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The New York producer sheds light on his classic work while promoting new album.
Easy Mo Bee dishes on being one of the only producers to work with both Tupac and Biggie in an interview with therealhip-hop.com.
“A lot of people have said I was the only one to work with B.I.G. and Tupac while they were alive and that’s partially true,” Easy Mo Bee says in the interview, which was published today (February 2). “I’m not sure about any other situations, but I know for a fact that Eddie F from The Untouchables, rest in peace to Heavy D – that was his crew, produced a song called ‘Let’s Get It On’ on Motown. This had to be at least ’95. This was during the period that Andre Harrell went over there and was president. The song contained Biggie, Tupac, Heavy D, and Grand Puba. That is the second instance of Biggie and Pac on a record made together while they were both alive. The song that I did was ‘Runnin’ From the Police.’ The title got knocked down to ‘Runnin’ and it appeared on the Million Man March album titled One Million Strong. It was financed by Ben Chavis of the NAACP. It’s a rare piece of vinyl to get a hold of, too. There is an Eminem remix, but there is an Easy Mo Bee original.”
Easy Mo Bee started producing in the late ‘80s and broke through in the early ’90s after linking up with Bad Boy. His latest release is an instrumental album called …And Ya Don’t Stop!on SLAMJamz.
“I hope that it injects a little bit more of inspiration into the culture of Hip Hop right now,” Easy Mo Bee says. “I think that the state of Hip Hop right is so redundant – I have to say it. Everything is so cookie cutter. A lot of everything sounds the same. Everybody is using the same equipment, the same sounds. It’s so redundant. That’s why with And You Don’t Stop I’m giving people the opportunity to see that I still love real music. I love sampling, but I love the sound of instruments. It’s important to me. It doesn’t matter whether it’s live or it’s sampled. It’s important for me to hear the sound of instruments. They say music soothes the savage beast.”
The New York producer spoke on his opportunity to work with Jazz player Miles Davis.
“I was so happy, man,” Easy Mo Bee says. “I mean here is a Jazz legend. Legend is not even a good enough word, pioneer, that goes back to music making as early as the '50s. And this man wants to work with me? He wants to collaborate with me? He wants to follow me? We would sit down in the beginning and have conversations about the direction and he was like, ‘Im’ma follow you and do what you do. You do your thing and Im’ma go on top of it.’ I was like, ‘Wow.’“
Easy Mo Bee says recognition is critical in the sport of Hip Hop.
“Hip Hop is about style,” Easy Mo Bee says. “The culture is about style. If I had to describe Hip Hop in one statement I’d have to say for everybody that’s in it that performs Hip-Hop is about, 'I’m better than you.' In other words it’s always been a competitive sport.”