Category: Def Jux

25 Years of Fat Beats: Behind the Scenes

In the final part of our series celebrating 25 years of Fat Beats, we take a look behind the scenes by talking with some of the key figures in the business about how the company has evolved as a chain of physical stores, online, and as a distribution arm that has proven to be a vital outlet for independent hip-hop. Read below, and if you missed them, read our other Fat Beats anniversary articles here: DJ Eclipse interview, Ill Bill, Q-Unique and J57 interview.

Joseph “DJ Jab” Abajian: Fat Beats Owner/Founder

Firstly, congratulations on 25 years! Could you ever have imagined a quarter of a century ago that what you created would endure for so long and have such an impact on hip-hop?

Thank you. When I first opened I didn’t know what to expect but after the first six months I felt I had something special and was planning on major expansions. It all started in 1996 and we were on our way to blow up until I had a life changing experience in 2001 and had a change of course in life. I know we had and continue to have a big impact in the music industry and the Hip-Hop culture. I attest today’s independent rap music scene to a lot of work Fat Beats Distribution has done. We’ve paved the way for artist to do different types of deals for their art/product and showed a whole industry of independent artist how to be independent.

It felt like Fat Beats was always destined to be more than just a record shop. Was the New York store becoming a cultural hub for Hip-Hop something you envisioned from the start and therefore nurtured, or did it happen more organically?

The store becoming a Hip-Hop hub happened organically and was planned but not on purpose. My initial plan was to open a store for deejay’s, graph writers, B-boys and emcees. The logo and motto, “The Last Stop for Hip Hop” was specifically designed for the Hip-Hop nation. But, the first location in the East village attracted everyone that would go to the village which included every other alternative type of lifestyle to your everyday average 9 to 5 worker. In 1994 the commercial world started hearing about Hip-Hop a whole lot more than prior years but there was still a lot of fear of the culture from non-participants. Fat Beats was a place where these people can come and experience Hip-Hop without actually being part of the culture or doing any of the elements.

Last year saw Fat Beats return to physical retail with the reopening of a store in L.A. It’s an incredible achievement considering the fate of most record shops. What was behind the decision to take a dive back into having an actual store?

Initially we were planning on opening a small office in L.A., because we felt we were losing out on meetings and deals because a lot of people didn’t want to take the drive to Canoga Park where our office is due to LA traffic. One of my former employees who ran the website wanted to come back and open a Fat Beats boutique. We thought this would work with the idea of an LA office. Since Fat Beats Dot Com had it’s own space we figured it would make sense to put that operation in the new store location because I wasn’t convinced that there would be enough foot traffic to cover the expenses of a retail operation. Plus most of the employees do not live in the valley and have to deal with the excess traffic in LA. This is another location they can work out off. So far it has paid off. Our online business saw an increase, we got some foot traffic and have been able to throw events again and we’ve had dozen’s of meeting there.

If you had to pick your absolute best moment from the last 25 years, what would that be?

I’d have to say the closing of the initial retails stores in NY & LA. We had week long celebrations and so many artist and fans came through during that week. It was like seeing every artist we impacted come back to pay homage and it was cool hearing what they had to say about Fat Beats and how they felt from artist and fans. It took a huge weight off my shoulder and allowed me to concentrate on what was actually making money in the company. The distribution center and website took off after the stores closed and we made big moves moving out west.

Bert Haine: E-Commerce & Retail Manager

Fat Beats moving from a bricks and mortar operation to a mostly online one a few years back was inevitable considering how much the industry has changed since the first store opened 25 years ago. Tell me how the company went about building an online presence.


When our stores closed, we doubled down on our online efforts as we knew that would be the central way we could still directly interact with our customers. From there we took advantage of our already well-known brand and artist connections and utilized our position as a vinyl distributor to develop direct exclusives and other limited-edition releases and grow our following and online business.


We’ve talked in our other recent Fat Beats interviews about how the physical stores had an aesthetic quality that went beyond the music. How do you capture a sense of that in an online store? Obviously, you want a website that’s professional and works well, but at the same time you still need something authentically hip-hop, right?

