GURU AND SOLAR INTERVIEW: JAZZY WAYS

No, you won't see Guru and Solar on the red carpet, and yes, this album does deserve a few golden gramophones, but due to the state of the music industry, and in some ways, hip-hop itself, they won't be accepting a Grammy in 2008. And Soulja Boy will. Yet, both of the names Guru and Solar should draw the eye of every real hip-hop head, and the two new releases in the infamous Jazzmatazz series are nothing short of extraordinary. Solar's production is top-notch, you can't help but nod your head. Also, of course Guru and his guest's flow bring a calming sense of originality and realness back to hip-hop which has been missing for some time now. Open your eyes and ears, and worship a God on the microphone, and after hearing Solar, I can honestly say, last night, a producer saved my life. Buy The Timebomb and The Messenger. Now.

MixtapeKings.com (MTK): First things first, lets discuss the tape, I've had the pleasure of being able to listen to The Timebomb and The Messenger for a minute now, and I must say, it brings me back to when my mother introduced my young ass to Jazzmatazz Vol. 1 as a seven year old, which actually gave me my first taste of hip hop. How has "jazzmatazz" evolved over the years?

Guru (G): The Jazzmatazz genre started in '93. I mean, in '93 everyone was sampling jazz, including myself, and I wanted to take it to another level, you know, to actually get with the jazz cats that we sampled and bring the two generations together. To actually let these classic cats jazz with world-class hip-hop vocalists in the studio was truly amazing. The product of this was Jazzmatazz. The development hasn't stopped, it's already come so far with the addition of elements of funk, soul, R and B, reggae, and even some hard core rap; but at its most basic form its just hip-hop and jazz. On volume four, Solar brought his top-notch production, cutting edge style, and jazz influences to push me lyrically and take it even further.

MTK: Jazzmatazz appeals to people of many different backgrounds and generations, for example my mother and I, is this a goal of yours or does it just happen?

G: Both, it was definitely a part of the concept, Jazzmatazz is music for everybody.

MTK: Solar, I hear that you have described yourself as being not the "prototype producer" before you hooked up with Guru, which is amazing, I mean look at your pure brilliance on the pads for these tapes. This production is so deep with the use of poly rhythms, etc. Is it true that you used all live instrumentation and no record samples on the production in these two records?

Solar (S): Yeah, I mean there are no "samples" as "sampling" is defined today. I mean the only pre-recorded sounds were the drum sounds. I mean, don't get me wrong, I respect sampling and, being a true New York producer, my roots are really in sampling. I mean I grew up on sampling. The scratching of one break by the DJ, that's what turned into sampling. The DJ was the human sample; that origin of hip-hop is brilliant and strong. I respect the talent immensely that is finding samples, but at the same time producing has to evolve, and what we've been hearing come out of the South is the next revolution. The one-finger production and the use of digital technology with cheesy synth sounds end up sounding amazing with Pro Tools.

MTK: You covered William Bell on "So What It Do Now" right?

S: Yeah, big up to Aceyalone, he's one of best, just an outstanding, unsung cat. These are the real cats, carrying the torches, thwarting the creative vampires. I commend each and every artist, they all did a great job.

MTK: That has got to be my favorite track on the whole tape, what you did with that melody is brilliant, that track definitely rivals the Alchemist track for Dilated Peoples, what were your goals for this album?

S: With me, I love the art form of hip-hop so I've just taken it to a whole other level. With The Messenger its just reconstructing a musical level, all the musicians are so sophisticated that the album has to be at a high level of sonic and production quality. These two CD's are just two different approaches, The Timebomb is an effort to get the young heads motivated again. To get back into real hip-hop and to listen to lyricists. We made great songs with great lyrics, I mean, the South is doing their thing, and that's respectable, I mean you just have to have banging beats and intelligent thinking young people.

G: That's what I saw in Solar's production when we went into the lab. I mean, first the guests wanted to do this album because of the Jazzmatazz legacy, but they went nuts when they heard the tracks. They went all out on the tracks because of how it made them want to perform.

S: A lot of young heads bought into the bullshit, that Jazzmatazz is old man's music, they heard Slum Village and Bobby Valentino, but the old head names backed 'em off. However, The Timebomb got 'em back. Got them to check the old Gang Starr, check the old Jazzmatazz. Let a new generation listen to Guru and 7 Grand.

