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It brought out the most in my pen, I had to stay par with the quality that they were bringing. But lately I would rather sit down and make a beat than write a rap. I mean producing, to me, is a challenge. I mean one day I'll have to work on something for Ellay Khule and really have to tap into his sound and who he is as an emcee, and I mean if you've heard his shit, there's no limit. So it's a challenge trying to find something you think will not only go hand in hand with whatever style he's bringing to the table, but also accommodate that style and help to make it shine. And then the next day having to do something for my homegirl, Topic, who's on a different side of the map, who demands a distinct sound of her own. Producing is really where my heart's at lately. I spend equal time doing both but I really spend my days fine tuning beats, gettin' em to fit the person they're for.
What do you use to make your beats and where do you draw your inspiration from? At this point in time I'm using an MPC 2000XL, Fender Rhodes, and various percussion instruments. Inspiration, it comes from the music I listen to daily, it comes from the eventful snippets of my life. I sit in one room and listen to records, go to the next room and watch the SF Giants game, go to the next room, read the message board disses toward me, then go into the lab and record what I learned that day. It seems that you are concerned with people not hearing your music. What are you doing to get your music out there? Are you on the back burner? Haha man, I'm caught in that twist. I mean, honestly, I don't make my music for anyone but myself. There are a lot of lines in my shit that my closest friends get, but to the |
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average listener it's foreign. I've always made my shit that way, super personal. I mean I release it, so I kind of want it to be accepted, but at the same time I limit the distribution of my releases. I don't care if I sell 50 or 500. I mean I hope to sell 500 so I can make my money back, but after the turn over I don't care. I'm a believer of good music and I feel good music will run its race, find its audience, and settle down and be loved how it should.
What is a day in the life like for Joe Dub? Wake up... smoke... shit... Lauren... shower... beats... liquor store... eat... beats... liquor store... eat... liquor store... sleep... can't sleep?... liquor store. What inspired you to put it down on the rhyme and the beat? On December 21, 1985 my sister was murdered. On December 26, 1985, I recorded a rap song dedicated to her and from that day on I made it a point to extend her life through my words. I've never stopped and I won't stop until I am stopped! What is your favorite track you have made and why? Probably the song I made for my sister five days after she passed, it was the most personal shit I've done. It was the first shit I wrote. Hip hop is full of crazy shit. What is the craziest thing you have experienced? Well hmm, let's see... though they might not sound too crazy. Me and Subtitle smoked weed with two white broads on a muni bus in SF. Me and P Minus were left stranded in |