The Alchemist Tells All: The Stories Behind His Classic Records (Part 1)

Alc talks about producing for Nas, Snoop Dogg, and many more.

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Complex Original

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You may not realize it, but after dropping several excellent projects in 2012, The Alchemist is quietly having one of the best (and most productive) years of his illustrious career. Earlier in the year, Gangrene (his duo with Oh No) dropped Vodka & Ayahuasca , he followed that up with his own album, Russian Roulette, and he teamed up with Domo Genesis of Odd Future to release No Idols.

What's more impressive than what's he's already done this year is all the projects he's got lined up for the future. He's been working on an entire album with Action Bronson titled Rare Chandeliers, he's got another project with Evidence titled Step Brothers, as well as projects with artists like Prodigy, Freddie Gibbs, and Boldy James.  

But before we can talk too much about his future, we'd like to look back on his past. It's been a long road for the 34-year-old producer, who grew up in Beverly Hills, California. Even though he hails from the West Coast and he got into the game under prominent Cali acts like Cypress Hill, ALC rose to fame producing for New York rappers like Mobb Deep. His street-oriented sound hasn't produced too many Billboard hits, but more classics than your average beatsmith.

In part one of our two-part conversation, Alchemist reflected on how he came up in the game and some of his earliest hits. He talked about how he used to carry Everlast's bags on tour, how Snoop Dogg came through to the studio with coffee bean sized bags of weed, and the advice the late, great Chris Lighty gave him about radio. 

As told to Insanul Ahmed (@Incilin)

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Dilated Peoples "Third Degree" (1997)

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Album: N/A
Label: ABB

The Alchemist: “Aw man this is like digging through an old box of dusty polaroids. Lemme see if I can find that Polaroid hold on...here it isn’t. Nah, lemme think.

“If I remember correctly it was when I first moved to New York. I was on that Spanish shit hard, listening to Beatnuts beats. I came to New York and found all the Dominican and Puerto Rican records that I never found in L.A. The horns was from something Latin, I just threw it together. How the song came together I can’t recall but I think they just did it in L.A. and it was funky fresh.


 

Jason Goldwatch has always been weird and smelled bad and always looked like a washed up Tom Cruise that needs to go to the hospital. He's really talented. Great guy, just looks weird and smells weird. Smokes all your weed too. What a guy!


 

“The video was like a really good bad video and Defari has a really funny hat on. It was shot on Super8, that’s how far back that shit goes. Jason Goldwatch did that video, so we’ve known that guy that long. He's always been weird and smelled bad and always looked like a washed up Tom Cruise that needs to go to the hospital. He's really talented. Great guy, just looks weird and smells weird. Smokes all your weed too. What a guy!

“The first time I met Evidence he was rapping outside of the Troubadour in L.A. He had these big spaces in his teeth, you could put a toothpick through every tooth. Me and my man Scott Caan from The Whooliganz were standing outside and Evidence walked up smoking a cigarette and asked, ‘Yo man they got an open mic tonight?’ He just wanted to rap. He knew somebody I knew. Scott knew him before me and kinda connected with him, so I knew him before the Dilated thing.

“I met Raka through Evidence, whom he knew through the graffiti world and through the hip-hop shop off of Melrose. Coming up on the Westside of L.A., [we were all] trying to be creative, doing graffiti, skateboarding, and rap. We just landed on rap because it took us away from everything else.

“That’s around the time I met Ev. It’s not like we skated together but we all grew up doing the same shit. That’s how that started and then Dilated People grew from there. You know them forming the group and me getting into production.”

Defari "Focused Daily" (1999)

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Terror Squad "Bring It On" (1999)

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Album: The Album
Label: WMG, Big Beat, Terror Squad

The Alchemist: “I remember that beat well. That’s the Jewish piano right there. That’s the actual name on the disk, it’s pretty funny I got the picture somewhere. There's a version of that beat with Beanie Sigel on it.

“A lot of people don’t know my relationship with Kyambo ‘Hip-Hop’ Joshua and [Former Roc-A-Fella Records exec] Kareem “Biggs” Burke goes back a long time. They will always be my close friends in the business.


 

Beans and I had never met and he rolled through with his crew and he was like, ‘Yo you the engineer man? Roll some weed up.’ I remember calling Hip-Hop and being like, ‘Damn, I wish you were here to referee this.’


 

“I met Hip-hop hanging out with DJ Premier at D&D Studios, when he was working with Jay-Z. I used to hang out at D&D with Premier and whenever people came through he would always say, ‘Yo, this is my man Al.’ He did a lot for me without even realizing it.

