Lee Majors Talks Ricky Rozay’s “Free Mason”
August 10, 2010
BTS: Rick Ross – Free Mason feat. Jay-Z & John Legend from Duy Nguyen on Vimeo.
In this very brief clip Lee Majors of “The Inkredibles” gives a little background info on
how he got into producing and talks about the beat that turned out to be Ross’s
“Free Mason”.
Lex Luger Sits With Complex Talks B.M.F. & More
July 12, 2010
The good people over at Complex recently got up with Lex Luger to talk about his quick rise through
the industry. In case you’ve been hiding under a boulder and don’t know who Lex is, he’s a 19 year old producer taking the industry by storm producing such tracks as Ricky Rozay’s “B.M.F.” and “MC Hammer” along with Waka’s “Hard In The Paint”, not too shabby.
Here’s an excerpt from Complex’s interview where Lex talks about how “B.M.F.” and “MC Hammer” came to be. To read it in its entirety click here.
Spiff of SpiffTV reached out to me for the “Hard In The Paint” instrumental because Ross wanted that. Spiff directed the “O Let’s Do It Remix” video out in Atlanta’s Grand Central Station spot. People were bumping “Hard In The Paint” in a car and he was like, “What song is that?” This is before “Hard In The Paint” even blew up. It was just the streets was fucking with it. So he was like, “Who the hell did that?” So he got on the computer and searched, “Who produced this song.” He found me on MySpace and Twitter and hit me like, “I need some of this music.” And I told him, “I got it, but I got other stuff that’s way better.” I was sending Spiff 30 beats a day for seven days. I sent him a gang of beats and out of those beats was “B.M.F.” and “MC Hammer.”
VIDEO: Making of “Mafia Music 2″ By The Olympicks
February 3, 2010
That man Ricky Ross has one of the best ears for beats of any artist out right now…that’s all I gotta say. (props to YouHeardThatNew)
J.U.S.T.I.C.E League: Magnificent Maybach Music
July 8, 2009
No matter what you think of Rick Ross’s personal life the man has an ear for beats. And a big reason that you have the Bawse is in your iPod is The J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League. Last year Nodfactor interviewed the Grammy Award Winning trio of Rook, Colione and Kenny B. as “Maybach Music” and “Luxury Tax” had us all feeling richer than our pay stubs declared. Before then they’d quietly amassed an impressive list of winners for Mary J. Blige, Young Jeezy and Juelz Santana and ultimately helped Rick Ross gain a whole new legion of fans.
Now that “Maybach Music 2,” “The Magnificent” and “Rich Off Cocaine” have made their way into everyone’s playlists we caught up with the (literal) Super Producers about their recent ASCAP Awards win, the dark side of producing and the legacy of Maybach Music.
NF: Congratulations on the ASCAP award. That must be a nice feather in your cap.
Colione: It’s a great reward for all our hard work we put into 2 Pistols. We went through a lot of ups and downs with him and the project came out great and shouts out to 2 Pistols.
NF:Is he still signed to your production company?
Colione: Not at this time. We kind of parted ways. We had a few disagreements and he did a new deal with Cash Money and we wish him nothing but the best. We believe its’ Cash Money but we’re not sure.
NF: Rook, I’ve been following you on Twitter and you mentioned Maybach Music 1not having a sample and I thought it did, the Friends of Distinction song.
Rook: That’s the beauty of Justice League there bro. I’ll tell you the whole back story behind that song. Originally there was a Friends of Distinction song which was actually a cover of a Beatles Song. That being said, there was no chance of that being cleared. So at first we did a 100% replay, note for note, sound for sound of the original record. But we found out that wasn’t going to cut the mustard so we changed it up completely. There’s about five different versions of Maybach Music on our computer. We went back and forth with Sony ATV to make sure that we didn’t infringe on The Beatle’s copyright. So what went on Rick Ross’ album was a 100% non sampled original song.
NF: For the Win!
Rook: For the win. We get 100% publishing.
NF: What was your mindset into making Maybach Music 2 knowing how popular the first was?
Colione: I think a lot of people had expectations of what we were going to do with MM2 and we just wanted to go with a fuller sound. Something liver and more aggressive. We put so much work into that song. Each verse for the artist on the record is custom made to their sound. We knew who was going to be on the record so we catered it to their style. Everybody loves that song. Maybach Music is our legacy to show people what we’re really capable of.
NF: Now that one had the Dexter Wansel sample in it…
Rook: yeah but it was used very minimally. Most of it was us.
NF: How did you feel when you when you heard Lil Wayne’s line “I’m sitting in the asshole.” ?
Colione: That was a big pause on that.
NF: Do you ever think about what is going to be said over your beats, because “Rich Off Cocaine” has an incredible beat but I can’t sing that hook on GP?
Rook: The making of hat beat was pretty cool because we did the beat a while a go. Once we knew what sound he was going for we picked that beat for him. I know you might not agree with the message but it’s done well. The vocal arrangements, the actual lyrics to the song are really insightful but he does have a little message.