To a certain extent we still try to keep things authentically Hip-Hop, obviously with respect to many of the releases and in-stores we focus on, but overall we keep our goals the same as any other business that cares about its customers; we constantly aim to improve user experience, keep our customers educated to all the new music available and strive to offer the best possible human customer service, which I think makes us stand out from other big box chains and web-stores like Amazon etc.

We sell a wide variety of records in our store and our website now that, ten years ago, would be pretty unexpected from a business like Fat Beats, but trends have changed and streaming has broadened musical tastes dramatically and our aim now is simply to offer great music on physical format, namely vinyl, with of course a deep understanding, love and focus on Hip-Hop.

The “vinyl resurgence” has been driven a lot by re-issue packages of classic records and limited edition runs of new music, which sell well as collector’s items. Presumably these are the types of products that bring in the most revenue these days? 


Definitely, catalog releases and new exclusive limited edition runs of records drive much of the revenue but, whenever there is a hotly anticipated record, an LP like Freddie Gibbs & Madlib’s Bandana, or the first instrumental solo work by Daringer (Griselda Records’ go-to producer) we’ll do really well as has always been the case. On the whole there has just been a broadening of the base of people that consistently buy and listen to records over the last ten years, which has helped us gain back some of the ground we lost after DJs stopped really needing to buy records due to all of the controller/interface innovations.


What records are some of Fat Beats absolute top-sellers online since the e-commerce site opened?

I don’t have data over the lifetime of the business to know what have been some of our best sellers since we opened for business online way back in 2001, but I know when records like Madvillainy and Donuts dropped we were selling thousands of copies from the online store. But as of the last decade a few that have really sold above and beyond expectations have been; Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly, Rev Shines & Conway’s recent exclusive 12”, JPEGMAFIA’s Veteran, and Blu & Exile’s classic, Below The Heavens.

Joe Dent: General Manager at Fat Beats Distribution

Outside of the physical stores and online retail, Fat Beats’ distribution arm has been hugely influential to the hip-hop scene over the last couple of decades. Tell me about how the service has evolved over the years.

Oddly enough, distribution is the largest division of our business and may be the one that is the least known to the average Fat Beats customer. Over the last decade we’ve seen major changes in the industry at large (the vinyl “resurgence” you often hear about) but as a company that has catered to the vinyl consumer since day one, we’ve strived to remain a go-to distribution option as more and more competitors have realized the viability of the format. In that sense, our evolution is ongoing.

By moving our headquarters from New York to Los Angeles five years ago, we’ve positioned ourselves in a great location not only by working with some of our favorite artists on a more face to face basis, but also within the vinyl manufacturing community in having several major pressing plants within 30 miles of our facility (right next door, in the case of Rainbo Records). Above all else, our goal is to be an extremely artist-friendly business in an industry that too often isn’t.

Of the many records Fat Beats has distributed, which are some of the ones you are especially proud of?

For me personally, the projects I recall most vividly are due to the people that were involved and the packaging or timeline challenges that may have been overcome in bringing them to life. That includes not only the artists or labels behind the releases themselves, but the pressing plants and printers as well.

Blu & Exile’s Give Me My Flowers While I Can Still Smell Them, the box set reissue of Black Moon’s Enta Da Stage, and most recently Masta Ace & Marco Polo’s A Breukelen Story are some of my favorites.


You offer pretty much a full service to get an artist’s music created, marketed and available. That said, has the relative ease at which anyone can now get their records/tapes/cds manufactured and then self-distributed via their own site, or Bandcamp, made distribution less of a viable business?


Generally speaking, it hasn’t. But the distribution model is not a one size fits all approach and there are plenty of artists who are successfully selling exclusive releases in their own webstores and are satisfied with that. As a company born out of brick and mortar retail, we still wholeheartedly believe in the value of the independent record store on a worldwide basis in addition to various exclusive projects. And because in many cases we are absorbing the roles of a traditional record label, manager, designer, and PR team in additional to simply packing and shipping, we feel our value will always be there if we are willing to adapt to an artist’s specific needs.