“They were picking Preme up and they were going to another studio so I rolled with them and then me and Hop started talking. He's the same age as me and we’ve been real close friends ever since. And you know Biggs is his brother.

“When they signed Beans, they were on a mission to hook me up with him cause I was coming up and they just felt like it would be a good match. I had this one DAT tape at the time I had mad beats on it and I would see Biggs and he would be like, ‘Yo number 17’ or some number on the tape and he would be like, ‘Number 17, I'm telling Beans about that one.’ We always tried to put it together.

“But it was a weird session, it didn’t really click off right. I was at Quad Studios and nobody was there, Beans and I had never met and he rolled through with his crew and he was like, ‘Yo you the engineer man? Roll some weed up.’ I remember calling Hip-Hop and being like, ‘Damn, I wish you were here to referee this.’


 

Maybe two or three times, I went to Rocafella or Def Jam and went to go meet Beans, Biggs, or Hop and they called Jay-Z into the room. I definitely got to play beats before for Jay in those scenarios but it just never connected.


 

“Maybe two or three times, I went to Rocafella or Def Jam and went to go meet Beans, Biggs, or Hop and they called Jay-Z into the room. I definitely got to play beats before for Jay in those scenarios but it just never connected.

“Beans is my man and I love him and have nothing but respect for him, but the first time in the studio with him was strange. We ended up doing some stuff that night and we ended up recording to the ‘Bring It On’ beat. I remember him saying, ‘You only balled on the playground’ and it was dope but it got lost in the shuffle.

“Then it made it to the Terror Squad project. Joe did justice to it. It’s funny because my friend Stretch Armstrong ended up throwing that on for The LOX to freestlye to. Stretch ended up calling me saying, ‘Yo The LOX want to hookup with you’ and that kinda started my relationship with The LOX.”

Mobb Deep "The Realest" (1999)

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Album: Murda Muzik
Label: SME, Columbia, Loud

The Alchemist: “I had just come off a tour with Cypress Hill. I was hanging with DJ Muggs on the tour helping out and rolling with him. Freddie Foxx, Gangstar, and M.O.P were on the tour as well. I remember linking with Foxx on the tour.

“Freddie would come to the back of the bus and hear my beats as I was making beats in the back of the bus. He’d be like, ‘Yo is Cypress using these? When we get home I'm fucking with you.’ It meant a lot [coming from him], Freddie Fox was definitely one of the first people who said I had some shit.

“So we came home after the tour and there was a Freddie Foxx joint I was supposed to do the next morning with him. I went to sleep early that night and Prodigy called me. I had just met Mobb Deep around that time. I kept going over to Soundtrack to play beats for them.


 

I’d never seen them together. It’d be like Havoc would be there, but not P. A couple days later, there’d be P but no Havoc. It’s funny because I’d go see Havoc and he’d be like, ‘Yo I like this one’ and it’d be the beat to ‘The Realest.’ Then I'd go see P and he'd be like, ‘I like this one,’ and I'd say, ‘Oh yeah Havoc liked the same one.’


 

“I’d never seen them together. It’d be like Havoc would be there, but not P. A couple days later, there’d be P but no Havoc. It’s funny because I’d go see Havoc and he’d be like, ‘Yo I like this one’ and it’d be the beat to ‘The Realest.’ Then I'd go see P and he'd be like, ‘I like this one,’ and I'd say, ‘Oh yeah Havoc liked the same one.’ But then nothing happened from there.

“Then P just called me that night and said, ‘Yo, remember that beat, come to the studio we wanna lay that beat down.’ I was like, ‘Bet.’ I literally threw my ASR in the fucking case and got a cab and went to the studio and when I got there, G Rap was sitting there.

“I didn’t even know and I was like, ‘Wow! He's like my favorite rapper.’ The minute I walked in with the keyboard P was like, ‘Yo we want to use that beat for the album’ and I was like, ‘Where’s the engineer? Plug in the keyboard lets go!’

“I was supposed to call my manager and be like, ‘Hold on lets get the business right’ but I just went for it. Laid the beat down, G Rap wrote that shit in 45 minutes. The minute he heard the beat he was just gone like, ‘Lemme go in,’ and he laid that shit down. Everybody was just astounded, removing organs, I couldn’t even recite it right now.

