DJ Clark Kent Tells All: The Stories Behind His Classic Records (Part 2)

We reconnect with the legendary Brooklyn producer who talks about working with 50 Cent, Mariah Carey, Rakim, and making Biggie's favorite record.

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Image via Complex Original
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Earlier this month, we published part one of our DJ Clark Kent Tells All feature, highlighting the Brooklyn producer’s early work with Jay-Z and The Notorious B.I.G., and all the inner circle stories he had to share about making hit records with both of their camps.

In part two, DJ Clark Kent has more tales to tell about producing for both MCs, including the story behind The Notorious B.I.G.’s autobiographical single “Sky’s The Limit” with 112, which according to Clark was Biggie’s favorite song he ever made.

He also tells us how Eminem almost got the beat for Canibus’ “How We Roll,” how “Fuck You” became 50 Cent’s comeback song after he was shot nine times, what it was like recording in upstate New York with Slick Rick after he was released from prison, and how Mariah Carey lured him away from fifty yard line seats at the Superbowl to record “Loverboy.” Plus more stories behind his production work with legendary rap artists Rakim, The Fugees, and Redman. Is Brooklyn in the house? Without a doubt.

As told to Daniel Isenberg (@stanipcus)

SWV "You're The One (DJ Clark Kent Remix with Rap)" f/ Jay-Z (1996)

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SWV "You're The One (DJ Clark Kent Remix with Rap)" f/ Jay-Z (1996)

Album: You’re The One Remixes

Label: RCA

DJ Clark Kent: “That was a good joint. Again, I got asked to do the remix, and the only person I wanted to put on records was Jay. This was after he was already rockin’. The SWV song was out, and it was doing fine actually—they just wanted remixes. SWV was huge. To be asked to do a record for them was crazy.

“I got the multi-track, but I didn’t have an idea for the remix. Usually, when somebody asks me to do a remix, I listen to the record like forty times, and keep listening and listening, and then something happens. With this, I didn’t have the ability to, because I was working too much.


 

Even though I have [everything else now], the center of my studio is still the SP-1200. Every beat gets started there. I’m not the guy who’s going to be like, ‘Oh, I’m using Logic now.’ Get the fuck out of here. If it ain’t broke, I ain’t fixin’ it.


 

“So I fly back in to New York to do the remix, with my drum machines and a crate of records. I listened to the song two or three times, and it was already a very sparsely produced song, so I wanted to put harder drums on it and then have Jay rhyme on it.

“I took ‘Dance To The Drummer’s Beat,’ and I took chops out of it. And I took the drums from it too, and I truncated them in a way so that once I played them, it would still sound like a loop, without being a loop. Then, I threw the stabs on the SP-1200 and played the stabs. People [won’t recognize the sample in the song] unless you really know beats. I even used [part of the song I sampled] in the beginning of the record.

“I still use the SP-1200. Even though I have [everything else now], the center of my studio is still the SP-1200. Every beat gets started there. I’m not the guy who’s going to be like, ‘Oh, I’m using Logic now.’ Get the fuck out of here. If it ain’t broke, I ain’t fixin’ it.

“The remix was so right that the other people they asked to do remixes were taking the [Jay-Z] verse off my version and putting it on theirs. I’m like, ‘Come on dog, you can’t go get your own rapper? Don’t do that.’”

Das EFX "Dedicated" (1995)

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Das EFX "Dedicated" (1995)

Album: Hold It Down

Label: EastWest

DJ Clark Kent:“[That album is slept on] because they changed their style. They’re not doing the ‘iggetys’ and the ‘riggetys.’ That ‘Dedicated’ shit was hard.


 

Sometimes I feel like the beat itself is better than the actual record. There’s shit that’s happening in that beat that people are just starting to do now.


 

“I made the beat, and it was such a DJ beat, that I didn’t want to play if for anybody. There were things in the record that felt like a DJ would be playing it instead of waiting for a rapper to rap. And the way I programmed the drums, I thought, ‘Maybe no one’s gonna want to rap to this.’

“Das EFX is from up the street from where I live. They came to my house one day, and they were going through some music, and that one played, and they were like, ‘Yo! That shit’s crazy!’ And I’m like, ‘Really?’

