Mastermind Interview Thursday, November 16, 2000

Mastermind Interview - Thursday, November 16, 2000 at Upper Deck in Fredericton, NB

From Mastermind & Choclair’s Coast To Coast tour.

Interviewer: Brockway Entertainment

Interviewee: Mastermind
Check out Mastermind's Webpage!

Brockway: Were you feeling the crowd tonight?

Mastermind: Oh yeah man, shit was hot! I’ve never been out here before and it was a good time. When you go on tour to places you’ve never been it’s kinda hard to feel up the crowd, especially being a DJ, you’re never sure what tracks you should bring to play because you don’t know what people are going to be into. They (the crowd) got down to everything we did. It was hot man!

Brockway: Yeah, the response to the next single (“Bump!” by Choclair & Mr. Roam) was…

Mastermind: Oh yeah, hey dude (to Lee Roy Brown, DJ for Choclair), we played “Bump!” and the song, they were singing it.

Lee Roy Brown (Choclair’s DJ): They were singing it!?

Pete (the photographer): Hey Choclair, you gonna do “Suave” tonight?

Brockway: You mean “Suave Dirt Dogs.” (Choclair’s unreleased track with Ol Dirty Bastard)

Choclair: (chuckles), nah Ol Dirty Bastard couldn’t make it tonight.

Lee Roy Brown: Yeah, he missed his flight. (sarcastically)

Solitair: I’m his replacement.

(laughter)

Brockway: (to Choclair) What was the bonus track at the end of the Beenie Man album that you were featured on? There was no title given for it.

Choclair: Original Tune (remix) with me & Beenie on his album.

Brockway: So this is your first time down to New Brunswick…

Mastermind: Yeah, this is my first time.

Brockway: What do you think so far?

Mastermind: We came in when it was dark, so I didn’t really get to see. But it looks kinda quiet and quaint. It just looks like a small city that would be a couple hours outside of Toronto. I have seen any of it, so I don’t know what to say.

Brockway: You’ve been quite a few places across Canada with this tour. Where did you get the best response?

Mastermind: This was definitely one of them. From a vibe perspective, Vancouver was hot. London (Ontario) was hot. To be honest with you, every spot of the tour that I’ve been on from Banff to Whistler, in Calgary, it’s been hot. And this is no exception, we came out here not knowing what to expect and you guys have kept it right up there.

Brockway: Yeah, there’s a grand desire for rap down here.

Mastermind: It’s hot.

Brockway: We hadn’t had a rap artist here since Maestro in 1987 or 1988.

Mastermind: Wow! (awestruck)

Brockway: In this your first large scale tour?

Mastermind: Yeah, its my first large-scale, in support of my album (‘Volume 50: Street Legal’). We’re out here promoting.

Brockway: How did you get hooked up with Choclair?

Mastermind: Well, we’re on the same label (Virgin records) and Chocs had to headline a tour because every one he’s been on, he hasn’t been the headliner. And this one, they wanted him to headline. It’s a good way for his audience, him being a gold plus artist (over 500, 000 albums sold), for me to be introduced to them. Because not everybody in Canada’s gonna know me. I’ve got wide-scale release and he’s (Choclair) on my lead single, so it just tied in. It’s a family thing. I’ve been doing radio for years in Toronto and Choclair’s been one of the artist’s I’ve supported through the years.

Brockway: Yeah, it’s a good way to get known, because no one had really heard of Mastermind and most people were coming out to see Choclair. So it’s great exposure for you.

Mastermind: That’s what it’s about, totally.

Brockway: I listened to your album and I must say that it was pretty tight. When I first picked it up, I suspected that it might be like Mack 10’s ‘Hoo Bangin: The Mix Tape Vol 1.’ I didn’t like that album much cause the scratching was ill-placed and it felt like he cut up the songs. But with your album, the cuts and scratches didn’t hurt the songs.

Mastermind: See I’ve always had a philosophy that you can do some cutting and scratching, but you want to keep it to a minimum because people still want to hear the song. That’s what I tried to do: A few tricks here and there, a couple back & forths, but I want people to hear the song and that’s what it’s about. It’s ultimately about the song by adding a bit of flavor to it.

Brockway: Are you doing a video for any tracks?

Mastermind: “Bump!” It’s the lead single featuring Choclair & Mr. Roam.

Brockway: Do you know when it’s going to be released?

