Who came up with the whole western theme for the Symphony video?

Ace: I’m pretty sure it was Marley and the cat who directed it, I’m pretty sure his name is Lionel Martin if I’m not mistaken. We didn’t have any say so in that. They just told us we were doing it up in a dude ranch and you can’t tell from watching the video, but it was cold as hell. It was straight up winter.

There was snow outside of the indoor part that we were shooting. They had to have these giant gas heaters blowing hot air in between takes and you had to see thirty people crowding around the heaters trying to stay warm. I would estimate the temperature was in the teens. It was shit cold and the director kept saying don’t look cold. The other reason they had heaters was so the temperature could be high enough where you couldn’t see our breath when we was rhyming.

Did you feel like you were big time doing that video?

Ace: Nah, I didn’t really know what I was getting into. It was my first time doing a video, I didn’t think far enough ahead like this is gonna be on TV and people are going to see it. I was just doing it and you just stop like how did I get here? I was just enjoying the moment, but I wish I would have taken more pictures or had a video camera. There are so many vintage things I’ve experienced and at the time I didn’t realized how valuable it would be and encapsulate it with pictures. All I have is what’s in my head, but the day my memory goes those things will be gone.

What are some of the things you learned dealing with Marley and the Juice Crew?

Ace: The things I learned from Marley are really studio related, how to record, how to put songs together, [and] how to make stuff sound good. I paid attention, I watched, I didn’t know how to turn a button, but I listened and absorbed everything that he said so when it was time for me to go out on my own and produce, how a record sounded was really important to me and that was based on being around Marley and watching him do it. I was sitting in the room when he mixed “The Boomin’ System” by LL Cool J. I got to see first hand what mixing a record was about. I got to see him mix my record, but he was really intensely trying to mix this record and make it sound huge. I applied those little tools to some of the later records I did. Kane and Biz were probably the two biggest influences on me in terms of [my] stage show and performance demeanor. When we used to do shows, when I say we I mean cats in the hiphop industry, it was a big competition. It was who could tear things down the most. It ain’t like that no more, dudes just get up on stage they just say their little hits and they be out. Busta is the only guy to me who is a throwback guy. When he hits the stage he is trying to outdo every other artist on the show and that’s how it’s supposed to be so the crowd is getting their money’s worth. I see dudes get on stage and they don’t even break a sweat. I can’t imagine being on stage and not breaking a sweat, dudes just don’t give any energy. I got to watch Kane and Biz on many occasions rip clubs apart and to this day there are elements of my show where it’s like an ode to the shows they did. I’ll take a small segment of a routine they did and flip it some other way. There is a little piece of a Biz show, there is a little piece of a Kane show, I got a little ode to Gangstarr in my show. These are all people that I watched in the 90s that had an influence on me and that’s really where I learned my showmanship from, how to get onstage really give energy and have a crowd enjoying what they are seeing.

Do all you guys from Juice Crew still keep in touch and hang out?

Ace: I did a show in Raleigh, NC about three weeks ago, that’s where Kane lives now, so I gave him a call, he had something to do so he didn’t make it out to the show, but it’s like that with me and him. I bumped into Craig at a Booya Tribe release party. He is thinking about getting into my Madden Tournament. I do one every year with a bunch of guys. He was in it a few years back so he was thinking about getting back into that. The guys I haven’t spoke to in a long time are G Rap and Shan. I spoke to Shan back in 98 because we did the Will Smith video “So Fresh” and he invited the whole Juice Crew down so that was a reunion of sorts because a lot of dudes hadn’t seen each other in a while. I hadn’t seen Shante in a while. I see Biz every now and then. Me and Biz were in touch because he is working on a new album and I was gonna help him write some of his stuff, but that guy changes numbers like people change socks. You in touch with him one second and call the number back next week and it’s disconnected, so it’s kinda hard to stay up with Biz because he is all over the place.

Tell us about the collaboration with the Brand New Heavies on Delicious Vinyl what was that experience like?

