Grammy Award winning producer 9th Wonder has worked with more artists than one can imagine.
From working with rappers Drake and Jay-Z, to Mary J. Blige and Chris Brown, 9th Wonder has the resume of a man ten times his senior.
GlobalGrind caught up with 9th Wonder to talk about his love for Black music, his creative process behind creating beats, and of course, his music.
Check out the exclusive interview below!
GlobalGrind: It’s all about the man behind the machine. What does 9th Wonder bring to the table that the machine can’t bring?
9th Wonder: Man created machine, so it’s up to us to manipulate it. I hear a lot of cats making excuses about what they use and they can’t make it do this, or make it do that, but it’s not really about that. I think it should be more than that. I think we should just control the machines that we make and whatever beat program you use or anything, you should be able to get more out of it than what it gives to you.
Your first beat made in 1998, you thought it was garbage. How has your talent evolved since then?
I think my song making ability has gotten a lot better. The beats have evolved a little bit, but I think the song making ability has gotten a ton better as opposed to early on. When you’re young and you want to rap 60 bars and all of that stuff, but getting more in the making, formulating hooks and things like that is more important as opposed to just the 60 bars.
[pagebreak]
Your album Wonder Year dropped September 27th along with J.Cole, Phonte, and a bunch more, big day for hip-hop. Out of all the people’s albums that dropped that day, whom did you work with on their album?
Evidence and Selena Johnson dropped also, big day in R&B too, but I worked with Phonte.
What songs did you actually do on his album?
I produced “Eternally,” “Life of Kings,” “Not Here Anymore” and “The Good Fight.”
Was there any kind of rivalry or friendly competition out of the artists who dropped albums on that day?
Nah, it just goes back to the days of when Cube use to shout out Public Enemy on his records or LL used to shout public Enemy and Cube on his records. That’s when it was more of a community situation in hip-hop as opposed to now. Everybody’s trying to jock for that number one spot, trying to run it, and I think that takes away from it.
[pagebreak]
Are you working with J.Cole on any upcoming projects?
We may do something in the future. I worked with J.Cole during the EA Sports thing when we did NBA Elite, that’s the only thing we worked together on pretty much.
In a recent interview you talked about how you love Black music, and you’re going to champion to them first. What did you mean by that?
It’s just a take care of home really. I don’t believe in assimilation, which means I just believe in staying within what we do and creating and expanding what we do and uplifting what we do first, as opposed to trying assimilate to be accepted. I don’t necessarily want to do that.
What is it about the ’70s, the funky background that attracted you?
Because that’s what I listened to growing up in hip-hop. It’s the Jazzy Loupes, the Tribunes, and the James Brown Funk that’s what got me hooked on it. Everybody in the early ’90s used records from the ’70s, and that’s what got me stuck on it. It was the best decade of music I think.
[pagebreak]
How did you get started, what inspired you?
Just my love for music man, and my love for hip-hop. I was in the band and everything in high school and middle school. I had a love for music like that and I was also a fan of music.
You won your first Grammy after downloading a program off of the Internet? What’s the story behind that?
Fruit Loops is the program I used and I downloaded it in 2001, and I won a Grammy with Mary J. Blige in 2006. I used Fruit Loops to make that beat. That’s basically what it was. A majority of the records I’ve done, I’ve done off of that program.
[pagebreak]
What are your favorite songs off of Wonder Year?
“One Night” is one of my favorites. I really like “Never Stop Loving You,” “A Star You Are,” “20 Feet Tall Remix.” The “No Pretending” with Raekwon, that’s a dope record too.
What can we look forward to after Wonder Year, what are you working on?
We on tour now, Rap City and I, the LRG tour. Phonte and I are also going on tour after this and we doing it but still teaching.
