Interview by: Kristen Teesdale
What’s up, Nastee. Thanks for taking a minute to talk with iStandardProducers and offering a glimpse into your musical past, present and future. Let’s talk firsts. Tell us a little bit about your first DJ experience. It obviously led you down an exciting path in the music industry. Do you remember how that first DJ gig (in New Orleans with Dizzy D.) went down?
It was crazy! We had one day to rehearse because at the time Dizzy lived in New Orleans and I lived in Austin, TX. The radio show was on WKUT, the University of Texas’ college station. We put our set together the day before with Diz rocking the mic and working the drum machine and me on the turntables cutting in samples and little sounds and whatnot. I still have the cassette of that broadcast. They gave us an hour to do our thing live on air. We were young, maybe 15 or 16 years old and nervous as hell! The funny part is they told us “No swearing on the air” and one of the first records I played was a Public Enemy record that said “f*ck” about three times! Diz, whose uncles are Aaron Neville & The Neville Brothers, was rhyming while working the drum machine and the host kept asking him wack questions about New Orleans jazz and second line. I laugh when I see Lil’ Wayne deal with those types of questions because we had to defend hip hop just like he does but this was 1987! After the show I knew the hip hop industry was going to be my career path because I had that adrenaline rush that people talk about when your music/art is reaching the public.
When did you first go on-air with a radio station? Did you feel naturally comfortable live on radio or did you need to overcome any level of anxiousness?
That performance with Diz on KUT was my first experience on air. I felt comfortable once we were on air but prior to hitting the airwaves, we were both a bundle of nerves. The second the red “on air” light went on, the nerves went out the window and we did our thing. For a one day rehearsal we did pretty well. When I listen back to the cassette, we killed it for about 40 minutes (we did our best material first) and for the last 10 minutes, we were a little desperate to fill up the hour. That experience had me excited to move forward in the music industry.
Do you recall your first days in the NYC music scene? Did your experience with a major label differ immensely from the work you’d done up to that point?
My first days on the NYC music scene were insane! It was 1990 so we’re talking about the middle of the golden age in hip hop. I remember going to the New Music Seminar that summer and meeting every rapper/DJ that was out at the time, from 3rd Bass and Richie Rich to Ice Cube and Sir Jinx. I went from watching YO!MTV Raps every week to being on it – all in the span of about two weeks after graduating high school! Working with big labels and within the industry itself was a lot different then any music I had done to that point. I realized quickly that the music business was more about the business and less about the music, but I’m a hustler so I had no problem adjusting. Hip hop wasn’t as big a business as it is now so you didn’t have to worry about cross over as much. Hip hop was selling millions with no video or radio so you could still do you for the most part.
How did you garner those first major industry connections with Unity 2 and Boogie Down Productions?
I was living in Boston and DJing in this reggae band called “One World” (my dad was the bass player). When “One World”" went in the studio to record, the lead singer singer brought in his homies to help produce. His homies were Kevin Batchelor and Sidney Mills who had worked with KRS One on his third album “Ghetto Music” and had just wrapped “Edutainment”. Kev and Sid both saw I had talent and the right attitude and told me to look them up when I graduated high school. I called them the day after I graduated! Kev got me an audition with “Unity 2″ (he was playing trumpet for them). “Unity 2″ was the first hip hop band with a DJ signed to a major label (Reprise/Warner Bros.) They had some small hits called “Shirlee” and “Buckwheat, The Rebel”. I killed the audition, battling the other DJ they were about to hire. This prompted my move to NYC. I was sleeping on couches for that first year but it was well worth it. Being in “Unity 2″ with Kev led to me kickin’ it with various members of BDP and I got hella cool with Harmony. She saw me spin and asked me to be her tour DJ. At this point in time BDP ran New York so it was an honor to be associated with such a mighty crew even though I was pretty much a BDP scrub having to go to the store and get Heineken’s and ice cream when we were in the studio. I didn’t care though … I was in the game and makin’ it happen!
Your time with Boogie Down Productions DJing for Harmony eventually led you to your first gigs as an engineer and as a producer. Did these projects with KRS-One aid as inspiration or encouragement for you to make that transition into production and engineering?
Most definitely. I remember sessions when KRS and Kenny Parker were producing Heather B’s first songs. KRS is so creative, I just remember being blown away. The first beat I ever produced in the studio was an intro for Harmony that we used for our live show. That was my first taste of engineering and producing and I was hooked.
How did your work as a mix engineer benefit you as a producer?
It’s always important to learn as much about your field as you can. I learned to be an engineer because I was tired of telling non-hip hop engineers how the sh*t was supposed to sound. Knowing the ins and outs of the studio will always help you as a producer. Not just the technical side either. It’s good to know the business side of the studio and engineering as well. Big ups to my Big Bro Bobby Konders for instilling that in me. He always told me to study all aspects of the game.
