Black Milk Interview (Originally Posted On StreetCred.Com Oct 31st 2008)

Ask any Hip-Hop fan about their favorite producers and you’ll probably get a variety of names as an answer. Older heads might mention Juice Crew maestro Marley Marl or record-collector extraordinaire DJ Mark The 45 King. Younger cats may sing the praises of Roc boy wonder Kanye West or skateboard fan Pharrell of The Neptunes. Boom-bap diehards will throw DJ Premier’s name out there, whilst more commercially minded rap fans might show their love for Timbaland. Pete Rock, The RZA, Just Blaze, Dr. Dre, The Alchemist, J Dilla, Large Professor, the list of talented and timeless producers in the world of Hip-Hop is a long one. Moreover, it’s a list to which Detroit’s Black Milk is determined to see his name added.

Receiving his first official production credit on Slum Village’s 2002 album “Trinity”, Black Milk has spent the last half-a-decade rising steadily through the underground ranks, with a discography that includes 2004’s “Dirty District Vol. 2″ (as a member of the crew BR Gunna), two solo albums (2005’s “Sound Of The City” / 2007’s “Popular Demand”), plus production work for the likes of Pharoahe Monch, Guilty Simpson and Kidz In The Hall.

Milk’s early material immediately prompted fans to draw comparisons between the young producer and the late, great Dilla, with both coming from the home of Motown, both sharing a love of heavy drums and soulful samples, and both also being able to confidently juggle rhyming and beat-making duties.

Whilst it’s easy to see where such comparisons came from, on his new album “Tronic”, Black Milk is looking to prove to the world that he’s his own man, displaying a musical growth and willingness to experiment sonically that should see his latest effort go down as one of 2008’s best releases. Something that should also take the gifted individual a step closer to being mentioned alongside his legendary producer peers.

Ryan Proctor: You’ve come a long way since your earliest releases and are now considered to be one of the underground’s top producers. Have you been surprised by how quickly your career has gained momentum in the last few years?

Black Milk: I think most artists believe that they’re someone who could be number one in the game or at least make some type of noise. That’s how I felt back when I started and I still feel that way now. I think I’m capable of creating my own lane with my music and am capable of creating a fan base that’s big enough to support what I do. That was always my goal, to put good music out there and be able to create what I want to create without any limits. I want to stay fresh, stay innovative and give the people something different.

RP: Many comparisons were made between you and J Dilla when you first came out. Do you feel those comparisons are still being made or do you think you’re now being viewed as a talented producer in your own right?

BM: I think people are finally starting to just look at me as Black Milk without every time they hear a track from me comparing it to a Dilla beat or saying it sounds like something Dilla would’ve done. I mean, the comparisons are still out there and probably will stay out there for as long as I’m doing music. But it’s not a bad thing and I know where it comes from; we’re from the same city, I’ve worked with a lot of the same people as Dilla did, and I also collaborated with him.

I guess people look at me as being a younger version of that new type of sound that Dilla created. I’m just taking it and reinventing it into my own sound. I don’t really get uptight when I hear people comparing me to Dilla though because in my eyes he was the greatest producer ever. It’s a compliment.

RP: Over the last year you’ve been involved in some big independent projects, from releasing “Caltroit” with Bishop Lamont and “The Set-Up” with Fat Ray, to producing the majority of Elzhi’s album “The Preface”. How did you approach each of those projects?

BM: The music on “The Set Up” and “Caltroit” was all tailor-made beats that I made from scratch for each project. The majority of the beats I did on the Elzhi project were tracks that he picked off beat CDs of mine that I gave him. I mean, it still came out dope because Elzhi’s a great lyricist. He did his thing and the tracks came out dope even without me being in the studio with him.

With “Caltroit” I knew how I wanted that album to sound, and the same thing with “The Set-Up”. I let Ray know the direction I was seeing the album going in and he just did his thing. Ray has a dope delivery and a dope voice, so I really wanted to compliment that with the music by giving him real hard, grimy beats that were still a little different to what you might usually hear from me.

