KLC of Beats
by The Pound
Interview by Black Dog Bone
From Murder Dog vol 5 #3
How did you become a part of the No Limit produciton team, Beats By The Pound?
A couple of years ago at the Jack the Rapper convention, me Serv-On and another friend of mine went there and we bumped heads with P. Serv-On and P already knew each other. P was talkin about a project that was done in New Orleans, and he said he liked the beats on it. It so happened that I did the beats. So we exchanged numbers, but then I lost the number and we lost contact. Then P came out with The Ghetto's Tryin to Kill Me. He came into the club that I was deejayin in and he asked me why I hadn't called him, I told him I'd lost the number and we exchanged numbers again. He asked me about Serv-On and I said we was tryin to make things happen down here. He said, "What would it take to get you to move up to Cali?" I was like, "Whenever you want us to come." Then he called us the next day and said, "Your plane will be leavin New Orleans in 2 days." We took the flight and went on up to Cali. We was in from there.
What studio did you work in Cali?
We worked at K-Lou's studio, we worked at Pajama's and we worked at Al Eton.
Before you met Master P what were you doing?
I had my own company. We had a little success with it, but everything folded cause the artist was leaving. I was just a straight producer so it wasn't much I could do.
Are you happy to be with No Limit Records?
Most definitely. Working with Master P, it's the biggest thing that ever happened to me up till now. What happened with Master P was when we got into Cali we had run into some problems. When me and Mr. Serv-On and Mo B Dick was in Cali, P sat us down and let us know that things was gonna be kinda tight for a while, "Y'all just hang on and I'm gonna make it happen for us." He said, "I guarantee you I will get us a distribution deal, regardless what it takes." And it came through. After that he said, "It's time to put some plaques on the wall." Well you know the Ice Cream Man went platinum and West Coast Bad Boyz went platinum. TRU went double platinum. We just put in our time, we stuck together and we did what we had to do to make the company get where it is right now.
When Master P first made those promises did you believe it would happen like that?
Yes I did. Why I believed it was gonna happen was because when things wasn't lookin so good he coulda sent us home, but he said, "Nobody's goin nowhere. I guarantee you that I will make this happen." He turned down several deals until he felt he was goin with the right people. He gave us his word.
You were staying with him then?
No, he put us in apartments. We lived in Richmond for maybe 5 or 6 months. We was in-between Oakland and Richmond stayin. We recorded the whole Ice Cream Man in K-Lou's studio. Between K-Lou and my boy Carl Stevens--he's a producer in New Orleans also. It was back and forth in-between California and New Orleans.
Why did you believe in Master P? So many people talk, why did you believe he could make it happen?
It was like, I never did have no one come up to me and be so blunt about it. It was really my first time going off someone else's word. He just gave his word, and for me it wasn't nothing to lose. It was all a game. If it didn't happen I'm still where I started from. For me goin to Cali was just a nice experience to meet people and just to be in Cali.
Who did you meet in Cali?
As far as rappers, the only major one I met was E-40. As far as producers, I met K-Lou, I met Al Eton, and I met E-A-Ski.
Do you like a lot of the music coming out of the Bay?
Hell yeah. When you listen to the Bay music you get more live instruments. In the South it's all about the drums--that's all you really can roll with is the drums. That's the main factor of the song. In the South they really want the beat more than they wanna hear what you say. What I like about the Bay is they brought in the guitars, live bass. I always wanted to work with them type of people, but I never had the budget to do it. I was liking what came off the West Coast cause I grew up on Ice T and Eazy E.
What's the main difference between the West Coast and the South sound to you?
In the South it's more of a Funk feel. In the Bay Area you have more of like a G-Funk sound--like George Clinton, a lot of synthesizers. When you compare the South as far as their beats, the South has more rumble in their beats. You'll catch more people in the South with 15 woofers in the trunk cause they're mainly lookin for bass. Like I said before, it's all about the beat in South. You have to get the whole beat structure done to make a good Southern song. In the Bay Area, it's more of an overall thing as far as the music goes. The Bay, they more musical than the South.
Do you think part of P's success is that he had a combination of the South and the Bay in his sound?
It wasn't really a crossover. P grew up in New Orleans. He stayed in Richmond for only a couple years. You took him outa New Orleans, you took him from the South but you didn't take the South outa him. When we met him in Cali he had a straight out Bay Area/California sound. He took some of us from Down South cause he'd heard some of the stuff that we'd been doin. So he took me in, and P he ain't the type of person lookin for just one kinda beat. We have K-Lou and DJ Daryl on our production team, which is the West Coast, the Bay and Richmond--so he'll come to them for that Bay Area sound. Then he'll come to me, Mo B Dick, Craig B and O'Dell for more of a Southern sound. Beats by the Pound, we have our own sound, and we know what we have to do for him.
You knew Master p when he was getting started, and you know him now. Has he changed?
No, he's the same person. He's the same muthafucka when he was down in Cali in the projects. And he's the same muthafucka now runnin No Limit Records, and it's the same with everybody on the label. The money came in for us, everybody's livin nice, having their nice ride and handlin their business. There's a lot of things that people don't know that P been sponsoring. He done give away things at Easter, he done a lot of things for Christmas. He damn near just bought Christmas trees and gave 'em away to the people who couldn't afford to buy any. It's a lot of shit that people don't know about P, but he been giving back though.
