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With his new album "Past Presence Features", his debut full length LP, a slew of dope 12's and mix cd's and an increasing resume of collaborations on wax and on stage, Virginia's Doujah Raze is making serious power moves. Currently residing in New York, Doujah has collaborated with East Coast heavyweights such as A.G., Born Unique, Da Beatminerz, Mista Sinista, OC, Sean Price, Team Demolition to name a few. Putting it bluntly, Raze is an MC that truly needs to be heard. This is only the beginning of his conquest...
"Past Presence Features" is your second full-length release. How did you see the record develop from what you originally envisaged?
It actually came out a lot different than I had envisaged. Even though P.P.F. is my second full-length release, it’s not my official second album. Our new distributor pushed us to get another album ready for a late May release. With only two months to complete it, I knew I wouldn’t have the time to really craft an entire album, at least not the way I wanted to do it. So I came up with the idea for PPF, a collaboration album with a couple new solo tracks and a few old ones to fill it out. I already had a few of the collaboration tracks done and ready to go, and I cranked out a bunch of new joints in a really short time span…but it came out hot. It plays like a full length and I feel it’s very cohesive. We’re (Trilogy) incredibly happy with the release.
That’s a tough question and I’m going have to answer with two tracks off P.P.F. Conceptually, "Either Way" really represents where I’ve come from and where I’m going in this rap game. Lyrically, "Give It Up" is what I feel to be the strongest representation of my skill on the new album, and I only plan to keep growing and writing like this.
I’ve learned that I can work well with a number of different artists, because so many of the MCs that I featured on this album have such different styles. My first album was basically feature-free, so I really developed my own way of writing. On this album I was able to sit down with other artists and write with them, so I learned some of their techniques and shared some of mine. It’s good to work with other artists because it opens your mind. I realized that I don’t always have to do things exactly my way and things can still come out hot.
"Fahrenheit" has been getting a lot of burn around the country, we’re seeing it pop up on the BDS charts all over the place so we’re happy that my records are continuing to get played on major airwaves.
I’ve heard a lot of new beats that are inspiring me. I’m already working on the next album so I don’t have too much time to listen for other stuff. I doubt I’m missing too much either, but occasionally a new record comes along that grabs my attention.
Soul-soaked, hard hitting, golden-era hip hop with an up-to-date universal appeal.
The “Official” second album and a few side projects with some artists around the globe.
How did your approach to your debut album differ to the past 12 inch releases?
I wouldn't say that I sat down and tried to approach it differently. The album took 4-5 years to make. It is not necessarily just a collection of songs. It is well thought out. As
I released each single I would put aside certain songs that I wanted to go on the album. We didn't release a lot of those songs. The album contains both old and new material.
It is going to give people an idea of where I'm going to take it from here.
I didn't want to put any filler on the album. Especially since it took me so long to make.
We planned this release. I knew that if the album was to be successful, I had to come with an album that was complete and packed with joints.
I heard that beat and I thought it was really dynamic. It was a beat that not everybody was going to love. The hook is the same way. I had a connection with OC and I knew I wanted to get him on a track. That beat sounded like something that he could spit some street shit on. Born Unique, was a natural pick for the third verse. Because he is really gully. I thought why not, it is not like I am some street, thug rapper, however, I like to bring some rawness to the tracks and do some hard stuff. I definitely know I can flip it that way.
I'm sure everyone in one way or another has that past, that they may / may not regret. Luckily, I've never really got caught up in anything. Any of the stuff that I've done has never really got me into too much trouble. Definitely, I'm trying to do everything the right way these days. Trying to make a living from the music business can be fairly crazy and your pockets are often really slim. But it's cool because it makes me humble and makes me respect where I am trying to get.
It was definitely poignant. I think when you hear the first verse and the beginning of the second verse I was pretty twisted at the time. I was pretty drunk when I wrote these.
When my grandfather passed. It was his time. He was ready to go. Even though I was never really ready to say goodbye to him, I was okay with it because he had gotten into a car accident. He was 91 years old and still driving a car around. He was crazy.
He had gotten into an accident, he broke his hip and he couldn't walk. He was in a home He was never going to be able to be rehabilitated, he couldn't understand this and he wanted to get up. When I went to see him, that would be the only time that he was happy. It hurt more to see him in pain and he not being able to walk around, than it did to let go. I knew it was his time.
When I wrote it, I had previously made the beat. When he passed, I knew that I wanted to use that beat for the track. I had made the beat a couple of months before hand and I didn't know what I was going to do with it. When he passed, I said "that beat is perfect."
A couple of days after he passed, I was drinking a little bit here and there and it was tough. Writing that song helped me deal with it and helped me say goodbye. It also helps him live on.
