Who's involved in the Blakroc project?
It's primarily The Black Keys and I'm a co-producer and engineer. Dan and Pat from The Black Keys are producers, with Damon Dash as the other producer.
Whose concept was it?
You know, the concept didn't really exist. Damon contacted The Black Keys, from what I understand. Damon told The Black Keys that he liked how they operated one of the first days we were all in Studio G. It was based on the fact that a lot of modern hip-hop has gotten to a point where it's more about Twitter and, "Hey, look at me" than it is about content. It's heavy on the PR and light on the substance. That seems to be a pretty common opinion. Damon was talking about how The Black Keys are all content and no Facebook or Twitter — just a real band playing real stuff. The fact that we started recording things without a concept actually became an asset.
Each song features a different rapper?
Yeah. Basically myself, Dan and Pat were the producers. Damon had suggestions for people that might want to be part of the project. We also had other suggestions, like Q-Tip. I think that's why a lot of the guys on this record are the people that rock guys think are cool in the rap scene. That's why it's Jim Jones, RZA, Q-Tip, Raekwon, NOE and M.O.P.'s Billy Danze. Nicole Wray sings a bunch of the hooks, and she has one whole song with Dan. She had a really big hit called "Make It Hot" on Missy Elliott's label, but that was '98 or '99.
So what's the process? Are you guys getting tracks done and then bringing in MCs?
Yeah, for the most part. RZA had a lot more to do with the instrumental process, playing guitar and keyboards. He then wound up rapping on the tracks anyway. We did his thing over at LoHo [Recording Studio], which is owned by the Blue Man Group. We wound up doing it there because Tony had a session at Studio G. RZA came in and set the tone for the whole track. None of the stuff was to a click — it had to be interpreted as a hip- hop song in the end. A lot of the loops are of me just grabbing the closest instrument. I wound up with a lot of sessions that are 84.663 BPM or whatever, because I'm just tapping tempo along with it until one lines up again with Pat's next kick drum. And sometimes it would just be cool to impose a straight 84 on that .663. Those were subjective decisions that were made on the fly, because I needed to get those drums and basics happening — just Dan playing guitar and Pat playing drums. I needed to get those things looped out so we could get RZA's keyboard, or the next thing, going. It would take shape in front of us. We went through all the same stages that anybody would when they're recording, but it's like we started with setting up drum mics and by the end of the day we'd have a song. The next part of the process was dependent on who was coming in next at any given time. We'd have to line up what Q-Tip needed to hear because he was coming in at 2 pm, which we knew would be 4 pm. So, we'd be working on it at 2:15 and then he'd show up! Nothing was set in stone. We'd redo arrangements, based on if they wanted 16 bars or whether the chorus became the hook. Things were left incredibly abstract. What would happen was very freestyle, at all times.
Was there a lot of assembly?
Lots of assembly but, to be clear, a lot of assembly meaning listening to what did and did not work, given what we threw at the speakers. It was more of a subtractive process. A lot of times we'd have the arrangement done because they'd want to lean up into the verse. They'd want to tailor their flow to the space between the choruses. We'd have to start with live instruments and people not on a click and wind up with something that sounded like a track by 3 o'clock.
So, you'd set the flow and then go for it?