Speaking of Bandcamp, a couple of months ago they started offering manufacture and fulfillment to artists. Is this something you see Fat Beats moving into?



Pressing, wholesale distribution and D2C fulfillment are among the core services we currently offer to our partners. But because we are a true independent distributor, we are focused on offering personalized attention to our growing artist and label roster rather than an open-door crowd funded service. But we’ll always have our ear to the ground as times change.

***

Follow Fat Beats on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Interview by Grown Up Rap Editor Ben Pedroche.

25 Years of Fat Beats: DJ Eclipse Interview

The iconic Fat Beats is currently celebrating 25 years in the hip-hop industry. As a retail outlet, label and distributor, the company has supported some of the finest independent music over the last quarter of a century, helping many of rap music’s biggest artists along the way. In the first of our series of features marking this epic milestone we speak to DJ Eclipse, who has worked for and been associated with Fat Beats since the beginning, ahead of this weekend’s Fat Beats 25 Anniversary show in Los Angeles.

It seems like everyone came through the doors of Fat Beats at some point in their career, from ‘90s veterans and indy rap icons all the way to Eminem and Kanye West. Give us some of your personal highlights from the in-store appearances and freestyle sessions you were there for?

One thing you have to understand about our scene is that maaaaaaaad people were nice! Obviously some better than others, but on a whole there were so many talented people that came through Fat Beats or just the indie movement that was happening in NYC in the ‘90s. Nine times out of ten who “made it” was less based on the individual’s talent and more based on the break they caught. If you would have asked me if I thought Kanye would have become as big as he is now based on his Fat Beats appearance I would have said my money is on Al Tariq or Black Attack (who Ye came with). There were too many people that were dope during that era.

Some of the best sessions at the store were when fellow emcees came to hang out with people that worked there (like ILL BILL or Q-Unique). At any given time a cipher might start up with Bill, Q, El-P, Last Emperor, A.L. Skills, Breeze Brewin, etc. A lot of the Rawkus’ artists had great in-stores like Shabaam, Kweli and L-Fudge. Other dope ones were KRS-One (who basically gave an on-the-spot lecture to the crowd for the whole time he was there), RZA, Psycho Realm, Mix Master Mike & Non Phixion, Immortal Technique…..but the biggest in-stores we ever had were Gang Starr (twice) and Eminem. Lines for them were down the block and around the corner.

Being part of a place that gave so many talented artists a platform, is there a particular emcee who blew up thanks to Fat Beats that you are most proud of?

“Blew Up” is a hard word to use because although most probably didn’t reach Eminem’s status many have made careers out of music. And I don’t think Fat Beats can take any credit solely for anyone’s success, but Fat Beats definitely played a part in helping artists like El-P, A-Trak, Black Milk, Dave One (Chromeo) and ILL BILL just to name a few. But more importantly than even helping one person was the field that we created for everyone to play on. During that time everyone was still itching to get a major label deal. We started stepping to artists and telling them stop waiting to get signed. Let’s press up your record and distribute it. The profit splits for artists automatically became a whole lot better. We weren’t trying to own the music. That stayed with the artist. We turned all this energy into a movement and with the help of the artists and people like Stretch & Bobbito who were playing the music it took off.

On the flipside of that, are their any emcees or producers stocked at Fat Beats that you were surprised didn’t blow up?

Definitely felt like Last Emperor and Natural Elements should have gone further. They were and ARE so dope, and at that time they had a lot of people checking for them. Emp got signed to Aftermath and we were all rooting for him. But once Dre picked up Eminem I think Em became Dre’s focus and other signees were left on the shelf. NE went to Tommy Boy who were trying their hand at picking up indie artists, but just like Emp, NE’s album got shelved for whatever reason. But like I said, it’s not always the most talented that move forward. Sometimes the universe has it’s own plans.

Music aside, Fat Beats definitely appealed to rap heads on an aesthetic level. The shop was basically everything you picture an independent hip-hop record store should look like: racks of 12”s, walls covered with signed record sleeves, posters and flyers, music pounding over the system, and staff who really know their shit. Were you guys conscious from early on that people would see it as way more than just a record shop, and as such was it something you tried hard to capture?