“But I was still like, ‘I can’t believe you guys like this beat.’ And they were like, ‘That beat is hard!’ So I was like, ‘I ain’t gonna say shit no more. Just take it.’ Because I thought the beat was hard. So we went to the studio, and they did it.

“I still listen to that beat alone, without the raps on it. Sometimes I feel like the beat itself is better than the actual record. There’s shit that’s happening in that beat that people are just starting to do now. I been chopping [and layering] samples before anyone I knew was doing that shit.”

Lost Boyz "Get Up" (1996)

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Lost Boyz "Get Up" (1996)

Album: Legal Drug Money

Label: Uptown

DJ Clark Kent: “They made a remix to that song for the video, but the original version on the album [that I produced] is fire. Tim Dawg was my man, and he was signing them, and I was part of all that Uptown shit before it got big, so I knew everything that was happening. There were certain people that were involved that they just kept in the loop. Like, ‘Why was I on Mary J. Blige’s album talking?’ Because I was [one of the most popular DJs] at that point.

“Plus Andre Harrell is my man, and I was cool with everyone at the label, so when things were going down, they’d be like, ‘Let’s see what Clark thinks.’ So you get those calls. I guess the word ‘taste-maker’ was never around back then, but you were one of those trusted guys. Like, ‘He’ll tell us the truth.’


 

When things were going down, they’d be like, ‘Let’s see what Clark thinks.’ So you get those calls. I guess the word ‘taste-maker’ was never around back then, but you were one of those trusted guys. Like, ‘He’ll tell us the truth.’


 

“Back then, every A&R dude knew what every other A&R dude was doing. Why? Because you never knew if you would need their artist on something. A&R dudes were friends back then. Now they’re just clowns. They’re like rappers [Laughs.]

“That beat was made for them. They were cool, and once I like you, it’s not hard to make music for you. I went to the studio, and made like four joints for them, and they heard ‘Get Up,’ and they were like, ‘That shit’s crazy Clark, we’re gonna do that one!’

“Mr. Cheeks was an easy rapper to work with, because he’s not trying to be too lyrical, he’s just trying to have fun. If you notice, all his records sound like they were fun. Even the ‘Renee’ shit, which was a sad story, still sounded like it was fun.

“It was done fast. The illest shit was when Freaky Tah, Rest In Peace, went in that booth. The record went somewhere else. When he gets on it and gets behind it, it just [went to a different place]. His energy was crazy. He was like the human ad-lib.”

Fugees "Ready Or Not (Clark Kent/Django Remix)" (1996)

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Album: Bootleg Versions

Label: Ruffhouse/Columbia

DJ Clark Kent: “I’m very cool with Pras and ‘Clef. I knew them all since their very first record, before ‘Mona Lisa’ and all that, because they came to the New Music Seminar. Their very first record was some bullshit. But they were signed, and they came to meet me, and we were cool immediately. So I wanted them to win.

“They were like, ‘We’re gonna do this remix album project. We want you to be on it.’ I was like, ‘What record do you want me to remix?’ They said, ‘Ready Or Not.’ I was like, ‘What? That record’s fire, B!’


 

Their very first record was some bullshit. But they were signed, and they came to meet me, and we were cool immediately. So I wanted them to win.


 

“It took me like five days to figure out a beat for that, because I wanted it to match. I had the multi-track recording, and I had the song. I was working with it at first with the original verses, and all I really paid attention to was the hook. That’s why I sampled the words ‘ready or not’ in the beat.

“I found that Django sample, and I just freaked the beat. Pras and ‘Clef came to my crib, and they were about to go out and do two shows in Nashville. I play it, and they wil’ the fuck out. So I give it to them, and they leave to go get themselves together.

“A couple hours later, they call me, like, ‘Yo, what you doing Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday? Come to Nashville to do the record.’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know anybody in Nashville. You gotta fly me and my engineer out if you want me to do it.’

“They fly me and my engineer out for four days, and we do the record in between them doing shows and shit. They loved [the beat] so much that they wanted to do it right then.

“Lauryn was dope, she was a professional. They all were. But my relationship working with them was probably different than the average guys because I knew them and was cool with them. And they killed it.”

