By: Kris Schumacher
Fifteen years after "Reign Of The Tec" dropped, The Beatnuts are still
hungry. In the four year stretch since their last album Milk Me,
Psycho Les put out a couple of low key projects, but the Nuts' brand
of rowdy rhymes have been noticeably absent since 2004.
Thankfully the
Columbian and Dominican are back in the lab in NYC, rejuvenated after
hitting the stage overseas with D.I.T.C. members, and ready to drop
some new product. AllHipHop.com found out what’s been good with Psycho
Les and what to expect from the pit-fight producers this summer. Se
acabo.
AllHipHop.com: After doing
The Beatnuts for so long, you finally decided to drop solo last year
with Psycho Therapy. What led to that?
Psycho Les: To tell you the
truth, that album has been around for like five years. It was just a
lot of songs I had just laying around, so I threw it all together and
just slapped it up. It’s not like I planned it like that, they were
just songs I had already. Well I did create like three or four new songs,
but the rest were done. It was all just ideas I had that I didn’t
want to go to waste, so I threw it out there.
AllHipHop.com: The Big City
project you did with Problemz and Al Tariq didn’t make much of a national
impact, but I imagine the support and NY and from your existing fan base
was enough to satisfy you guys?
Psycho Les: That right there was me just doing Tariq and Problemz a
favour. They was just doing nothing with themselves and they needed
a deal, so that’s really how they got the deal, if I was involved
in it. So I just did all the tracks and chilled in the studio, let them
do most of the work. I didn’t want to get too busy, if you notice
I was just slapping up a few verses and s**t. I wanted it to be mostly
them so when they hit the road people don’t expect me to be there.
I just created it so they could do whatever, and that would be there
little spaceship to hit the road with. You know, my s**t is Beatnuts
always and that’s what people are waiting for.
AllHipHop.com: So what’s
good with you and Ju Ju? I haven’t heard much about you guys recently.
Psycho Les: Yeah, we’ve been
on the road. We just came back from Japan, we’ve been everywhere.
We were out there with Lord Finesse, Nice and Smooth, Showbiz and AG,
O.C., the whole Diggin In The Crates. I can’t even believe it to this
day. We had Diamond D, but he couldn’t make it cause his passport
expired or some shit. Motherfuckers in New York was like “Yo, you
need to bring that s**t to New York!” But you know, motherf***ers
don’t want to pay that money. So you know, if they get that money,
boom, they’ll get that real Hip Hop shit. But for me to watch [D.I.T.C.]
performing was crazy, cause I’m a fan of this Hip Hop shit too. The
club was crazy too, it was like a stadium and that s**t was packed.
Like real s**t, you know? So we were on the road, but now we’re back
home and working on this next album, trying to drop it for this summer.
AllHipHop.com: Before we get
into that, I want to talk about some of the work you’ve done. The
best-known tracks you produced were probably on Mos Def’s Black On
Both Sides, but I’m curious what made you start doing solo production
outside Beatnuts?
Psycho Les: Well we’ve both
always done our own production. We’re both two producers, and we don’t
always produce our own s**t together, you know? It’s not like I live
with him, so I’m running around and whatever and if I bump into Mos
Def and he needs a track I’ma bring it to him. Ju Ju too. You notice
he’s done tracks for Ghostface or whoever, and I’m not involved.
It’s all good. But when it’s Beatnuts, we pick each other’s beats.
He’ll pick from my stash, and I’ll pick from his. That’s what
we’re doing now actually. For this next album, forget it, it’s sounding
crazy already.
AllHipHop.com: How long have
you been working on it already?
Psycho Les: A few weeks now.
We’ve already done a joint with U-God, we’ve got a joint with Keith
Murray, we’re just trying to bring Hip Hop back on some real hard
s**t. Not no happy s**t. Some real hard, crazy s**t. From the new cats
of today, we’re looking forward to working with Cassidy, cause we’re
in touch with his DJ and he’s going to make that happen. And we’ll
bring in some more new cats too, keep it up to date.
AllHipHop.com: It’s kind
of a trip that you guys had Akon on a track from The Originators.
That was the first time I’d heard him, and I remember thinking he
had some potential. Was it crazy for you to see him blow up like he
did?
Pyscho Les: Well that’s the
case for all our albums man. If you see every album we ever worked with,
we always worked with the motherfuckers before they blow up. Think about
it. When we did “Off The Books,” nobody knew who the f**k Pun was.
After that, boom, the s**t took off. Same thing with Akon, same thing
with every other joint. It is crazy, but shit just seems to happen that
way.
AllHipHop.com: It seems strange
to me that more new and even established artists haven’t reached out
to you over the years for tracks. You and Ju have always come with some
of the best party and club joints out there.
Psycho Les: Yeah you know everybody
is looking for that other sound, that new sound of today. So, you know.
AllHipHop.com: Do you get a
lot of calls for beats?
Psycho Les: Yeah definitely.
A lot of underground cats are reaching out, so you know I f**k with
them. A lot of unknown motherf***ers, I give them a helping hand.
AllHipHop.com: I saw a picture
of you wearing a Joker mask with a G-Unit shirt on your MySpace. Did
that have any significance to it?
Psycho Les: (Laughs) Naw. That
s**t is funny cause I just happened to be wearing that shirt, and I
was in a toy store looking at all these old school toys. So I put the
mask on and took a picture, and I didn’t notice that I was wearing
that shirt until after. But that made it even more funny to me, so I
just threw that s**t up.
AllHipHop.com: So what’s
your schedule like now that you’re back from overseas and preparing
the new album?
Psycho Les: Now I’m just
focused back in the lab, pulling records out that closet. That old s**t
that I haven’t even heard in a minute, chopping s**t up and just trying
to put something out for summer.
AllHipHop.com: Do you guys
still do straight samples?
Psycho Les: Samples is number
one for us, always. But as far as our sound, it’s going to be crazy.
It’s big, we’re f**king with everything else. Whatever cats is using
nowadays, we’re using all that s**t. It’s like we’re cooking the
food on a new up-to-date oven. We’re taking it back to the grimy
drums and hard samples. No happy music, just ugly faced music. When
you hear that s**t you’re going to make an ugly face like “Yeah.”
AllHipHop.com: So what’s
your take on the production scene right now?
Psycho Les: It’s all happy
and hand-clappy kind of s**t. But that’s what makes me want to keep
doing it. Young motherf***ers out there still want to hear our s**t,
even they’re getting tired of all that s**t playing on the radio.
AllHipHop.com: Which joints
to you get the most response to on the road?
Psycho Les: When we throw “Off
The Books,” the whole place just loses it. But “Watch Out Now,”
“No Escapin This” and “Off The Books,” those joints there. People
just lose it and start fightin' in the crowd. That’s what I like, that
energy s**t, we’re trying to take it back to that. That jump-up-and-down,
wild-out-and-punch-somebody-in-the-nose-whatever music.
AllHipHop.com: Are you guys
going to hit the road again with this new album?
Psycho Les: Definitely, we’re
gonna go everywhere and promote the s**t out of it. It’s definitely
going to be a better situation than when we had no money. We’ve got
a plan man. The beats are there, everybody’s around us that wants
to work with us and it’s love. So it’s going to be nothing. Everybody’s
hungry and it’s that time again.
Beatnuts "Reign Of The Tec"
Beatnuts "Off The Books"