MusicConsulting
All Star
It pretty much answers all your questions. Holly shyt, Paul is a fukking master to be able to sew that all up. (Sorry if it is TLDR…that's how this discussion was meant to be heard)
It goes through ALL THE TRACKS, so if you have questions this shyt is crazy. ANd for Paul to have this kind of recall, The psychology of Paul to tell RZA that Poetic is better than him, then go to Poetic and do the reverse, that's how classics are made. Paul, you diabolical mf.
Credit:
Interview conducted by Pattch82 (pattch82@gmail.com)
Interview Date: July 18th 2013
Linked at:
http://www.wutang-corp.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123585
PATTCH82: Wassup Paul, how are you…?
PRINCE PAUL: Yeah I’m good, just getting my day started. How you doing…?
P82: Yeah I’m good. I wanted to focus the interview on the making of the first Gravediggaz record if that’s cool with you…? It’s a personal classic of mine and I got a lot of questions! Haha…
PAUL: OK yeah, no problem.
P82: We kinda touched on this the last time we spoke… you mentioned that you gathered RZA, Poetic and Frukwan together at your house to discuss the possibility of forming a group. What was that meeting like with the four of you all together for the first time…?
PAUL: I think it was really just guys trying to get to know each other because they knew of each other but they didn’t know each other. And at the same time they didn’t really know what each others skill level was. So it was a meeting to more or less get them to understand why I’d picked each one of them and what I thought they possessed that I thought would be cool collectively as a group. So it was a lot of playing music and guys giving each other respect for the work they had done. I think once they realised that I didn’t pick any slouches, you know each of them had something to offer, then it just made it a little more relaxed and like ok let’s come up with some ideas and ok, ok you are nice… I see why Paul called you here. It was cool after that and then we came up with the first song, The House That Hatred Built, and that was the first thing that we did just all sitting down together after coming up with the concept of what the group was… the Gravediggaz.
P82: Was the track recorded during that first meeting too…?
PAUL: Yeah if I remember correctly. In the midst of bringing them all together and us sitting and talking and we were like ok the name of the group is Gravediggaz. I thought ok I think I have a beat for that. I had so much music and a lot of the music I was making back then was really dark. I think I was going through some type of weird depression or something so it kinda worked out that the name of the group was Gravediggaz and I had a whole bunch of music that was dark and it was just a track that fit the vibe at the time. The guys came up with stuff and we recorded it. Once everybody heard how they sounded together on one track that made them even more excited to want to work together.
P82: The demo tape that you recorded, was that done around the same time…?
PAUL: Yeah the demo tape followed right after. Once we had the first initial meeting it was just a matter of getting everybody’s schedule together and figuring out when we all can meet up next. At the first meeting I played music and they liked it, so I gave them some songs, 2 Cups Of Bloodwas one of the beats which I thought was just a throwaway track but I remember RZA was like YOOOOOO that’s crazy let’s use that! I’m thinking he’s crazy, you wanna use that?! It’s not even done! So I gave them the beats, put them all on cassette. They took it home, listened to it, and the cool thing is they talked amongst each other without me having to be there, because introducing them is one thing but then for Poetic to reach out and discuss ideas with the others like on this song I’m thinking about doing this or let’s do that… So by the time that they did come back to my house to record we had a good grasp of what needed to be done.
P82: You had to shop the demo for quite a while before you finally found a label that was interested…
PAUL: Yeah nobody wanted to mess with us you know. One reason why I put that group together was I felt I was being disrespected in the music industry in the terms of just probably record execs. It’s funny at one point you’re in the limelight and people are like he’s the greatest thing ever and then a year later it’s like awww he’s wack, De La Soul have fallen off, because back thenDe La Soul Is Dead was considered a failure. Now it’s like wow it’s a great record but back then it was like woah they fell off. And then dealing with Russell and them, we had the Dew Doo Man label that we were talking about and then didn’t happen and it was just horrible. Going through all that and then shopping the demo and I’m thinking it’s the greatest thing ever, I’m putting three guys together who are having hard times so they’re feeling what I’m feeling so I’m thinking this is a combined energy that we’re putting on this demo and we’re doing everything with passion and people are going to love it. And then they go ohhh Gravediggaz… it’s a gimmick… I don’t know… its kinda wack. I remember I had a friend she worked at Jive and she brought it there and one of the guys, I’m not gonna mention his name… I do remember his name because it kinda bothered me… but she brought it into the A&R meeting and he was like ohh man these guys are old, they’re played out, nobody wants to hear them again. And this is pre-Wu-Tang so I guess that shows the power of having Wu-Tang behind the situation too. And it really bothered me and it literally sat for a year, I went to all the labels, anybody that I knew, that I had connects with… Tommy Boy, Def Jam, Jive, every label we could think of and they turned it down. It kinda hurt man, something I worked really hard at, I mean HARD.
P82: I heard that you had a meeting with Eazy-E too about possibly putting the record out on Ruthless…?
