J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League Tells All: The Stories Behind Their Biggest Hits

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J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League Tells All: The Stories Behind Their Biggest Hits

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Juelz Santana "Rumble Young Man Rumble" (2005)

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Colione:“This story goes way back to when J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League first became a group. When we first got together, we put out this CD called The .38 Special. And what we did was we put 38 of our top picks, from me, Rook, Barto, and [our management]. We got them pressed up and we sent them out. Everybody, everywhere got them. I think that beat was on that CD because we sent it out everywhere and then we started getting these calls from everyone who was like, 'Yo these beats are crazy!' It's when we finally started making a name for ourselves in the industry. I think 'Rumble Young Man Rumble' was about that time. And I don't know if anyone still has [that CD]. But man, I want it back.”

Rook: "It's funny because it's a song people always say that they love, and I keep on forgetting that we did that song. People don't realize that that version on the album is actually straight off the CD that Colione was talking about, The .38 Special. It wasn't multi-tracked or even mixed properly."

Young Jeezy "Bury Me A G" (2006)

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Young Buck "Buss Yo' Head" (2007)

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Colione: "This is how we learned our lesson with samples. That was actually a sample that we used and it basically couldn't be cleared. I can't recall the name of the sample. I think it was Donna Summer or some shit like that. I could be wrong. But anyway, I remember that we had to replay and rethink the whole thing.

"You really have to be a great producer to be able to rethink and come up with something because a lot of these artists fall in love with the way that it sounds in the original. We call it the 'Two Track Blues.' Whenever you change something up and then re-present it, it's like,‘Yo, what did you do to it? It sounds different, it's not the same.’ So you really have to go in and make it sound different enough that it's not someone else's music and original enough that the artist is going to like it. So we went into that and we put live strings, live horns on that. In my opinion the original, that had the sample, was a little better. There was a little something about that. I don't know if it was because the instruments were differently tuned, but we did it though. We had to pull it off. And the thing about it is that we had one day to do it."

Rook: "The funny thing about that song that a lot of people don't know is that the guitar that's in that song isn't actually a guitar. That's actually [Barto] singing. He's making a guitar sound with his mouth."

Barto: [Laughs.] "Oh yo, for real! I forgot about that! And it's so crazy that you mentioned that because that's proof right there that in the clutch, we had to get it done. We didn't have a guitar or nothing. And I was uncomfortable with singing, too. So I was like, 'Fuck it. Y'all make some room, I'm going to sing on it, put some effects on it, then y'all come back.'"

2 Pistols f/ T-Pain & Tay Dizm "She Got It" (2008)

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Rick Ross f/ Jay-Z "Maybach Music" (2008)

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Rick Ross f/ T-Pain, Lil Wayne, & Kanye West 'Maybach Music 2" (2009)

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Barto: "Right after Trilla had come out, Ross expressed to us that he wanted to do a second 'Maybach Music.' You know create a bigger, better [version of it]. 'Maybach' was a blueprint on its own. 'Maybach Music 2' we didn't want to do anything similar, we just wanted to keep that sense of sophistication. We sampled Dexter Wansel’s ['Time Is the Teacher']. We did our own thing to it, to the point where it became a totally new record. Dexter Wansel was the foundation for the form. But [afterwards] we added everything; the string arrangements, live guitar, bass, and drums. After everything came together [the sample] almost [wasn't] recognizable. [But] when you come across a sample, out of the respect to the artist, sometimes you just keep it."

Rook: "Ross let us know who was going to be on the song. So we were like, 'Okay, Kanye, Ross, and Wayne are on the song.' Basically we took each one of their personalities and musically catered it to them. By that time Kayne dropped Graduation. We catered his verse [by making it] real synthy but orchestrated and soulful. We catered Ross's verse to a more cinematic [sound], but it was also soulful with the organs, guitars, and church bells, reminiscent of [Port of Miami]. Wayne's verse, he is a milli, so we made it triumphant with horns, strings, and guitars. We made it real tasteful, too, so you really have to listen to how the instruments change because it is there."

Rick Ross f/ John Legend "Magnificent" (2009)

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Lil Wayne f/ Nicki Minaj "Knockout" (2010)

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Bun B f/ T-Pain "Trillionaire" (2010)

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Rick Ross f/ Drake & Chrisette Michele "Aston Martin Music" (2010)

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Rook: "I think there's a common denominator when it comes to Ross. Every song that we do with him is damn near the same story. He hears the beat, he has the vision for the song, and he gets it done. Early in the process of the album he heard the song and he told us what the song was going to be,and who he wanted to get on it. So we heard it and we formatted it.”

Corleone: “The way it works is that he tells us the vision, we end up adding to the music, then he invites us to his house and he wants us to change stuff because he's got a studio in his crib. He'll actually send it out or he'll have the artist that he wants to be featured on the song in the studio. He'll do the hooks. When he first played us ‘Aston Martin Music’ he didn't have his verses on there. He just played us the actual hook with Drake and Chrisette Michelle. We heard that, had the hook, then we started building around that and changing some stuff right there at the spot at his house. A lot of his songs on Teflon Don were completed later on because he likes to finish them closer to when his album is coming out.”

Rick Ross f/ T.I., Jadakiss, & Erykah Badu "Maybach Music 3" (2010)

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Rook: "We wanted it to be better but also different than the other two. There was pressure. It took us a long time to come up with our concept. Basically, we had [many] variations of that song. When we first came up with the music, it took us at least six to seven months to complete. We had to actually write the score, find the right orchestra, the right players, and we had to find somebody who could record it correctly. It's not like we would do the track and then send it somebody else to arrange it. We [did the] arrangements ourselves.

“The thing is, we didn't know 100% if people would like it or not. Like, it was so dope but it was so different. When it leaked on the Internet, it became a worldwide trending topic on Twitter. It’s crazy and it’s a testament to great music. The 'Maybach Music' [series] is something you can't take away from us because we kind of changed the game of hip-hop. Not a lot of people do that. There is probably a handful of producers that can say they have done it. Like, Dre, Timberland, The Neptunes, you know what I'm sayin'? It's an honor for us."

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