Category: Cypress Hill

Interview: Chris Schwartz

As the co-founder of Ruffhouse Records, Chris Schwartz has sold millions of units working with many of the biggest hip-hop artists of the 90s, including Lauryn Hill, Cypress Hill and countless more. His recently-released memoir, Ruffhouse: From the Streets of Philly to the Top of the 90s Hip Hop Charts, lifts the lid on the inner workings of the music business, alongside Chris’ personal stories of working with everyone from Schoolly D and Steady B to Nas and Wyclef Jean. We caught up with him to find out more. 

You’ve launched a lot of artists from your hometown of Philly: Schoolly D, giving a young Questlove help early in his career, and later Beanie Sigel. Has it always been important to you to make sure you gave local artists a platform?

I did an interview with Ebro on Hot 97 in NYC and he pointed out something very interesting. He said Philly “incubates” its artists. I thought about that for a minute and the truth is “historically”, in Philly, when it comes to R&B,  doo-wop, jazz, soul and hip-hop, there is definitely something in the fabric, a kind of incubation that brings the best of an artist into the public eye. The only artists from Philly between 1986 and 2004 where Schoolly D, Maja Figgas. Every other artist out of the 40 plus were from other cities and this is not because we went looking for them, it was more so because of the success of Schoolly everybody was coming to us. In the new 2019 Ruffnation, the hip-hop scene in Philly has evolved to a point to where we do not need to look very far, and on top of that I absolutely do feel a loyalty to Philly and the city has been good to us on many levels.

I’d like to talk more about Schoolly D. He’s always seemed like a mysterious enigma to me, and I loved the bit in the book about how your first meeting had you knocking on the door of his mother’s house, Schoolly answering in a towel and leaving you out in the cold until he’d finished his shower! I get the sense that story nicely sums up what he was like to work with?

No, actually he was cool as shit! The thing with him was when I met him, I was still fairly new to the game and he was kind of quite and reserved. But the truth is, he is a very animated guy  funny and fun to be around. After I started Ruffhouse, he was off touring, doing movie soundtracks for King of New York and Bad Lieutenant, etc. and other projects like the  Aqua Teen Hunger Force. We rarely saw each other for a very long time (4-5 years) and our wives had met and became friends and they would come over to go swimming with his son. They ended up buying the house next door to me, our daughters were born the same year, grew up together and graduated high school together so it has been really fabulous. Now I am doing Schoolly’s new album “That N#gg#’s Crazy!” and it was produced in analog using all 1980’s production techniques. I am very proud of it and I will say anybody who liked the first record two records (Schoolly D and Saturday Night! – The Album) will love this record because it is the BEST ALBUM he has made since!

Something I noticed looking at the incredible number of artists you worked with is how many of them later suffered tragedy and heartache: Chris Kelly dying young from a drug overdose, the drama before and surrounding Tim Dog’s death, Beanie Sigel going to prison just after This Time came out, the fate of Steady B and Cool C. It feels like a lot of these artists suffered from how shitty the music business is, and you talk a lot in the book about how cut-throat and unscrupulous it is. It must have been sad on a personal level to see what became of these people? 

It absolutely was sad on so many levels. I can tell you this: signing to a record label, the costs above and beyond the recording advance (which has nothing to do with a labels’ commitment) during the era of physical product was immense and there was sometimes where you just had to cut bait but it is a human endeavor and in human affairs, you must constantly deal with awkward, sad, and sometimes tragic narratives. But we try our best.

The Steady B and Cool C story is a particularly tragic one. What are your thoughts on what happened?

I think they did something incredibly stupid and, what can I say, the “pull of the bling” was the reason. I think they thought they were doing something one time and probably thought they could do it, who knows. It was not a very smart thing to do and I was actually shocked.

You’ve also worked with another artist who is something of a mystery in the same vein as Schoolly D; Kool Keith. I know the release of Black Elvis/Lost In Space wasn’t exactly a smooth process, but in general what was it like working with someone like Keith?

