For the last 10 years super producer Just Blaze has kept real Boom Bap hip-hop alive and kicking. His loud, crashing drums are a welcolmed treat to the avid neck-snapping beat head. Jay-Z the great MC, loves to lace up a Just track, so much so that coupled with Kanye West, Just and ‘Ye ushered in the what is now dubbed ‘Roc Music’. Roc-A-Fella Records borrowed a bit of the sped up soul sample sound that RZA perfected with early Wu-Tang joints. Just and ‘Ye dominated the tunes in the last year of the 90s and carried them over to the ’00’s. Somewhere along the last few years ‘Ye got all futuristic on our asses. During that same time Just got funkiristic. His big band blast style of production is all up in your area…ear area and it makes for the best sonic noise ever.
Always a techie (video games, beat machines, gadgets) and ever the Ralph Lauren Polo label fiend, Just is an all around bboy of hip-hop culture. I’ve personally witnessed him in a bboy breakdancing circle uprockin’ and floor workin’ with the best of them (uh, someone say 88 Keys please). Like Questlove of The Mighty Roots crew, Just is an historian of this little thing of ours called hip-hop. So to hear in the following clip that the studio he owns (Baseline Studios), that was headquarters to the Roc-A-Fella dynasty, may be no more is a sad notion to know.
Our homie Hawaii Mike, founder of LTD Magazine sits with Just Blaze for a candid one-on-one interview where he gets JB to speak on everything from the music game to the music names we all know and love. Enjoy.
LTD Presents Conversations: Just Blaze (Episode #1) from LTD Magazine on Vimeo.
