© The Wu-Tang Corp.
- 2005-10-12
Interview by
Darin Gloe
@
hiphopsite
Some of you might know who Dreddy Kruger is, but your about to find out. Whether you're from the Golden Era of hip-hop or on some straightback ish, Dreddy has been there. Dreddy has had deals, worked the Wu from the beginning and traveled worldwide. I got a chance to sit down and talk to a true visionary about his new project on Babygrande and the state of the industry.
What's good man, how you living....
I'm good, everything is peace how you doing my brother...
For those that don't know you, introduce yourself a little.
My name is Dreddy Kruger and I'm from Bushwick Brooklyn and I've been down with the Wu since day one, before it was the Wu. I used to dance with the Gza, Ol Dirty and I used to dance for him when he was with Cold Chillin Records. I went on tour with him and I was in the room when they recorded "Protect Ya Neck" in downtown Brooklyn. From there I became and emcee with Royal Fam and signed with Rza. We released some 12"s and a full length album in Europe that sold about 100,000 copies. We won a French Grammy with a group called IM from France.
Wow, a lot of people didn't know this stuff
A lot of folks don't know this stuff. Me, Timbo King and Prodigal Sun had a song with a French hip-hop group called "La Saga". This group was the first group to sell over a million copies in France and we did the song and the video and then the album went gold in one day. We won a French Grammy for that joint and in the history of worldwide collaborations it was probably the biggest song, we rhymed in English they rhymed in French.
Quick question...is Apple endorsing this release in some way?
(Laughs) Naw, why you say that, because of the rainbow on the logo?
Yeah (Laughs)
Well, we are actually trying to work out a deal with Apple and do some things with pod casting and the whole Think Differently campaign. That's the whole concept of the album and the label; I'm trying to think outside the box. I'm trying to bring something fresh and new to hip-hop.
Hip-Hop needs something fresh and new.
Absolutely, hip-hop has been dying for a minute but I don't think this one project is going to turn it around I'm trying to form the foundation. It's going to take more than just me and this one compilation to change the face of hip-hop music so people can understand where it came from and what it really is.
So the album is a joint venture between you and Babygrande, what gave you the inspiration for the "Think Differently" album?
Exactly, I'm not signed to Babygrande, this is a partnership. Basically, if anybody knows my history with the "Think Differently" all started with mixtapes of older Wu stuff, which I dropped to online sites and the streets. My mixtapes weren't like a DJ mixtape, I played the whole song and I would sequence the whole tape, it has a feel to it. When it comes to this album most people know that the Wu didn't' work with many outside cats, so what I tried to do is bring that old Wu sound and intertwine with the underground culture. Some of these beats I had for a lot of years, a lot of the Wu members passed on through the years. I wanted to recreate the Rza sound from 93-96
That dirty grimy type sound?
Exactly, so I picked out all the beats first. I would play the beat and talk to the people in my camp and say "I want this person on this track". I A&R'd this entire project from scratch. After that I started sending out the beats on mp3 to all the artist I wanted. The crazy thing is I wasn't asking for 16 bars or whatever, I just said...lace something. I wasn't trying to the standard sequence, I just wanted that raw no structure type rhymes. They were just laying rhymes on the raw track and then letting cats know who I was pairing them with.
In the beginning how did you go about acquiring the collaborations?
I knew who I wanted from the start. The first beat I was thinking was the MF Doom and Rza track, I was like Doom on Rza track they have never done anything together, it would be crazy. Then I thought up the Gza and Ras Kass track, those are the illest two emcees in the game and when you put two emcees with that much talent together, the outcome is explosive.
The first single is "Biochemical Equation" produced by Rza and featuring MF Doom....I can see why you put these two together, but why make this the first single?
The music industry is all about the story behind your music, the buzz of Rza and MF Doom track was ridiculous. We are talking Bobby Digital meets Metal Fingers. The title "Biochemical Equations" tell the entire story right there. There is no bigger collaboration as far as what the public was talking about; people have been waiting for this song. I have liner notes with the album that people are really going to enjoy.
Yeah, the artwork is crazy
Yeah, the cover fits so perfectly. They both have their masks on and everything, it just looks like they are cooking up something. Rza always told me to have a good staff and have dope visuals to match your music. I have this dude in Arizona named Nubian Image, he has done all the mix cds, the album cover, the Masta Killa cover and the Rza cover for "The World According to Rza". He's phenomenal.
The album drops October 18th on Babygrande, what do you hope people take away from this type of album?
The main thing I want people to do is listen to it and understand what it is, what I mean by that is this is not a Wu-Tang album. This is a Wu-Tang meets the indie culture album. The feel of it is Wu-Tang with that Wu-Tang sound and the Wu-Tang members mixed together with all the independent cats. It's not just the immediate members either, it's the whole Wu. Timbo King, LA the Darkman, Prodigal Sun, Solomon Child, they are all Wu-Tang too. This type of album should have come out like 10 years ago, this is an album that a major label couldn't do. Majors have to deal with all the politics, this album has no politics.
This is really what hip-hop is, when you don't have to deal with politics it really takes it back to the old days.
Exactly, this is going to be the most explosive compilation to come out on a major or independent in a long time.
Dont forget, Dreddy is doing an in store signing later on next week at The Cop Shop, the details are
here
.
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