JAKE ONE (January 2009) | Interview By: Jonathan Hay

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Interview was done in December 2008
 
Questions Asked By: Jonathan Hay

Jake One Gave Dubcnn A Shoutout: Listen Here

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Dubcnn Exclusive – Jake One
A Dubcnn Exclusive
By Jonathan Hay
 www.myspace.com/jonathanhay



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Dubcnn: What is going in the world of Jake One?

I am still excited about my album, White Van Music that was just released a few months back [October 2008], as it is my first full project that I was able to produce. I reached out and got a lot of different artists that I have been working with, or that I have wanted to work with. I got Bishop Lamont, Young Buck, Little Brother, Freeway and so many more on the album. I’d really like to see 2009 have more projects for me like White Van Music, where it’s me producing the whole album and overseeing the entire thing to completion.


Dubcnn: It has been a critically acclaimed album too…

There has been a really good response to it and it has definitely been cool as far as that goes… It is an honor and I have appreciated all the positive feedback.


Dubcnn: How long were you working on White Van Music?

I started it in 2006, but it wasn’t like I worked on it everyday or anything like that. I would get songs done here and there and just build it. A few months before I turned the album in, I really went in and changed the arrangements around, and I did a lot of the extra stuff. Some of the songs I had, I’d been sitting on for a little bit, but I knew what I wanted to do with them and I was just waiting until the end to make the final decisions on what I was going to do. There are definitely songs on this album that weren’t really finished songs until I went in and made them songs - - they were more like just verses. I really like how the album came out and I will always continue to freelance, but White Van Music has really shown people the depth of what I can do and putting something together from start to finish.


Dubcnn: What is different about this album, from the other Producer based albums?

Obviously, in hip-hop, the role-model for a producer doing a whole album is the Dr. Dre series, but this is different because I don’t rap so… I was really looking at the molds of albums like Pete Rock’s Soul Survivor – and Producer albums more along those lines. This album isn’t the standard protocol for hip-hop albums.


Dubcnn: So why did you decide to call the album, White Van Music?

That title came from the first song that I produced for anybody -- and that was for a friend from high-school. The song was called, In My White Van and when it was time to pick a name for my publishing company, I ran with it and I’ve been going so long with it, I thought it was only right to bring it back to where it began. That was even my approach on making some of the music too. That is the symbolism behind White Van Music.


Dubcnn: It’s a great name… and it really jumped out because it is so different…

It’s funny, I get a lot of people who think it is white man music *aughing* - - but it’s not, it’s very clear on the album, white van music – it even has a picture of a van *laughing*.


Dubcnn: It’s funny to me because I have a good friend back home in Florida and he is a Funeral Director, so he goes and picks up all these bodies in his white vans… and my first thought was, I wonder if Jake One is thinking about bodying all these other artists and producers in the game… *Laughing*

Every different place I go, there always seems to be a different meaning to what the name means and that is really cool to me.


Dubcnn: So where are you from?

Born and raised in Seattle.


Dubcnn: What is the Seattle hip-hop scene like now?

The Seattle Scene is definitely growing right now…. It’s been going on for a long time now and there are a few groups who are really making noise. Right now, local rap artists have more pride in the city then what they’ve had in the past and there are more people coming out to local shows in general. It’s at the point where someone really has to break through nationally, I mean really break through… and that is much easier said than done.


Dubcnn: Everybody is always referring to your G-Unit affiliation, but it’s not every clear. So for the record, are you officially a G-Unit Producer?

People have really misconstrued that, as there aren’t many people who are actually signed to just G-Unit as producers. I’ve done a ton of work with them, and I’ve had seven or eight songs come out with them on their albums, and I’ve had countless other songs come out on mixtapes and things like that, but it’s not like I get a paycheck from G-Unit every month. They’ve definitely been a great platform for me to my music getting out there and heard by everyone across the world. I’ll always be grateful for that and I’m sure I’ll keep working with those guys in the future. I work with some guys who have beef with G-Unit and they think I should too, but that has nothing to do with me. People always try to give me music to get them signed to G-Unit, but it’s not like that…


Dubcnn: Thanks for that clarification…

The way that the business works, it’s really only about what you are doing at that moment, it doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the past or what your name is. I just want artists to keep identifying with my music and G-Unit has really identified with it.


Dubcnn: A lot of people are really feeling your work with Bishop Lamont.

His demo actually had a lot of my beats on it and I didn’t even know him. He got my beats through somebody, so really I was already on the ground floor with him. We ended up meeting and it was a different situation because I wasn’t fighting to get his attention, he already knew who I was... Bishop is a great artist.


Dubcnn: Do you worry about your tracks already being out there, especially when you are shopping tracks to high-profile artists…

I don’t worry about that. . I just try to keep good relationships and focus on staying consistent. A lot of times, I’m really surprised by the beats that the artists choose and then also what they pass on. My manager, Sha [Money] has done a great job with submitting my music and placing my work. To me, it is really nobody’s beat until they pay for it.


Dubcnn: Have you submitted any tracks to Dre’s Detox project?

Yes, I am definitely in the mix on that stuff… That is one of those records that I would not know if I am on it, or who is even on it until it comes out. I mean, until it comes out who really knows? I would not say with confidence that I will be on it, but I have worked with him before and I imagine that we will work together again too. I hope that it’s one of those things that’ll happen this year.


Dubcnn: So you have worked with Dr. Dre in the studio?

I haven’t worked with him in the studio, but it’s funny because actually the first major label beats I sold were to them for an artist named Brooklyn that they signed in like, 2003. I sold them three beats for that project. I get beats to them that they like, but until Detox comes out, it’s hard to say what will really happen. I’d also like to get on Eminem’s new album, but he is mostly handling the production himself, or Dre.


Dubcnn: Speaking of Eminem, you’ve done some extensive work with his artist Ca$his?

I’ve done a ton of work with Ca$his and I hope they put that out so we can see those records drop. I’d love to see that record out there, Riki [Rikanatti] is my boy and the project is really sounding good. It’s all about timing and especially with the way the industry is now, it’s all just different as things are a lot harder than they were five years ago. Five years ago with a situation and music like Ca$his has, he would have already been out. It’s just a very different game now…


Dubcnn: What is the recording gear and instrumentation that you currently use?

My main thing is the Ensoniq ASR-10, which actually isn’t made any more. That’s pretty much what I’ve been working on and what I will always work on. I work with a lot of live musicians as well, so I have live music in the beats, but even with that, I still sequence everything in the ASR-10 and program everything on it. I have like three or four of them.


Dubcnn: Where do you mainly record?

I work out of two studios; I have a home-studio and a studio downtown [Seattle] that I share with Vitamin D. I really like working at home more than anything and I really just go to other studios to get really get peoples opinion on stuff, or if I’m working with vocals or things like that.


Dubcnn: I’ll let you get back to work, thanks so much for your time.

Thank you man, I actually go to Dubcnn a lot and I love the old-school interviews you all do. Let’s talk again real soon.