For anyone not familiar with you, can you give us a brief introduction?
Whats up, this is Exile. Reppin Dirty Science, southern Cali in the house, Im in a group called Emanon. Is this gonna be typed out later or are they gonna hear this? Im gon' type it out later.
OK, Im from a crew called DS, Dirty Science, Dream Sequence. I got a record out on Sound-In-Color, got an album coming out with Blu on Sound In Color. Um
Its cool, anything you would want to say.
I produced for Mobb Deep, "Pearly Gates". Ive been meaning to ask you about that, was that originally an Emanon or Aloe song, or did Aloe just happen to record over it?
Yeah, Aloe just happened to record over it and I was shopping the beat and they ended up picking it up.
Do you want to talk about Dirty Science, your latest LP? Just explain what its about.
asically, I was shopping my beats around and Sound-In-Color got a hold of it and they liked it, they actually originally wanted to do an instrumental album, but I always make my beats for MCs so I wanted to get some MCs on there. First I just started working with the MCs around me like Blu and Co$t, and Aloe and Miguel, a singer, and Blame and eventually the label said they were willing to get some featured artists so then I reached out to Slum Village, did some songs and Oh No. Well, the Oh No and MED shit came naturally too; we just hooked up and did the joints. Its basically, I really wanted to let people hear my different sides as far as production and let the Hip Hop world know all the different styles that I can do.
Are all the other artists on there people you would normally work with anyways or people you wanted to work with?
I would almost say its mostly people I would work with normally, but I mean I definitely reached out to GFK, Slum Village and Kardinall Official. But the way I look at it, I would have eventually worked with them anyways, really.
What has the response been so far?
All the critiques Ive gotten have all been positive, people like the album, they feel the album. I wish the sales were up to reflect that. There were a lot of problems with the release date. It got released early in Europe, it got online and then they released it again in Cali and then there just wasnt a big push behind it. To give people who might not know, can you break it down a little bit for how it does hurt an indie artists to have that lack of push or lack of sales?
Well the beats on Dirty Science were the best I had to offer at the moment. I was finally satisfied with the music I was making, and I was like, yes, it is finally going to be put out correctly. Im at a point where Im really happy with the music I create, and then when theres not a push behind it its like getting your hopes up and not getting what you wanted. Its just kinda likewhats the word Im looking for.some kinda metaphor Disappointed?
Yeah, but the heads that count hear it and Ive been getting a good response from them. Its all good, Ill just keep coming out dope shit so it wont matter.
I personally really like it, especially the songs with Blu. Im definitely waiting on that, it should be tight. Is there another Emanon album in the works?
We have one song done for the album, weve been discussing what direction we want to go with it for a long time now. Were all staying busy doing our music, its just a matter of going to work with it.
How do you look back on The Waiting Room now, X amount of years later?
To me, its really just a reflection of where we were at at the time and I feel like weve progressed a lot since then. Thats what this next album should reflect.
Speaking about The Waiting Room, it was on the track Six Million Ways to Die that, at least I, first heard you spit. Is that something you plan to do more of, or is it just when the mood strikes?
Nah, I have an album already, pretty much already done right now, I just gotta mix it. Its recorded all on 4 track, just because I like the sound and I dont own Pro Tools, and I need to get these rhymes outta me, so I did it like that. That should be coming out after the summer, sometime in fall.
How do you like MCing versus making beats?
With making beats, I mean you make a beat and it puts a certain feeling in your head of what the music is communicating to you and with rhyming you can just expand on that. It allows me to get really personal, actually on a good amount of the record I get really personal and it allows me to justfeel free to express what Ive learned through life. But theres also just some rough spittin type shit on there, actually, Id say more than half of the album, the way I approached the recording is I would just freestyling and whenever I messed up I would just go back and record until the song was done. So most of it is like piecing together freestyles.
Thats tight! Do you like the fact that you can get personal on the MCing tip, I mean you cant really say things literally when youre making beats
I love doing that, I love just coming in touch with myself and being able to express it to people in a way that they can actually digest it. I mean, sometimes Ill make a song and itll be really deep to me and Ill play it for somebody else and they wont understand it, you dont get the right satisfaction out of making music when that happens. But its great when youre spitting something from your heart and someone else can relate to it. Thats the shit.
Going back to the theme of the tour, what does Dilla mean to you as a beatmaker?
Dilla means to me, not being satisfied where youre at and always changing and always growing and always using this fucking art the way it should be used, to grow and to turn into something that would be some next shit. Dilla taught me to never be lazy or satisfied with where Im at, to always be growing.
What about as a fan, what drew you most to Dilla?
Before I knew the name Jay Dee, just being a hip hop fan, and knowing the type of beats I like, hes pretty much a make-up of everything I like about hip hop beats.
What do you like about Hip Hop beats? Its just like he can get really funky and really playful like in his early beats, where it just makes you want to spit a rap right there in your head. His shit just makes you want to rap, its like a freestylers dream. But then he can take it to awhole nother level and get all dark, he can just take you everywhere. Is there anything else you want to say before we peace?
DJ Exile: I got an album coming out with Blu, its actually Blu and Exile. Its called Below The Heavens (editors note: in stores now!), coming out on Sound-In-Color. I have an album that Im pretty much done with, its called Radio, where I sample everything directly off the radio, the drums, the bass lines and everything. Its being themed around the radio, and then theres my rap project thats yet to be titled. The Emanon project is coming out, I got a project with my man Jo Has from Deep Rooted in the works, and my man Co$t, whose on the album, Ca$hisking, be on the lookout for those. Im gonna be producing a lot of stuff for my man Blames record, Blame One, coming out soon. Check for me on the new Soopafly record, homie from Snoops camp.
Hey thanks a lot for this interview and definitely, Dirty Science, people need to check it out, pick it up. Thanks again.
Cool, thanks. Be sure to email me when this comes out too. Peace.