Just Blaze Says He Probably Won’t Work With Dipset Again
The Diplomats [Dipset] have reconciled and reunited, any chance you’ll be working with them again?
I did something with Juelz a couple of years back. I have no problems with Juelz [business wise or personality wise] we are still cool. As far as me working with them as a whole? Probably not. Good times though, we made some good records. Sometimes…. you make your mark with somebody, don’t try to relive it, just let it be that moment in history that it was and keep it moving.
For more of the interview hit the jump below.
Honey Magazine: How is the new decade treating you thus far?
Just Blaze: Great! I am an integral part of one of the highest and fastest selling albums of the year so far. [Editor’s note: Eminem’s ‘Recovery’ had just gone double platinum and returned to the number one spot]. It’s a blessing for me to be a part of that. I am also in the process of setting up a new studio, which has been a very trying process.
Your old studio [Baseline] closed earlier this year. Explain the legacy of Baseline for those who are not familiar?
The reason we’re building a new studio is because we closed Baseline. For those who don’t know Baseline was a home to Roc-A-Fella records [in it’s earlier years] and myself since 1999. I‘d owned it for the past 7 years so, I personally shut it down. It was a good run but it had outlived its purpose. Most major recording studios in Manhattan have merged, closed or are in the process of closing. It wasn’t financially motivated. The good thing about our situation is that I was able to bring in enough work where we weren’t in any financial trouble but at the same time you always have to think ahead when it comes to a business. I had to ask myself “in five years will I still be doing the same thing I’m doing now?”. I merged with another studio by the name of Stadium Red here in Harlem. At the same time that I was trying to plan out my next move I found out that the owner here was looking to partner up with a few people and expand what he had going on so it just made perfect sense. I’m building a couple of new rooms for myself here. It should be done by the time you post this and I will be posting information about that online for people who can’t be here to check it out when it launches. [Editor’s note: the studio expansion is complete]
As a fellow peer of Kanye [having worked alongside him as young men with Roc-A-Fella] did you always foresee his global stardom?
I saw his potential when he first played me a rough demo of “Hey Mama” in LA. It was that and “All Falls Down.” I was like ‘Yo, he maybe onto something.’ But at the same time those records started to come about when he started to be around Jay-Z more. [He] started working with more high caliber artists, a lot of that rubbed off on him. As producers, we have an advantage because we’re the ones who make the songs. So even when his lyrics weren’t as strong as they are now, he always made good songs. If you knew him and his drive and how badly he wanted it you definitely saw it coming. If you didn’t, you should have.
You started out very young in the game. What lessons did you have to learn the hard way?
I started out young but I was always very keen to learn about the business side of things and how it worked. My partner in this, Neysa, we came up in this as kids. We always sat down with a Lawyer or an Accountant. We would always pay attention to what was happening. A large part of that was because of paranoia. Because you hear all these stories about people getting screwed over so we were extra cautious and anal about everything. Luckily though [on a business side of things] I have no horror stories. What I probably learned more so over the years is financial responsibility. You come into the game young and you come from not having a lot of money which most of us do. You go and you dumb out: cars, sneakers, jewelry, clothes and just be able to buy out the mall or the bar or whatever. I never got too caught up in that in terms of big purchases but I used to definitely have the habit of being like “oh, that’s only a $1000, $2000, $3000 or whatever. But then you do go over the course of the month doing this everyday and you think you’re doing good because you’re not out spending $100,000 a pop but then you turn around and you realize you just spent $40,000 that month with nothing major to show for it. So, I definitely learned a lot about financial responsibility the hard way but I had good people in my corner like my partner Neysa and my financial advisor who made sure money was saved and invested wisely into the proper channels.
Full Article via Honey