The Alchemist
Some might think that a kid from Beverly Hills couldn’t grow up to be a major player in the hip-hop community, but then again many haven’t met the Alchemist. Though he started as a rapper back in the day, the Alchemist has spent most of his years behind the scenes making beats for everyone from Dilated Peoples to Eminem and even bands like Linkin Park.
Now the Alchemist feels it’s time to take control of his career. With his new release Chemical Warfare the Alchemist once again steps into the spotlight to throw down his own style. BRM sat down to talk to the Alchemist about his transition from West to East, his thoughts on bi-coastal rap, and how he broke into the hip-hop world.
BRM: So, you’re from Los Angeles. What part specifically are you from?
Alchemist: Beverly Hills
How do you think growing up in an affluent community affected your transition into the hip-hop game? Do you think there was a credibility issue there?
Yes, having to always fight it off. Having to do a good amount of using weapons, doing a lot of drugs, to get to that level. Had to hang a couple people off of some balconies. I let go a couple times. You know whatever. But you didn’t hear that from me, you know what I’m saying. [laughing]. No, nothing of the sort. No, to be honest, it was all about the music. But I mean the white thing or just not coming from the “hood,” it kind of made me more interesting. I never had the fear of New York because in L.A. there’s certain places you just don’t go. There’s neighborhoods you can’t even drive through at least when we grew up in the late ’80s early ’90s. But I think once I moved out to New York, I moved out here for school, and then I was able to move around and started working with Mobb Deep getting more into the music and got to know them outside of the music too. I mean there were plenty of instances or incidents, when it was like a lot of danger in certain situations and family members would have been like, “Yo, its really not worth it for you to do this music for you to be caught up in these situations” but to me it was just part of something… not that I had to go through, but this was the music I was interested in and these people were my friends. It was never an issue of me choosing like I got to be street now and I got to do real shit. I think everybody who’s ever worked with me always understood my background was never something I tried to hide, or had to front or be tough to get accepted from the music. Even as a kid, growing up in Beverly Hills even, I wasn’t one of my friends who had the most girls or sold any drugs, or did anything on that level it was more that I was talented. I knew how to rap, or make beats, so that’s how I get all of my respect.
How did your style change when you went west coast to east coast? Do you think it was different?
I think wherever you’re at your surroundings have a big influence. I think once I came out to New York, I was smelling different shit, I was seeing different things. It definitely had an impact because prior to that when I was in L.A. I wasn’t really involved in any scene and I was already inspired by a lot of New York producers. Those were the ones I looked up to the most anyways. Once I moved to New York and I kind of just psyched myself up to be in that mode. I’m gonna take all this in, same way an artist or painter would go to France or go somewhere that the lighting the architecture effect, it will still be there style but you’ll see the influence of where they’re at. You know, ’cause to create art, music, TV, painting, photography, anything you can create is basically an expression of what is going on at the time, in the world, you can pretty much look back at art and it pretty much dictates the generations. So you know moving to New York definitely and being around Mobb Deep also… I started to figure out not even trying to, [but] you just start adapting.
East coast or West Coast rap? Do you have a preference?
I go through stages, you know, like I miss California a lot these days. I’ve been going back a lot, I have a studio in Santa Monica, my whole family is there, my team Soul Assassins and all my original crew, Cypress Hill, Mugs, Evidence, Dilated Peoples. I mean everybody is out there so when I go back there, I definitely feel like now that I’m there I’ve built up like more of my own little fortress. I’ve got my studio out there and it doesn’t feel much different from when I’m in New York except for like the temperature or things of that nature but yeah L.A. to me, plus the Lakers just won, so I’m kinda leaning towards going back there for a minute, doing my little championship run.
So Tupac or Biggie?
Neither. I wouldn’t even pick. But you know what, just for the sake of it, I was always more of a Biggie fan personally.
On your MySpace you have a link to your “Lose Your Life” video, which is illustrated by Devin Flynn. How’d you get into that? How’d you get hooked up with him?