PAUL: Oh yeah you know it’s funny out of all of the meetings, initially he was one person that was interested in putting out the project. I flew out to California because I had a connect out there and I knew Eazy from before because we had toured with N.W.A. on a few dates when I was with Stetsasonic. He’s a real nice guy, it’s funny I’m thinking N.W.A. is all street and gangsta, but he was a real nice dude man. I remember going to L.A., going to Ruthless Records and I remember he had the demo in his hand and he’s like yo Gravediggaz… I really like this, I wanna sign y’all. I’m like REALLY?? Wow! One, I’m a big N.W.A. fan to begin with, people don’t realise how huge of a fan I was so this was kinda going full circle for me. So I’m like wow he get’s it, after all this rejection, Eazy gets it. So I’m like yeah let’s do this deal, and I remember Jerry Heller was there at the time making an offer. First of all I gotta thank Eazy, god rest his soul, for giving me a copy of the N.W.A. VHS tape that I wanted so bad and it wasn’t in stores at the time hahaha, so I had to get that! So then I talked to Jerry Heller, he was ok but was very disinterested you know, he doesn’t care about the music, he’s just the business dude. But that contract, I don’t remember the details but I do remember it was probably one of the worst things I’ve ever seen in my life… it was almost like, it was better off not putting out the record at all hahaha. I’m not saying it was this bad, but it was like yo you wanna put out a record? Pay me and we’ll put out the record haha. It made sense why a lot of the people at the time had beef with Jerry Heller because it was that bad. It was like… what? Are you kidding me? It was horrible. So I still had a little faith and I was like yo I’m gonna wait out for a better situation.
P82: How much time had passed between recording the demo and the actual album…?
PAUL: Over a year, because it took us a year to get the deal. It was almost a year to the day when John Baker from Gee Street called and said hey I like this demo and I wanna sign you guys. And the deal was actually half way decent. So we started the demo in ’91 and the actual album came out in ’94 so there you go haha. Right after we signed the deal it probably took us about six months to record it.
P82: On to the album itself… it opens with a short intro Just When You Thought It Was Overand then goes straight into Constant Elevation, an absolute killer opening track!
PAUL: Oh yeah, my whole thing when putting an album together, and I still feel this way, is I like having an introduction to what the album is about. This is when people used to listen to albums; I don’t think people really listen to entire albums as much any more, they kinda skip each track. I tried to set up the mood and I wanted to let people know what they were getting in to before the whole album started. And then Constant Elevation, even before we recorded the album I knew I wanted to make that the opener, even before the vocals got on I already had an idea what the intro music should sound like.
P82: How did you manage to get them to spit in those crazy styles, especially Poetic and RZA…? Were you pushing them or were they experimenting themselves…?
It goes through ALL THE TRACKS, so if you have questions this shyt is crazy. ANd for Paul to have this kind of recall, The psychology of Paul to tell RZA that Poetic is better than him, then go to Poetic and do the reverse, that's how classics are made. Paul, you diabolical mf.
Credit:
Interview conducted by Pattch82 (pattch82@gmail.com)
Interview Date: July 18th 2013
Linked at:
http://www.wutang-corp.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123585
PATTCH82: Wassup Paul, how are you…?
PRINCE PAUL: Yeah I’m good, just getting my day started. How you doing…?
P82: Yeah I’m good. I wanted to focus the interview on the making of the first Gravediggaz record if that’s cool with you…? It’s a personal classic of mine and I got a lot of questions! Haha…
PAUL: OK yeah, no problem.
P82: We kinda touched on this the last time we spoke… you mentioned that you gathered RZA, Poetic and Frukwan together at your house to discuss the possibility of forming a group. What was that meeting like with the four of you all together for the first time…?
PAUL: I think it was really just guys trying to get to know each other because they knew of each other but they didn’t know each other. And at the same time they didn’t really know what each others skill level was. So it was a meeting to more or less get them to understand why I’d picked each one of them and what I thought they possessed that I thought would be cool collectively as a group. So it was a lot of playing music and guys giving each other respect for the work they had done. I think once they realised that I didn’t pick any slouches, you know each of them had something to offer, then it just made it a little more relaxed and like ok let’s come up with some ideas and ok, ok you are nice… I see why Paul called you here. It was cool after that and then we came up with the first song, The House That Hatred Built, and that was the first thing that we did just all sitting down together after coming up with the concept of what the group was… the Gravediggaz.
P82: Was the track recorded during that first meeting too…?
PAUL: Yeah if I remember correctly. In the midst of bringing them all together and us sitting and talking and we were like ok the name of the group is Gravediggaz. I thought ok I think I have a beat for that. I had so much music and a lot of the music I was making back then was really dark. I think I was going through some type of weird depression or something so it kinda worked out that the name of the group was Gravediggaz and I had a whole bunch of music that was dark and it was just a track that fit the vibe at the time. The guys came up with stuff and we recorded it. Once everybody heard how they sounded together on one track that made them even more excited to want to work together.
P82: The demo tape that you recorded, was that done around the same time…?
