Kevin Black - National Field Director: Interscope | Rappers Talk Hip Hop Beef & Old School Hip Hop

Ill Will: Off top, what the is a National Field Director?
Kevin Black: Okay, off the top, a National Field Director is a person who goes out and gets radio. What is radio, radio stations. What city are you from?

Ill Will: The Bay Area, home of the most fucked up radio stations in the world.
KB: (laughing) Naw, I aint gon say that. KMEL (106.1 KMEL, San Francisco) and Wild (Wild 94.9, San Francisco Ca) would be the stations. I service the radio stations, I design promotions for the radio stations. Myself, my boss Step Johnson, Howard Geiger, (and) Tommy Marshall, design a plan and we attack radio for every different artist.

IW: What are your daily operations?
Audio Clip: THE FORMULA [Listen Here]
KB: My daily operations are to get in the office no later than 8 oclock (AM), because you know the East Coast is three hours ahead of us (Kevins Interscope office is in LA). I work my way from the east back to the west. What happens is, I make sure all the regionals and all the staff is geared up with whatever they need. Im kinda like the nerve system. What I do is make sure everything is in place at one time so I can give my boss, Step Johnson, a consecutive answer with whats going on with the market. I look over the streets, as far as making sure that the streets are being hit the right way. Mixshows are being hit the right way. Colleges, retail,
everything is being the right way.

IW: You started off being a DJ, right?
KB: Yes, Im from New York City, the Bronx and what happened was, you know, DJing back in my day was the outlet and you wanted be the guy that rocked the club and I loved the music. I started going to the club and seeing what was going on and then I got picked up by the radio station. The station was KJLH and they started asking me to do mixes for them. I started doing mixes real good and I was a mixer on-air, and then The Beat (a radio station) came into the picture and I became a popular item in LA. Everybody started seeing I was mixing on The Beat and KJLH and then what happened was I got a job at a record company as a promotion man. Thats what started me on my way.

IW: Alright, Youve been quite the video hoe as of late. Youve been in hella videos. Are you acting out some wish to be a star?
Audio Clip: BEING A VIDEO HOE [Listen Here]
KB: No, no, no. First of all, I love being a video hoe as you would call it. If the video hoe makes my phone ring and people call me, hey, I love the way you acted in that video. Then you know what I do, hey, let me tell you about my next record. Im always constantly promoting. And what happens is, Im trying to show people that there is a new age executive. What I mean by new age executive, a person who knows the suites as well as the streets and a person whos not scared to get out there and get grimy with it and go out and do what he got to do to get the records heard on a nationwide campaign.
KB: Im the type of person, whatever it takes to promote the record, whatever it takes to get a better look at the record, a good promotion man gon do what he gotta do. And it wont be the last time you see me. I believe in the Four Fs theory.

IW: Ive heard about this, explain it.
Audio Clip: THE 4 Fs [Listen Here]
KB: I believe in being friendly, cuz you gotta be friendly with everybody. You gotta make sure everybody know you and you gotta treat people how you wanna be treated. So it dont hurt just to be friendly with everybody. The second F is you gotta be firm. And firm means, if you dont know what you stand for, youll fall for anything. The third F, you gotta be focused and what I mean by focused is whatever your plan is, you gotta execute it and you gotta re-plan to re-plan. Dont just start off with a cookie cut plan, if you gotta re-taper the plan, as long as you stay focused and know what your agenda is youre gonna focus. And the fourth F, you gotta say fuck it. The clean version is you gotta know when to say forget it. If you spend too much time on something, dont wait if youre not goin nowhere. Thats what I live by, and thats how I treat everybody. Friendly, firm, focused, and knowin when to say fuck it because everything aint always a kill.

IW: Right, right, thats big.
KB: Thats what I mean by Im the new age executive. I give special thanks to Jimmy Iovine for giving me the chance, I give special thanks to Step Johnson for letting me work with his radio department to show that I had the skills to pay the bills and I love my two bosses, Tommy Marshall and Howard Gieger, because without them two people I cant do what I do. In this record business theres no one person that does everything, its never an I, its a We. If you kept that concept, We, everything will be lovely.

Audio Clip: THE BOTTOM LINE [Listen Here]
KB: Im a hands on type of guy. I like to get with my artist. I wanna hear my artist tell me their vision. I want my artist to be able to tell me, look, this what I meant when I did this record. Because the old school way, you cant be just a person who just has a cookie cut pattern on how to promote records. You gotta taper a promotion to every individual artist. You dont promote a Dr. Dre like you would promote Eminem. You wouldnt promote a Ruff Ryder like you would promote a Rakim. Its different steps. Once we hear the music its different strategies on what you do and how you do it.

IW: Okay, lets get into it because you guys have had a pretty diverse group of people and have been successful with all of that. You were really involved with the Eminem campaign, lets start off with that.
KB: If you ever asked me what was my hardest record at first, I would tell you Eminem.

IW: Wow, why is that. Tell me why.
Audio Clip: HARDEST CAREER CHALLENGE EMINEM [Listen Here]
KB: Because at first, when people heard him they knew he was dope but it was kinda like a reverse sell because there are stereotypes. He was one of the first white guys that came out rappin that was that cold-blooded. And when I say the first white guy, I know theres been Vanilla Ice, I know its been a couple more guys, but to sell a white guy in a predominately black industry, it was kinda hard at first...