Ace: In terms of making the record I didn’t really get to collaborate with anybody. It was the type of thing where the album was basically done, they said we got one more beat do you want to do it. There wasn’t no choice, no meet the Heavies in the studio and try to formulate. [It was like] this is the beat take it or leave it. I actually first met the Heavies at the video shoot. It was a cool project to be on and that song opened up the door to be on Delicious Vinyl and start a new chapter in my life when I got signed by that label.

Looking at the albums you released off of Delicious Vinyl, “Slaughtahouse” and “Sittin on Chrome” a lot of people point to you as a big influence as far as really conceptualizing a project. What pushed you to make sure your album told a story or had a specific format? Would you come up with the concept first or develop it while you were making the songs?

Ace: I usually developed it as I was doing the album. Some of the ideas I would have in my head, but they couldn’t come to form fully until most of the songs were done. Once a certain amount of songs are done I get an idea of where I want to take the story and how the songs on the album fit into what’s going on in between the songs. That’s generally how I’ve done it. As far as why tell a story ever since high school I’ve been into creative writing. I took mad creative writing courses in high school and college so for me writing those scenarios was fun. I try to make an album that I want to hear. Its easy to string together fifteen songs and slap a label on it and throw it in the store, but from me being a fan I’d like a little more so I try to give a little more.

What was your experience there like?

Ace: I went in as a chemistry major and I took my first couple of chemistry courses and calculus and shit, but I wasn’t really big on math. After that first semester my chemistry teacher was like if you don’t like math chemistry is not where you want to be, so I changed my major to marketing after the first year. My mom talked me into sticking it out. She said if I didn’t like it sophomore year I could consider transferring. I was just home sick and it was a major culture shock. There was only a handful of black students and they didn’t really mess with each other like that. A lot of them didn’t speak or anything, within that small community that we had we didn’t really fuck with each other like that and all that to me was wack. By my second year I got to know some cool folks that were friendly and I was able to find some flavor up there that’s really what it came down to.

After you graduated from there what was your next move?

Ace: The same year I graduated was the year I officially started recording with Marley. While I was in college I won a rap contest in Queens over Christmas break and first prize was studio time at Marley Marl’s crib. When I won that contest it took me an entire year to actually meet up with him and get him in the studio. I graduated that year and that summer I recorded my first demo at his crib.

Before you dropped your last album “Disposable Arts” you were kinda on the low for a while and I heard you weren’t interested in doing much recording what changed in your life that made you want to step back up and put out another record?

Ace: I took about a year and a half off. I wasn’t doing any recording I actually started trying to get more behind the scenes producing and stuff like that. I even did a resume and was interviewing at a few record labels to get that first little entry job to just go hard behind the scenes. Then I got a phone call from Jazzy Jeff out in Philly, he was putting together an album and he wanted me to be on a song. I rode out to Philly and I went to his studio. It was real cool he had about three rooms with equipment in them and about five producers working in different rooms. The creativity, the vibe, and that family of producers that he had got me going. These were some cool guys. There was no hard feelings towards each other it was just all love. You just go room to room and it was like when you finish with them come in here I got a beat for you to check too. It was a real good, creative, positive vibe and I left there with a real good feeling and right after that I went overseas to do a little 15 show tour in Europe. I hadn’t been over there in six or seven years and I went over and did a bunch of shows in England, Scotland, a couple of dates in Italy, and a couple of dates in the Netherlands and [got an] overwhelming response and love from people. The day I stepped foot in New York City I placed a call to my man Filthy Rich from Yosumi and said yo I want to do an album man. I just came back and realized there were still people that wanted to hear my voice on a record and that was all I needed. In my head it was like nobody really cared so why am I wasting my time in the studio, but once I saw that there were a few people out there who wanted to hear some music it motivated me and that was all it took.

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Posted by Halftime on Tuesday, November 11th, 2003 and is filed under HIP HOP ICON SERIES.