Behind the cd (Doujah Raze) is a picture of he and I. It's dope. Before the track about him was that little 30 second skit where he was singing. It was actually one of his old tapes. He would just sit there and record himself a lot of the time. I have some of these. I picked that 30 seconds to put on the album. To be a singer was always his dream.
He was a dancer. He did some singing here and there, but nothing professionally. He wasn't a good singer. I loved his stuff. He wrote a couple of songs. He wrote songs all the time. They were crazy songs. He would write songs for example on the Washington Redskins all the time. He would always be singing his songs to me. I wish I had more of his tapes. I just wanted to pay that on there, pay homage and give him the chance to fulfil his dreams.
That would have been cool. There was one of his songs that got some type of popularity somewhere. It was called "The State Song". In the song, he named all the fifty states (USA). He did it in this creative way, where he did it in around 14 seconds.
It is definitely something that I am going to do when I have more time. Right now writing lyrics is the most creative, important thing for me to do, when I have time to be creative.
In the future I am planning on having more of that time. Production is definitely something I would like to do. I grew up playing piano and guitar. The music is in me. If I take time to cultivate it, I can make more good music in the future. I would like to produce some of my own tracks. I would never produce my whole album. I would always want to work with other producers.
I used an MPC. I sampled about 10 seconds of this record. I chopped it to hell. I really, really chopped it up and totally rearranged everything. I don't think I would ever have to clear the sample, it is so chopped up it's ridiculous. The MPC is pretty easy to use. I made this beat four years ago. It had to be on the album.
That was one of the first beats that I made. I was just messing around and then boom it just came out hot. A couple of months later I figured out what I was going to write it about. Since then, I have messed around here and there. However, I haven't dedicated any time to concentrating on production. Producing is something that you really have to work on. It is not only just getting behind the MPC. It is finding the samples. It is digging. Really knowing that side to it.
A lot of these dope producers have the ability to put beats together very quickly.
Emceeing is my strong point. That is the skill that I'm going to focus on the most.
I wouldn't depend on myself to add those instruments to a track. I could definitely get on a keyboard and add some sounds that weren't necessarily sampled or play around with some samples and add these to the track. As far as guitar, it's not going to happen.
I won't be getting on the guitar on a track. However, that is not to say that I wouldn't get a professional guitarist to do this. I gained a lot of knowledge from playing those instruments. I can still play a couple of joints. Studying those instruments gave me the knowledge to understand how music works (chords, progressions, etc). It gave me the opportunity to understand rhythm and beats. I think that is why I was able to produce "Raze" with little to no experience on the MPC.
He actually did the remix before we actually knew him. We posted the acapella on the
Trilogy website and a lot of cats were hitting us with remixes, but this one really stood out. I really liked the flavour. He totally flipped "Irish Cream". It was really cool. After that we told him we liked it and put it on the website and he started sending over beats.
Actually the first beat cd he sent sat around my apartment forever. I didn't even listen to it I was really busy. Then he sent another one and JJ (Double-J) listened to it and said to me "You really got to listen to this". I listened and all of a sudden I was six songs into it and three out of the six songs I wanted. I was like I want to start writing to them right now. Most beat cd's I get, it's lucky if I even like one beat, let alone want to write to it. Here the first six beats I heard immediately I wanted three of them and I started writing. Then we started talking and when I was over there in Germany was the first time, we got to meet. It was a really good vibe. We got in the studio for a couple of days. We recorded two tracks. We're actually going to be doing an EP strictly for release in Germany. Shuko will be doing pretty much all the production (Double J may do one beat). I'll be doing most of the rhyming. Shuko rhymes also. He's going to be doing some rhyming as well. We're going to release that in Germany. That's a little bit in the future that's going to come after my first full length. He's killing it. He's probably my favourite producer right now, at least that I'm working with. I listen to his beats and I'm just blown away. The kid is so versatile. It's crazy the wide variety of beats he can produce. He's grown up with music around him. His father's a musician. He grew up playing piano. He's ill. Expect a lot. He's going to be one of my main producers. He's going to be part of the Trilogy family. Much Respect to him. I don't know what I'd be doing for my album if I didn't stumble along this cat. Things happen for a reason.
We met through this cat Nesto, down in Virginia Beach. We had known him through radio. J was in contact with DJ's all over the country. He said "yo, check my boy's beats out." We got a cd. I was pretty impressed. I slept on it for a second. Then when I went back through it, the first beat on there was "Irish Cream". I said "I can't believe I didn't hear this on the first listen". "360 Degrees" might have been on that cd also. I snatched both of those. "Back to You" was also on there. The track "Virginia" might have also been on that first cd and I had been planing on doing something with it for a long time. I didn't know what though. Years later, it finally struck. I had tried to write to it in the past and nothing really was coming out right. That was a difficult track to write to. It was a difficult track to mould my voice to. It was hard to get my voice right for that track. Then finally the idea came for the track "Virginia". I wanted to give that song to Virginia. Each emcee on
"Virginia" brought their own take on their experiences in VA.