IW: Okay...
KB: But, when they heard his lyrics and they heard how dope he was, it took off. Eminem is the truth, I mean he hits you with missiles, lower missiles, lasers, I mean, hes off the meter.

IW: What is your guys secret over at Interscope Records? Being that, you guys are killing the game right now, you got it locked down.
Audio Clip: COMPANY SECRET PT.1 [Listen Here]
KB: I think the secret is Jimmy Iovine, Step Johnson, Steve Berman, Howard Gieger, and Tommy Marshall believe in communication. Everybody communicates. And when you have people communicating you win. And heres the second, theres no such thing in Jimmys meeting as a stupid question. The only stupid question is the one you dont ask. At Interscope we believe in dotting our Is and crossing our Ts. And I love it. If we had to look at how Interscope is set up, Jimmy would be like Phil Jackson. Step Johnson would be like a Shaquille ONeill. Howard would be a Maury. And Tommy Marshall would be Kobe Bryant.
Audio Clip: COMPANY SECRET PT.2 [Listen Here]
In the record business theres no I, theres We. And I believe Im a good team maker. I believe in grouping people together. Everybody stay happy, everybody have fun, everybody get your hands dirty. Lets get the work done.

IW: Whats up with Ms. Jade, then?
KB: Shes in the studio.

IW: Heres the thing, her record didnt work out, did it?
KB: It wasnt as best at it should be. Thats what you say.

IW: Im not even talking about the music, Im just talking about a business standpoint. You guys arent raking in the dough off that.
KB: Naw, I mean, come on. If we live like that then we dont give a artist a shot. Interscope believes in everybody a shot. I mean, if you gotta make money off of every record you put out, then we got a lot of problems in the record business. Theres a lot of artists I can start naming that arent making money.

IW: You win some, you lose some. You sell seven million records with one artist you can afford to not sell a lot with another.

IW: Who is Ms. Dynamite, dude? Ive been seeing her name a million times on the internet.
KB: Hot Delight. That shows me youre up on your game. Then I have 2 Pac, Still Ballin, thats off of the meter. Its a lot of things we got thats off the rocker.

IW: Thats good. What happened to Hittman?
KB: Hittmans with Dre.

IW: Is he still with still with Dre?
KB: Yes.

IW: Okay, 50 Cent. Well go into that. You guys had projected him at doing 350,000 copies his first week. He did 872,000. That had to have been a big triumph for you.
KB: Like I say, Id like to thank Paul Rosenberg...

IW: (Laughing)
KB: Shady Records, Eminem, 50, Violator, Jimmy, the whole company. Because together we just went to the wall with it. When I tell you we go blitz. If you ever seen Tampa Bay and the Raiders went at it you know what a blitz means. We blitz, we dont play. Flyers, street marketing, TV, retail campaign, promotional tours, I love it. Once again, its like the NBA. I love this game. Youve got to want it. Dog, when I tell you Im the new age executive, Im being real with you. You got to get out here. Im in Charlotte, I aint behind no desk. Tomorrow Ill be in Raleigh. The next day Ill be somewhere else. You need an executive that can walk it, talk it, believe it, and run it.

IW: Most memorable moments?
KB: When Jmmy Iovine said I want you, I love you. I said, Thank you. That and second, seeing records hit the top and third just ready for the chance. 50 Cent was a memorable moment, Eminem was a memorable moment, Death Row Records was a memorable moment. Being a luggage boy was a memorable moment. The growth. Its so many. I just people. I just love making everybody happy. Will, thats my heart really speaking. I love making people see that hard work does pay off.

IW: Biggest mistake made?
KB: Thats a good question. I didnt get into the record business earlier. Im thirty. I got into the record business when I was twenty-one, I wish I could have gotten this shit when I seventeen.

IW: What are you working towards. Do you see yourself as the Interscope Records National Field Director of everything in the entire world Rep, forever?
KB: No, Im working for to be the hottest executive that I can ever be. And be known that Im out here and that I love everybody. Thats what I want everybody to know.

IW: What are some things Interscope Records has coming that everybody should know about but might not?
KB: We got somebody named Brooklyn thats hot, we got a Rakim album thats coming. We got Ice Cube. We have a Dr. Dre, Eminem, Bubba Sparxxx Obie Trice, Kiesha Coles and TG4 album coming. I mean, this years gon be a hot year for Interscope. I mean hot, hot, hot. Lower missiles, lasers, get it ready daddy. Boom, boom, boom, boom.

IW: How much pull does Dre have at Interscope? Because 80% of the artists you just named came form within his family.
KB: I think Dre has outstanding pull at Interscope. When youre hot, youre hot. And Dre, hes got an ear. Hes dope. But me, Im a promotion man and Ill be promoting record until I cant breathe.

IW: Do you have personal life?
KB: My personal is what I do, like you. Usually youre friends are people in the industry. My personal life is this. I love it. I dont hate my job. I love going to work.

IW: No bullshit, as fucking motivation as Kevin Black is, I honestly felt like I was gonna be rich or die fucking trying. Oh Boy!