These days, hiphop producers aren't like rock producers. They don't directly assist a group in developing or realizing a concept, and sometimes (if not often) they never meet the groups who use their music. Instead, hiphop producers work more like Jake One: They make beats that are then shopped on the hiphop market. And if bought, clients may or may not end up using them. Indeed, most of what Jake One makes and sells will never reach the public.
What follows is part of a recent conversation with Jake One at his home, in a room filled with LPs and recording equipment.
I was surprised when I saw your name on one of the tracks from Vast Aire's [Cannibal Ox] new CD, Look Mom... No Hands. You seem to be everywhere I look.
I was surprised when I saw it. I had no idea what he was going to do with the beats.... He and I have the same lawyer, and that's how he heard of my stuff. My lawyer played it for him, he ended up buying a beat, and I never heard about it again. Then I saw it on the album. It sometimes happens that way.
Is that how you get work, through your lawyer?
Basically I have a manager in L.A., Walt Liquor, who shops my beats. There are guys whose whole function is to go around shopping stuff producers make. I'm not exclusive with any one manager, so it can be a lawyer or a friend. And obviously, there is Jonathan [Moore of Jasiri Media Group]; I work with him and we are very close.
How did your career begin?
There once was a label out here called Conception Records, and the first things I produced were for them. Conception was run by Strath, [and DJs] Supreme and Sureshot. They're friends of mine, and their label put out some records and they did well.... Around '98, I went to the Gavin Convention in San Francisco and met with DJ Fingers, who put me in touch with my present manager. Walt liked my beats and began submitting them to his connections. That's how I really got started.
Your big break?
The first really big thing that happened was with Aftermath, which is run by Dr. Dre. He bought two of my beats, though he never did anything with them. Before that I actually sold four beats to Mos Def, but then he decided to stop recording and the beats were never used. I've also done lots of stuff for nothing--beats I even signed contracts for but never got paid. That happens now and then. After the Aftermath thing, my success got blown out of proportion. I even heard while I was in New York a month ago that I was part of Dr. Dre's production team. That's not a bad thing but it's not true. I never even got to meet Dr. Dre because I couldn't get out of work to go down to L.A.
The G-Unit [50 Cent's crew] bought one of my beats and actually used it on "Betta Ask Somebody" [from Beg for Mercy]. It wasn't a single or anything but that put me in a whole different ball game.... 50 Cent has recorded two or three of my beats but I never heard them. They were bought and he's holding on to them. But that's how it works.
How did you end up producing [with Vitamin D] Gift of Gab's [from Blackalicious] solo effort 4th Dimensional Rocketships Going Up?
That came about because of Jonathan Moore. He was the tour manager for Blackalicious, and he would play our stuff to Gift of Gab. [Gab] liked it and wanted to work on some songs with us for his solo project. Initially, we weren't going to do the whole album, just four or so tracks. But then he liked the direction the music was taking and started coming to Seattle to record....
Although I really like the way the album turned out, I don't think it's being pushed the right way. I mean, it's doing very well and everything, but it's more of a Talib Kweli, Mos Def kind of record. It's not hardcore underground hiphop [which is the way it is being marketed].
I notice you don't have an MPC 2000, a sampler that is popular with hiphop producers. How do you make beats?
Basically I use a ASR-10 keyboard sampler, some modules, and that's basically it. I've had the sampler for about nine years and it still works fine. As for composition, what I usually do is pull five or so records together, break them down, and then work with the parts. But as you know, sampling is a whole other area [of] problems. If one of my beats is bought, I make sure everything is cleared. But that isn't something you have to do. You can sell a beat and not clear any of the samples. Some producers won't tell the guys who buy their beats that this is a sample and it hasn't been cleared. I know producers who have done that on big hits that sold millions of records, and they got away with it. But I don't want to get caught and get a bad reputation, so I tell the buyers if something isn't cleared.
For the G-Unit song, I didn't use a sample but I did play a line from this record. [Jake One pulls an LP with a blue cover from the shelf next to him.] And that was it--I played a line from this record. But I told [G-Unit] about it and I lost all publishing [rights]. If I didn't tell them this, then I would have gotten all this money from publishing. But if they discovered it wasn't mine, that I got it from this record, then I would have had to give all the money back, and pissed off Interscope. And that's a reputation I don't want.
Your future?
I'm going to be spending more and more time out of Seattle. It's hard to make connections in this city. I have to spend more time in L.A. and New York so I can meet people face to face. That's the nature of this business.