“It took time [to build a relationship with Mobb Deep]. They’re not the type of crew who would take to new people, I saw that right away. So I really got [cool with] Infamous Mobb. Muggs hooked me up with them first. They took to me and it was gradual, it wasn’t some instant, ‘We’re fucking with you!’ I kept at it and the sound fit to where it just clicked.”

Royce da 5'9" "I'm the King" (2001)

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Pharoahe Monch f/ M.O.P. "No Mercy" (1999)

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Album: Internal Affairs
Label: EMI, Priority, Rawkus

The Alchemist:“I wanted Prodigy to use that beat. Pharoahe Monch came to my crib, we were listening to beats, and he liked that beat. I told him I wanted to give it to Prodigy but then I played it for him and after it went off he was like, ‘I don’t want any of these other beats. I just want that beat.’ I was like, ‘Alright let me make sure first with Prodigy first.’


 

Pharoahe was the best and he still is the greatest of all time.


 

“I remember calling Prodigy. That beat was something I wanted P to rhyme on, not something he wanted to rhyme on. So he was like, ‘Cool, [he can have it].’ It’s funny cause even on the credits for the album, Pharoahe told Prodigy good looking out for the beat.

“Pharoahe was the best and he still is the greatest of all time. He was just not human. Evidence will tell you that too. Pharoahe was on a level above everything for so long, even to this day he's not human with the way he puts his words, deliveries, and concepts together. Being able to work with him meant a lot to me. To this day it still does. It’s just that type of shit you never expect would happen. Pharoahe Monch is still another level.”

Everlast f/ B-Real "Deadly Assassins" (2000)

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Album: Eat at Whitey’s
Label: Warner Bros., Tommy Boy

The Alchemist: “I used to carry Everlast’s duffle bag with all his North Faces in it. I used to clean his Ewings with a toothbrushes before he hit the stage and I used to wash his Celtic’s jersey.

“Basically, I rolled with them and I was the little guy down with them. If they needed me to do whatever, I would do it. Mostly what I did was roll the joints. Like, ‘Roll the joints Al!’ I could roll a good fucking joint now because I had a lot of years of practice. Like, who wants to battle?

“I look at old pictures of us on tour and it’s like damn, I didn’t even have fucking facial hair. I was like 14 or 15 years old, I was a younging. On tour, we would do at least 15 bong hits before breakfast. That was a great training course, it was amazing.


 

I used to carry Everlast’s duffle bag with all his North Faces in it. I used to clean his Ewings with a toothbrushes before he hit the stage and I used to wash his Celtic’s jersey. I was the little guy down with them. If they needed me to do whatever, I would do it. Mostly what I did was roll joints.


 

“My parents weren’t really with [me touring]. I was in my sophomore year of high school and the only way it would work was to get a tutor to travel on tour with us. So Happy Walters and Amanda Scheer from our record company, Buzztone, found us a guy who worked for them in their office. His name was Langston.

“On the first day on tour, we get on the bus and Langston is like, ‘Just keep me high all tour and we ain’t gotta do no work.’ I was like, ‘My man!’ It worked out great. He ended up being from the Bay Area and he had all the connects for the good weed in the Bay. Needless to say, we didn’t get much work done but here I am, the great fuckup that I am.

“To be able to make beats for the people that I traveled and carried their fucking bags for was cool. It still is. I look up to those guys to this day. I've known them a long time.

“That was an era of experimentation. You could go to anytime and I could break down the experiment behind what I was trying to do. That’s when the Tritons hit and I was experimenting with those. I was still using the ASR but I think I was sampling out of the Triton and making those empty beats that hit hard.

“I was making, as my man Biggs would call it, sinister [beats]. The minister of sinister, Biggs used to call me that. I was like, ‘Come on man do I have to make some soul beats to even it out?’ Biggs, he thinks I haven’t made a good beat since I stopped using my ASR-10 but he's a big supporter.”

Prodigy "Keep it Thoro" (2000)

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Album: H.N.I.C
Label: Relativity

The Alchemist: “[When I first got with Mobb Deep] P was working on H.N.I.C.. It was good timing because I had the right joints to fit for him. After we made it, me and Twin had a copy of it on cassette. So we went to the Puerto Rican day parade with a boombox and we were walking around Central Park banging that shit. Everyone came up and was like, ‘What is that son?’ This was before it came out so we were trying to stunt.

“When we did the vocals, P kinda had a cold. He was under the weather, you can hear it in his delivery, he was a little more nasal than usual. I wanted to bring the break down in more but he was like, ‘Nah yo, because when it comes in it’s special.’ He made a good call on that one because when it does come in, it is special. That was one of those.


