Interview: Dame Grease

DMX seems to be making headlines again lately after spending the past little while dealing with some pesky legal issues. He recently dropped by New York’s Power 105 this past Thursday to speak his mind about numerous topics including Rick Ross and Drake (surprise, surprise, he’s not a big fan of the two rappers). Afterwards, he made an appearance at S.O.B’s in New York performing numerous classics alongside Swizz Beatz, bringing back nostalgic memories to the sold-out crowd during an era where many hip-hop heads seem disinterested in the “new school” hip hop sound. With that said, DMX and his hulking voice seemed to bring back some much-needed energy, optimism, and excitement to an audience that’s filled with knowledgeable, hip hop-heavy natives of New York… you know, the metropolis where hip hop kind of rules over everything.

This is where Dame Grease steps in. If you still have It’s Dark and Hell is Hot on heavy rotation, then you can thank the Harlem-born producer for that classic which was also the first of five consecutive number one albums for Dog Man X. Grease worked out 13 cuts on the album while mixing and mastering everything else… in other words, nothing got by without this man’s imprint on the tracks.

To continue with the nostalgic theme we got going on here, Grease later padded his legacy by hooking up with some of the biggest emcees in the 90s – including The LOX and Ma$e – while developing the Ruff Ryder sound which instantly became a staple and trademark of his in the last decade. His relationship with Bad Boy Records was strong as well, with his highlight moment coming days after the tragic death of the Notorious B.I.G when he worked alongside Jadkiss, Sheek Louch and Styles P on producing “We’ll Always Love Big Poppa,” a tribute track to the legend which even put Diddy in tears when he first heard the track.

Fast forward to the present day, and Grease is still working on his own production label, Vacant Lot, as well as subdivisions of the brand. He has spent the past few months in the studio working with DMX on his next album, as well as continuing his own rap career with the Wave Gang mixtape launches. Throw in his work alongside Max B and the newest Bad Boys, Machine Gun Kelly and French Montana, it’s obvious Grease is setting himself up for big things this year. Although we’re not living in the past of lyrical, old-school joints anymore, we can definitely expect flashes of brilliance from the man who produced some of the realest music over the past decade.

But this time, he’s doing it Wave Gang style:

What’s going on with you and DMX right now?

We have a tour where he’s performing Thursday (February 23) at S.O.B.’s and then another one in San Diego on Saturday. Then we’re shooting a video for ["I Don't Dance"] with Machine Gun Kelly.

How big is your role on his album?

Major. I have six tracks on the album, I’m the executive producer of the album and I’ll be mixing it.

Out of all the songs you produced for the new record, what’s your favorite?

I don’t want to release the title yet, but I got one that is a Grammy award-winning song. It’s like night and day, fire and ice. It’s phenomenal. I’m not going to release the title yet… I’ll let X do that.

I want to go back to DMX’s debut album, It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot – is that the accomplishment you’re most proud of to date?

I was very hands-on with it. With the first album, I did 13 cuts on there but mixed and mastered every cut on there to keep the album consistent, and I would say it’s going to be the same [on the new record].

So would you credit yourself as one of the main guys who launched the career of DMX?

Yeah. I’m the person who made the Ruff Ryder style and when we first met, we did a lot of songs but when we worked on the album, my job was actually to bring out the best in him to match the music that’s orchestral and match his big voice. But to answer your question, yeah, I felt like I was.

And what about “We’ll Always Love Big Poppa?” Where does that rank on your list of accomplishments?

That’s a beautiful song [and] I’ll tell you why: that’s when The LOX got signed to Bad Boy and we started working together. We were all young. We had just left the Vibe party and gave B.I.G and Puff a dap before leaving to the DJ Clue party up in the hills. By the time we got to the Clue party, that’s when everybody ran back saying B.I.G got shot. At that same night, we left Los Angeles on a plane and a couple of us got emotional. We didn’t want it to be a tribute song, we just wanted to do it and put it out. We knew it was a touchy song and we didn’t want to put it out – we wanted Puffy to hear it first. We thought that Puff would have a bad reaction to it but it was actually the reverse… he actually cried. Everybody cried – his mom, Lil Kim. It was the thing they needed. We made the song and then Puff went into the studio and made “Missing You.”

What was going through your mind the night of Biggie’s death, how did you react?

You really want to know?

Yeah.

Well, I grabbed my gun at the hotel door wondering what the fuck was going on. [Laughs] I was like, “Damn! That’s crazy. It’s going down.” I’m from the ‘hood, so the first thing I wanted to do was protect myself.

