Jbutters: Just looking back at what Tip said about Industry Rule #4080, I would have assumed you would have gone independent from the jump. Where do you envision Garden Seeker productions going?

AS: As far as being independent sooner what stopped me was that I thought that I could partner up with a label and cultivate the deal where I would have a sense of independence. I think that was another problem for them. They were like we aren’t trying to do those deals anymore. I thought that most of the major labels would look at my resume and I’d be able to get a major distributor and be an independent company within that distribution. It didn’t happen and I guess you have to have some things happen to start thinking about what would be your alternative. Then I started thinking I can do this myself why didn’t I think of that a long time ago. The lack of opportunity sometimes keeps you from thinking of certain things. As far as what I seek to do with Garden Seeker Productions is to have a label where Industry rule #4080 doesn’t exist. It’s a label established by a person who has seen a lot in the industry and has a mass education from working as an A&R for Quincy Jones’ label to dealing with Jive. As difficult of a company Jive was it was a great company to work with because they were completely independent. Twenty years from the start to the finish of the company the man who founded it sold it for three billion dollars. And he was a bass player. He wasn’t some penny pinching, number checking dude. The difference between he and I is that I’m not gonna pigeonhole my artists. I’m going to help cultivate their careers and make sure that they benefit on a financial level in addition to making great songs. I want to make sure that when it’s all said and done they can eat from what they’ve done as opposed to me owning what they’ve done.

Jbutters: Do you think the independent philosophy could ever be applied to Tribe?

AS: That is actually my hopes and dreams. One of my goals for Garden Seeker productions is to make it so successful that I can buy Tribe out of its last album commitment with Jive records. If that doesn’t occur then we’d have to do one last album or however than pans out but I’ve been talking independent for the past three years. If we do it let’s do it so we can honor our commitment and Tribe can finally own itself on A Tribe Called Quest label. I don’t think everybody is there yet though.

Jbutters: What are you looking for in terms of talent and is there any way for an up and coming artist to get at you with their material or for you to take on an apprentice producer?

AS: That’s dope. As my situation grows that’s [having an apprentice] something I want to do. It’s important for people in my position to look back to those trying to come up and mentor them. It’s something I wish I had and it will be something I’ll be opening myself up to. As far as artists presenting their material they can contact me at www.gardenseekerproductions.com. We’ll check out what they send and converse through email and the whole nine. Unfortunately, I’m not in the space where I can have an apprenticeship happening but god willing in a year we could get it going on like that because I think that’s needed.

Marcus: Who are some artists who have heavily influenced your production?

AS: That could be any artist from the past to the present. It could be someone like Clara Hill, J-Live, Stevie Wonder or Steve Arrigton. There are so many different resources of inspiration from Radiohead to Lil Jon. I just appreciate music and I try to keep an open mind when I listen to it. As far as hip hop is concerned I think there is too much of a negative imagery but I appreciate it be it current or old music. The Four Tops or whoever, as long as it’s not the Spinners.

Marcus: What! You don’t like the Spinners? Oh my god man, come on.

AS: Haha, that’s an internal thing that Q-Tip and Phife got going with me because my mom used to run The Spinners. It’s just certain pieces of music that parents run that you’re like if I hear that one more time. That and Teddy Pendergrass. I used to hide under my pillow trying to escape from The Spinners and Pendergrass. As I got older I appreciate their music.

Jbutters: My brother used to be like that with Prince. I used to really hate Prince. To this day I still really don’t mess with him at all.

AS: That’s a heavy one to miss out on but I feel you though.

Marcus: What’s the wildest thing you’ve encountered throughout your time in the music business?

AS: There are several things. I remember getting kicked out of the hotel that us and the Geto Boys were in. We had a show together and the hotel was maybe 500 yards from the venue. The Geto Boys..

Jbutters: That’s kinda crazy that ya’ll were even together. That wouldn’t even happen right now.