Rakim "Guess Who's Back" (1997)

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Album: The 18th Letter

Label: Universal/MCA

DJ Clark Kent:“It’s crazy how that was the name of the song, right? Because that was the record that brought him back. It was his first solo record [without Eric B.], and he [had been off the scene for years]. Me and Ra were always cool, since we were young. We both used to work in Power Play Studios making records. That was like the hip-hop studio.


 

The thing about Rakim is that he’s extra particular. A bunch of producers had sat with him and played him music, but it seemed like he only had a level of respect for me and DJ Premier.


 

“So it was time to make the Rakim album, and the A&R was this guy Dominick Trenier I was cool with, and he came to me and was like, ‘I need you to make some records with Rakim.’ The thing about Rakim is that he’s extra particular. A bunch of producers had sat with him and played him music, but it seemed like he only had a level of respect for me and DJ Premier. He knew there were other producers out there, but we were the only two that he’d be like, ‘I’ll listen to what you’re telling me.’

“Even if Rakim picked a beat he liked from a certain producer, if he showed up at the session and saw the producer and didn’t respect him, he’d walk back out. Even if he liked the beat. He’d be like, ‘I’m not dealing with this dude. Get out, let me go record the record.’

“I made that beat for him, because of who he was. I wanted it to sound energetic, and I wanted it to sound like a statement. And I thought the horn hits of the sample sounded aggressive. I wanted him to talk his talk and pop shit about being the greatest. Rakim’s the god.


 

I’ve worked with Biggie, Jay-Z, Mariah Carey, and all these big name artists, but when you go to Japan, all they care about is, ‘You, you did ‘Guess Who’s Back.’ You did a record with Rakim.’ It’s ill.


 

“You don’t realize you’re working with Rakim, because you’re in the moment. Then, later on after the record comes out, it goes Gold, and it’s critically acclaimed and hits the marks it’s supposed to hit. Then, you travel and you go to another country, and you don’t remember that you even did the record, and you go to the club in that other country, and the DJ before you plays the record, and motherfuckers lose their god damn minds, you go, ‘Oh wow, I was working with Rakim.’ That’s when it hits you.

“I’ve worked with Biggie, Jay-Z, Mariah Carey, and all these big name artists, but when you go to Japan, all they care about is, ‘You, you did ‘Guess Who’s Back.’ You did a record with Rakim.’ It’s ill.

“He’s hip-hop royalty. You have to realize, he’s the reason why everybody rhymes the way they rhyme now. He stopped all the happy-go-lucky shit, and just talked to the people. That made everybody talk to the people. It made everybody go, ‘Let me tell you something. You’re a punk. And I’m going to show you that you’re a punk. I’m the best rhymer that there is, and I don’t have to scream it at you.’”

The Notorious B.I.G. f/ 112 "Sky's The Limit" (1997)

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Album: Life After Death

Label: Bad Boy

DJ Clark Kent:“LL had it on a tape, Sauce had it on a tape, Jay had it on a tape. You name it. If they were around at that time. They all had heard ‘Sky’s The Limit.’ The only artist that wanted it was Akinyele.


 

LL had it on a tape, Sauce had it on a tape, Jay had it on a tape. You name it. If they were around at that time. They all had heard ‘Sky’s The Limit.’ The only artist that wanted it was Akinyele.


 

“So I’m talking money with Akinyele, and the money talk is just not going right. And B.I.G. hears it, and we’re doing the Junior M.A.F.I.A. project, and he’s like, ‘Yo, I want this for my album. Clark, you gotta hold it for me.’

“But I was like, ‘Hold it for you? You’re not working on a new album. This got to go.’ And I was almost at the point where Akinyele was going to get it, but he just didn’t want to pay for it the way I was supposed to be paid. And B.I.G. was like, ‘Fuck that. I’ll pay you now. I need that record.’ And just that enthusiasm alone made me be like, ‘You don’t have to pay me, it’s all good. You can have it.’ So I never played it again for anyone else.

“Then, when we went to go do it, I go to the studio, and he’s got the the verses laid, and he sang the hook [himself]. I’m like, ‘Oh my god, this shit is crazy.’ He’s like, ‘I’m gonna get 112 on it.’ I’m like, ‘Oh wow, this is gonna be insane.’ So 112 does the hook.