 

I remember after the record came out Chris Lighty was like, ‘Yo, the song could be bigger if it had a hook, we need a hook for radio’ and I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ and that’s when I learned about radio.


 

“It was a good feeling to be living in New York and having a song like ‘Keep It Thoro.’ I never really feel like I made it. The song didn’t affect my confidence of what I can do, I had something to prove, but that definitely added to my confidence as far as being able to make something that would translate to New York City.

“On top of all that, it was dope because it got heavy radio airplay all day with no chorus. It was a song on the radio, but not a huge radio hit. I remember after the record came out Chris Lighty was like, ‘Yo, the song could be bigger if it had a hook, we need a hook for radio’ and I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ and that’s when I learned about radio.

“When radio does call research on a song they loop up 10 seconds of a song for the listeners and do surveys. What part do they loop? The hook. So if a song doesn’t have a hook, they don’t even know what to loop so they were like we need a hook.

“Later, they got Havoc in the studio to put a hook on it and there's even a version out that ended up going out to radio with Hav’s hook but it just didn’t do anything. The hook was dope too but the song was already powerful enough. Every now and then a song comes through without a hook. It was still a hit, to what degree of a hit who’s to say, but I feel like that was one of those records. Every time we do that song live, it never fails.”

Prodigy "Veteran's Memorial" (2000)

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Big Pun f/ Tony Sunshine "Mamma" (2001)

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Album: Endangered Species
Label: Loud

The Alchemist:“With the exception of Snoop, my best and most memorable experiences in the studio were with Big Pun. I have so many Pun stories. I was really lucky. We didn’t end up getting to release a lot, but the moments I had in the studio with him getting to work were...I can’t even...there are no words to describe Pun.


 

Everybody who knew Pun knows that anything he would wear would be so exaggerated and tailor made to fit him. If he had the forest green Uptowns, then he had the forest green leather pants, and a forest green hat. He embodied what you see in a graffiti caricature, he was like a human cartoon.


 

“I would literally be in awe every time he would come to the studio. Everybody who knew him knows that anything he would wear would be so exaggerated and tailor made to fit him. If he had the forest green Uptowns, then he had the forest green leather pants, and a forest green hat. He embodied what you see in a graffiti caricature, he was like a human cartoon. He was incredible. I'd be staring at him and he’d be like, ‘Yo what the fuck are you looking at.’

“Then, his humor, he never turned off. He was literally one of the funniest people you could ever be around. He loved Cuban Link, he would always do funny things for Cuban. There were so many times in the studio where he was just a jokester and it came across in the music.

“He’d have two cereal boxes with ducktape around them that said, ‘Pun’s Cereal’ and he would literally reach over and tip the whole two boxes and down half of it just sitting there. Anything that was edible, that he could reach, he was busting down. Like if there was a bowl of fruit that was there just for aesthetics that nobody would eat, he would reach over and just bust half an apple down in one bite.


 

He’d have two cereal boxes with ducktape around them that said, ‘Pun’s Cereal’ and he would literally reach over and tip the whole two boxes and down half of it just sitting there.


 

“I didn’t have my weight up enough to really be creating the greatest amount of music with him but I remember his character. It’s really wack that he wasn’t able to make more of the music that he made because he was on his way to some other shit with the singing. Sometimes I go and watch old footage and interviews of him and he's just, he was great man.

“I could never to make a comparison on that level because Pun was something no one could ever be, but some of his humor and some of his great qualities I see in Action Bronson. I could never compare the two, but the humor and the personality comes through so well. Like there's people who are just fun to be around and have that type of energy.”

Jadakiss f/ Styles P "We Gonna Make It" (2001)

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Album: Kiss Tha Game Goodbye
Label: Interscope, Ruff Ryders

The Alchemist: “There was some confusion [between Jadakiss and Ras Kass with this beat ]. They were both good friends of mine at this point and before that so it was a lot of bullshit confusion. Raz is incredible, Jada is incredible. They’re both great artists. I think maybe the Jadakiss record stuck a little more for whatever reason. Who knows?

“But I can go further back than that. I tracked that beat for Nas before even all that. He didn’t end up getting on it. He ended up putting Nashawn on it but that version never made it. I mean, with beats you shop them around and things happen.


 

I tracked that beat for Nas before even all that [drama with Jadakiss and Ras Kass].