Kool Keith, as you prob saw me tweeting recently, is the unsung creative genius innovator of hip-hop. I had tried to do the Dr Octogan record but I could not really enlist Sony’s support and I was convinced it would be the same audience as the kids who bought Cypress Hill. The Black Elvis/Lost In Space album was basically me wanting to be in business with Keith. Keith had the kid who managed him who, for lack of a better way for me to describe, just rubbed everybody the wrong way. He was a younger kid and he just had this very abrasive attitude and I am not sure why he felt he needed to go this route in his dealings with us at Ruffhouse because we were really laid back but it did cause some issues and the other issue as I recall was centered around label copy, but I could be wrong. I am also going to venture a guess in saying we as a label probably must have overlooked something as well.

Perhaps the most mysterious and reclusive artist of all those you’ve worked with is Lauren Hill. The media has built an image of her as cold, aloof and unreliable. But few seem to know her as deeply as you. As a close friend, what’s the real Lauren Hill like? 

Media is TOTALLY WRONG – SHE IS NOT RACIST. She is the most wonderful, incredibly compassionate woman I have ever met and I will say this: all of that BS was because of something a Howard Stern fan had said. Howard repeated back the comment and for some reason, the words were attributed to her.

I’m hesitant to talk too much about Nas, purely because his story has been told so many times before. Does he feel a little like the one that got away though? It feels like you deserved to play a bigger part in his career than you eventually did.

No. We sold the contract to Columbia. He was brought to them first. They passed but said if you want to shop him to Ruffhouse we would support the signing. We signed him, I gave 5 songs to John Shecter and and Dave Mays from the Source, and told Columbia that Nas was going to blow up and they were going to really support him. So Columbia President Don Ienner was in trouble for allowing us to sign and he was in hot water with Tommy Mottola, so we as a favor to Don Ienner allowed Columbia to buy us out of contract. They thought originally the record would fail and if it did they could just absorb the loss through the pipeline revenues they owed us and if it was successful, then they would get half the revenues. But, since it was going to blow up, then they decide they made a mistake.

Someone I do want to talk about is DJ Muggs. You and he go way back to the early years of Cypress Hill, but Muggs is currently having one of the most creative periods of his career, dropping a lot of excellent independent albums with people like Roc Marciano plus several acclaimed underground emcees (Mach-Hommy, Crimeapple, Eto). Have you checked much of this recent output?

Yes. Roc Marciano, and also let’s not forget that Cypress Hill’s Black Monday is one of the greatest Cypress Hill records ever. I play it in my car NON stop!

I know there are plans to re-establish Ruffhouse. Considering how different the landscape of the music industry is compared to the 90s, have you had to adjust much or even re-learn what it’s like to run a label in the digital and streaming era?

Ruffnation is the label even though I own the name. It is a completely different landscape and I am dong an unscripted episodic TV  show, “Occupational – Follow” which is a way I am looking to establish a market for these artist.

Lastly, as someone who has experienced the industry from many different angles, what are your thoughts on the Universal fire, the cover-up and the way artists have responded?

I am not so sure it was a cover-up, but rather something they chose not to advertise [laughs].

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Ruffhouse: From the Streets of Philly to the Top of the 90s Hip Hop Charts is out now. Purchase here. Follow Chris Schwartz  on Twitter. Interview by Grown Up Rap Editor Ben Pedroche.

Playlist: Best New Music – August 2019

Another month, another stellar set of new releases, proving once again that 2019 has been pretty damn amazing for decent hip-hop. August’s playlist includes the return of Little Brother, new product from DJ Muggs & Mach-Hommy, and dope new tracks from Blu, Kev Brown, Inspectah Deck, Vic Spencer, Pete Rock & Skyzoo, Chali 2na, Rapsody and more.

Listen to the playlist below, and then go support the artists with a purchase from wherever you buy your music. Check us on Spotify for more curated playlists.