 

We’re mixing the song all night, and the mix is finally done. And Biggie goes, ‘This is the best song I’ve ever done. This is my favorite song.’ And he was super happy.


 

“Then, it comes time to mix the song. And we’re mixing the song all night, and the mix is finally done. And he goes, ‘This is the best song I’ve ever done. This is my favorite song.’ And he was super happy.

“It wasn’t until after he passed and I’m listening to it and I remember his words distinctively, and I’m like, ‘Oh shit. Dude said this is his favorite song.’ And it was a narrative about him coming up. And I got it. It’s not any over-the-top rhyming, it’s just a narrative.

“The intro was added after because he had passed, so they put that there. But to me what made the record so crazy was that they used kids and they made the video happen. The fact that it was a single fucked me up for like eight, nine months. I think it was that it was the one, and that [they were trying to honor that it was his personal favorite] too, but it was pretty undeniable. It was just one of those records.

“At first I thought, ‘Oh, it’s because he passed that they’re going to use it as a single, so people can see the other side of him.’ But no, because if he was alive they would’ve used it. It would’ve had 112, it would’ve had him in the video, it would’ve looked crazy! And the story was perfect.


 

There were never any [The Commission] records made, but there would have been. It would’ve been me, Jay, Sauce, B.I.G., and Charli Baltimore. I know Sauce would’ve probably been a part of The Commission.


 

“To me, that’s the best song I’ve ever made. I’ve produced a bunch of records, but to me, that’s the best song I’ve ever produced. I’m talking track-wise, hook-wise, composition, the whole picture. It’s perfect. And, hearing it makes my heart do shit. It touches me.

“B.I.G. would have been crazy. He would have gotten better, and he would have been making music still. He would’ve been the consummate artist. Jay’s the businessman. He would have been rich regardless, but B.I.G. would have been the best recordmaking artist, like how Eminem is. Yes, Em’s got businesses, but his focus is on making unbelievable art. Like, Kanye’s a consummate artist. That would have been B.I.G. Like anytime B.I.G. would have dropped a record, motherfuckers would have been scared.

“But I still feel like Jay would have been on what he was on, because he likes to make records and he likes to make money. There were never any [The Commission] records made, but there would have been. It would’ve been me, Jay, Sauce, B.I.G., and Charli Baltimore. I know Sauce would’ve probably been a part of The Commission.”

Canibus "How We Roll" (1998)

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Album: Can-I-Bus

Label: Universal

DJ Clark Kent: “That was ill because Canibus was practically staying at my house. Every day I was like training him to be a killer on the mic. He knew that I [worked with] Jay-Z, so he wanted to be that crazy.

“I gave him the beat for ‘How We Roll’ and he loses his mind, because it starts slow and changes speeds. And he was in writing mode, and he had a deal, so he was like, ‘I need to write this song.’


 

Dr. Dre was like, ‘You got some shit? I’m gonna be working with this whiteboy, Eminem.’ So play him some beats, and he hears the beat for ‘How We Roll,’ and he loves it. I was like, ‘Nah, that’s for Canibus.’ But imagine if I gave that shit to Eminem.


 

“I gave him the beat, and two days later I go to Cali to produce some songs for Shaquille O’Neal. I actually produced a song with Shaq and Kobe Bryant together. Anyway, while I’m out there, I go to this restaurant called Georgia, and who’s sitting down there eating but Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine. I’m like, ‘Yo Dre, what up!’ And we’re kicking it for a second, and then he’s like, ‘I’ma holler at you at the studio later.’

“So I go to the studio and set up my session for Shaq. Then I go next door to say what up to Dre, and he’s like, ‘You got some shit? I’m gonna be working with this whiteboy.’ And the whiteboy he was talking about was Eminem. This is before anyone knew who Em was.

“So play him some beats, and he hears the beat for ‘How We Roll,’ and he loves it. He’s playing it on repeat, and says he wants it. But I was like, ‘Nah, that’s for Canibus.’ And Dre’s like, ‘Oh yeah, Canibus is ill.’ He probably knew him from the ‘4,3,2,1’ record with LL. But imagine if I gave that shit to Eminem. That shit would’ve been crazy.”