Mastermind: Probably in about 3 weeks. We’re filming it next week and a couple weeks after that it’ll be on much music.

Brockway: Any ideas on the concept?

Mastermind: It’s a party vibe because the song is a real bumping club track, radio track so we’re gonna keep it on that vibe. I don’t really want to let to much out the bag cause we haven’t filmed it yet, so I don’t know. Shit can change.

Brockway: I checked out Mastermind50.com and you’ve got a top ten “Fresh” list. How do you pick those tracks?

Mastermind: It’s kinda like what I’m vibing with, what I think is hot. I haven’t changed that for about 3 weeks because of the tour. It’s a way to expose new music, especially if I get exclusive tracks that no one else has. It’s a way for me to showcase that. It’s what I’m feeling, whatever I think is hot.

Brockway: It’s probably also a good place to give Canadian underground artists exposure too.

Mastermind: I give underground artists exposure on my show that’s the best place for it. The show’s broadcast over the Internet to people outside of Toronto. The show itself is broadcast in 6 markets in southern Ontario over 3 different frequencies. It’s got the biggest amount of reach as far as listeners.

Brockway: Do you know if it reaches Ottawa? Cause that’s where I’m headed in January.

Mastermind: Nah, but you can get over the Internet at www.energyradio.ca. That’s where I expose, cause I’m a big supporter of good Canadian hip hop.

Brockway: Yeah, especially with your mix-CD (in reference to ‘Volume 50: Street Legal’).

Mastermind: Oh yeah. We went into this with the concept of upping the anti as far as Canadian hip hop was concerned to showcase the talent and mixing it in with the American stuff so that people wouldn’t complain about all the American stuff being at the beginning of the cd and all the Canadian stuff is at the end. I don’t do my stuff like that. I started the album with a Canadian track: Saukrates & Brassmunk. They ripped it right from the beginning of the cd.

Brockway: Yeah, Brassmunk had a track on Rap Essentials 2000 and I liked his style.

Mastermind: It’s a band actually. There’s four guys in the group. They’re hot.

Brockway: With your underground tracks, like with K-Os and such. As long as you can get the exposure and sales, it’ll be good exposure for those artists.

Mastermind: The cd is a mixed cd. People gotta know it, they gotta feel it, they’re gonna know what’s on the album. Originally when I was doing mixtapes, they were all about breaking records. They weren’t about taking the hottest joints and putting them all on one tape. And that’s what we’re doing on this and that’s why on this tour. We play a lot of tracks on this album. When people are dancing, if they like a song, they’re gonna go out and get the album.

Brockway: For your mixtape, I thought you’re two weakest tracks were NWA’s “Chin Check” and Ice Cube’s “Hello” just because they didn’t seem to fit in.

Mastermind: Wow. NWA’s “Chin Check” is such a hot track. “Hello”, yeah. But NWA is amazing.

Brockway: I don’t know, I just wasn’t feeling the beat. The lyrics are tight…

Mastermind: That song is amazing to me.

Brockway: That’s just me.

Mastermind: Maybe.

Brockway: Would you consider yourself one of the prominent DJ’s in Canada?

Mastermind: That’s not really for me to determine. I’m just out there doing my thing. If people like what I do and they appreciate it and they’re down with it, then that’s cool.

Brockway: I’m sure you’re just being nonchalant. You’re certainly getting exposure, so you must be doing something right.

Mastermind: It’s cool. I’m not mad.

Brockway: have there been any other Canadian hip hop mixtapes released commercially?

Mastermind: I did one previous to this…

Brockway: Volume 49?

Mastermind: No, no, no. It was independent. The obscene underground series called ‘ass’. It’s all underground hip hop. The biggest name on it was Canibus. That came out in February of this year. I liked it. The same kind of Mastermind mixtape. In terms of other hip hop albums, I don’t know. There are R&B mix albums, but not real hip hop.

Brockway: Nah, there’s nothing similar to yours.

Mastermind: Yeah, not the way I did it. So, no.

Brockway: That makes the album even more impressive. I understand volume 49 was distributed for free. How could someone get their hands on that?

Mastermind: Where did we put 49 out dude (to Kevin “Ice” White, Virgin Records Promotions and National Street Team Co-Ordinator)?

Kevin “Ice” White: We put it out this summer.

Mastermind: Yeah, in June.

Brockway: Was it just released in Toronto area?

