MARCO POLO EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW + VIDEOS WITH TORAE

WORDS BY KHALID STRICKLAND a.k.a. BLACK PACINO

PHOTOS OF MARCO POLO BY FUBZ

As you may know, super-producer Marco Polo and hardcore Coney Island emcee Torae teamed-up for a collaborative album called Double Barrel.  The album, laced with a vintage NYC gutter sound, drops courtesy of Duck Down Records and features Lil’ Fame of M.O.P., DJ Premier, Sean Price, Guilty Simpson, Masta Ace, Saukrates, S-Roc and DJ Revolution.  Marco gets busy with the beats per usual.  Double Barrel will be in stores June 2^nd.

Marco Polo and Torae are getting a lot of burn on the net right now and you know my crumb-snatchin’ steez: If it’s hot, somehow I gotta cash-in.  So below the jump, you’ll find two videos.  First, Marco & Torae interview Masta Ace, who appears on the song “Hold Up” (along with  Sean Price) from Double Barrel.  In the next clip, Marco Polo takes you into his Brooklyn, NY studio where a majority of  Double Barrel was created.

Here’s why The Spizzy is better than the dime-a-dozen, lame-ass blogs that re-cycle the same shit.  Before you peep the videos, I’ve included a previously-unreleased BONUS INTERVIEW that I conducted with MARCO POLO himself. It took place around the time his debut album, Port Authority, came out and I’ve had it stashed in my vault since then.  I trimmed off the dated parts of the interview and now the Q&A is timeless.  Aspiring producers can read it to find inspiration and fans can get a further glimpse into the sharp mind of Marco Polo. And you’ll see that even back then, he was keen on the idea of a one producer/one rapper combo album.

You Nah Right clones need to stop jockin’ Eskay (who gets mucho respect from Black Pacino) and step your blog game up. And ya’all definitely ain’t fuckin’ with The Spizzy; I’ll slay you clowns.

Photo by Fubz

Black Pacino: Does being an engineer by trade help you as a producer?

Marco Polo: Absolutely.  I would definitely call myself a producer before an engineer.  I kind of did that to get my music out there.  But it definitely didn’t hurt me learning all of the tricks and the tools of the trade when it comes to making music sound good in the recording process.  I definitely have that advantage over a lot of producers when it comes to how my stuff sounds at the end of the day.

Pacino:  When you were putting in work as an intern at The Cutting Room (studio) were there times that you felt discouraged? Or did working in that environment keep you inspired to get into the game?

Polo: Both.  There were moments when I was like, “What am I doing? The odds are so against me.”  I’m this kid from Toronto coming to New York trying to do it.  I would give out CDs to artists and never hear back.  But at the same time the one or two people that did respond would be like, “Yo, man… I didn’t take anything off of your CD but I like what you’re doing.”  And that’s the type of feedback that keeps you going.  And just seeing the artists come through and a lot of the time, a lot of times your favorite emcees you grew up listening to aren’t rhyming on the beats you hoped they would. And the production’s lacking, so I’m like, “Yo, I need to keep doing what I do and get these dudes some beats.”  So it was a bit of both.

Pacino: Do you have a particular creative process when you make your beats? Or you go with the flow in the studio?

Polo: My process is real unorthodox.  I always start with the drums, which is from what I’m told a lot of people don’t do it because it limits you.  But to me if the drums ain’t soundin’ right, nothing else is really gonna fall into place.  So the first thing I do when I get up, before I obviously get my cup of coffee and a cigarette goin’, is getting the drums right.  Chop up a break and just start nodding my head.  And then once I get in the zone I’ll just start choppin’ up samples and see where it takes me.

Pacino: Since the South is real popular right now people tend to forget that New York City has its own sound.  If you agree with that, what would you describe as the New York style of music?

Polo: I mean… definitely the East Coast boom-bap style is signature in New York, that’s where it started.  Yeah, we definitely do have a sound.  But at the end of the day I’m not really into differentiating.  Good music is good music and wherever it comes from, as long as it’s pure and it’s not forced or contrived… like OutKast do their thing; they came out with a whole new style down there in Atlanta.  It was Hip-Hop, it was dope.  So New York definitely has a sound, you know? I’d like to hear some of that come back to the forefront but… you know…you can’t really force any of that, it just happens naturally.

Pacino: With studio equipment getting cheaper nowadays, just about anybody can grab a few pieces of equipment and call themselves a producer virtually overnight.  Do you think this accessibility helps the music, hurts the music, or has no effect at all?

Polo: I would say the internet more than the equipment is affecting it because now everybody has an outlet through MySpace and places like that to post up anything they do.  So you’re flooded with a lot of music and to be honest, being on MySpace, a lot of it isn’t so hot.  So in that respect it over-saturates the market so a lot of good things get lost in the shuffle.  So that’s definitely a negative about it.  In terms of new equipment and being cheaper, at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter because it’s the person who makes the music, it’s not the equipment.  So you can have all this hot stuff and still make wack beats.

Pacino: A guy like Dangermouse, he chooses one real gifted emcee to work with like he did with Gnarls Barkley or DangerDoom.  He’ll do an entire album with them.  Is that something you’d ever consider doing and if so, what emcee would you work with?

Polo: I would absolutely consider that.  That’s what I prefer.  That’s what I remember Hip-Hop to be, one production unit and a couple of emcees like Tribe (Called Quest) or Wu-Tang and I think that’s what made classic albums.  So I’m definitely with that and some emcees I would like to collab with on a whole project… one would be Rock Marciano from the U.N., that’s a group that messes with Pete Rock.  He’s on my album too and me and him been talking about doing a whole project for a minute.  Will it happen? I have no idea but I hope it does.  So yeah, I’m a big fan of one producer, one emcee projects.  I think those leave more of a stamp or a mark than me doing a bunch of various tracks all over the place.