Slick Rick "Killa Niggaz" (1999)

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Album: The Art of Storytelling

Label: Def Jam/IDJMG/Universal

DJ Clark Kent:“You gotta hear the original to that. It started off slow, and then speeded up [like ‘How We Roll’]. There’s a whole slow part playing in beginning from the sample that I chopped. I let the sample play, and then you could see how I chopped it to make the beat.


 

Trackmasters were playing me 50 Cent records, but he sounded just like Mase on them. I was like, ‘That’s not the 50 Cent I know.’ 50 must’ve heard what I said, because [a week or so] later, I saw 50 at a session at the Hit Factory and he played me ‘Life’s On The Line’ and ‘How To Rob,’ and I was like, ‘That’s the 50 I know.’


 

“Anyway, Slick Rick comes home from jail. Def Jam says, ‘Damn, we gotta get this album done on you.’ Def Jam goes, ‘Hey Clark, Slick Rick respects you.’ I’m like, ‘How? I never even really talked to him?’ They go, ‘Here’s what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna send you both to Bearsville, New York.’ [They did that] to make him make records.

“It was a dope studio though. They were in barns, and it had the ill loft. Me and my two homies, basically my nephews, we went up there, and I just made beats all day. And there was this cabin next door where him and his wife stayed.

“Trackmasters had the other studio up there next door in the barns, and 50 Cent was there. And they were playing me 50 Cent records, but I thought they were Mase records, because he sounded just like Mase on them. I was like, ‘That’s not the 50 Cent I know.’ Because I remember hearing 50 on some Jam Master Jay shit that was hard.

“50 must’ve heard what I said, because [a week or so] later, I saw 50 at a session at the Hit Factory, and he’s like, ‘Listen to this shit.’ And he played me ‘Life’s On The Line’ and ‘How To Rob,’ and I was like, ‘Those shits are hard. That’s the 50 I know.’


 

Slick Rick was like, ‘I don’t feel like these rappers deserve to hear me rhyme.’ He really looks at other rappers like they’re crumbs. He was like, ‘Outkast.’ I was like, ‘You don’t like Jay-Z?’ He was like, ‘He’s alright.’ I’m like, ‘What?!?’ It always baffled me when motherfuckers didn’t automatically go, ‘Oh, no, he’s ill.’ He’s like, ‘These rappers are bums.’


 

“Anyway, I’m in there making beats, and for like five days straight, Rick doesn’t even come out of the cabin. I knock on his door, and I’m like, ‘You gonna come listen to some music?’

He comes to listen, and he’s like, ‘I like this, I like that, I like this.’ So I’m like, ‘You wanna do some shit?’ And he was like, ‘I don’t feel like these rappers deserve to hear me rhyme.’ He really looks at other rappers like they’re crumbs.

“I asked him, ‘What rappers you like?’ And he was like, ‘Outkast.’ I was like, ‘You don’t like Jay-Z?’ He was like, ‘He’s alright.’ I’m like, ‘What?!?’ It always baffled me when motherfuckers didn’t automatically go, ‘Oh, no, he’s ill.’ He’s like, ‘These rappers are bums.’ I’m like, ‘ Ohhhhh! Okay, zone out, and let’s make these records.’

“He was the best storyteller. And he wanted beats that were super simple, with a good speed to it, that didn’t have anything crazy happening [so he could tell his stories]. The only one that he took with something crazy happening was ‘Kill Niggaz.’

“I forced him to do ‘Kill Niggaz.’ The beat was so angry. I was like, ‘Please, you gotta talk shit.’ He was like, ‘Why? Let me tell my stories.’ I was like, ‘No, you must talk shit.’”

Slick Rick "I Own America" (1999)

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Album: The Art of Storytelling

Label: Def Jam/IDJMG/Universal

DJ Clark Kent: “After he did ‘Kill Niggaz,’ and he realized how aggressively hard it was, that’s when he did ‘I Own America.’ He was talking so much shit on that. Super reckless. He’s a belligerent motherfucker. He talks super greasy. He thinks everybody is a clown.

“That Nas record that Trackmasters did [‘Me and Nas Bring It To You Hardest’] was actually for Nas, but it got on Rick’s album because Rick was finished first. Nas album wasn’t ready yet, so it was like, ‘Put it over here.’ But it was Nas loving Rick instead of Rick loving Nas. He was particular, B.

