I make beats myself and am a fan of Havoc. I’m a real student of the game when it comes to producing. Havoc never seemed like the type to be sampling sounds outside of a record. Never seemed like his style and I never heard of him using any other real life sounds for percussion. Also, I’m just never saw this nikka being in the projects with a field recorder recording sounds at that time, or hooking a mic up to some hardware and sampling a stove hissing. I always thought that story didn’t add up.
And also, look what I found. Out his own mouth. I might be wrong sometimes, but I ain’t crazy. That shyt just never sounded right to me.
Can you speak on creating the hi-hat on the track from heating up a burner on a project stove. Were there any other unique tricks or tools you used?
The truth of the matter is that the hi-hat that I used on the actual track of
“Shook Ones”sounds similar to a project stove. So, people made a correlation thinking I used the stove for the actual track because in the video, it’s the first thing that comes on along with the record. And they hear the hear the stove. So, people said, “Oh shyt, he used that for it!” Nah, it’s two different sounds, but they sound the same. It’s just a coincidence, but I let people sometimes think what they wanna think and let the track take on its own mystique (laughs).
Havoc talks ‘The Infamous’ album, the real story behind “Shook Ones Pt. II,” and its 25th anniversary