Q&A: DJ Green Lantern
Being a hater is usually frowned upon in hip-hop, but anyone feeling some sort of way toward DJ Green Lantern a.k.a. The Evil Genius could be excused. The Rochester, New York, native has toured and DJ'ed for legends Jay-Z and Eminem, produced hits like D-Block’s “Mighty D-Block (2 Guns Up)” and Ludacris’ “Number One Spot,” and dropped classic mixtapes including Jadakiss’ The Champ Is Here. And during this era of marginal rap record sales, The Evil Genius has aligned himself with one of the most powerful brands in the video game industry with his contributions to Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto IV, which sold six million copies worldwide in its first week. He produced and put together Liberty City Invasion (Music From and Inspired By Grand Theft Auto IV), a soundtrack featuring Busta Rhymes, Clipse, Jim Jones, Fabolous and others. Rhapsody was able to get Green Lantern on the phone to talk about working on Grand Theft Auto IV, whether he's still signed to Def Jam, and The N*****r Tape, his upcoming mixtape with Nas.
Rhapsody: How did the GTA opportunity initially come about?
Green Lantern: [Rockstar Games] reached out because they were fans of my work. They were like, “We’d like to have you do a radio show. We know you produce joints.” I had this exclusive music just for the game and I thought we might as well sell the music separately somewhere. So we created some more music. Only eight of [the songs] ended up getting on the game.
Did they give you a budget for this?
There was as little bit of a budget for this. Not too much. The difference is I actually own all this music. I freaked it to where I licensed it to them.
The artists didn’t ask for money?
Yeah, that’s what people think at first. Then you break it down like, “It’s not like that. You’re doing it for me.” Most of the people, they’re doing it off the love or there’s some sort of trade-out with me involved. Like I’ll produce a joint for their record. The artists got a super tiny advance. First of all, although Rockstar sold a gajillion of these, their standpoint has always been, "Look, we’re going to sell a gajillion of these and you’re going to be in a gajillion houses. So don’t expect a gajillion dollars. This is a great promotion opportunity." When people come up to me in the streets like, "Ya’ll broke records." It’s like I wish I had 10 percent of that money. Even 1 percent. But it’s a great opportunity for me to step into the field of music supervision.
What did you think you of MTV News’ Hottest MCs list?
I hate using the word “hot.” What the hell do you mean “hot”? Popular? Relevant? Talented? Be specific. I see what it is, which is an attention-getting thing for MTV. Alright look, everybody look over here and comment. I’ve been in this game so f*ck*ng long, I’m not about to have a heated argument over whether Jay-Z or Lil Wayne should be number two or number three. They’re all very successful. I just love the fact that motherf*ck*ng Andre 3000 is on that list. He’s hot to me ‘cause he’s a super-lyrical dude. Sh*t, I would’ve put Devin the Dude on there.
Are you still signed to Def Jam?
Actually, I secured a release from Def Jam before Jay left. It was a regular artist deal. In the landscape of the music industry we’re in now, it’s not really conducive for me to be giving up all that power to a major label. For instance, I wouldn’t be able to put my name on the Rockstar album without giving them a percentage. Another example, me and Immortal Technique are doing an album called The 3rd World through Koch. I would’ve had to go get permission from [Def Jam] and pay them. As a DJ that’s also a producer, it limited me in a lot of ways.
Did the fact that you were Jay-Z’s DJ help you get a release?
I think a little bit. But, also, they’re not perusing the Internet and the streets and seeing what’s hot. They look at radio. They got their eyes on Rihanna, Ne-Yo and Rick Ross. Me flying under their radar helped me. You see how there are a lot of artists in that building that are complaining? Those are people that are flying underneath their radar.
Did you have a conversation with Jay to get off?
It was a conversation with me and Russell on an email and he CC’ed Jay on it. I was technically signed through Russell Simmons Music Group to Def Jam. My comments were, "I’d rather leave. Everybody is great, but I need to be able to do XYZ." I know [Jay] say those comments even though we never spoke about it.
What did you think of Nas having to change his album title?
Interesting. I guess it shows you the power of Wal-Mart and Target. If that was the case, it’s definitely scary because it kind of f*cks with your artistic vision. But Nas and DJ Green Lantern are coming out with a mixtape called The N****r Tape. Can’t nobody hold that back. [Laughs.]
How did you and Nas decide to do the mixtape?
