Salaam Remi on working with Amy Whinehouse

A frequent producer for Nas, Salaam Remi recounts his first time meeting the late Amy Whinehouse and working with her in the studio. While we’re on it, looks like Salaam Remi is producing for Melanie Fiona’s upcoming album

RZA Speaks On Liquid Swords 2, Beats for Nas, & More

Though not in the music scene so much as movie business now, RZA still makes time to stay connected to the music. He sat down with MTV to give the latest updates on music and movies.

Me and GZA talked about doing Liquid Swords part 2, a sequel. We talked about it for a while,” RZA said about the follow-up to GZA’s 1995 classic Liquid Swords. “We actually started a little bit and then we pulled back based on scheduling, based on my movie.

How dope would a Liquid Swords 2 be?

Most of RZAs recent career has been much more movie focused with roles in Due Date, American Gangster, Kill Bill, Funny People and now most recently RZA has been cast in the G.I. Joe Sequel. That’s quite a bit considering he has also been directing The Man With The Iron Fist.

Though heave in the movie industry, the man who defined the Wu-Tang sound has not abandoned the music.

The movie has taken me out of the loop of music. But what I have been doing, I’ve been going to studios and inviting people to my studio. So I went to the studio with Luda and I emptied beats from my beat machine for him. Whether he use it or not is up to him, but I just been emptying out my beat machines,” RZA said before revealing more of his collaborative hopefuls. “I emptied out some beats on Busta, I emptied out some beats on Nas, emptied out some beats for [Ghostface Killah] and for Wu-Tang Clan — just sent them 20 beats a few weeks ago.

RZA also has never heard before Old Dirty Bastard tracks that, unfortunately, we may not hear anytime soon:

That’s a very tricky situation, because ODB has passed and he has an estate,” he said. “When you got an estate, it’s so much paperwork and red tape and legal stuff you gotta deal with. I tried to put out a song last year called ‘Dirt’s the Boogie,’ and they threatened me with an injunction and I wrote the lyrics to the song. Made the beat, wrote the lyrics and Dirty just performed it.”

Check out the full article and video at MTV.

Cole

DJ Quik Interview with FADER TV

Dj Quik touching on variety of topics from his new album, new artists, how he started rhyming, and the type of music he is producing:

I’m trying to stay fun and still virtuoso style with the music, but at the same time, ya know, stay in the mainstream. I’m not trying to do alternative hip hop, alternative gangsta rap it just doesn’t work.

if you haven’t already, check out his latest album The Book of David – DJ Quik

Cole

Pete Rock Tells The Story Behind His Classic Records

Known for his use of horns, Pete Rock had the world of hip hop open since the instant classic “T.R.O.Y.”  As Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth dropped a few solid albums, Pete Rock still produced for other artists and continued to make a name for himself after the duo’s fall out producing for some of hip hops elites as well as dropping several solo albums.

Pete Rock talks about many of his hits with Complex Magazine.  It’s crazy hearing how Pete Rock made the beat for “Joy” by   Kanye featuring Jay-Z back in ’96. And of course to hear how “T.R.O.Y” came about is chilling.

Check out the full article at Complex.

Cole

Rhudeisland Records

Needlz Interview

Grammy Award Winning producer Needlz may not be the most popular producer but has a steady track record working with the likes of G-Unit, Drake, Lupe, Kweli, Jeezy, and Jadakiss just to name a few.  He sits down with Illuminati 2G to talks about his upcoming projects and a few of his hits.

You know you have some dope beats when Wayne writes songs to not just one track, but a whole beat CD:

Wayne got a hold of one of my beat cds and wrote a song to about every one of them and put them out on the net. It ended up working out for the best because out of those batch of records, was the one that ended up being I’m Going In.

Check out the full interview over at Illuminati 2G

Check out Needlz on twitter

Cole