Mentally, was it tough for you to produce that track for The LOX shortly after Biggie’s death?

It was probably the next day or day after [when the song was produced]. The strange thing with the track was that I could not duplicate the chords. It was a melody in the song that was channeled through me. With any song that I play, I can go on the piano and play any song that I’ve done in my whole career right now, but that song, I can’t seem to get it out. That song was meant for that situation.

You also have a lot of connections with Bad Boy Records. The LOX were still with the label back in the mid-90′s and you also worked with Ma$e. So what was your relationship like with Diddy?

We have always been cool. Actually, I have a perfect relationship with the new Bad Boy artists as everybody knows – I play a huge role in French Montana’s career. His whole “wave” sound is my whole new sound compared to the Ruff Ryder sound. I also have a track on Machine Gun Kelly’s new album, who’s also on Bad Boy and Machine Gun Kelly is with DMX on a new single, too.

And was it true that you passed on an opportunity to be an in-house guy for Ruff Ryders to open up Vacant Lot Records instead?

Actually, when I met Ruff Ryders, it was me and [Joaquin "Waah" Dean] who connected and shit before anything and he knew the whole sound. It’s like how we had the streets back at home, he came down and was like, “put your tracks with these artists that we got and I feel like we have something.” The artists that Waah had at the time was The LOX. Then, I went to Yonkers and Ma$e came with me – he got me started with Ruff Ryders. From there, I just started putting the Vacant Lot sound with the Ruff Ryder label and that’s how all the magic was made.

What plans do you have in store right now with Vacant Lot?

Right now, Vacant Lot Records is still my company. I actually subdivided the company. It’s Lot Musik, Lot Block Wave, Lot Films –we’re doing videos and working on a film right now.

I want to talk about some of the guys you’re working with in the present day, and the first is French Montana. How did you guys first link up?

We met through Max B. It was when Max B was going through a situation with Jim Jones and Max B’s older brother came in to hold him down and make sure he stayed safe. We just started clicking and actually, Max B was the one who got me rapping in these damn songs. I hit him with the beats and he’s like, “Oh shit! This beat is wavy!” That’s the thing with my production… my production works with true artists and artists that are the best – X, Max, anybody that’s phenomenal. We started hooking up and we just made the whole “wave” sound. From there, that’s when we did “Cocaine City” and with French, he was rapping and he was cool. I had the expertise with DMX, The LOX and Ma$e and I just came in with the extra ear. We started to train French up, and Max helped him get better. I hit him with good tracks and from there, we became the Cocaine Wave Gang [laughs].

And with Max B, are you still often speaking with him?

Yeah, I speak to him all the time. I speak with him and his mom all the time.

So what are you doing right now in terms of his rap career?

I produced his whole debut album, Vigilante Season, which came out last year on digital. It’s doing good. He also does songs over the phone, which I have on my last mixtape, Wave Gang 8. He did about three or four cuts over the phone on there. With his career and the legal situation, we just keep it moving.

Let us know more about the “wave” sound.

The wave sound that we made is déjà vu to what I had done in 1997. [That's] was when New York hip hop was being really centered. It was like, “this is a New York song, this is an L.A. song,” etc. With the Ruff Ryder sound and the wave sound, it’s based in New York but it’s a worldwide sound that anybody from any borough or region can get with it because it’s based on beautiful music first. It doesn’t appeal to one region. No disrespect to [DJ Premier] because that’s my big brother, but with a Primo track it’s like, “That’s a New York beat. That’s Brooklyn, that’s the streets, that’s New York.” I do the same thing, but use a lot of live instrumentation that makes the sound a little more worldwide. Gangsters from every region can get with it.

You’ve been in the industry for a long time, so how would you describe the differences in the hip hop industry from when you first started out up ’til now?

I mean, back when my career started, people wanted me to stay in that realm. I believe in evolving – I’m optimistic, not pessimistic. Like, if you plant a tree, the tree will have to grow. It’s not just going to stay a bush forever. You got to let it grow to a stem, to a bush, a tree and then food gon’ come off it. That’s what I think of music.

Are we going to see another “Sour Diesel” and more rapping from you?

Yeah. I still put the Wave Gang mixtapes out. In the past four to five months, I’ve been working on the DMX album and put a lot of attention on that. I kind of slowed up with the ‘tapes. I’ll put my album out, probably in the middle of this year, [and that] is a street political album. I’ll put that out after DMX’s new album. His album and his career grasp all my attention. It’s something we started and it’s something we going to finish.

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