Interview: DJ Rhettmatic

One of the most respected DJs and producers in hip-hop, Rhettmatic has been a fixture of the L.A. scene for decades through his solo work, as part of the Visionaries collective and as a member of the Beat Junkies. He recently talked to Matt Horowitz about projects new and old, production technique, touring with Dilla and more.

Following your 2011 collaborative mixtape/remix album/live EP, Bobo meets Rhettmatic, what’s next for your group, Cypress Junkies with Eric Bobo?

It’s been a hot minute since Bobo and myself have had a chance to work on new material.  The last joint production we did together was for Rakaa’s (of Dilated Peoples) solo album, Crown Of Thorns, called “Rosetta Stone Groove” featuring Noelle Scaggs of Fitz & The Tantrums. We also toured Europe a few years ago but Bobo has been really busy with Cypress Hill since their new album dropped and has been touring mad crazy. But we’ve been talking still about doing some new music and getting back on the road, doing some spot dates in the near future.

How did yourself and Bobo initially meet and decide to form Cypress Junkies?

I met Bobo along with B-Real in the late 90’s when I was one of the DJ’s spinning on their Soul Assassins Radio Show at a local radio station in LA called 92.3 The Beat. Babu & Melo-D were also the other Dj’s; we would do their mixes live in between guests and comedy skits. This is around the time of the Cypress Hill IV album days. If you don’t know the history of Bobo, he is the son of the legendary Latin percussionist, Willie Bobo. He also used to play for the Beastie Boys (he even had a song named after him, “Bobo On the Corner” on Ill Communication before he became the 4th official member of Cypress Hill), as well as doing production for Psycho Realm. Anyways, he was working on a solo album called “Meeting Of The Minds” and he always wanted to do a DJ/percussionist song. We’d become friends already because of my stint on the Soul Assassins Radio Show, but I was honored he asked me. The song was called “Bobo Meets Rhettmatic”.  When we performed the song at his release party, we realized that we might have something here. Then we were asked to perform for a benefit show in Los Angeles, and ended up being the headliner. We restructured our show to be more of a live element with more emphasis on the synergy between a DJ and a percussionist, and as we performed, we were really surprised by the response we got. Hence, “Bobo Meets Rhettmatic” was born; which eventually changed to Cypress Junkies (Cypress Hill/Beat Junkies affiliation). It was a big honor with B-Real giving  us the official blessing.

I’ve heard rumblings a new Visionaries album is currently in the early stages of creation, correct? What can you potentially tell us about your upcoming return?

Yes, the Visionaries are working on a new album. It’s been 13 years since our last album “We Are The Ones”, which dropped in 2006. A lot of our core fans have been asking us to make a new album but everyone got busy with their own individuals lives and music careers. Both Dannu & Key-Kool have families, LMNO has a couple of solo projects out along with having a new baby, as well as 2Mex & Zen having their own projects out. Plus 2Mex had his own health situation that he needed to take care of; he had one of his leg amputated because of diabetes a few years ago. Now he’s still moving forward with full force and living life. Me personally, I got really pretty busy with the Beat Junkies. The Visionaries have done shows here and there but we never really worked on a new group album just because whether we realized it or not, we needed a break as a group (or at least for me personally), even though we’re family.

As for the new album, we are tentatively calling it “Vintage”, as a return to our roots of just making music for fun and not overthinking things. The difference between this particular album and our other albums; I will be doing all of the production, where it used to be Key-Kool and myself being the chief producers and having our regular family of producers such as J.Rocc and Babu, to name a few. I like to think in the last 5-10 years that I’ve grown and improved as a producer compared to my past production. The guys always wanted to make a new album, but for me personally, I wasn’t really ready just because I was burnt out and wanted to expand more as a DJ, an artist, a producer, as well as a person. So to be transparent, the guys were really waiting on me to work on new material. Besides me growing as a human being, a DJ and a producer, a lot of family, friends, and even our heroes were passing away as well as dealing with our own situations separately. We were all getting older. In 2017/2018 is when we started working on new material and just learned how to record as a group again with no expectations, and have fun making music together. We’re almost finished….hopefully it will drop by the fall/winter of 2019, God willing. If not, at least some new music this year to set up the new album for the top of 2020.