 

“I remember doing the Jadakiss session. I went to Yonkers and after we tracked the beat Kiss went in the booth and after the first line it was over. When he was like, ‘They gotta use the scales that they weigh the whales with,’ It was like here we go! It was already it was a wrap. Jada and Styles chemistry on that song is crazy.

“Kiss was like, ‘You’re gonna be real rich. Real rich, kid.’ He was gassing me up. It was like the early stages but that whole crew always showed me nothing but love. You meet a lot of artists and you meet their inner circle and you get to know a lot of people in this game but their crew, and everybody around them, are nothing but good people. They show me nothing but love and I do the same back. More than just work and music. It’s a great connection and they can get whatever from me.”

Styles P "A Gangster and a Gentleman" (2002)

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Ghostface Killah "The Forest" (2001)

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Nas "My Way" (2002)

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Album: The Lost Tapes
Label: Columbia, Ill Will

The Alchemist: “This is gonna be a really nerdy interview we gotta do something funny man, something’s gotta explode or something. I should fake some type of an attack, fake like I had some type of attack. ‘Ahhhhh!’ Okay I'm back now that was crazy.

“I wasn’t there when he did the vocals, because Nas would take beats of his own out. At that time, one of his A&Rs would give him beats or hit me way later and say like, ‘I want you to see what Nas did to this beat.’


 

I also brought some records in a bag because I was thinking of the title, Stillmatic. I always liked those freestyles that Nasdid, like ‘Splittin Phillies,’ all of those joints that sounded like he was rhyming in a park.


 

“Nas was doing Stillmatic, he had the title already. He was in the studio in Long Island and I went out there to see him. I had all these beats on a DAT tape but I also brought some records in a bag because I was thinking of the title, Stillmatic. I always liked those freestyles that he did, like ‘Splittin Phillies,’ all of those joints that sounded like he was rhyming in a park.

“So I went to the studio and I was playing him beats. I said, ‘Yo, it’s cool but the name Stillmatic, I just heard something like if we just looped this up and I threw on a Cecil Homes version of the Barry White shit. On some park shit.’ And he was rubbing his chin like, ‘Alright, go loop it up.’

“Nas left, I looped it up, and we did whatever we had to do to get it swinging. I left and came back the next day and Nas wasn’t there but the engineer just pressed play and the song was done. It pretty much embodied what we were talking about. No half stepping, flat tops, he just killed it. It made me realize how beyond good he is.”

Nas "Book of Rhymes" (2002)

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Album: God’s Son
Label: Columbia, Ill Will

The Alchemist: “That happened like how the song sounds, I couldn’t even front. We were sitting there one day, working on his album in Orlando. I had a bunch of beats going through the ASR.

"Nas had brought a bunch of books out to Orlando because I guess he writes in his off time. He was going through shit and I was playing a beat and he said, ‘Yo that shit would be ill right?’ And I said, ‘What?’ And he said, ‘Yo I'm just going through rhymes.’


 

I wish I could say I had something more to do with that song than me making the beat. But, no, sorry guys. Give all the credit to Nas.


 

“I didn’t even know what he meant to be honest, then he just told the engineer to track the beat in. We tracked it in and he just did what he did. He went in there like he was on a mission. He knew what he was about to do. And it was ill!

“I remember later I wanted to spruce the beat up and put breakdowns in it and he was like, ‘Nah, it has a vibe like we’re really just in the studio and you put on a rough beat and I am just going through rhymes. If you put in breakdowns then its gonna sound too contrived.’ As a producer, I want to do all the bells and whistles but he made a good call.

“He's an artist and I don’t wanna reveal his magic tricks, but I remember after recording a few lines or so, he went back and recorded the sound of the paper flipping the page. When he stopped the line or crumpling the page.

“He's an artist in every sense. We all know from his track record how great he is and it’s not like he stumbled on it. I wish I could say I had something more to do with that song than me making the beat. But, no, sorry guys. Give all the credit to Nas.”

Cypress Hill f/ Tego Calderón "Latin Thugs" (2004)

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Cormega "The Legacy" (2002)

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Mobb Deep "Got It Twisted" (2004)

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Album: Amerikaz Nightmare
Label: BMG, Jive, Infamous

The Alchemist: “That that came from a nickname that we all called P, we all called him Science because he was a smart guy. He’s scientific man, he reads a lot.

“Him and Havoc were at my crib one day, I was making a beat and they were in the other room and I was going, ‘Science!’ And he was like, ‘Yo what the fuck is that?’ I said ‘You don’t remember that song? "She Blinded Me With Science" by Thomas Dolby?’ He said, ‘I think so.’ So then I pulled it up and he was like, ‘Oh yeah.’

