Category: Nature Sounds

Interview: SadhuGold

Heads over a certain age will have noticed right away that the latest album from producer SadhuGold, The Gold Room, is themed around The Shining. We caught up with him to talk about the inspiration behind that, his work with Ohbliv on his other new album, The Ra(w) Material, and more.

You’ve described your music as “the soundtrack to the subconscious of the space-time continuum”. Break that down for us. 

If reality had a working mind, as we know it, then my music would be the music that gets stuck in its head, that it listens to calm itself down, or that it tells its friends about.

The Gold Room is themed around one of the most iconic movies of all time, The Shining. Can you elaborate on the concept and why the film inspired you? 

The film inspired me because it’s kind of isolated in what feels like a snow globe in a forgotten pocket of reality. The gold room specifically was such an abstraction from just simple isolation into a self-lead descent of madness. As dark as that may seem, it’s extremely artistic to me, a feeling I’ve always wanted to replicate. Look at The Gold Room as a sonic prequel, the first party where something went wrong.

You also just dropped The Ra(W) Materials with Ohbliv, as Czardust. Considering you are both producers, how was the album put together, as in who did what? 

The Album was put together mostly by Ohbliv making chops/loops and sending them to me. I would then work with them for a few days to kind of rework them into what was heard on the final product. Kind of akin to alchemy in the sense of working with raw materials and putting them through the process of making gold.

The Ra(W) Materials has you emceeing on several tracks. What made you choose this album to step out from behind the board a lot more?

All of that music is older than it seems. I was rapping well before I took up producing full time, so I was more or less getting out stuff that the world should have been heard.

Will we get to hear more of you on the mic on future projects? 

Only if I get to make it into a cartoon, like the Gorillaz.

You’ve worked with a varied group of emcees, from straight-up street rappers like Westside Gunn, to more abstract artists like Mach-Hommy, and stream-of-consciousness lyricists like Your Old Droog. Do you tend to make different kinds of beats for specific artists in mind, or just provide them with beats to choose from?

I definitely try to hit the mark as far as style matching goes. I actually have a bad habit of making beats to be rapped on instead of just making beats, but that may be because I’m an MC at heart, who knows.

I’ve heard DJ Muggs talk about how sometimes an artist will pick a beat he’d had never envisioned them on, and he’s always pleasantly surprised. Is that something you find?

Not often, most rappers are predictable. But when that does happen, it hits way differently, really resonates on a deeper level. Estee Nack did that to me. Sent son a batch, and the first beat he picked was the last one I expected (“EL BLABLAZO” on our joint album SURFINGONGOLD.WAV). And not only that, but I had never imagined that anyone would have thought to use that style on a beat like that. But now I can’t imagine any other style working any better, or at all for that matter.

Who’d be on your ultimate bucket list of people to produce for?

MF DOOM, Yasiin, Ghostface, Cappadonna, Roc Marci, Black Thought, Homeboy Sandman, and fucking Alchemist man, that nigga can RAP, ok?

What’s next in the pipeline from you?

Deez nuts. Lol just kidding. Me and Nature Sounds are going to be releasing my favorite beat tape I ever made, its called Golden Joe. And in the mean time I may be dropping small collabs here and there, I need to stop surprise releasing lol.

Lastly, returning to The Shining, will you be checking the new Doctor Sleep movie?

Yea I’m gonna for sure check it out. I was afraid of it being weird and bad, but I actually intentionally watch bad movies, I find them highly entertaining lol. So if it sucks, I get a laugh, if it’s fire I’ll pay to see it again.

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The Gold Room is out now on Nature Sounds. Get it here. The Ra(W) Materials is also out now – purchase from Fat Beats. Follow SadhuGold on Twitter and Instagram. Interview by Grown Up Rap Editor Ben Pedroche.

Interview: Blu on his new album with Oh No

GingerSlim speaks to indy rap icon Blu about his excellent new album with Oh No, A Long Red Hot Los Angeles Summer Night.