In adittion to Cypress Junkies, Visionaries & Beat Junkies, you’re also, part of The Joint Chiefs with Frank Nitt (Frank n Dank.) What’s the current status of this project?

Frank is my brother! I met Frank n Dank at the Jaylib “McNasty Filth” video shoot. We’ve became real good friends during the time since I DJ’ed for Dilla in Europe for his last tour ever. It was really fun when we made the Joint Chiefs album; basically Frank just crashed at my crib for a whole week just to work on music. Each day, I would work on beats in one room while he was playing Nintendo in the other room, then when I finished with a beat, I would show it to him, he’d start writing then we would record. After the session, we would get “enhanced” while listening to the finished product, then go out to the clubs just to take a break, then we would repeat again the next day. We basically would record two songs a day. We’ve talked about doing a follow up but we both are busy with our own schedules. The last joint we did together is a song called “Classic” that I produced for his solo album Frankie Rothstein on Delicious Vinyl in 2015. Besides his own solo projects as well as the Yancey Boys and Frank n Dank albums, he’s currently in charge of the California chapter of the James Dewitt Yancey Foundation as well as still being an artist on Delicious Vinyl. We’ll definitely going to work on new music soon in the near future.

Loops, Chops, Beats & Vibes (VOL. 2) was recently released in honor of your 50th birthday. What’s the significance of said release to you?

I’ve been releasing music for free on my Birthday (May 10th), whether an album or a mix, for the last 10 years as a way of saying thank you to everyone that has been following my DJ/producer career, and just as a way to promote my catalog and progress as an artist/DJ/producer. With Loops, Chops, Beats, & Vibes Vol. 2, I wanted to a little something different when I dropped this on my birthday this year. I wanted to actually treat it like an official album versus giving something away for free, so I actually sold the album instead and made an official music video for the project. I made a video to the joint called “West Coast Vibrations (An Ode To Souls)”, which is a flip of the original sample that was used on Souls Of Mischief’s 93 Til Infinity, hence the tribute to Souls Of Mischief. I even wanted to shoot the video in the same vibe or essence of 93 Til Infinity, except highlighting Los Angeles and some of the cities that make up Los Angeles County. The video was shot and edited by Dj Underkut of Open Format LA, and he did a great job! I was really surprised and honored by the response for both the album and the video – it really meant the world to me that people went out and supported this album. That was definitely a great birthday gift to me for turning 50, and it tells me that I’m still doing something right. So everyone that purchased this album, I truly thank you from the bottom of my heart!

How would you say your process, approach, sound, style, etc. for Loops, Chops, Beats, & Vibes Vol. 2 differs from that of 2018’s Loops, Chops, Beats, & Vibes Vol. 1?

The approach to Volume 2 in terms of how the production was done is a combination of how I made the beats on Volume 1, by doing a cut & paste style strictly using Pro Tools only and making beats on the Propellerhead Reason program like I did on my Rhett Got Beats album. When I made Volume 1, I originally wanted to challenge myself and go back to making beats on my MPC2000 but it wasn’t working; so when that wasn’t working, I tried to turn on my SP1200 machine, but that wasn’t working either. I didn’t want to make beats on Reason because that’s what I’m currently using right now, but I still wanted to challenge myself for the fuck of it. I decided to try make beats on Pro Tools by doing a lot of cut, paste, and layering. I went digging for records for a good month and just basically pick any record from the stash I bought, record it on Pro Tools and just basically start chopping away. It was more tedious but I had a lot of fun doing it.  With Volume 2, I wanted to continue the tradition, but I also have been making beats on Reason that I really liked and I didn’t want to put them to the side; plus I was also on a time constraint. So I decided to put some of my Reason beats that I liked a lot (plus the Nipsey Hussle tribute track that I made last to finish up the album), made a few tracks with the same Pro Tools procedure, and arranged them together so I can beat my personal deadline. I’m very proud of the end product, if I do say so myself! [laughs].

