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  Prefuse 73 Interview
interview 0542 added 29.10.07 words:
Kane
technical:
Spoon
Guillermo Scott Heron, aka Prefuse 73 makes the sort of lush yet fiercely progressive Hip hop soundscapes that draw inevitable comparisons to the late Jay Dilla. But Prefuse 73 is very much his own man, and a recording artist with a unique musical vision. Kane found out more...
“Yo, my name is Guillermo Scott Heron, aka Prefuse 73. I’m not sure how many albums I’ve released, but my music’s my interpretation of hip hop and growing up with hip hop. What it is to me in its various forms.” explains the proggy, prolific producer, outlining his career on both Warp Records and countless other labels (from Ghostly International to Money Studies through to Eastern Developments – all innovative beatsmith stables). “I’ve had very different albums out; albums that have been completely instrumental, albums cut up and edited Mantronix style to tracks that have had emcees like Ghostface, EL-P and GZA, Masta Killa, whoever I mean it doesn’t really matter, I’m just trying to do my thing with hip hop and take it as far as it can.”
So, with that in mind you’d expect him to maybe go easy, roll out another album and pick up his cheque? Not a chance, as anyone who’s had the listening pleasure of his brand new Preparations LP will testify. It’s further innovation from one of the most forward thinking, genre crossing B-boys around....
So what got you into making music in the first place? Where does your name come from?
It’s profusion 1973, which is my favorite period of music, for collecting and listening to records. I think people who represented that era best were Alice Coltrane.. Gill Anderson Cheryl Sanders. Cats who were experimenting with new sounds and were spiritually very absorbed by the music they were making. Changing the way people hear and perceive jazz, and I thought there was a lot of similarities to when I started making hip hop as Prefuse, people were trying new things, mid 90s’-2000, hip hop was becoming way more important, because things weren’t really going to well in the industry and people started to take the matter into their own hands, labels like Def Jux.
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I can’t stop listening to the Kanye record, I think its genius
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 Kind of a reaction to Puffys jiggy shit?
In a way at that time there was some anti-mainstream sentiment, but then at the same time there was some mainstream that popped off and was to a very high standard. I mean when the Neptunes came on the scene, they were very different from the mainstream, and the same for Outkast.
It took a while for Outkast to be embraced by the mainstream though..
Yeah, but I grew up in Atlanta so people were bumping that shit all day, but then all of sudden I’d be in NY and then they were blowing up over here which was crazy. There was a point when the mainstream was as important as the underground. Small labels were getting heard and making a dime of their music as well.
Like Rawkus?
They were a label that started off with the right intention but went the wrong way. It became quite obvious they weren’t handling their business right, I mean I’m not the person to say whether they were handling their business right or wrong but I’m friends with people who were on Rawkus and they felt totally burnt, and you can hear it in their songs. There’s a lyric on the Talib Kweli LP, who talks about doing things right, he mentions Def Jux and talks about how Rawkus fucked a lot of peoples career up, due to mismanagement where to much money was spent on marketing and publicity and by the end, you had no money left.
Then they got bought out by Rupert Murdock’s son…
That’s right, and you can pretty much draw the line right there where things got really fucked up. What does Rupert Murdock’s son have in common with people like Talib Quali and El-P?..
You started out your career producing for Dirty South rappers, were you surprised about how that scene sort of blew up a few years ago?
Yeah, I was happy and very surprised at the same time. I’m also pleased to see where it went, I mean you look at the new Kanye album and there’s Lil Wayne featuring on it.
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I did it because it was fun to do and spontaneous at the time
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Who did you work with back in the day then?
Just hard-core ghetto cats that wanted to get their shit on and make music. They just wanted to bump tapes in their car, they had normal day jobs, and we would just get together in these tin pot studios and record. Atlanta has a massive hip hop community; it’s on radio all the time, all sorts of stuff. No one cares about gangster stuff anymore; people are just trying to be a bit more sincere with their music.
 Your music obviously crosses a lot of genres, but hip hop seems to be at the nucleus of what you do. Certainly your Prefuse 73 stuff anyway. Do you still love hip hop? What do you think of the current stuff?
Right now, I can’t stop listening to the Kanye record, I think its genius. I mean you’ve got him and Mos Def rhyming over the melody from an obscure kraut rock band, (CAN) that’s pretty much as far as you can take things in the mainstream. Rapping about hot drunk girls to an obscure CAN song.
I read somewhere that you use to be into your graf, have you seen the Wildstyle re-release? What do you think of it?
Yeah, for sure, I grew up doing that. I see that cat Lee Quinones in a coffee shop near my flat; I see a lot of those guys in New York. Growing up I was completely in awe of those graff dudes.
Obviously you’re signed to an English label and seem pretty open minded to new music. What’s your take on stuff like dub step and grime?
I’m open to anything and everything, but y’know I don’t know where to get that shit from, I’m always working on stuff so I can’t always keep up to date on everything that’s going on. I get recommended stuff, I like that Wiley cat, and he sort of defines grime music for me.
What’s your creative process, do you work when the moment grabs you, set time aside?
I get up early, get my coffee, get on the MPC or whatever and get to work. I’m really disciplined about my time, this is a job for me, I stop around 8 and then I get high, try to relax and not to think about business or marketing or people trying to call me to do this show or that show.
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it doesn’t really matter, I’m just trying to do my thing with hip hop and take it as far as it can
..."
 So tell us a bit about your new album, Preparations? And the bonus disc?
I don’t really know how to describe it to people who haven’t heard Prefuse before, it’s some Prefuse sounding shit, but there’s a bonus disc included with has absolutely no beats on it at all. It’s just a classical re-interpretation of the beats in a weird way, where I’ve just played instruments and resample them, put them in the MPC and create this whole orchestra sounding CD to match the beats side. So that was the whole concept, I did it because it was fun to do and spontaneous at the time. I thought about who I should work with, what MCs’ but I thought “na, fuck it, I’m just gonna go it alone”. I surrounded myself with a lot of modern Italian classical music at the time.
And your label, Eastern Developments, what you got going on there?
Nothing right now, I don’t have as much to do with it anymore, I still bring bands to it but I’ve been to busy recording my own stuff that other people have been running it. But there’s a really dope band on it called Leyode, good luck finding their album, but you should check it out if you can.
What’s your plans for the future?
I just want to hang out with my kid; I’ll be back in NY once all the touring is over and doing dad stuff.
Cool. The last interview I had was with Kool Keith and I asked him a question which I don’t think he took very seriously, why do you think it is that some people, or musicians, are better at connecting with their sub-conscious/imagination than others?
 It’s a matter of how honest a person you are, this is just a matter of opinion I’m no psychologist obviously, but I suppose it comes down to how true you are to your self and how willing you are to be sincere with your music to the public and the rest of the world. There are some really guarded people who are only willing to take their music half way as opposed to just letting go, that’s the honest answer I suppose. Oh, it looks like I’m being beckoned…
Oh, ok, any last shout outs then?..
Erm..Yeah, peace to you man, thanks for having me on, thanks for the support!
So there you have it, a dope producer and nice guy to boot!
The new Prefuse 73 LP Preparations is out now on Warp Records
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Kane
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