RP: Do you prefer to work closely with an artist on a project or are you happy to just send beats out to people who’re interested in working with you?

BM: I think any producer would prefer to actually sit in the studio with an artist and be able to create a track together. I think you always get a better outcome that way and a better result when you’re both in the studio. You’re able to let the artist know what you like and what you don’t like, plus the artist is able to tell you what they’re hearing in the song as well. So I definitely love to be in the studio with the artist.

But, at the same time, it’s cool to send tracks out to artists. The only thing about that is that you never know what type of song an artist is gonna come with (laughs). As a producer that leaves you kinda blind and you just have to cross your fingers that they come with a dope song. Sometimes an artist has used a beat of mine and it might not turn out exactly how I wanted it to sound and in other cases they’ve exceeded the expectations I had for a track. But it’s definitely a gamble when you’re sending out beats.

RP: From the outside looking in there seems to be a lot of unity amongst the Detroit Hip-Hop scene, with artists appearing more than happy to collaborate with each other. Is that an accurate view?

BM: There is a lot of unity amongst Detroit artists, particularly since Proof and Dilla passed. That really brought everybody together and inspired collaborations between people who probably wouldn’t have worked together before. It’s dope because everyone’s on their grind now and it’s kinda like one movement, which is really putting Detroit on a level that the masses can see.

I mean, I go to the studio and Guilty Simpson might come through, Trick Trick might come through, Royce Da 5’9 might come through, everyone from the street artists to the underground Hip-Hop artists, we all just vibe out and everyone’s cool. There’s a ton of talent here. The Hip-Hop community in Detroit is actually quite small, but there’s just so much talent in the artists we do have that we can hold our own, whether you’re talking about producers or MCs.

I don’t feel producers and artists from other cities can really do the Detroit sound. You might have producers from other places making a Dilla-sounding track, but it never has that exact same feel to it. The music from Detroit definitely has a certain feel to it, and by us having that secret ingredient, wherever it comes from, it means we’ll always be able to make timeless material.

RP: What’s the meaning behind the title of the new album “Tronic” and what can we expect from it?

BM: I decided to call the album “Tronic” because it has a futuristic feel to it. The title obviously comes from the word ‘electronic’, which people associate with futuristic kinda shit and the album has a real futuristic, spacey, synth vibe to most of the songs.

A lot of it’s up-tempo but it still has that soulfulness to it with the hard drums and dirty breaks. I didn’t lose none of that, although it is a different sound to what was heard on my last solo project “Popular Demand”, which was mostly soul chops and real feel-good music.

Most of the samples on “Tronic” come from really obscure records and electronic records.

I definitely stepped up the rhymes this time around and tried to come with more content in terms of talking about stuff people can relate to, things I go through as an artist and other general stuff.

RP: Judging by your style of production it sounds like you probably listen to a lot of music beyond just Hip-Hop. Would you say that’s true?

BM: Yeah, all the time. When I’m riding around a lot of the stuff I listen to is outside of Hip-Hop. I get a lot of ideas and inspiration from listening to old records, whether it’s soul records from the 60s and 70s, or some futuristic synth stuff like Kraftwerk.

I think as a producer you should listen to a mixture of everything so you won’t just get stuck in one particular box and would be able to produce any type of record you want for any artist from any genre of music.

RP: So what’s next for Black Milk? Maybe some steady major label production work?

BM: I never rule anything out, y’know. If a major situation comes my way then I’d definitely see what I could make happen with it, especially if it would help me reach a lot of the goals I’m trying to accomplish with this music. But regardless I’m just going to keep doing my thing and stay creating music and getting it out there, whether that’s through an independent or a major.

Right now, my focus is on really trying to kill the game and becoming an artist that people won’t forget about. I want my name to be mentioned alongside all the other legendary producers.

Ryan Proctor

Black Milk – “Long Story Short” ( Fat Beats / 2008 )

Black Milk – “Bounce” ( Fat Beats / 2008 )