Well the vision Joe had from the start was to build a home for Hip-Hop heads to come shop. As far as how it all came together I think that was more organic and just part of our own personal makeup. We were all DJs or MCs or B-Boys. We all collected stickers, posters, vinyl, etc so when you walked into a Fat Beats store you were literally seeing our stash on the walls (in the beginning). And as the store started getting more of that stuff more went up on the walls and ceiling. The first Fat Beats location was basically like a DJs bedroom set up. Except there was vinyl for sale on the walls. And the floors. And anywhere else we needed to stock it to fit.

One Fat Beats story I’ve always loved is the ones about Percee P, there on the sidewalk selling tapes outside of the store. It was dope how that situation ended up giving his career a second wind. I’m curious about how you guys felt about his consistent presence right outside the store?

I love Percee, but never liked him or anyone else selling music in front of the store. I’d always tell all of them go down the block to the corner or even just move to the sidewalk by the curb. Standing directly in front of our door turned so many people away from coming into Fat Beats towards the end. It wasn’t just a digital revolution that killed Fat Beats it was the numerous “artists” that basically harassed people coming in and out of the store to get them to buy something from them. I had people tell me that they would cross the street to walk past Fat Beats if headed in that direction just to not be bothered by them.

It feels as though Fat Beats caught a moment in time that we’ll probably never see again. Downloading and streaming happened and record shops died. There’s a resurgence for sure, but pop-up shops and a lot of these new stores seem too clinical and gentrified, and the even the records are often just overpriced re-issues. Do you think we’ll ever see something like the original Fat Beats again?

Nah, that era is gone. The brand lives on to deliver the goods to the people via fatbeats.com and Fat Beats Distribution, but the era of physically going out to a store and hanging out and networking is a lost pastime. You have to remember we were in our 20s then. This was pre-internet. You HAD to do all this stuff. You had to go to a store to buy music. You had to go to an event to see/hear the music you were into. You had to go see your friends to catch up with them. Our generation is too old now to have the free time (or money) to do the things we did then and the younger generation is coming up with access to everything at their fingertips so they don’t have the need or want for that same experience we lived.

Lastly, tell us your top five 12”s that Fat Beats have distributed over the last 25 years.

Big L – “Ebonics”
Missin’ Linx – “M.I.A.”
Mos Def – “Universal Magnetic”
D.I.T.C. – “Day One”
Bumpy Knuckles – “A Part Of My Life”

***

The Los Angeles Fat Beats 25th Anniversary show takes place this Saturday (August 10) at The Regent Theater, featuring Dilated Peoples, Elzhi, Tha Alkaholiks, Blu & Exile, J. Rocc and many more. Get tickets and find out more here. Follow DJ Eclipse and Fat Beats on Twitter here and here, and Instagram here and here. Interview by Grown Up Rap Editor Ben Pedroche.

Exclusive Interview: Rob Sonic

Indy hip-hop mainstay Rob Sonic recently dropped a new album named Defriender, released on his own label, Skypimps Music. We spoke to him about the new project, his studio process, the classic Telicatessen, his time on Def Jux and more. Words by Matt Horowitz.

Defriender is your second full-length release on Skypimps Music, correct? After 20+ years in the business, what finally prompted you to start your own label imprint?

Necessity really. No body expressed much interest in getting behind my solo stuff after Def Jux and I wanted to keep releasing my music so I kind of had to release it myself.

Now, I’m sure you get this type of question all the time… but once and for all, what’s the current status of your groups Hail Mary Mallib with Aesop Rock & DJ Big Wiz, as well as Sonic Sum with Preservation, Fred Ones & Eric M.O.? 

Currently I am not doing any group projects, HMM was more of a fun side project and Sonic Sum was like 15 years ago or something like that.

I’ve read that an ARo Odyssey, ARP Little Brother, Mini-moon, Yamaha SK-20, Roland Juno-106, Fender Rhodes Piano Bass, Korg MS-2000, Akai MPC 2000 XL, and Technics SL-12000s were all used to help create your 2004 solo debut, Telicatessen. Would you mind briefly walking us through your production/beat-making process, at the time?