No, not with Da Beatminerz, although I am working with Sean Price on some things.
I got Andre the Giant (AG) and him on a joint. We're going to put that out in the near future. I was really happy to get them both on the track.
He saw me perform. Through someone else I was told that he wanted to do something.
I got his number. I called him up. We just started hanging out. We then started making music. We're doing a couple of joints. It's a friendship. It's definitely going to lead some good things.
The beat inspired what I wrote about on that track. If you're a good emcee, you are going to write about a "Plastic World". Plastic definitely has a negative connotation. It's the way that I feel about things that are going on in the world these days. That beat made me speak on some social things. I'm not a preacher. However, I felt like making some comments about our society. That was a good track to do this on. I would like to think of it as a 'crusading' track. It is something that I stand for, but at the same time it also gives the listeners something to think about.
That was a beat that Disko Dave gave me a long time ago. I really liked it, when I first heard it. The way that it began and the way that it ends are exactly the same. I felt that it had a spiritual, mystical quietness about it. It wasn't a track that I wanted to do anything funny over or anything that was hard. I wanted to get into some of my spirituality.
In Life, I believe that things move in spirals. Not necessarily circles. Spirals come back to the same place, but not exactly the same place. They make circles (360). I feel as though Death is Life and Birth. That is all the same kind of thing. I wanted to get that feeling and idea out there. I don't want to tell people what they should be thinking, I would rather they draw their own interpretations from my lyrics.
I decided to make a track where the first verse is my birth. The second verse is my birth on stage. The third verse is my death, which is actually a birth into a new life. Each verse is a different kind of birth, but at the same time I guess each verse in the song symbolises the death of something else.
They were a little tougher. When you hear those beats, they are still Boom Bap, but they also contain something extra. They are not the same type beats that you usually hear me spitting over. I don't want everything to be the same. With those tracks I knew that I needed to do something a little different. I needed to flip my flow on the album. If I had the same flow the whole way through the entire album then it would get boring. "Clear" came to me easily. I had a lot of fun with it. It was the first track that I've done where I got creative like that. That gave me confidence. I knew I could do it again. "Take A Chance", is something I did more recently. I started spitting the first verse differently.
With the second verse, I said "you know what, why don't I try something entirely different." It worked with both tracks. I don't know that it is the crispest double time flow I've heard. It's definitely not twisted. However, I think I did it decently.
With my second single "Irish Cream", that started getting commercial airplay in several markets. It started getting BDS. BDS is a system that tracks the number of times you get spins on commercial stations. We were up to 350 BDS spins on "Irish Cream" and then we started getting them with "Spinmata", so that's when labels started hollering. We had meetings with labels such as Universal, Elektra, Atlantic, Epic and they said "Yo, we see you're getting airplay, we hear the buzz," basically letting us know that they're looking at me. I'm not ready to sign yet. I think that it could work me being on a major but it's gotta work on my terms. I know I'm not going to get all my terms but I need to keep creative control. I don't want a major label coming in and saying "look, you've got to write tracks about this", you've got to do songs with these artists, "you've got to do songs with these producers." I know what Doujah Raze should sound like. I know best how to promote myself. I know what my fans want to hear and I know what kind of music I want to make. The longer I do things on an independent level the better bargaining tool I'll have when I sit down at the table with a major. I'm really happy that I haven't signed. I was actually close to signing with a major a while back, now. When it didn't happen I was kind of upset about it but looking back it was the best thing ever. I still need to be independent. I need to put out my first full-length album independently and then maybe start looking for a major. We're going to keep on rolling independently as long as we can and as long as we're making these huge advances and seeing all this progress, it would be silly to think about doing it a different way right now. We're on a path. Trilogy Records are doing their thing. Double-J as a manager is really killing it for me. We're just seeing so many advances and taking positive steps. We know we're doing the right thing independently.
Many Thanks to Double J at Trilogy Records / Foundation Media for his assistance, both "Doujah Raze" and "Past Presence Features" are in all good music stores right now...
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© ukhh.com 2006
Doujah Raze Interview
How would describe your music for someone who’s never heard it?
As we went along, some of the singles that I did really stood out more than some of the others such as "Hard Times" and "Irish Cream". Those are songs that people need to hear. There are going to be a lot of people who buy this album who have never heard my singles. The tracks included represent where I've come from. I wanted to put "Virginia" on and then I decided I would put "New York City" on, because those are the places that I call home. I thought that was a good base to give to people with this album. "Ghost of Mars" just seemed to flow with everything. It seemed to fit in that particular space on the album.
Word. What set up were you using for the "Raze" track?
How did the track "Plastic World" come about?
Have any major labels approached you?
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