There’s no other way to describe it: Pete Rock looks cool.
Slowly walking into the library on the first floor of a luxury building on Manhattan’s westside, the legendary producer/DJ/rapper’s gait is calm, relaxed, and laid back. He sports a grey snap back hat, a black t-shirt, and tennis shoes. He sits down at the table, and quietly leans back into a leather chair. It squeaks. The only thing that could possibly make him look cooler in this moment is if he were chewing on a toothpick or, like, smoking a cigar. Off the cuff, he says, simply, “You can ask me whatever you want, man.”
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And I do. During our 30-minute chat, Rock talks about his latest mixtape, 80 Blocks From Tiffany Pt. II, and what it’s been like to work in hip-hop for pretty much longer than hip-hop has existed. He speaks clearly and focused—this ain’t this dude’s first interview—and shares stories of hearing Jay Z rap on his beat for the first time, what it was like to meet James Brown as a seven-year-old, and his thoughts on Yeezus. However, the one subject Rock continues to emphasise is how much he wants to bring the worlds of hip-hop together—acting like an ambassador for the old guard and a father figure for the new.
Noisey: What are you trying to accomplish with 80 Blocks From Tiffany’s 2?
Pete Rock: 80 Blocks From Tiffany’s is something that was actually first a documentary, a movie about Bronx gang life and certain areas of the Bronx. Camp Lo grew up in the same area, so they introduced the movie to me and once I watched it, I fell in love with it and thought it was a perfect theme for us, being that we’re all from the Bronx. I wanted to do it in a hip-hop fashion. It really sounds like an audio movie—it sounds like something you’ve just got to pop in from start to finish.
How do you feel like hip-hop is able to illustrate story?
We, as people in hip-hop, have been through a lot in our lives, and this is one of the true positive ways to express ourselves without going out there and killing somebody, you know what I’m saying? You listen to some music and keep the beast calm and do something positive to occupy your mind on doing something good. That’s the main reason why we do this kind of music, you know, just to keep people focused. It works for some and some it doesn’t.
How do you feel like hip-hop reflects society today versus, say, 15 years ago?
It’s very diverse, and now you have spectrums of hip-hop to choose from—whether its trap music, radio friendly, underground, or mainstream. There are so many different parts of hip-hop now, and you can be like, “Oh I like this sound and I like this sound and I like the raw sound.” And that’s how its different from when it used to be because we followed the rules. Now, the rules are creating this hip-hop form in street fashion. It’s been done like that, but it’s done differently now, and you have your choice of what you. That’s the big difference from what it was then to what it is now. It’s always good to mix old with new, because it gives it another sound that people may flock to.
With dudes like Joey Bada$$ who are producing tapes that sound like the late ’90s, do you see a cycle in sound happening?
Yeah, some. After hearing music in a new way for so long—without what a Joey Bada$$ or an Ab-Soul is doing—it’s a relief. It’s a breath of fresh air to see those guys bring it back to what actually they respected. It’s also important that people know the young generation knows what came before them and how it was done.
Why do you feel like that’s important?
Everyone learns from somebody, you know? And I’ve got it from somewhere I’ve been inspired by other folks to do what I do, but it started with soul singers and jazz musicians and reggae musicians. And then hip-hop came along, and we were able to show our respect and love by sampling.
I met James Brown when I was seven years old and he’s my favorite, favorite, favorite artist of all time. No one worked harder than him, and no one created music like he did. He started something new and was way ahead of his time. If you look back and listen to his music, he was the man who created hip-hop. James Brown taught you the one, and it was the kick and the snare and how it was supposed to be used and all of this was going on in his head and when I shook his hand I think he left me with something.
How did you meet him?
My mum took me to a concert when I was seven—me and my younger brother and she brought us backstage to meet him and he shook my hand and I just felt like I wasn’t the same since. I just took that and carried that with me and learned and wanted to learn more about hip-hop. And I paid homage, you know what I’m saying? Always.
For someone that’s been doing this so long, how has your process evolved? What are your thoughts on old equipment versus new equipment?
The old equipment is just… when it’s not broke, don’t fix it. We use the old equipment to give us that old feel which we never really got away from, but the new equipment is good in certain ways, and gives you a cleaner sound.
Do you feel like anything is lost?
