worked with new producers too. They might have their Timbaland or Just Blaze sprinkled here and there, but they go with whatever sounds good, doesn’t matter where it comes from and that is why those guys are greats.

Like 50 Cent’s record of the year was Apex [click here to read...], "I Get Money," and that was his first record ever. They are always looking for something fresh. You don’t have to come out of the box with everything. It just takes great minds to think like that. That’s why I think artists are lazy because they would rather go and spend their budgets going to see Danja or so and so. Yeah they are going to give you a good record, but it is up to you to make it a big record. I am sure Swizz and all those niggas will tell you that also.

DX: Did you find that once you had your first big single, Jeezy's "Go Crazy," they were gravitating towards you more?
DC: Yeah they are gravitating towards me more but they realize I am not going to give them the same beat that I gave Jeezy. You know I am a producer, I make records and will put my input in but it is all up to the artist. I can’t make Lil Scrappy; Lil Scrappy gotta make Lil Scrappy. I can give you the hottest beat in the world, but you have to make yourself.

DX: When is it that you think you might have made it as a producer, you know become content with yourself?
DC: I don’t know man; it is hard to find contentment man. I know I am not content now as I am still on the rise. There is still doubt with everybody, from Timbaland to Dr. Dre, because if you don’t have that banging record you are back to cold or lukewarm again as opposed to hot. It is just one of those things that you have to constantly make hot songs.

DX: What has been the most advantageous program or piece of equipment in your tenure as a producer?
DC: I would have to say for me personally, and I can only speak for myself has been Logic 08, which is like a producers program inside the computer. I pick that because I was able to transfer all of my sounds and my equipment in the box. Now I can just carry around a laptop and a controller and I have like the five or ten keyboards I have bought over the years, an MPC, an ASR plus a recording module and deejay program all in one computer.

DX: Tell me you back up your computer.
DC: Hell yeah, I am looking at five computers right now and I have about 19 hard drives.

DX: Yeah but you hear about people who have laptops stolen and the owners never backing up their computers and then losing years of work. Kind of crazy as well as unfortunate.
DC: I mean it happens sometimes as some people will sit there and forget to back up because they work so much. I constantly back up as I went through a stage where I lost 100 beats off a drive. That was probably the worst thing that ever happened to me as I honestly thought I was about to die. That’s a lot of beats..but it happens. You just learn over the years like I learned. Not only when you are high profile in the world but there are places you might take your computer, and then have it stolen. I have had mine stolen out of my car before and I am not the only one that has been through that. Plenty have gone through the exact same thing. You have drives crash. I just constantly back up and do what I have to do as I can’t go through that heart break anymore. Continued on page 3 »