“Then they came in the room and Havoc was like, ‘Yo that’s ill’ and he started bopping to it and they started writing to it immediately. Then Havoc saying, ‘Yo you just gotta make the drums a little bigger.’ And then within the next couple days he called me and said, ‘Nah son, we gotta leave it. It’s ill.’

“So we went from there. I was thinking of ‘Quiet Storm,’ how Hav took an ‘80s bassline break down and put a little keyboard that just made it ominous. I wanted to be ominous too. So I om-u-nized ‘She Blinded Me With Science.’ And they gutted it out enough.


 

Some people felt it was a risky thing and we toed the line by using some ‘80s pop. But I never felt that way because growing up and watching MTV being the most rapped out hip-hop kid, there were always songs that we loved that were pop. That was one of them and we all loved that song, 'She Blinded Me With Science.'


 

“Some people felt it was a risky thing and we toed the line by using some ‘80s pop shit. But I never felt that way because growing up and watching MTV being the most rapped out hip-hop kid, there were always songs that we loved that were pop. That was one of them and we all loved that song.

“[Some of those songs] were in movies like The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles. They were songs that we grew up with that get embedded in your fucking brain. So it was dope to pull that one off.

“I don’t think it made much money because we had to clear it but it was dope because the guy who made it, Thomas Dolby, said in an interview that he liked how we made it. It was always dope to me that we got his stamp. It was like I pulled up to the club in a fancy car and I stepped up with the goldfish platforms and said, ‘I have arrived!’ In a pimp suit!

“At that time, there was a whole batch of producers in the circle that we were working and we were all respectfully competing. It was Rockwilder, Buckwild, No ID, EZ Elpee, Diamond D, and Just Blaze. And of course Pharrell and them came up and blew up. There were so many people that were creative and dope on a production level. There are people like that now too, but at that time there was a lot of other dope shit that we all competed with.

“I would bump into [those other producers] at sessions. I'd be like, ‘Aww shit here’s fucking Rockwilder. I can’t play a beat now. He's gonna put on that amazing shit. Aww here comes Buckwild.’ There was a lot of creative and respectful competition of us trying to get on these albums. It made for good albums.”

Snoop Dogg "I Love to Give You Light" (2004)

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Album: R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece
Label: Geffen, Star Trak, Doggystyle

The Alchemist: “Prior to that song, I had done stuff for Tha Eastsidaz’ Duces 'n Trayz: The Old Fashioned Way. So I connected with Snoop then and did a lot of work with him then. We even did some stuff at the time that didn’t surface that was just him.

“So I already had the connection which was dope. That song came through by me staying in touch with him and sending him beats. His management and people are good friends of mine so I tried to stay on it.

“It’s tough because there are so many producers that Snoop has at his fingertips so it’s hard to get his full attention. Even the little moments or any bit of attention I can get from him to give him a track I appreciate.


 

Snoop came through with coffee bean sized bags of weed and he would roll two blunts the long way and have it looking like a retardedly overgrown magic wand, like a fat magic wand. It would be like smoking a piece of a tree. Anytime I ever did something with him in the studio, there was an obnoxious amount of smoke in the air.


 

“I was not in the studio with Snoop on that song but I’ve had mad vacations in the studio with him which are incredible stories. He came through with coffee bean sized bags of weed and he would roll two blunts the long way and have it looking like a retardedly overgrown magic wand, like a fat magic wand. It would be like smoking a piece of a tree. Anytime I ever did something with him in the studio, there was an obnoxious amount of smoke in the air.

“It’s ill because anytime I ever did anything with him, I would be skipping through beats and the minute the beat came on he would start freestyling. He would be mumbling some fly shit and that ended up being the hook for both joints. He was so spontaneous. When he catches a vibe it opens the filter. When a beat plays he allows whatever to come to his mind and that becomes the hook. It was really dope to me.

“And if something didn’t catch him [right away] it was on to the next. He would never sit around for hours and scratch your head to a beat. It was just so organic, it was dope.

“Everybody would be in the room and they would just start freestyling to the beat. After playing it for two minutes and everybody freestyling he would just say, ‘Okay you can charge that one to the game.’ That’s it. So anybody who worked with Snoop would tell you it was a dope experience. It makes work fun and its always a bonus when work is fun.

“I remember Bun B calling me after that song saying he was loving that shit. That meant a lot too, having someone like him reach out and say that was dope.”

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