What was that whole day like when Mike came through?

I was cool I met Mike a couple times before. One time Will and I were at Arsenio Hall and he just showed up and that kinda bugs you out like damn that’s Michael Jackson. Actually Will kinda caught me out there one day when we were in the studio. My assistant called and said, ‘Will Michael Jackson is on the phone.’ I didn’t pay any attention to it and he just gets on the phone and he’s like hey man what’s going on I’m just chilling and he is talking so I just go about my business. So he’s like me and Jeff are in here just working on this record and he’s like yea hold on and he just hands me the phone and says Michael Jackson. I’m thinking this is like Michael Jackson from Def Jam or something and so I pick up the phone and he’s like ‘Hey How are you doing?’ and I just pause and it was funny because Will did it on purpose and just sat behind me laughing. He’s like ‘So what are you working on’ and I’m like I can’t even talk to you man haha. I get off the phone and I’m like how you just gonna throw me on the phone with Michael Jackson with no warning. So I wasn’t so much in awe when he came into the studio. I think I was more bugged out when we gave him the track and I got a call back from John Mclain from Dreamworks and was like Mike is in love with the track. You hear that like yea right and he kinda knew I was gonna be like that so what he said was Mike is in love with the track hold on and he clicks over and plays me the message that Mike left him. He was like yo tell Jazzy that track inspired me, I really love it and make me some more stuff like that. I was like hold on I need you to play that again and I went and got everyone in the studio because you can’t take that message back to somebody and expect them to believe you. I got everybody in the room and he played it and everybody was like wow. So I think I was more bugged out that we did something that Michael Jackson really loved and he didn’t change anything in the song. He left everything from the vocal arrangements on down.

We spoke with Masta Ace and he said being at your studio was one of the main reasons he decided to put out Disposable Arts.

He came down and I was like Ace you’re really dope. You’re playing me stuff you did years ago and its incredible so what are you doing. I think what happened was he came down and it was the energy and the way we were doing stuff down here. He told me that when he came down it really inspired him to jump back in because he got really disenchanted with the industry too. I was happy because I hate when really talented people get into a position when they don’t want to do it anymore. I know a lot of people that just get so frustrated with the business and the bullshit side of the business that they just want to shut down, but you can’t do that. I do it for music first. I was doing this with a job, this was my hobby and my hobby turned into a job. It’s cool to do something you really love and make some money off of it so it really bothered me when you get really talented people that are so tired of all of the stuff that doesn’t really mean anything that they just want to shut down. Its cool if the energy we got down here inspired him because that’s what you want. I need that from other people sometimes.

How would you describe the atmosphere down at A Touch of Jazz and how do you maintain that fun and creativity?

I always wanted to have a place that you can be creatively free where you weren’t working on a time schedule. I wanted it to be something where you can come in twenty-four hours a day seven days a week. It’s not open to the public so its very producer friendly for the cats that are down here. You’re given a situation where you can do whatever. I think that creative freedom helps people tap into stuff that they normally wouldn’t. A lot of producers are insecure about trying new things and when you make an environment where trying new things is accepted then it’s good. That’s what the whole thing is. Maintaining that is very hard because once you have any level of success, it gets very hectic. Then its not so much about the environment, it turns into how can we keep it successful. That’s the thing that always messes stuff up. I think a lot of my better days in music had more to do with before we were successful.

At one point there were a lot of producers that left your camp over some disputes. Can you go into any detail on what exactly caused those guys to move on?

What people don’t understand is that I’m cool with all of the guys. I ended up giving Vidal and Dre their old room back about two weeks ago. Its funny because its kind of the same thing I went through when Will went to California. Cats would come up to me like yo so how you feel that Will left you? I’m like damn nigga we weren’t married?

Haha

Its kinda the same thing with the producers. The only difference was that this was the most successful batch of producers that I had. I’ve had four batches of producers. James Poyser and Vikter Duplaix of Axis Entertainment were in a group of producers that I had. I’ve had a bunch of guys that have gone on to be really successful. A Touch of Jazz is almost like a college. I was smart enough to know that there is nobody I’m ever going to work with that’s not going to want to have their own shit one day. How many niggas grow up wanting to be background singers? You’re a background singer until you get your time to lead. So basically with A Touch of Jazz you get new guys that come in and you teach them and once they become successful it’s a natural progression. You can look at it like all of the guys I’ve ever had at A Touch of Jazz are like my kids. I love them guys to death. Every last one of them comes down here and plays me the records that they work on and asks advice and me vice versa. Its almost like a teacher student thing where the student leaves, goes out on their own, and the student sometimes comes back to be a teacher at the school. With all the success we had it becomes money issues. It becomes one of those situations where guys want to make a lot more money. I’ve always had the same philosophies at A Touch of Jazz and I wanted to keep my philosophies and a lot of the guys wanted me to change it. I’d rather charge five dollars and make you buy five things then charge you twenty dollars and you get one. We became so hot that you had guys that wanted to make fifty grand a track and it was kinda like as much as you may be worth fifty grand a track that’s not the way that I’m trying to take it. I’d rather have a lot of good music out then one good song. You get guys like Rodney Jerkins and you never really saw Rodney do five or six songs on someone’s album. Rodney did the single, the hot joint but because he was getting so much money you couldn’t pay him to do five songs. I look at it as opportunity. If I have five songs on your album I got five chances to have your favorite song. It just became an issue that a lot of guys really wanted to make money and we parted very good. In all actuality I let them out of their agreement because this isn’t the type of job you hold somebody to when they don’t want to be there. You’re not gonna be any benefit to me or me to you if you’re making fucked up music because you’re disgruntled. When you get to the point that you’re like I need to spread my wings and go my own way you have no gripes from me. A Touch of Jazz is based on my experience in being in the music industry. I got a million and one fucked up experiences and I wanted to turn it around. Contracts is bullshit but like a marriage when we realize this shit ain’t cool let’s break this contract and you go your way and I go mine. I don’t care if you become the hottest producer in the world under me you say you want to roll I gotta let you go. It’s just crazy that you started getting people like oh man all the producers are leaving but it was like all the producers graduated and its time for the freshman class to come in.

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Posted by Halftime on Thursday, January 15th, 2004 and is filed under HIP HOP ICON SERIES.