We only really kicked it a couple times over the two-way [pager] and email like, "Let’s do the mixtape." He’s a real cool dude. He’ll hit you out of the blue like, "Yo, what’s up. I’m working on that joint. I’m hoping for tomorrow." Usually that don’t happen. That was a surprise. Anyways, I had a prerecorded interview set-up at Sirius. So I interviewed him. I was trying to get him on my Barack Obama mixtape and gave him this song I produced called “Black President.” I get a call 10 minutes later from his man, Anthony, like, “Hold on, Nas wanna talk to you.” And he was like, “Yo, I need that song for my album, man.” [“Black President” is] just Nas by himself. But I got a remix on-deck with a bunch of people on it. The remix will be on the Barack Obama tape. I got verses for that from David Banner and Busta Rhymes. I’m trying to put [the original] on the Nas mixtape. I had a conversation with them today and their initial response was like, “Whoa, that’s sh*t’s too big to go on there.” I’m like, “Hold on, this needs to go on here for your own good. It’s obviously gonna make the tape bigger and round it out more. It’s actually better for you because it’s a super-positive song.” It kind of balances out any negative comments about him going this N-word route. I understand the initial response is always, "Hold it for a big record." But at the end of the day, you don’t hold it when your album is about to come out. Radio’s not playing that N-word song.
What else is gonna be on The N****r Tape?
“Legendary” from the Mike Tyson documentary, Tyson. Saleem Remi scored the film and produced the song. There’s a full version of the song “What It Is,” the one that DJ Khalil did. I think he leaked the first verse. There’s a joint called “Last Real N*gg* Alive.” It’s a new song (different from the one on God’s Son). It’s rough and I’m about to put some scratches on it. I did a remix with his verse from Ice Cube’s “Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It (Remix)” with a new beat and hook. Also, I already had this song that I had sent to Nas that I did with David Banner called “Middle Finger to the Law.” It’s not exactly a Sean Bell-type song, but making references to it. Kind of like a generalized police brutality joint. [Nas] gave me an extra verse from “Be a N*gg*r Too.” His verse was roughly the same tempo [as “Middle Finger to the Law”] and kind of touched on the same sh*t. So I was like, "Alright, let me see how this fits." Sh*t sounds crazy.
How many tracks do you think are going to be on the mixtape?
More towards 10. I might do this section after the exclusives and remixes and do some Nas classics. Not so much remixing them, but playing them and you got some vocal samples going through there. Kanye saying, “What would it take to be a legend like Nas?” and then throw on “Represent” for half a verse.
What was your illest memory of touring Africa with Jay-Z?
Did you ever see these pictures of Jay on a horse with a whole headwrap? That was in the Kwari state of Ghana. They were making him the ambassador of music. This is like a stately ceremony. I overheard someone telling him during the day, “Yo, they’re gonna wrap your head and then you ride this horse through the town square.” And Jay was like, “Man, f*ck out of here. I ain’t riding no horse.” [Laughs.] It was me and Memphis Bleek and Jay and we’re in this small church. It seems like they’re wrapping him for hours and he’s just smiling because you can’t really understand what anybody is saying. Then the translator goes, “Now we ride the horse.” And he gave me this look like, "Ahhh, this f*ck*ng horse." So then they put him on the f*ck*ng horse. And the whole city is in the town square. 10,000 people. But there’s no TVs there, first of all. The governor of the state is the man over there. There’s f*ck*ng posters everywhere with his face on it. So we’re there with Jay-Z, but all of the people are there for the governor 'cause he’s the man over there. [Laughs.] That was the one point in the whole trip, it was not about Jay-Z and Beyoncé.
You and Jadakiss haven't been on good terms since he videotaped a phone conversation you guys had that led to you leaving Shady Records. Last November, there was a funny incident when he was brought on stage at a Jay-Z show and you didn’t have any of the songs he wanted to perform. Did you guys have a chance to speak and reconcile your differences before that show?
Nah. We spoke very briefly years ago for five minutes. It wasn’t beef, but it wasn’t reconciliation. It was at Russell Simmons’ 2005 Christmas party. I was DJing and Jadakiss was Santa Claus. We agreed that we needed to talk. The actual follow-up conversation never happened. It’s not on me to reach out to him. I didn’t do nothing to him. If he wants to reconcile sh*t, it’s on him. The funny thing is, I think [the Hammerstein Ballroom show] was just a tragedy of errors because Puff rhymes first on “Benjamins.” To me, it’s just a human moment in hip-hop. I don’t make too much of a big deal over that sh*t. One of the byproducts of cameras being everywhere is every moment of your public life is being recorded. Suge can’t even get hit in the head and get laid out without there being paparazzi there.
There was a story on the Internet recently about a rapper Kaos who claimed you asked for money when he tried to give you a record to play on your Sirius radio show. Was that true?
I think he got it confused with mixtape hosting. It was after my set and the house [music] was playing. It was like five people left in the spot. And I’m looking at them like, "Why this sh*t so f*ck*ng loud. We’re sitting on the speaker and he’s one of 10 people coming up and giving me music. I get the sh*t all day. “Yo, how much to host a mixtape?” Or “We got a lot of hungry artists out here that need support.” Does anybody got any money though? I saw the sh*t, but I was like, "I’m not gonna dignify this sh*t with no f*ck*ng response." But my answer is, if you want me to host a mixtape, you’re gonna pay some money. I don’t take money to play music on the radio. Point blank, that’s payola. Now he’s gonna read this and make 10 blogs about it. Whatever though.
What is with all the typos? Seriously get it together
Posted by: dronkmunk | 28 May 2008 at 10:05 AM