I know you were J Dilla’s touring DJ for a string of shows through Europe with Frank n Dank and Phat Kat; happen to have any particularly memorable stories from your time spent on the road with Dilla?

When Dilla was still alive and living in LA, I always told him if he ever needs scratches from me, I got him. And we actually talked about doing some work together. He always had love for the Junkies, especially for J.Rocc.  J.Rocc is the 3rd member of Jaylib so it makes sense that he was Dilla and Madlib’s DJ. Dilla had a real small circle of people that he would hang out  with and trust in LA; I was very lucky to be considered to be part of that circle in his last years. Originally Dilla asked J to go out with him on tour to Europe, but he couldn’t make it because he was scheduled to go out on the road already with Madlib. When I got the call from Dilla that he wanted me to go out on the road with him, Frank n Dank and Phat Kat, I said let’s go. I hit up J to thank him for recommending me for the job, but J said he didn’t even say anything to him – that was all Dilla’s idea. I was shocked and honored. Around this time as well, I knew he was sick, but I didn’t know to what extent until we met at the airport. To tell you the truth, the whole tour was memorable to me because Dilla personally asked me to be his tour DJ, plus I was able to bond with him, Mama Yancey aka Ma Dukes (Dilla’s Mother), Frank N Dank, Phat Kat, and Dave New York (Dilla brought him along as well). We all didn’t know this was going to be Dilla’s last tour ever, but I think he already knew and he wanted to do it for the fans regardless of his health. I also think that this was his way of saying this is our chance to work together….I will never forget this experience for the rest of my life. Thank you, Dilla!

What’s the current status of your long-time crew, The World Famous Beat Junkies or any of its affiliated entities?

The Beat Junkies are still going strong. We celebrated our 20 Year Anniversary in 2012 by doing shows in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco as well as in Europe and Japan. We were really surprised how many fans, young and old were still excited to see us perform and how much people are still checking for us even though we never stopped.  Because of that, we decided to get serious in terms of building our own business by relaunching our merch such as shirts and hats, and launch the Beat Junkies Digital Record Pool (www.beatjunkies.com). From there, we were able to launch our very own radio station, Beat Junkie Radio in conjunction with Dash Radio, a free app that was designed and founded by Dj Skee (www.dashradio.com/beatjunkieradio). I actually have my own radio show on the station called “Soundcheck” that airs live every 2nd & 4th Tuesday. I’ve been lucky to have guests such as Diamond D, Agallah The Don, Blu & Exile, MED, Defari, as well as Dirty Diggs, Supreme Cerebral, & many more. When we celebrated our 25th Anniversary in 2017, we were figuring out what would be our next business venture. From there we started our own DJ school called the Beat Junkie Institute Of Sound in the City of Glendale, Ca. (www.beatjunkiesound.com). We’ve been open for 2 years now and the school has been slowly growing. If you asked us 5-10 years ago that we would have our own DJ school & become instructors, we would’ve looked at you crazy. In January 2018, we officially launched Beatjunkies.tv (www.beatjunkies.tv), our online DJ school, which is an extension of the Beat Junkie Institute Of Sound. Everything that we teach at our school, we also teach online; it’s for those who want to learn how to DJ from us, but either cannot make it to our school or live very far, or for those who want to learn at their own pace. We’re still working on other projects, either as a crew or as individuals, but by the grace of God, hopefully we can keep on going till the wheels fall off.