It has always been sort of more of a collage with me, I tend to vary the way I approach each song individually. It would be hard to summarize an overall process or theory as much as it being whatever works for whatever notes I have written down and what fits rapping wise, that is usually most important to how I make beats. It’s one of the pluses of making your own beats.

How would you personally say your overall sound, style delivery, production process, etc. has changed and progressed between Telicatessen and Defriender? 

I might have just answered this to an extent, but I’ve sort of just become more aware about what works for me best. I don’t consider myself a natural or even particularly talented so understanding what I was capable of was a huge part of my progression over the years.

What would you say would be the greatest lessons or most meaningful advice you received from El-P, Aesop Rock, Hangar 18, etc. during your time spent at Def Jux? 

We didn’t really give each other “advice” per se as much as look out for each other as friends. I think El (as the head of the label) told me to stop being a knuckle head and short sighted musically once, that was good advice.

You have previously mentioned within our emailed conversations that Defriender was close to not being released at all. Would you mind briefly getting into some of the specific reasons and circumstances why?

Because I’m older and have had some real bad experiences in the business, and I literally do not give a fuck about being the biggest turd in the cesspool anymore. The craft of rap music is what is and has always been the most important thing to me, making it public was… for a long time but not so much anymore. My focus has sort of done a 360. And that is not to be taken out of context or as to say I don’t want to share it with anyone. It’s just I don’t focus on that 100% anymore.

How exactly did Mr. Dibbs get involved to provide his “All The Drugs” (Ohio Dirt Mix)? Do you have any particular insight into his beat-making/remixing process(es)?


Dibbs is doing some amazing shit with Circuit Bending these days and I love it, so it was only right to ask him for the heat since he did the cuts for the song already.

How would you say, the Dave Correia-designed album cover and artwork Design for Defriender directly ties to the themes and matters discussed within?


I don’t really think it does, but that wasn’t the goal. I wanted him (and every other artist I’ve ever worked with) to interpret a series of basic ideas I gave them. I’ve always reached out to artists I’ve already been a fan of for my cover art, from Dan Lang, to Remi “Rough”, to Dave Correia because of those specific people’s existing artistic approach and style, I want them to do them basically.

Do you have any immediate plans to tour behind Defriender? Now that the album has been effectively unleashed into the terribly unsuspecting world, what you have planned next?

Indeed I am touring for it, ha, “unsuspecting” world,  it certainly does seem that way doesn’t it? It’s as if people never knew who I was at all. Pretty crazy but I’ll take it. As far as plans? I mean your going to get some very different stuff from me from now on, my approach to the business, people, my music, and the world has changed.

I’m always curious as to how featured artists and associates get involved in artist’s projects. How did you decide to recruit Mr. Dibbs for cuts and scratches throughout Defriender and Milk Gold with vocal assists on “All The Drugs (Do Nothing)” & “JJ SAD?”

I always wanted to work with Dibbs, he’s been a favorite of mine for years and we share a certain appreciation of raw sounding music. I’m glad he was down. Milk has a super unique, sultry voice, I needed that for both of those and luckily she agreed.

Aside from your solo discography and series of note-worthy releases with Sonic Sum & Hail Mary Mallon, what might you deem as a few of your most important/widely “slept-on” featured appearances? 

I don’t really do many features, I’m not sure why that is, nobody really hits me up for that (unless they already know me). Hell, judging by the response to Defriender, maybe my entire catalog is the “slept-on” feature.
***
Defriender is out now and you can get it here. Follow Rob Sonic on Twitter.
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.

Premiere: Words Hurt – ‘King of Summer’

WORDS HURT SUMMER KINGWords Hurt are about to follow up last year’s excellent Fuck That Pretty Boy Shit album with a new project, Soul Music for the Soulless, out later this year. Today we premiere a taste of what’s to come, the feel-good single King of Summer. If you didn’t already know, Words Hurt is producer Lang Vo, and emcee Alaska, of Atoms Family and Hanger 18 (Def Jux). Listen below, and read our interview with Alaska from last year here.