HHDX: Wow.
DE: Yeah man, Megan deserves her due credit, a lot of times people forget who hooked them up in the beginning, you know, and its sad, but I’m not one of those people. If Megan had never made the call I’m not gonna say that Keyshia wouldn’t have made it, but I am gonna say that I had more drive and I believed in her more than ANYBODY in the beginning and we worked very hard to get Keyshia where she is, and I say that as a collective effort.

HHDX: They’re calling you the best producer you’ve never heard of. With so many producers in hip hop and R&B taking center stage in the music and the videos etc., how do you feel about the distinction between producer and artist?
DE: The reason my label is called Confidential, is that that is exactly what it is. I’ve learned even from my mom, who celebrated her 45th anniversary in the music business. I think you do what you do, and do it well. The fame comes, you don’t need to search for it. If you’re truly an artist, than more power to you. But if it’s because you got a hit record or a number one single and your getting approached by labels and kinda feel like you gotta fall into that world, then I’m against it. 100%. I think certain producers make great artists. Certain producers are producers because they suck as artists. Straight up. As a producer I live through each artist. Its kinda like a daddy who lives through his children. You live through them, you watch them play football and you watch your son run the ball and you’re sitting there yelling at them. That’s kinda what most great producers do. Not all of us have great looks. Not all of us are skinny. Not all of us can dance. You know?

HHDX: Sounds like you might have somebody specific in mind.
DE: I don’t mention names, man, people will figure it out. (laughs)

HHDX: I think they probably will. At what point did you start to feel like “hmm… maybe I’ll start a label”?
DE: After Keyshia blew up so big, and all I had was an imprint on Interscope. And I was like, I have Confidential on Interscope and it looks good on her album, but it doesn’t really amount to anything. Imagine if it were my own label, it woulda been a lot better financially. And also I’d have a lot more creative control, which is very important. So it’s an opportunity to do what I love and really not have to answer to anybody, its kinda cool. Continued on page 4 »