As far as producers go, Red Spyda is as good as they get.  The Florida-based, New York producer has put it down for the likes of 50 Cent, Amerie, Mobb Deep, Royce Da 5’9, Slaughterhouse, and Twista just to name a few.  Some notable records he’s done include the following: “I Wanna Get To Know You” by G-Unit, “Realest Niggas” by 50 Cent and Notorious B.I.G., and “Realist Killaz” by 2Pac and 50 Cent.  We talked to the musically adept producer to get his thoughts on Tech N9ne and the Bad Season mixtape.

AUDIO: Red Spyda Interview (10:55)

For those who don’t know who you are, could you give me a history about yourself, how long you’ve been producing, and some notable tracks you’ve produced on?

Hi everybody, I’m Red Spyda based out of Florida.  Moved out to New York and have been producing for, shit, seventeen years. Most of the tracks they probably would know me from is 50 Cent, the whole G-Unit movement.  I did “You Not Like Me”, the Biggie/50 record.  D-Block, I do a lot of joints: I did “Good Luck” for Sheek, “Kiss of Death” for Jadakiss, just to name a few. Me and Whoo Kid have been locked in for the past ten to fifteen years.

When did you initially find out that you were going to be throwing down on this mixtape for Tech N9ne?

You know what?  I didn’t even know.  Whoo Kid was calling me up probably two months back for some tracks. The way we normally rock is different from, say 2002, where we used to do everything in New York and just be in the studio until nine in the morning and the artist would come to my studio.  These days we’re both traveling so much, you know what I’m saying?  So he called me and was like “Just send me some beats, just send me some beats!” and then he sent me back the Tech N9ne joint “Ego Trippin’” about a month-and-a-half ago and I was like “This is crazy right here!”

Did you produce with him in mind or did you take beats that were already made and give them to Tech?

Yeah most of the tracks were already made.  The thing with me and Whoo Kid is, you know, we’re like partners, he’s the DJ and the producer.  He has a catalogue: he probably has the most Red Spyda tracks–like the vault.  But yeah, he just had the tracks.  I met Tech N9ne for the (“Ego Trippin’”) video shoot.  I was just surprised and he was like “Bad Season, here we go!”  Even listening to them, I was surprised of the tracks he rocked to because a lot of them I did them awhile back.

They have that organic sound to them and not all bombastic and crazy like you hear a lot these days.

I’m one of those producers: I’m a musician at the end of the day. I play bass and all that and guitar.

That makes sense.

I try not to get too trendy with the sounds: music first and the trends second.

I could sense that.  So on “Ego Trippin’” is that you playing the guitar lick?

Yeah!  What I do is I play everything–and you know I got my ASR-10 or whatever–and I’ll just mix it to where it’ll sound like I took everything from an old record.  I add the dirt and all those textures after the fact.  Yeah, that’s me on the guitar though.

Nice! That’s pretty refreshing to hear that you put so much effort into the musicality of it.

That’s the fun part for me!  When you’re like a natural musician, it’s nothing to compose, but I think the mixing part is more fun because–you have cats that can make a beat in five or ten minutes but they won’t mix the record or mix the beat so the sounds coming out of whatever they use will just be that.  I’ll be like “Okay, I made the beat, now what? Let me see if I can just mess with this.” It’s like art, like painting and all that.

The sound is the record.

Yeah.

About Tech N9ne, what’s been your impression about him as an MC and also as an artist?

Tech N9ne is dope! I have a big West Coast influence being from Miami so I always rocked out to Tech N9ne, Too Short, Spice 1…you feel me?  I think as an MC period, Tech N9ne is unmatched.  If you’re into the mainstream stuff you’re probably going to miss it.   I think he’s dope.  You’ve got Tech N9ne…I put him in the same class as–you know how Treach spits, the way they put their words together?  I like listening to rap that  I can’t do.

I can see what you’re saying with the Treach comparison because the raps they spit are so intricate yet clear and it works.

Yeah it’s real clear but the choice of how they decide to put their words together, I wouldn’t of thought of that.  It’s not like “one, two, three,” it’s not ABC rhymes.

Whoo Kid brought this up in our interview, but we agreed that there aren’t too many MCs that sound like they’re really going after it when they’re in the booth.  Do you think he brings that?

From listening just to the records that I know him from: he’s a natural artist and he’s not jaded by trends.  Even with Krizz that I met.  These guys, it seems that they just vibe out.  When I make music I try not to think about what’s going on.  From what I hear: you can listen to a record like “Ego Trippin’” gut then even something as simple as “Lick Your Teeth”.    Even though the concept is unheard of, I can still tell that the art is there.

About Krizz and Kutt, what were your impressions of them upon hearing the mixtape?

I didn’t hear Krizz before but at first I thought it was a girl singing until I met him, straight up!

“Ego Trippin’” right?

Yeah!  We was just kicking it and then he was asking me for some tracks and I was like “what do you do?” and he was like “Well, I’m the one singing on ‘Ego Trippin!’”  So he was very impressionable.  I definitely want to get back in with those guys.

So you’ve heard the mixtape I take it.

Yeah I’m rocking out to the mixtape right now.

What’s your impression of it?

You know what?  It’s different.  It’s not what I normally hear from Tech.  Shit is banging to me, I’m not even going to lie to you!  I think it’s mad versatile and I think a lot of people are going to start to pay attention.

Once, presumably, other people maybe more in the mainstream start paying attention, what do you think Tech is going to bring to their perspective?

I think the fact that he’s different. He’s definitely not a predictable artist, which I think is dope.  I’ve been on the internet and I’m seeing a lot of people now start to give him his props.  I think more so artists are going to want to reach out to work with him because he’s not doing the typical format as far as his records are all unorthodox.  I think for right now everybody’s looking for that right now.  When you listen to what’s out there you can pretty much figure it out: you got your club record, then you got your girl record, then you got your street record, there’s no concept records out there aside from a few artists, you know what I mean?

If you could put Tech in a room with somebody what artists would it be?

Man…Tech!?  Probably Eminem.  I would love to see Tech, Eminem, and Ludacris on a record together.  I think that shit would be dope! You know what I mean?

It’d be a demolish-session.

Luda goes in, Em goes in, and Tech goes in.  Of course if I don’t do the beat, Just Blaze or somebody.  Just a high-energy record.  I would love to see those three.

Well I think that’s about it, is there anything you want to say about future projects and just about the Bad Season mixtape in general?

Hey man, the Bad Season mixtape…loving it!  Shout out to Mean Dean, he actually helped me with some of the tracks that’s on there. Me and Whoo Kid, we’re doing the Haitian Superheroes: we’re getting ready to put out a Wyclef mixtape.  Currently right now I got the Sheek Louch record that’s out called “Dinner Guest” with the whole LOX on it, so check that out.  I’m definitely going to get back in the studio with Tech and them for the LP (All 6s and 7s).

Well I think that’s about it Spyda I really appreciate it man.

Okay [Strange Music Blogs]!

Click here to download your free copy of the Bad Season mixtape.