If you carry the elements of how you make music with new equipment, you won’t lose anything. But if you’re a young guy doing new music, then there’s a whole lot missing that you need to learn that way everything can sound as full as it could possibly can. But you have different producers who like to do things their way: You’ve got people who sample; you’ve got people who don’t sample; you’ve got people who use live musicians and instrumentation. With that said, I just like to mix it all together, just incorporating new with the old and come up with the new sound from that to create something else.
What do you think about the theory that Jay Z is the first classic rock rapper?
I see how someone could say that because he doesn’t discriminate on how his music is supposed to sound, like he’ll get some guys in to get a rock feel of a beat.
I mean that Jay Z is releasing albums now that are still selling a lot, but aren’t innovative in the way that, say, The Blueprint was.
You mean, he’s like a rockstar? Yeah, I mean, that’s the way his team is promoting him and making him look. No one would be against that. He’s been through the ups and downs of the business. In the beginning no one paid him any attention until he started doing things on his own. Same as a lot of other artists like Biggie and so forth, these guys were demanding your attention.
Do you feel like there’s a different attitude in hip-hop now then there was then? I don’t feel like A$AP Rocky is, like, demanding that you to listen to him.
I mean I said, Jay Z. I said Biggie. I think every other rapper probably would say the same thing about those two guys. They stood out in the hip-hop game. Not to put anyone else down, but it was like, probably they strived to be one of the best in the game and it takes a lot of work to get there, that’s why they get mentioned a lot, you know what I’m saying? Nas, too. He’s my favorite rapper. I just love his delivery and subjects and topics he chooses to talk about it.
In doing this for so long, are there any misconceptions or anything about which you feel misunderstood?
Coming up on this business as a youngin’, I was just so excited to make beats—not realizing that there’s a whole other side of this business which is the business side, which I didn’t care about back then I was just happy to be making music and making some money. I never made that much money in my life, and I used to deliver papers and work regular jobs
What are your thoughts on Yeezus versus Magna Carta?
I love Kanye West. I think he’s the most talented producer/rapper out there right now. He just chose a different direction with Yeezus versus Magna Carta, on which you can actually hear hip-hop-hop beats. Kanye is trying to do something new in music.
Can you call Yeezus a hip-hop album?
Hip-hop? Like hip-pop. He’s opening a new wave of music, let’s put it that way. Everyone seems to go in different directions when they’re making albums, the only difference between Yeezus and Magna Carta is that you can actually hear a couple of boom bat beats Jay Z has, and with Yeezus, you don’t hear much of that. It’s cool, nothing against Yeezus, it’s just another sound that he’s doing to let people know that this is the new Kanye sound. He’s very talented, and I think he of all people can do boom bat music. With this album you don’t have to do all boom bat, but give back your roots to your people man, one or two songs.
What about “Bound 2,” the last song?
On the new album? I didn’t get the chance to listen to that one, but I’m gonna research it and see what I can get out of it. I’ve been on this Holy Grail for a minute.
Why did you turn down the opportunity to rap on “The Joy”?
Oh wow, you know about that? How did you know about that?
The internet, man.
[Laughs.] I just felt like, if I was gonna write something with Kanye… Sometimes it takes me a long time to write and I can’t just write something in one night and be absolutely satisfied with it. I’ll crumble millions of pieces of paper before I get it right, so that was probably one of the reasons. In a way, I’m glad I did because he put Jay Z on it and I’ve been trying to work with Jay for years. And, damn, he finally rapped over a Pete Rock beat and then he shouts me out in the verse and I’m like, “Oh,” and it blew me away so it was probably for the better.
What was that moment like when you heard him shout you out in the verse?
I was driving and engineer Young Guru called me and said, “Listen to this.” I couldn’t really hear it clear enough and I pulled over and I said, “Yo, play it again.” And he played it again and I didn’t know who it was the first time and I was like, “What, yo, is that Jay Z?” and I almost had a heart attack and I was just like, “Wow.” I was just blown away, sitting in my car on the side of the curb, losing it. That was one of the best feelings in a long time.
What’s some of your stranger music tastes?
I used to listen to punk. I used to listen to Rage Against The Machine. When I was a kid I used to listen to KISS.
Pete Rock listens to KISS, that’s surprising.
[Laughs.] Yeah, man. It’s not just all about soul and jazz.
Follow Eric on Twitter @ericsundy