I’m personally a big fan of your 2016 release, Circa 2004: Blaccmatic with Aloe Blacc! Although, I’ve always been curious: how exactly did this collaboration come to be?

Thank you very much, that means a lot. As the title suggested, the Blaccmatic album was made in 2004. A lot of fans of Aloe Blacc, the singer, don’t know that he’s a talented MC as well, and is in a group called Emanon with producer extraordinaire Exile (Blu, Fashawn, King Choosey). Around this time, Aloe was branching out working on his own material while Exile was in the beginning stages of working with Blu. For myself, nobody knew me really as a producer except for my work with the Visionaries, and I wanted to expand and work with different artists. Aloe and myself talked about doing some work together and then finally he said “just give me a beat CD”. Then one day while I was working at Fat Beats LA, he stopped by and gave me a CD with “Aloe Blacc & Rhettmatic” written on top of it. When I got home to listen to it, I was blown away because he practically made a whole album of all the beats I gave him. One of the songs “Find A Way”, had someone singing, me not knowing that it was Aloe singing himself. When I asked him who was singing, he told me it was him….I was so blown away. Then right there, this was a star in the making. That particular song was supposed to be featured on his Stones Throw debut album Shine Through but didn’t make it, but it did make it on the B-Side of the “I’m Beautiful” 12″ single. On a side note: I also let my dear friend and producer extraordinaire Dj Khalil (Self Scientific, Aftermath) hear “Find A Way” and he immediately asked me who the artist was. He also bugged out when he found out who it was….”You mean, Aloe as in Aloe Blacc from Emanon?? I need to work with him!”. I was able to connect them both and then a couple of years later, they collaborated on a song you might’ve heard or seen on a Beats By Dre commercial called “I’m The Man”.

We never got to officially put the project out because eventually Aloe got signed to Stones Throw and I started working on the Visionaries’ We Are The Ones album. Over the years, we have talked about putting it out but then eventually, Aloe became the talented and respected singer that he is now. When I decided that I wanted to put it out, I asked Aloe permission first to see if he was down with the idea of releasing the project, he said yes, as long it was a free download. He still wanted people to hear our project. When I released the project in 2016, we had such a positive reaction. Fans of Aloe Blacc the MC were happy to hear an unreleased project with him spitting bars; fans of Aloe Blacc the soul singer, didn’t even know the history of Aloe as an emcee and were blown away. Really glad that people got to listen to this project and the positive feedback was the icing on the cake.

I know you’ve worked with everyone from Guilty Simpson to Ras Kass… but do you have any currently vaulted/unreleased collaborations you’re looking forward to the hip-hop-loving world hearing one day?

Who knows, that’s a good question. I do have some joints in the vault that I did with J-Ro of Tha Liks and Defari, K-Solo, an unreleased Key-Kool & Rhettmatic song & some other artists that I worked with in the early 2000’s that never came out officially. If my small core of fans really want to hear some old/unreleased material of mine, then I might put it out….or maybe redo it over. But I do know I have more work to do….

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Buy Rhettmatic’s music here. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. Read our oral history of Key Kool & Rhettmatic’s Kozmonautz album from earlier this year.

Matt Horowitz has been a hip-hop fan ever since he first heard Wu-Tang Clan’s Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) back in the mid-90’s, which positively or negatively changed his life ever since, depending on who you ask. He single-handedly runs online music publication The Witzard, and has been fortunate enough to interview Eothen ‘Egon’ Alapatt, Guilty Simpson, Ice-T and Mr. X, Dan Ubick, Career Crooks’ Zilla Rocca & Small Professor, Cut Chemist, and J-Zone, amongst countless others. He enjoys writing about and listening to hip-hop, Punk/Hardcore, and Indie Rock on vinyl with his lovely wife, while drinking craft beer, red wine, or iced coffee. To paraphrase both Darko The Super and the Beastie Boys: “Already Dead fans, they want more of this… I’m a Witzard like my man Matt Horowitz!”. Follow Matt here.