Mastermind: No, we released it across the country. To wherever the street teams and Virgin reps were. There was an online giveaway on Mastermind50.com. I gave them away on my radio show. We’ve been giving away some while on tour.

Brockway: Do you have any copies here?

Kevin “Ice” White: Nah, I gave them all away tonight. Sorry.

Brockway: That’s alright. No worries.

Mastermind: We released Volume 49 to promote the forthcoming release, plus give some Canadian MC’s some shine because it went across the countries in large quantities. There’s a lot of cats who don’t get the across the board recognition and exposure and that’s what we wanted to do as well. We took the cream of the crop and the small guys as well.

Brockway: When you were putting together the mixtape, did you have any trouble getting record labels to give you permission for certain artists’ material to be put on the mixtape?

Mastermind: Yeah. There were some tracks that didn’t get to happen. We were supposed to do more collaborations. Xzibit was supposed to be on the album. Pharoahe Monch was supposed to be on the album.

Brockway: Wasn’t he on “The Light?”

Mastermind: Yeah, but we were supposed to do an original track with him. M.O.P was supposed to be on the album.

Brockway: Have you heard M.O.P.’s new album?

Mastermind: Yeah.

Brockway: What did you think?

Mastermind: Amazing. It’s their best album.

Brockway: Cool.

Mastermind: But, there’s all kinds of red tape you have to deal with. Either a manager doesn’t get back to you on time or a record label won’t give you the clearance or their legal department takes a lot of time. So a lot of shit didn’t get to happen the way we wanted it to happen.

Brockway: So did the album’s release get pushed back any?

Mastermind: Oh yeah, the album got pushed back 3 times. That was because we were waiting on people. When we couldn’t wait any longer, we had to say, “just fuck it, we’ll do it for the next one.”

Brockway: Do you expect a collaboration between you and Choclair on his next album?

Mastermind: After this tour, he’s going to go back into the studio. I don’t know if there’ll be a collaboration. We’ll see how “Bump!” (Choclair & Mastermind’s track) does in terms of its success.

Brockway: It seems like it’s going to do quite well.

Mastermind: Yeah, I’m quite confident. We’ll see what happens.

Brockway: Listening to your album, “Bump!” was the hottest track as far as club appeal is concerned.

Mastermind: As far as club appeal, yeah. You know, it’s weird everybody has their own opinion. A lot of people like the Kardinal & Rah Digga track (“Lights Out”). People like the Brassmunk and Saukrates track. Some people like the Nefarius & Phife Dawg song. And then there’s the freestyles which everybody likes. Everybody’s different.

Brockway: Who’s concept was it for the skits?

Mastermind: Me and Russell came up with those.

Brockway: Because I’m not a big fan of skits, because most are boring. But yours were entertaining.

Mastermind: Oh really. Ok. Cool. We actually had 2 more. Each freestyle was supposed to have one, but we ran out of time on the album. We had to take ‘em out. I was kinda pissed about that.

Brockway: Some of the better skits I’ve heard since Redman (‘Muddy Waters’ album) or Cypress Hill (‘IV’ album).

Mastermind: Yeah, Redman had some funny-ass skits. Funny shit.

Brockway: If you could work with any artist at all, who would it be?

Mastermind: Anybody man, I’ve had a good time over my career with all the artists I’ve been in contact with. I’ll work with anybody.

Brockway: So there’s no one person that you have so much respect for, that you’d just love to work with them?

Mastermind: You know what. It’s just that everybody I’ve met has been cool. I mean there’s people that you respect because of the individual they are. People you respect because of the music they do. People you respect because of their career. A guy like LL Cool J. I’ve met him a lot of times. He’s a real down to earth dude. He’s always friendly with me. I’d work with him. He’s not the most underground MC, but when he wants to, he can put out a fucking hot ass record. He’d be a great guy to work with.

Brockway: What are your plans after this tour?

Mastermind: I work fulltime at the radio station back in Toronto so I’ll be on the air a lot.

Brockway: What do you do with the show while you’re out on tour?

Mastermind: I’m on leave from the station. So, I’ll go back to that aspect. Still promote and do gigs and such in Toronto. But basically promote this album and then start working on the next one. I’ve gotta put out two albums a year. We’ll work on the next one and we’ll just keep this thing going.

Brockway: I guess that’s about it.

Mastermind: Alright man. Thank you.

Brockway: Thanks! I appreciate.

Mastermind: Cool.