Interview by Black Dog Bone
From Murder Dog vol 5 #3
How did you become a part of the No Limit produciton team, Beats By The Pound?
A couple of years ago at the Jack the Rapper convention, me Serv-On and another friend of mine went there and we bumped heads with P. Serv-On and P already knew each other. P was talkin about a project that was done in New Orleans, and he said he liked the beats on it. It so happened that I did the beats. So we exchanged numbers, but then I lost the number and we lost contact. Then P came out with The Ghetto's Tryin to Kill Me. He came into the club that I was deejayin in and he asked me why I hadn't called him, I told him I'd lost the number and we exchanged numbers again. He asked me about Serv-On and I said we was tryin to make things happen down here. He said, "What would it take to get you to move up to Cali?" I was like, "Whenever you want us to come." Then he called us the next day and said, "Your plane will be leavin New Orleans in 2 days." We took the flight and went on up to Cali. We was in from there.
What studio did you work in Cali?
We worked at K-Lou's studio, we worked at Pajama's and we worked at Al Eton.
Before you met Master P what were you doing?
I had my own company. We had a little success with it, but everything folded cause the artist was leaving. I was just a straight producer so it wasn't much I could do.
Are you happy to be with No Limit Records?
Most definitely. Working with Master P, it's the biggest thing that ever happened to me up till now. What happened with Master P was when we got into Cali we had run into some problems. When me and Mr. Serv-On and Mo B Dick was in Cali, P sat us down and let us know that things was gonna be kinda tight for a while, "Y'all just hang on and I'm gonna make it happen for us." He said, "I guarantee you I will get us a distribution deal, regardless what it takes." And it came through. After that he said, "It's time to put some plaques on the wall." Well you know the Ice Cream Man went platinum and West Coast Bad Boyz went platinum. TRU went double platinum. We just put in our time, we stuck together and we did what we had to do to make the company get where it is right now.
When Master P first made those promises did you believe it would happen like that?
Yes I did. Why I believed it was gonna happen was because when things wasn't lookin so good he coulda sent us home, but he said, "Nobody's goin nowhere. I guarantee you that I will make this happen." He turned down several deals until he felt he was goin with the right people. He gave us his word.
You were staying with him then?
No, he put us in apartments. We lived in Richmond for maybe 5 or 6 months. We was in-between Oakland and Richmond stayin. We recorded the whole Ice Cream Man in K-Lou's studio. Between K-Lou and my boy Carl Stevens--he's a producer in New Orleans also. It was back and forth in-between California and New Orleans.
Why did you believe in Master P? So many people talk, why did you believe he could make it happen?
It was like, I never did have no one come up to me and be so blunt about it. It was really my first time going off someone else's word. He just gave his word, and for me it wasn't nothing to lose. It was all a game. If it didn't happen I'm still where I started from. For me goin to Cali was just a nice experience to meet people and just to be in Cali.
Who did you meet in Cali?
As far as rappers, the only major one I met was E-40. As far as producers, I met K-Lou, I met Al Eton, and I met E-A-Ski.
Do you like a lot of the music coming out of the Bay?
Hell yeah. When you listen to the Bay music you get more live instruments. In the South it's all about the drums--that's all you really can roll with is the drums. That's the main factor of the song. In the South they really want the beat more than they wanna hear what you say. What I like about the Bay is they brought in the guitars, live bass. I always wanted to work with them type of people, but I never had the budget to do it. I was liking what came off the West Coast cause I grew up on Ice T and Eazy E.
What's the main difference between the West Coast and the South sound to you?
In the South it's more of a Funk feel. In the Bay Area you have more of like a G-Funk sound--like George Clinton, a lot of synthesizers. When you compare the South as far as their beats, the South has more rumble in their beats. You'll catch more people in the South with 15 woofers in the trunk cause they're mainly lookin for bass. Like I said before, it's all about the beat in South. You have to get the whole beat structure done to make a good Southern song. In the Bay Area, it's more of an overall thing as far as the music goes. The Bay, they more musical than the South.
Do you think part of P's success is that he had a combination of the South and the Bay in his sound?
It wasn't really a crossover. P grew up in New Orleans. He stayed in Richmond for only a couple years. You took him outa New Orleans, you took him from the South but you didn't take the South outa him. When we met him in Cali he had a straight out Bay Area/California sound. He took some of us from Down South cause he'd heard some of the stuff that we'd been doin. So he took me in, and P he ain't the type of person lookin for just one kinda beat. We have K-Lou and DJ Daryl on our production team, which is the West Coast, the Bay and Richmond--so he'll come to them for that Bay Area sound. Then he'll come to me, Mo B Dick, Craig B and O'Dell for more of a Southern sound. Beats by the Pound, we have our own sound, and we know what we have to do for him.
You knew Master p when he was getting started, and you know him now. Has he changed?
No, he's the same person. He's the same muthafucka when he was down in Cali in the projects. And he's the same muthafucka now runnin No Limit Records, and it's the same with everybody on the label. The money came in for us, everybody's livin nice, having their nice ride and handlin their business. There's a lot of things that people don't know that P been sponsoring. He done give away things at Easter, he done a lot of things for Christmas. He damn near just bought Christmas trees and gave 'em away to the people who couldn't afford to buy any. It's a lot of shit that people don't know about P, but he been giving back though.
