En février 2007, on nous a proposé une interview des Heatmakers, les producteurs new-yorkais qui ont plus ou moins défini le son Diplomats : des samples de soul miaulants sur des rythmiques criblées de charleys. Formé par Rsonist et Thrilla, le combo ne s’est jamais vraiment détaché de cette formule (pas si) secrète. Résultat : après avoir enquillé une série de gros morceaux (notamment sur le culte “Diplomatic Immunity”), les Heatmakers sont restés des beatmakers de niche au lieu de devenir les super-producteurs qu’ils auraient pu être. (Bon, ils ont quand même produits l’intro de “The Carter 2″, ce qui n’est pas rien)

Toujours excité à l’idée de parler production avec une parcelle du rêve américain, j’ai donc répondu favorablement à cette proposition d’interview. En commettant une erreur : celle de la faire par e-mail interposé. Trois mois après l’envoi des questions, j’ai fini par recevoir un document word avec leurs réponses… Grosse déception. Je savais que l’interview par mail était un jeu à double tranchant (voir : kris ex / Elliott Wilson), et cette fois-ci, je n’ai pas eu de chance.

Trop maigrichonne, l’interview n’a jamais été publiée. La voici tout de même, pour la postérité :

THE HEATMAKERS / ABCDRDUSON.COM INTERVIEW

Your music relies heavily on soul and, more surprisingly, reggae music. What kind of music did you grew up to ?

We grew up listening to soul and reggae music. I used to wake up on Sundays to raggae playing in my living room as a kid. It was natural for us to go back to it for inspiration

What kind of memories do you keep from the years where you still were unknown producers ?

Oh man… grinding. I wanted to get on and that was what we were focused on. I rememeber long nights making beats. We worked all day all night 24/7 ….

I have always considered “Who I am” (in Diplomatic Immunity) as your best work – the chemistry between the O’Jays sample and Juelz Santana’s voice was just perfect. In your catalogue, what are your personal favorites ?

‘Gangster Music’, ‘I’m Ready’ and ‘The Mobb’ by Lil’ Wayne are some of my favorites. ‘Shottas’ is crazy ! The stuff I am doing now is some of my favorite stuff.

Being a duo, how do you guys work together ? Does one of you play a specific role ?

We both produce and we work sepratley and together. It just depends. There aren’t any specific roles.

You shaped the Dip Set sound in the beginning of the decade, and that sound can be very well considered as the modern-day New York sound. Why do you think so many people embraced your music ?

It was new. It was Fresh. It was Fly. It was Gangster….It was what people were feeling. Great music can capture a period of time. When I hear certain songs it brings me back to a memory or a feeling… We have been fortunate that a lot of our tracks have the effect.

Juelz or Jim once described your sound as “that 9/11 music”. And it’s true that there is a pride and an energy in your music that can be linked to NYC in the wake of 9/11, especially in a song like ‘Ground zero’. Am I just trippin’ or is it something you were conscious of that by the time you made the “Diplomatic Immunity” album ?

It was a crazy time. We were feeling and gowing through the same shit as the rest of the country and our music reflected that. We dont try and make a certain type of sound or feeling… It just happens. Our music is a refelction of what is going on in the world, in our lives, what happended to me that day…It’s life.

How do you guys handle the sample clearance issues, considering that you are one of the biggest sample-based producers around ?

A lot of time the label handles that. Its not really a big thing. We have also done tons of tracks that don’t use samples. We have over 40 tracks at Def Jam alone…beleive me a lot were sample free.

Prodigy just dropped the “Return of the Mac” album with Alchemist, which is strictly sample-based. Being on Koch, is it easier for you to use samples ?

Not really. I dont know what Alchemist and prodigy went through interms of samples so I can’t comment.

Did you ever received any feeback from the people you sampled ?

Yeah… We have been given access to people catalogs cause the like what we do.

I heard that you made a deal with the editors of the R&B trio The Moments to own a couple of songs from their repertoire. Is this a true story ? How did you make that happen ?

Yeah those are the same people who gave us their catalog. They just liked what we were doing and it made sense for both of us.

I remember reading an interview where you said that, once you sampled a record, it wasn’t useful to you anymore and you just trashed it. Does that mean you listen to music only to make beats ?

No ! Of course not. I just meant that when I am prodcucing I am working and focused on producing and prodcuing only. I have 1000s records piled up in my studio and may look like trash but its not… What that saying… One mans trash is another mans treasure.

There was that sample-free song on “Purple Haze” called ‘Killa Cam’ where the sample was sung by somebody called “Opera Steve”. It was kinda weird. What’s the story behing that song ?

Me and Opera steve have known each other for a while and he has a voice that can do some crazy things. He sang it we fliped it and there you have Killa Cam.

You also produced the opening track on Lil’ Wayne critically-acclaimed “The Carter 2″. Were you in the studio with him or did you just submit the beat ? More generally, do you manage to work closely with the artists who pick your beats ?

It really depends on the project. With Lil’ Wayne he recorded that at his spot but it just depends.

In your interview with XXL, you said that you “didn’t understand the game” when you had your major hits. What have you learnt business-wise in those 4 years ?

A lot… I learned that there is a lot more politics involved then I had originally thought. The best music doesnt always get the top spots so you gotta grind hard to make it.

You said that you have to reinvent yourselves as producers. How would you describe that new Heatmakers sound ?

The Heatmakerz sound changes everyday. Are sound just depends on what is going on that day in our lives. People know us for our heavy street tracks which we still make but we can also produce R&B, pop, anything. We have become more veristile without losing what got us here.

On march 27th, you drop your debut album, “The Rush”. Is it a way to reestablish yourself as major players in the game ?

No its not like that. We have never left our post in terms of the production. We did tracks on Juelz album (‘Oh Yes aka Mr Postman’) we just did 4 tracks on Papooses album and 4 on Lil’ Wayne/Juelz album. We are always working…I get people calling me every day to produce for them.

The Rush was an opportunity for fans to see me as an MC and not just a producer and to introduce the entire Heatmakerz family to people.

Rsonist, could you plan leaving production behing and just focus on rap ?

No. I will always continue to produce. I am just adding another weapon to my arsinol.

What are the next albums you’ll be featured on ?

Like I said I have done some work with Papoose, Lil Wayne, Juelz, Mario, tons of people.

Is there an artist – rapper or else – you dream of working with ?

They are all dead.