When you landed with The Cutting Room Studios in NYC, you gained experience working with the top artists of the time including Mobb Deep, Big Pun, Noreaga and more. What transpired that led you away from your gig in Manhattan?
While it was great to work with top artists, it was horrible to work with no name artists because the late nineties were the days of huge record deals for rappers with “hot” demos. These unproven no names were so draining to work with because they had bigger egos than most established artists. They’d treat me like an intern when I was the head engineer! Sometimes the no names would be actin’ big headed and I was making more money on the session than they were because they had spent their advance on a platinum chain. Also, as an engineer, I never had time to work on my own music with my own artists. I was able to politic a beat to an artist here and there but for the most part, the engineer game was a non-stop grind. I used to joke with The Cutting Room studio owner that I was like a doctor because I was on call so much! Once I picked up the mic in 1999 it was a wrap. I knew that I had to focus on being an artist. After shopping me and my peoples’ demo around in ’99 and 2000 I realized I had to pursue my own independent grind. The main reason was because I refused to water down the message in my music. The music industry was not trying to hear new world order raps prior to 9-11. Even small labels like Rawkus and Game were afraid to touch my material. Plus it was hard to shop a demo to a label that owed me money for engineering. A lot of A & Rs were like “Don’t we owe Nastee for that mix he did last week? F*ck his demo!” So in late 2000 I packed my bags and bounced.
Moving from the music industry in NYC to the scene in VT must have been an adjustment. What were the pros to having been in the NY grind first? What were the cons?
It was really hard to make the transition. Luckily I was already visiting Vermont because my partner in rhyme, Konflik, was already living up there making noise as a local MC. As a New Yorker a lot of the Vermonters were not diggin’ my loud, aggressive talk, but real recognizes real so I bonded with the top music cats out here and we got it in. The pros of being from NYC are my work ethic in the studio and promotional strategies. Being in the game in NY in the nineties, I watched Bad Boy hold up B.I.G. and Craig Mack signs at The New Music Seminar. I watched the rise of LOUD Records through their incredible street team, so I had an edge on how to promote. Whereas the VT cats were putting up one poster for an event, I would cover the whole wall! Some cats out here were/are still learning the business side, so of course I had an advantage there. But that also works against me sometimes because I’m not from Vermont so it looks like the big city dude Deebo-ing the local scene. In fact, I created VT Union to show VT artists that I wasn’t trying to takeover they scene, I was adding on. Most that hate on me just want my spot so it’s all good. If you don’t have any haters then you doing something wrong!
Following your independent vision with the inception of VT Union and maintaining prominence as a producer/engineer for major artists like T.I. requires a dedication to balance. How do you manage multi-tasking different projects?
I was only the engineer on the T.I. project. My homie Just Blaze was the producer. But yea, it takes a lot of discipline to prioritize and multi-task. I wear so many different hats that sometimes I forget that I’m an artist too! The key is to figure out which projects need to get done first. I love just sitting in the studio making beats and writing rhymes but the reality is that, as a business, you have to make sure the bills are paid as well. So I have to make sure my DJ gigs are booked, beats are sent to artists and other outlets, mixes are locked down and whatever else. I work long hours (usually 12 – 15 hour work days) but that’s what it takes if you want to make things happen. I once heard Diddy say that he worked 20 hours a day for ten years straight to get where he is… I f*cks with that.
The grind continues in 2010 with VT Union’s last release, production on Donny Goines’ EP and Craig G. and Mr. Cheeks’ collaboration, and the release of your next solo CD with Al Lindstrom’s ALM Group featuring Raekwon and Smif-n-Wessun. What’s left on your professional and personal ‘to-do’ list?
It’s funny because when I left NYC most people said I was crazy to leave at the top of the engineering game but I knew that I had to pursue my own vision. Now 10 years later, I am doing exactly what I envisioned. I’m putting out my own stuff, producing for other artists and feeling good. The advantage of being outside of NYC is that my mind is open to other styles. I heard about huge indie label MCs like Brother Ali, Atmosphere and Murs when I got out here; in NYC you get stuck in the big business of it all. I’ve been heavy into video editing and animation for the last six months so that’s starting to play into my music hard body. I just produced a joint for Termanology and made an animated video for it. It drops this summer. My goal right now is to get my company, 4word Productions, in the public eye. Big ups to my business partner, DJ A.dog, who has been doing his thing as a DJ in VT forever. We are expanding and growing daily so I’m putting all my talents and energies into it. I’d like to get my music to a national level and do some touring. We’re all about positive vibes so I’d like to spread that around as much as I can.
Learn more about Nastee at 4wrodproductions.org or follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/nasteeluvzyou.