PAUL: Yeah the demo tape followed right after. Once we had the first initial meeting it was just a matter of getting everybody’s schedule together and figuring out when we all can meet up next. At the first meeting I played music and they liked it, so I gave them some songs, 2 Cups Of Bloodwas one of the beats which I thought was just a throwaway track but I remember RZA was like YOOOOOO that’s crazy let’s use that! I’m thinking he’s crazy, you wanna use that?! It’s not even done! So I gave them the beats, put them all on cassette. They took it home, listened to it, and the cool thing is they talked amongst each other without me having to be there, because introducing them is one thing but then for Poetic to reach out and discuss ideas with the others like on this song I’m thinking about doing this or let’s do that… So by the time that they did come back to my house to record we had a good grasp of what needed to be done.
P82: You had to shop the demo for quite a while before you finally found a label that was interested…
PAUL: Yeah nobody wanted to mess with us you know. One reason why I put that group together was I felt I was being disrespected in the music industry in the terms of just probably record execs. It’s funny at one point you’re in the limelight and people are like he’s the greatest thing ever and then a year later it’s like awww he’s wack, De La Soul have fallen off, because back thenDe La Soul Is Dead was considered a failure. Now it’s like wow it’s a great record but back then it was like woah they fell off. And then dealing with Russell and them, we had the Dew Doo Man label that we were talking about and then didn’t happen and it was just horrible. Going through all that and then shopping the demo and I’m thinking it’s the greatest thing ever, I’m putting three guys together who are having hard times so they’re feeling what I’m feeling so I’m thinking this is a combined energy that we’re putting on this demo and we’re doing everything with passion and people are going to love it. And then they go ohhh Gravediggaz… it’s a gimmick… I don’t know… its kinda wack. I remember I had a friend she worked at Jive and she brought it there and one of the guys, I’m not gonna mention his name… I do remember his name because it kinda bothered me… but she brought it into the A&R meeting and he was like ohh man these guys are old, they’re played out, nobody wants to hear them again. And this is pre-Wu-Tang so I guess that shows the power of having Wu-Tang behind the situation too. And it really bothered me and it literally sat for a year, I went to all the labels, anybody that I knew, that I had connects with… Tommy Boy, Def Jam, Jive, every label we could think of and they turned it down. It kinda hurt man, something I worked really hard at, I mean HARD.
P82: I heard that you had a meeting with Eazy-E too about possibly putting the record out on Ruthless…?
PAUL: Oh yeah you know it’s funny out of all of the meetings, initially he was one person that was interested in putting out the project. I flew out to California because I had a connect out there and I knew Eazy from before because we had toured with N.W.A. on a few dates when I was with Stetsasonic. He’s a real nice guy, it’s funny I’m thinking N.W.A. is all street and gangsta, but he was a real nice dude man. I remember going to L.A., going to Ruthless Records and I remember he had the demo in his hand and he’s like yo Gravediggaz… I really like this, I wanna sign y’all. I’m like REALLY?? Wow! One, I’m a big N.W.A. fan to begin with, people don’t realise how huge of a fan I was so this was kinda going full circle for me. So I’m like wow he get’s it, after all this rejection, Eazy gets it. So I’m like yeah let’s do this deal, and I remember Jerry Heller was there at the time making an offer. First of all I gotta thank Eazy, god rest his soul, for giving me a copy of the N.W.A. VHS tape that I wanted so bad and it wasn’t in stores at the time hahaha, so I had to get that! So then I talked to Jerry Heller, he was ok but was very disinterested you know, he doesn’t care about the music, he’s just the business dude. But that contract, I don’t remember the details but I do remember it was probably one of the worst things I’ve ever seen in my life… it was almost like, it was better off not putting out the record at all hahaha. I’m not saying it was this bad, but it was like yo you wanna put out a record? Pay me and we’ll put out the record haha. It made sense why a lot of the people at the time had beef with Jerry Heller because it was that bad. It was like… what? Are you kidding me? It was horrible. So I still had a little faith and I was like yo I’m gonna wait out for a better situation.
P82: How much time had passed between recording the demo and the actual album…?
PAUL: Over a year, because it took us a year to get the deal. It was almost a year to the day when John Baker from Gee Street called and said hey I like this demo and I wanna sign you guys. And the deal was actually half way decent. So we started the demo in ’91 and the actual album came out in ’94 so there you go haha. Right after we signed the deal it probably took us about six months to record it.
P82: On to the album itself… it opens with a short intro Just When You Thought It Was Overand then goes straight into Constant Elevation, an absolute killer opening track!
PAUL: Oh yeah, my whole thing when putting an album together, and I still feel this way, is I like having an introduction to what the album is about. This is when people used to listen to albums; I don’t think people really listen to entire albums as much any more, they kinda skip each track. I tried to set up the mood and I wanted to let people know what they were getting in to before the whole album started. And then Constant Elevation, even before we recorded the album I knew I wanted to make that the opener, even before the vocals got on I already had an idea what the intro music should sound like.
P82: How did you manage to get them to spit in those crazy styles, especially Poetic and RZA…? Were you pushing them or were they experimenting themselves…?
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