Devin Flynn also goes by the name Realm for those on the West Coast who might not be learned to the history. He was like boss…I didn’t even know him at the time, but once I moved out here, [we] had a some mutual friends and a friend of mine who was working with me at the time, Emms, I told him I wanted to do like an animated [video]. I’m a big fan of animation you know, Adult Swim and all those shows, I just love that shit. It’s the same way like in order to make a beat you have to be extremely imaginative, you have to imagine how sounds would sound together that aren’t supposed to be... It’s similar in my opinion. So it’s like I wanted to do a cartoon for this video ’cause I just felt like it was just different. I didn’t want to do the same shit and stand behind a bunch of rappers like, “yo, yo this is Alchemist, this my video, yo Snoop rap” but I was like, I hate this. … You can tell, I’m a rap guy, when you see me in the street. The song didn’t even sound like a cartoon …Then my man hook’d me up and said “You know Realm does this TV show Y’all So Stupid, he has his own show, this show is crazy…” But his show, if you don’t take drugs, this is like taking the drugs visually. You will be tripped out. I was just amazed and how dope it was… It took months because he actually draws everything out and it came out really dope. It was one of the favorites things, I’ve ever did. It was just so different; a cartoon for a song that was like a dark gangsta record, you know what I mean? It kind of changed the spectrum of it, made people look at it in a different light, so it was dope.
You started out with the Whooligans, right?
Yeah.
Then you became a producer and started making beats. When did you make that transition?
It was like around the same time. I was already rapping. …We had an album and it didn’t come out, and then I was working with Cypress at the time and I just started staying over at Muggs crib because once we got money from the deal, I always had to hear different beats. I always was picking out different samples [and if it] was somebody else making the beats for us, I picked out the sample. So it came time when I got some of the money from the budget, I bought a machine and I just slowly started hanging out with Muggs. I was making beats, and just developing my craft, I had time though. There was a long time I was making beats until the first beats I that I did came out so I had a lot of time to develop the sound that I wanted to. Plus, I was in the company of great people, Muggs, DJ Lethal Ralph M, Tray [Deee]…I had some good tutoring.
What is the difference between being a producer and being in the background versus being a rapper and having your face out there now?
Umm, you know I think it’s two different things. You know, producing is something that you …don’t really have to be in the light…It’s hard as a producer to control your career, ’cause you do beats for certain people and they pick ’em, maybe your sample doesn’t clear, maybe A&R changed their mind at the last second…Someone like Dre who came from a group as a producer in a group NWA and peaced… He developed an image for himself and something that he could keep as an artist but you never look at Dre like a rapper. It wasn’t like “Do it Dre bust a rhyme.” He was on his album verbally, made the album musically and [you] felt his presence. And as a producer…when it came time to do an album that’s kind of the guidelines I followed. It’s kind of in the middle, usually you don’t have to do that. I can’t control my career with the beats that are coming out. If I have an album every year or something at least I can control. I started as a kid rapping, so me being on stage is way easier to me than being in the booth and more fun also.
You went on tour with Eminem for Anger Manager after DJ Lantern dropped out. So for you, what’s the difference between working with someone big like Eminem versus producing beats for small underground hip-hop?
It doesn’t really matter in my opinion. Music is music. When you press play, it’s the same button you press every time.
You also worked with Linkin Park. Was that really different for you?
It was cool. It wasn’t much of a difference. They more came to our world more because it was a remix album where they were doing a bunch of hip-hop remixes and that album was huge and it was dope. It was fun, those guys- there’s mutual respect. Shit, that was good for me because it got me out there in that world, to add to the discography.
Is there anyone out there that you haven’t worked with that you want to?
Jay-Z.
What’s the most annoying question you’ve gotten in an interview?
“How do you feel about the current state of hip-hop?” Hate that one. It’s like just put a glass of water on the table is it half empty or half full? I hate that one in my opinion. It’s just so bland and dumb. But I’ll say, people like Jay-Z are geniuses and Nas as well because both of them came up with a concept for a record of their own that became the subject of everyone else’s interviews.
Do you have a favorite new artist out there?
Jay Electronica, BLU, Nipsey Hussle, Fat Shawn. Those are some of the ones that are not getting the attention they deserve. They are great.
If you had advice for anyone trying to break into what you got into, what would it be?
To study the word timing in every aspect. Live the word timing. Read the definition in twenty different books and understand the concept of timing. That is going to be the answer to whether you do or don’t succeed: timing. You can have your regiment down, you can have your work ethic, but timing is key. Don’t get frustrated if it’s not the right time for something.
For you when you set up for your process in terms of doing a new song or something like that, is there something that you do every time? Is it just spontaneous? Do you have any weird rituals?
Usually put like maybe three hats on at once and I’ll eat pineapple slices and umm, we’ll do a series of running high fives with whoever is in the crib at the time just to get really psyched up. Thee hats is important though. Three hats.
What about this album would you say is different from your last?
Umm, way more exciting amazing and outstanding. The swag level is just off the swagdometer. It’s completely swagified. Swag juice dripping off of it. You’re going to need some gloves when you purchase it to not get too much swag on you.
-Jenna Browning
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