“But the ‘Street Talkin’’ shit he did with [Big Boi from] Outkast, he loved that! It was hot, but it was like they were the only guys he liked at that time. I was like, ‘Are you serious?’”

Slick Rick "Why, Why, Why" (1999)

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Album: The Art of Storytelling

Label: Def Jam/IDJMG/Universal

DJ Clark Kent:“He was like, ‘You think you could fuck with ‘Funky President’? So I made the drums play a certain way so you could still hear the [riff] in ‘Funky President.’ But I also made it so you could take it out. I took each stab, and added the stabs to just the drum beats. He was like, ‘I don’t even know how you separated that shit, but you’re dope.’ And from that day, I was dope.


 

I remember Mariah Carey heard that song, and she was blown away. She loved it. She thought Slick Rick was the greatest.


 

“Then, he was like, ‘I want to hear some bass line shit, and I want it to be jumpy. I don’t want it to be hard.’ So I played the shit on the SP-1200. And you could see him coming up with the music while it’s coming together.

“He’s sitting there humming, and I’m like, ‘What are you doing?’ He’s like, ‘I’m coming up with a hook, give me a second.’ Then he went in the booth and went, ‘Ooooh, why, why, why, why.’ And he’s like, ‘I’m gonna do that for the whole song.’ I’m like, ‘What?’ So now it’s in there for the whole song. And it’s not even like I sampled it. It’s him going all the way down the track. Then he does his verses.

“I remember Mariah Carey heard that song, and she was blown away. She loved it. She thought Slick Rick was the greatest.”

The Notorious B.I.G. f/ Sadat X "Come On" (1999)

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Album: Born Again

Label: Bad Boy

DJ Clark Kent: “I had nothing to do with the original. I wasn’t there when they laid their vocals. I think Lord Finesse did it. All I know is, they gave me the acapella to ‘Niggaz’ and ‘Come On.’

“I did a remix to ‘Niggaz’ way before the Red Spyder version with 50 Cent on it they used for Duets. That beat became ‘15 Will Get You 20’ by City High, which was on their album. I did another version too, but they didn’t use it either.


 

I didn’t want to be a part of Born Again. My lawyer, Reggie ‘Combat Jack’ Osse said, ‘You have to do it. B.I.G. was your friend.’ So I did it. But I didn’t feel like any record was going to come out right without B.I.G. being there.


 

“I think they used ‘Come On’ because it sounded so different. Whenever I hear the track I do go, ‘Man, that does sound kind of crazy.’ But I always felt bad that it wasn’t this super success. Then I’d be like, ‘Wait a minute. It wasn’t supposed to be. It was just an album cut with Sadat.’ But I thought that if B.I.G. was alive, he would have rhymed to that. He would’ve killed it. It would have been so perfect.

“I didn’t want to be a part of the project. My lawyer, Reggie ‘Combat Jack’ Osse said, ‘You have to do it. B.I.G. was your friend.’ So I did it. But I didn’t feel like any record was going to come out right without B.I.G. being there. So instead of taking all the acapellas that they tried to have me take, I just took two. And they picked those two and gave them to me.

“It’s right. I mean, I did what they asked me to do. But if Biggie would have heard that and rhymed to it? Shit. I probably would have been scared of it.”

Sauce Money f/ Jay-Z "Face-Off 2000" (2000)

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Album: Middle Finger U.

Label: Priority/EMI

DJ Clark Kent: “Sauce was doing his album, so of course I’m going to be involved somehow. So I did ‘Middle Finger U.,’ and he was going to do a joint with Jay, and he was like, ‘Clark, come on, you gotta do the joint with Jay. That’s who we are, that’s where we come from.’ So I was like, ‘What are you thinking?’ And he was like, ‘Just do something beautiful that we can take somewhere else.’


 

Sauce is still around, ghostwriting. He’s the best ghostwriter there is. Think about the fact that he wrote Puff Daddy’s ‘I’ll Be Missing You.’ You can tell when other niggas is writing shit, but can’t tell when Sauce is doing it. He wrote Puff’s verse on ‘Young G’s’ too.