AS: Yea, I don’t remember who put it together but it worked out because there were Tribe fans and Geto Boys fans. At that point the Geto Boys were ridiculously large. This was before “My Mind’s Playin’ Tricks on Me.” They got down and had invited people to the hotel. The hotel people got really angry and called the police. They were like if we catch anybody in the hall ya’ll are getting kicked out. I forgot why my dumb self was out of the room. I shouldn’t say dumb because I had never had my rights embarked upon like that before. I’m paying money in here and not just for one room either. I came out and the police were like you’re out of here and I said for what? They said disturbing the peace and we got kicked out of the hotel. Another memorable one was the very first Source awards. I think we won group of the year and as we were about to give our thank yous somebody kicked in some Tupac music and he came running out and started performing. It looked mad disrespectful like I can’t believe what I’m seeing. It was so bad the crowd was booing. This was right after midnight Mauraders.

Jbutters: Right, I remember hearing about this.

AS: Then Pac got angry and was like New York don’t got love for Cali? It was a bad situation. Some of the brothers from the ZULU nation took offense to it and they got up there like F the west coast. It was just a bad moment for hip hop. Afterwards everybody was just ready to fight. Pac went down to the Palladium and we went down there. I went and spoke to Pac and said what was that all about and he said what are you talking about? I said we were about to give our acceptance speech and he was like someone just cued him onstage and I went and did my performance. He was like I had no idea what was going on and we apologized. He was a Tribe fan and mentioned us on his album. Unfortunately, that was a pivotal moment because at that moment people from the west coast were like why is New York booing? Not too long after Pac went on his venturing of saying that he wasn’t checking for New York. The interesting thing is my tour manager was running the event and when Pac’s music went on she called over the radio asking who set off that DAT and the radio went dead. We still to this day don’t know who did that. It’s amazing how a misunderstanding could escalate to something major. It was a lot of hatred between the coasts over someone accidentally pressing a button. I tell that story because that can happen in any situation. It can be a misunderstanding and from a misunderstanding bodies are dropped.

Jbutters: I want to get the flip side of Marcus’ question what were some of the best things you’ve been apart of during your career where you couldn’t believe you were apart of it?

AS: I don’t know if I can reflect like that. I don’t know that’s a tough one. You stumped me with that one.

Marcus: I can tell you. Back in the late 80s and early 90s how you were apart of the positive movement and the way ya’ll dressed being humble with no gold chains. When people think about Native Tongues it was a revolutionary time and you were a significant part of. It influenced me to be a positive person because positive was in. That’s like the only time in my life I saw mad black people hollering about peace all the time.

AS: That’s heavy man. I feel where you coming from but its hard for me to look at myself as affecting change like that when it’s your everyday. It’s almost like looking at yourself in the mirror everyday where you don’t notice the changes but someone else will be like damn you look different.

Jbutters: Speaking of the Native Tongue Movement how did that all fall apart?

AS: I don’t know if anything specific went down. As far as Tribe was concerned we were the last ones out of Jungle Brothers and De la to put a record out. We went from hanging out in those guys’ sessions to having our own sessions. I think because everyone was busy recording all the hanging out stuff started to die off. It wasn’t because cats didn’t want to hang out for us we were working. We realized that as much fun as we had going out to clubs and stuff we had an opportunity to fulfill a dream. We also took our music making really seriously to the point where we stopped hanging out. Instead of hanging out we were in the studio working non-stop to the frustration of our manager. We were in the studio so much we refused to go on tour. So we weren’t around and then I think certain people got jealous because we were reaching more success than others. Then it was just a natural order of growing up and growing apart. I certainly hope that because we weren’t Native Tongues in the light that positivity in hip hop died. I don’t think so because there are so many products of the Native Tongue Movement. With Black on Both Sides, Mos Def raised the flag high. As far as major labels are concerned the marketing dollar isn’t there.

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Posted by Jbutters on Thursday, March 16th, 2006 and is filed under HIP HOP ICON SERIES.