NF: I caught the lines about the vacations in Haiti at the end but still…
Colione: We’re conscious of it because it represents you as well. We’re a production team that goes in the studio with the artist…
Rook: I dunnno, I kind of disagree with that because the artist could go in and record a diss track over one of our beats. We don’t have any beef with that artist. We might be concerned, but it doesn’t concern us.
NF: Rook, you were really mad yesterday on Twitter recently, speaking on some drum sounds being stolen out of Pro Tools. What happened?
Rook: We’re the guys that came from nothing. We’re the peoples producers. We let it slide the first couple times, you can’t copyright drum sounds. But when they do it a third time that’s just disrespectful. I don’t want to harp on it too much, I’ll let the music speak for itself. We have integrity and work really hard to build our sound and for somebody to try and capitaliaze on our sound that we created is disrespectful. I undersatand influences, we all had influences. But to blatantly, literally steal…
NF: You have actually proof?
Rook: Yes, I do. I got it. As soon as we’re not busy it’ll be revealed.
NF: Have you confronted the cultprits?
Rook: Of course. The thing about me and my dudes is that we’re real people. I’m not gonna make pop shots. I’m gonna talk to you.
NF: What steps can you take to make sure that doesn’t happen again?
Rook: Once you give up your sessions anyone connected to the artist can get it. But I just want to focus on making good music cuz they’re stealing sounds we made in 2005.
NF: So Rook you also posted a clip of a drummer on Youtube replaying Maybach music. How close is that to what goes on in the studio with you guys?
Rook: Well we don’t play no music in the kitchen (laughs.) He did his thing though. But yeah that’s pretty close. We have the live instruments, guitars, basses, drums, cazoos. (laughing). Everything you can think of. We don’t have any engineers or ghostproducers. That’s what sets us apart.
NF: So what do you have coming that we should look out for?
Colione: We just did “Here Comes Trouble” for Maino and we’re working with Plies. Jeezy has some phenomenal music coming and we’re trying to go over to the pop side a little bit. Everyone is going to hear a different side of us but hip-hop and R&B is our roots. We don’t have to sample but we like to. We respect hip-hop culture and the way it was done.
NF: Indeed, I still need an instrumental of “Rich Off Cocaine” though…
Rook: Just change the words to “Rich Off Propane” and you can sing it. (laughs)
NF: Ha! Aight.
J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League Win Ascap Award, Getting Jacked For Beats!
June 30, 2009
Los Angeles, CA - Adding to their growing list of awards and accolades, Tampa production trio, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, brought home an ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Award from their recent trip to L.A. this past Friday for their work on last year’s smash single, She Got It.
The name of J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League is quickly becoming synonymous with rich, theatrical sound, filled with live instrumentation (between them the guys play about 12 instruments) and it is de rigueur for their work to be singled out in album reviews; Rick Ross’ Deeper Than Rap being the most recent. The industry is definitely taking notice as artists from those up-and-coming and seeking a bonafide single to music’s elite flock to book time in J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League’s Atlanta studio. Recent and upcoming collabos include Maino’s Here Comes Trouble, for the film and soundtrack to Antoine Fuqua’s upcoming film, Brooklyn’s Finest, P Diddy, Fabolous, Young Jeezy, Ludacris, Plies, Yo Gotti, Busta Rhymes, Drake, OJ Da Juiceman, Ghostface and of course, Mary J Blige with whom the trio won a 2006 Grammy for their work on The Breakthrough.
In other news, member Rook Beats has been blowing up Twitter about the crew getting their sounds stolen out of Pro Tools sessions! Wackness!
Drumma Boy: Makin Easy Money Playin Hits In Style
October 13, 2008
Producer Mr. 305 Claims He Leaked Rick Ross Photos
July 29, 2008
According to SOHH.com, Miami producer Mr 305 has claimed responsibility for leaking the photos of Rick Ross as a corrections officer. Allegedly he was asked to find them by Trick Daddy.
“I had custody of these things for a little minute since the first Ozone Awards they had. Trick and Ross were going through it then. Trick was getting offended that Ross was saying that he was the boss and the ‘Mayor of Miami’ because Trick started all that.”
Mr. 305, who says he grew up with Trick Daddy, claims that Trick asked him to obtain the photos saying, “I gotta straighten that nigga.”
“I did my lil research and I got the documents,” he said. Then Trick and Ross squashed their beef.
For more on this go to SOHH.com
J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League: Black Superhero Music
May 27, 2008
Name:J.U.S.T.I.C.E League (Just Undeniably Some Of The Illest Composers Ever)
Based out of: Tampa, FL
Members: Rook, Colione, and Kenny
Hit List: Young Jeezy “Bury Me A G,” Mary J. Blige “No One Will Do,” Rick Ross “Maybach Music” and “Luxury Tax” 2 Pistols, “She Got it” ft. T-Pain
Awards: Grammy for Mary J. Blige’s “No One Will Do” Myspace
Nodfactor.com: First off, congratulations on the successes. Your name is real hot in the streets right now. How did the three of you come together to start making music?