 

“This song was done before [The LOX song with Money Mo and Richie Thumbs ‘Thumbs Up’ that came out on mixtapes which used the same sample]. We recorded that song right after the first ‘Face Off’ record from In My Lifetime Vol.1. The beat was made way before Reasonable Doubt. And Sauce had the beat, but he didn’t remember it. And I was like, why don’t you use the ‘You Are My Sunshine’ joint? And I played it for him, and he was like, ‘Oh yeah, I meant to do this shit like five years ago!’

“Sauce’s album took a long time to come out, but it was done forever ago. It was done right after the B.I.G. shit, ‘This goes out to my Brooklyn crew...’ They just took [part of the hook] from that. And they just started trading [verses], and it came out like that.

“Sauce is still around, making records, ghostwriting. He’s the best ghostwriter there is. Think about the fact that he wrote Puff Daddy’s ‘I’ll Be Missing You.’ That’s exactly what Puff was thinking, and exactly the way he would have said it. He had to become Puff. He said that to me. Sauce was like, ‘For me to write a song for someone, I have to become that person.’ You can tell when other niggas is writing shit, but can’t tell when Sauce is doing it. He wrote Puff’s verse on ‘Young G’s’ for him too.”

Mariah Carey f/ Cameo "Loverboy" (2001)

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Album: Glitter (Soundtrack)

Label: Virgin

DJ Clark Kent: “That was some homeboy shit. I was DJ’ing a bunch of parties, and she was coming to a bunch of them. She was hearing what I was playing, and [she liked my taste]. That, and she was doing a movie that was set in the time of all the records I was playing, which was like the late 80’s, early 90’s. So [the song that I sampled,] ‘Candy,’ was crackin’.

“She was coming to the parties I was doing because she liked that Slick Rick ‘Why, Why, Why’ shit I did. But I knew her since the beginning of her career. She flew me out to Canada [when she was filming Glitter], and that’s when she heard the beat. And she was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll do that one.’

“What’s crazy is that was B.I.G.’s beat. He just never did it. He asked for it. ‘Clark, hook up ‘Candy.’ That was our era. That was what we grew up on. I would do all the after parties on the Junior M.A.F.I.A. tour, and he walked in [to one of the parties] and heard me playing that and was like, ‘Yo, freak that, yo!’


 

What’s crazy is that was B.I.G.’s beat. He just never did it. He asked for it. ‘Clark, hook up ‘Candy.’ That was our era. That was what we grew up on. I told her, 'This was Biggie's.' And she was like, 'And he didn't do it?!?'


 

“I told her, ‘This was Biggie’s.’ And she was like, ‘And he didn’t do it?!?’ He probably just forgot, because we were doing so much.

“If you know [Mariah], working with her is different than if you don’t know her. She might be a little like, ‘What’s going on?’ But with her, she gets to know the producers that she works with. It’s almost like she has to be your friend to work with you. She’s very particular. It has to go down the way she says.

“She wrote the song, and had a lady sing it first so she could hear what it sounded like. Then she wrote all the other parts around it. Then, she was like, ‘I want it to be this way. I want this to be this many bars, and the track to drop out here.’ She’s in to her production.

“Superbowl Sunday, I’m in Miami, and the Giants are about to play. I’ve got 50 yard line tickets. I get a call. ‘Clark, I need you to come to Cali today so we can finish the song.’ I’m like, ‘It’s the Superbowl today [and I’m going to the game]. Are you serious?’ And she’s like, ‘Oh, I was gonna have the jet bring you to L.A. and then put you up at the Beverly Wilshire and then we could just go in the studio and knock it out.’

“I’m like, ‘I don’t know.’ And she’s like, ‘Be a lamb.’ And I’m like, ‘Ahhh, you’re bugging [Laughs.]!’ And sure enough, she squoze until I’m getting on a fucking jet to go to L.A. She had the private jet waiting in Miami.

“She set me up in the Bevery Wilshire in a super suite. And then, I go to the studio, and she wants to record. And I’m like, ‘I swear, every TV in this studio better be on the Superbowl, yo.’”

