© The Wu-Tang Corp.
- 2005-09-21
hiphopgame.com interview with Dreddy Kruger
Impacting the streets October 18th "Dreddy Kruger Presents... Think Differently Music: Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture" is an unprecedented pairing of Wu-Tang artists, producers and affiliates with some of independent hip-hop's East and West Coast elite. RZA, GZA, U-God, MF Doom, Ras Kass, Aesop Rock, Del tha Funky Homosapien, Sean Price, J-Live, Tragedy Khadafi, C-Rayz Walz, Planet Asia, RA the Rugged Man, Littles, Cannibal Ox, and many more artists, producers and even award winning filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, have come together for what will be a milestone release in the hip-hop landscape.
Dreddy Kruger, who conceptualized and A&R’ed the album, began his career as an artist signed to RZA's Wu-Tang Records label. Most recently, he A&R'd the debut albums for Masta Killa and Black Market Militia which led to the formation of Think Differently Music Group and the A&R'ing of this first release Dreddy Kruger Presents... Think Differently Music: Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture.
Today marks the premiere of the album's first single; Biochemical Equation feat. RZA & MF Doom, available exclusively on ITUNES.
HipHopGame.com sat down with Dreddy Kruger to discuss the story behind the album and these monumental creative pairings.
What's good man?
I'm good man. Everything is coming along real nice. Right now I just want this record out so I can relax.
What can you tell us about Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture?
It's not a Wu-Tang Clan album. It's Wu-Tang members mixed in with independent artists from the East to the West.
The RZA and MF Doom track sounds crazy...
Yeah, that's called Biochemical Equation. It's going on iTunes today. I met Doom through Devin from Nature Sounds a few years ago, and Doom wanted RZA to do a beat but the budget was real limited, and they reached out to me to try to make it happen. Niggas didn't even know who Doom was at the time and they were like ''I don't think I can do it''. That's how I first met Doom, and then when I first started this compilation that's the first pairing I had in mind. But I wanted it to be on a RZA beat, not an MF Doom beat.
How did you go about choosing the artists and beats for this project?
The beats came first. Some of these beats, I've just been sitting on for four or five years. I explain everything in the liner notes how each track came together. These beats were the foundation of the project. And then from knowing the MC's, their styles, their flows, that's when I started A&R'ing the project and deciding who I wanted on a track together. I wanted to do something monumental. RZA and Doom had never done a track together, GZA and Ras Kass had never done a song together, and they're two of the best lyricists in the game. The outcome was phenomenal. Watch when niggas hear it.
What separates this project from any other producer or DJ compilation?
The chemistry, for one. And the compilations that dudes put out, they just get verses from niggas. This is bigger than that. This is something that should have happened 10 years ago. Niggas have been waiting to hear Wu-Tang matched up with different artists. This is not just me putting other artists together with Wu-Tang on some mixtape shit. I A&R'd this project, this is a Wu-Tang sounding album with niggas like Ras, Planet Asia, and Littles. Those are the special, invited guests. That's what separates this. And the lyrical content, there's never been a compilation like this that has that much talent on one album. Even on a major label, this has never happened. This is going to be the most explosive compilation ever to come out on an independent label.
Did RZA help on this project?
All I had on this was his guidance and his blessing for this. Basically, he told me if I needed a beat that I could come through and pick it out. He asked me if I wanted samples or no samples, and I told him I wanted that original RZA sound from like '93 to '97. That's what I wanted, that Wu-Tang sound from that era. I didn't want to recreate that music, but I wanted to recreate that whole feel from that era with how niggas were making records.
Who handled the production on this?
RZA did one of the tracks, and Bronze Nazareth handled the bulk of the production. He's RZA's top disciple. Allah Mathematics did one, and we got this new cat named Preservation that did three or four, he's coming up under the Wu-umbrella.
What are your goals with running your label Think Differently?
Just to put out good music. Everything has to be thinking out of the box with some type of story behind it. It's more than beats and rhymes. I'm just trying to make good music. And my ultimate goal is not to just sign artists to my label, I want to do big projects. I got a big soundtrack I'm doing that I can't even reveal yet. It's not going to be my next release, it'll probably be out in a year. Everybody claims they got their own label, but I'm here to do something that's functionally different. And I'm here to do something monumental that will leave a stamp on the Hip Hop game. I had independent MC's calling me asking why I didn't call them. A lot of the dudes I had to turn down, because I couldn't take every MC. I wanted to do something different, and I thought about this over and over because Wu-Tang never did songs with other guys. If you go back, the only guys that really got light on Wu-Tang songs is Nas, Busta, and Redman, and they're not even independent artists. There's a whole independent market that loves Wu and these niggas basically started from listening to Wu. The love is there, but the Wu never really extended the love out to the independent market. They never did songs with a lot of people, the major label ones too. I said I have to do something with Wu, because I came from out of this thing too. But it has to be different. And the whole thing is, I didn't want to put no boundaries on it. I just wanted the artists to go with what they felt, and let me put it together. And I'm telling you, the outcome is phenomenal.
You were originally signed to RZA back in the day, how did that experience affect who you are today?
Oh man. Me and Timbo King were a group named Royal Fam. I've been down with the Wu since day one, since about 1990 or 1991. I'll be the first one to tell you, it was never one of my dreams to be an MC. You know how niggas say they wanted to be an MC after hearing Rakim, nah, not me, that was impossible for me at that time. I came in dancing for GZA. Me and Ol' Dirty used to dance for GZA when he was on Cold Chillin' back in the day. I didn't start rhyming until after RZA was on 6 Feet Deep. RZA loved the rhyme, and he was like “we can do shit.” I told him I wasn't ready to put an album out by myself. Me and Timbo became a group and recorded the album. It never came out in the U.S. but it came out overseas and it did about 100,000. We had a lot of fans over in Europe. The whole reason why I wanted to switch my focus is because I got tired of niggas coming up to me and looking at me a certain way, and I just got tired of it. I just didn't like it anymore. I didn't want to be looked at as a rapper anymore. That's why I'm not on the compilation as well. I don't even want to be looked at in that light. Basically, I'm trying to do a 360 for my career in a couple of years. What I'm trying to do will last longer and there's longevity in it
What do you want to say to everyone out there reading this?
Niggas need to get it. I know niggas be applying that 'classic' label to shit the public hasn't even heard yet. How can you say that when the people haven't heard it and it hasn't yet stood the test of time? How can you say something is classic when you're playing it up in your office. An album can't be considered a classic unless it's been out for at least two years, when you know that people are going back to listen to the album. All of the albums that are now considered classics weren't considered 'classics' when they first came out. I don't feel nobody's shit can compare to this compilation when niggas hear this. There's nothing like it out there, I'm telling you.
Straight from
www.hiphopgame.com
Itunes exclusive premiere!!!
RZA & MF DOOM
'Biochemical Equation'
SEPTEMBER 20th; Today
Listen here:
Think Differently
!!!
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