G: It's a whole growth process. To show the listener, from any walk of life, from any age, all types of people listen to hip-hop. We're just letting them broaden their scope, jazz definitely has all other forms of music in it. All music has roots in jazz, and hip-hop definitely does. At first the jazz cats dissed hip-hop. But a few of them wanted to get involved, especially Donald Byrd, because a lot of them have children, and nephews that like hip-hop so they wanted to make a connection. This is great music, and a lot of the great stuff doesn't get the recognition or the accolades that it should; this should be Grammy Award winning, it's not going to be, but I'm not going to whine, it's Grammy Award winning to me and that's all that matters.

S: The young heads are going to have to get it. The underground scene and the heads that appreciate it are the lovers of hip-hop. If they love this album than that's worth more than a Grammy to us, it's worth way more than a Grammy.

MTK: Guru, you have some great guests on this Jazzmatazz, continuing the precedent that you have set, by using artists such as The Roots, MC Solaar, etc. How did you choose which artists to collaborate with?

G: The guests come out of who fits the track most, it's the art of collaboration, that's what Jazzmatazz is. It's not who sold the most records, or who the A & R's want to get exposure, it's who fits the concept the best. So we found people that we felt fit the tracks, and we reached out to them. No one had a problem with it, they were all more than willing to get down. It all came together and I'm very proud because we did it ourselves. No major label, just Solar and Guru, and we did it.

MTK: The connection with MC Solaar (a different person than Solar the producer) was live as fuck, any plans to do any more foreign language collabos?

G: Right now, we're wrapped up in this. We would be open to everything; Jazzmatazz is timeless. If we feel like it'll be the right thing to do at the time, then we'll do it. We just came back from Mexico and we did a big concert out there and met a lot of really cool Latino rappers and Mexican rappers, and rappers from Puerto Rico, Spain, Madrid, Barcelona. There are definitely plans to work with Greek rappers and Russian rappers. That's definitely a strong possibility.

S: It's definitely something that we're going to do. On an independent level with 7 Grand Records, the most important thing is that we can be on the same page with the fans. It takes the fans to buy records, to keep us alive. I mean rappers from Spain and Puerto Rico on the track would be ill. I mean we already have Damian Marley from Jamaica on there, and as we get bigger and get more money for marketing we will open this thing up, and put it on the forefront, and that'll happen before Jazzmatazz Vol. 5. It helps for you to buy these records. Your helping hip-hop when you buy these records.

G: Yeah, I mean this whole collaboration with MC Solaar was due to both of us being on major labels. I mean he's not even rapping anymore, so just the different scale of the labels, that's a big difference.

MTK: How is 7 Grand Records coming? The idea of this label, focused on hip-hop and art itself rather than just on money-making is what hip-hop needs, what plans do you have for this company?

G: We got plans to rob banks [laughs]. No, 7 Grand has a lot going on, and the best thing to do is to be checking the websites, MySpace (myspace.com/guru7grand, myspace.com/solar7grand, and guru7grand.net). We've got The Timebomb, we're going to be touring around the world all the rest of this year. We've got other projects. Solar is working on some really hot albums, I mean we have other multimedia projects. You know, big things are coming.

S: The hip-hop heads should know that every one that you've trusted in hip-hop are the ones that are betraying it and selling it out. We can believe that Republican white people are attacking hip-hop with Ice T, and the Cop Killer record, but these same individuals have born another group in New York who are allied with the people who you are giving your money to. Hip-hop heads open your eyes and see who you want to give your money to. I mean do you want to support something real like 7 Grand? The choice is yours, it's not ours. The fans that are in tune will know what I'm talking about. See what kind of future you want for yourselves. Open your eyes, and make a decision. We're all Americans, our forefathers, the slaves, gave their lives to have freedom, and the bottom line is that we all have freedom now, and you need to choose whether you want to support 7 Grand or do you want to support the individuals that are currently taking your money.

MTK: Guru, I love the Beantown connection on this tape with Mr. Lif, how have your Boston roots changed your music? And how has the New York/Boston connection helped you all? Has it given you all a broader lens for your music?

G: In the beginning, I mean coming up, the two scenes were very close because New York City is only four hours away, so whoever could get up to New York and buy the freshest joints was always the flyest, and there were always a lot of New York cats coming to Boston. There has definitely been a connection. Boston is smaller, I mean obviously [laughs] but the problems in the community are still the same. I mean the hood, and the streets, they are still the same. My experience there left me with a lot of insight and a lot of toughness and street knowledge to survive in New York. But with the Boston scene, the cats need to stop hating, because it's not helping them come together. Just unify, it's that simple.