50 Cent "Fuck You" (2002)

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Album: Guess Who’s Back

Label: Full Clip

DJ Clark Kent: “That’s one of my favorites. I knew him from when he was young. All this shit happens, and he gets shot or whatever, and ‘Fuck You’ was the record that brought him back. I had the nuts enough to say, ‘Come on 50, you’ve got to record. You can’t give it up.’

“He’s told it in stories before. If you watch his Behind The Music special, he says, ‘Clark made the ‘Fuck You’ song, and that’s when it came back.’ Me and 50 were cool, and I was doing a DJ Clark Kent album, and I was like, ‘I got this song I want you to be on. It’s called the ‘Fuck You’ song.’ And he was like, ‘What?’


 

Sauce [Money] and Ace Of Spade from Major Figgas was on it. So when he got to the studio, he gets in the booth, and I’m telling him what was going to happen. But he already had the beat. So he does three verses. And I’m like, ‘Dog I said there’s other rappers on this.’ And he’s like, ‘Nah Clark, I’m sorry, I had to spaz on this one. Can you take the other guys off the song?’


 

“Sauce [Money] and Ace Of Spade from Major Figgas was on it. So when he got to the studio, he gets in the booth, and I’m telling him what was going to happen. But he already had the beat. So he does three verses. And I’m like, ‘Dog I said there’s other rappers on this.’ And he’s like, ‘Nah Clark, I’m sorry, I had to spaz on this one. Can you take the other guys off the song?’

“So I figured I’d let him do the full song, and on my album I’d put the version with the three artists on it. Until I listened to the full song again. And I’m like, ‘God, this is ugly.’

“[On the song, he’s like,] ‘Tone and Poke pussy.’ And I’m like, god, I gotta call these guys. Because Tone [of Trackmasters] is my man. So I tell Tone what he was saying, and he’s like, ‘Fuck it, it’s all good.’

“And now, this record is rumbling, and it’s on every mixtape, and everybody likes it. He’s popping shit, and he’s going back at everything.

“Everybody thought it was DJ Premier [that produced the record]. But if you listen to my beats, it sounds like my beat. But what did it was all the words in the hook and the way the hook was put together. Even Preem was like, ‘It sounds like me I guess, but it’s not me.’


 

It was on the Guess Who’s Back mixtape, which probably sold a million records and no one ever got paid for it.


 

“When I made the beat, I made the hook. The hook was put together to be scratched. When Styles said that, I used to always scratch that ‘I don’t give a fuck who you are, so fuck who you are’ line over things. And then [I put the Pain In Da Ass, Big Pun, and Nas samples in after that]. That’s probably why it never made it to a real album, because there were too many samples to clear. It was on the Guess Who’s Back mixtape, which probably sold a million records and no one ever got paid for it.

“I was actually going to ask Premier to scratch on it. It’s just that when 50 did the verses and he loved it, he took the CD, and the shit went everywhere. And that started the, ‘What the fuck is this? Who the fuck is this guy?’ And they recognized that I did the first song after 50 got shot.

“It’s crazy because I was friends with ‘Preme [who 50 Cent had a conflict in the streets with]. But it’s about the artistry. I knew [50], and I just thought he was a good artist. I just cared about the record.”

Redman "Dis Is Brick City" (2007)

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Album: Red Gone Wild: Thee Album

Label: Def Jam

DJ Clark Kent: “I like that song! That’s a Millie Jackson sample. All I know is, I got the ability to produce for Redman. Ahhh, Redman, dog?!? Who rhymes like Redman? He’s crazy.

“I was always cool with Redman. And he was like [imitating Redman], ‘Yo Clark, come on man, we was supposed to have done records a long time ago. Just come to the studio.’ And then Erick [Sermon] called me and was like, ‘Yo, Red is asking you to come to the studio.’ And then Rockwilder calls me, and he’s like, ‘Are you getting on Red’s album? Because he keeps saying that you’re coming to the studio.’ So I’m like, ‘Oh shit, I gotta go to the studio.’

“So I go to the studio, and I play him like ten beats. And he’s like, ‘I’m gonna use this one for me and [Method Man], but this shit I’m doing now!’ And he let the beat play, and he’s like, ‘Dis Is Brick City!’ And I’m like, ‘Wow. You just went crazy.’

“I was just happy to be working with Redman. I think he’s super ill. [Him and B.I.G.] had a lot of respect for each other.”

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