You’ve teamed up with Oh No for this latest project. How did the collaboration come about initially?

When I first got signed to Sound In Color records back in 2005, I initially reached out to Oh No after seeing him battle Exile at the Rootdown, but I eventually decided to have Exile produce my first album which would become Below The Heavens. So me and Oh No have been contemplating putting out music together for a long time and this we felt was a perfect time to hit the people with a full length release from the both of us.

Is there much of a different dynamic working with someone of his calibre?

Oh No is fast bro, he has a very extensive arsenal of heat and he stays on top of his craft. So working with him is very easy for me because I tend to work fast as well.

As with a lot of your music, it’s a very LA-centric album. Is there any sort of concept beyond the obvious LA theme?

No, not really, it’s more so just writing from reality or experience. So growing up in L.A. and living daily in L.A. are obvious reasons why we create music from an L.A. point of view. “L.A. IS RED HOT”.

When we spoke last year you told me you were sitting on a crazy amount of albums and working on more new material. I was wondering if you always feel an internal desire to be creative? Do you always feel the need to be writing?

Not lately, now that I am sitting on so much material. I can kick back for once and not feel any pressures to write or create. I can for once just enjoy the music I have created.

Once again you’ve got a great selection of guests on the album, with a good mix of lesser known and more established artists. Do the names come to you as you’re writing the songs, or do you have an idea of who you want involved beforehand?

I know so many great artists, it’s really just overtime I meet an open artist who is ready and willing to create, we link up and actually create. As oppose to acting like you are willing to create and never really do. But when it comes to albums, I do try to carefully select my features, and that is a blessing.

You’ve already worked with some of the best names in hip-hop, including projects with both Oh No and Madlib. What’s next for you? Is there anyone else left on your wishlist?

Premier, and Pete Rock. Prince Paul. Fred Wreck. RZA. All kinds of people I would love to work with. On top of that list would have been J Dilla without a doubt.

Now religion isn’t something you ever really talk about in detail in your writing, but I always get the sense of some sort of spirituality in your mindset. Is there anything in particular you subscribe to in that respect?

My grandfather, who is very religious, always told me to write positive thoughts and not to project any negativity, and I try to do that in my music.

Do you spend much time listening to all the new hip-hop surfacing at the moment? If so do you have any particular favorites out there?

No, I listen to older 80s and 90s hip-hop. I tend to think it carries a lot more substance and it shares an experience long silenced and finally voiced by a people finally given a chance to express themselves, when before there weren’t any opportunities for so many people, all over the world.

I remember in an old interview you said you were getting more into reading and studying. Is that something that you’re still focused on and is there any area of study that you’re specifically drawn to?

I love history. I have actually just finished reading the Bible. The most intriguing book I have read in my life so far !

What’s next for Blu?

Releasing all these albums I am sitting on and hopefully getting into film somehow.

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A Long Red Hot Los Angeles Summer Night is out now on Nature Sounds. Get it here. Follow Blu on Twitter and Instagram.

Gingerslim has been a hip-hop fan since 1994 and has written for various blogs and websites since around 2006. During that time he has contributed to style43, Think Zebra, Headsknow and Front Magazine. His main interests in rap are UK hip-hop and the underground movement in America, with a focus on Rhymesayers Entertainment and the once mighty Def Jux label. He lives in Bristol and has a beard. All other details are sketchy at best. Follow him here. 

Prince Paul – 'People, Places, and Things' feat. Chubb Rock, Wordsworth, and DOOM (remix)

PRINCE PAUL REDUX
The master Prince Paul has a new remix project coming named The Redux. It’s set to feature this reworked classic from the revered Politics of The Business album, where if you recall, it originally went by the much longer name of Chubb Rock Please Pay Paul His $2200 You Owe Him (People, Places, and Things), which is a pain in the ass to type.