A 2009-ben megjelent "Terminal Illness" című lemezével komoly figyelmet kivívó brit producer válaszolt néhány kérdésünkre.
I.B.E. azaz Intelligent Black Enterprise művésznév alatt tevékenykedő minneapolisi MC-vel olvashattok interjút.
Creative
Juices Music is one of the most active independent hip hop labels in
the last decade - a group of talented MC's and beatmakers who go their
own way and try to save the values of the real hip hop. IDE is the owner and operator of the Creative Juices Music label. His roles also include engineer, producer and artist. He answered our questions...
First,
a few words about the beginning of Creative Juices. What were the
reasons that led you to establish an own label? What was your purpose
with the label? After having released
a few mixtapes and singles, we had a few brief experiences dealing with
some indi labels. The situation dealing with these labels was not
ideal. We saw the labels, not working hard for the projects,
bullshitting, and not really making anything significant happen.
We knew so many artists we just decided to start releasing some
material on our own and see how it would go. Over the last 8 or so
years we continue to grow and expand what we are doing. We continue to
try and organize and further develop the label to this day. Its been a
very gradually process. I don’t think there was ever a sit down and
decision to start a label. It was a series of events that lead to this,
and it just seemed to be the natural direction of progression for us.
We like to be in control, and we now have the opportunity to create our
own lane. Everything we achieve is credited to our hard work, not
a labels industry connections.
What are the advantages and disadvantages if artists manage their own labels? The
advantage is, the artist sees more money for each individual
sale. The artists isnt treated as a comodity, hes apart of a
crew/family, its a movement with principles and philosophy behind
it. Artists will receive more attention and have control over
there own artists direction. Artistsic freedom with no one censoring
them. We are extremely dedictaed to our artists and the releases we put
out. The
disadvantage, is very serious as well. We have minimal budgets, no
major backing, lack of resources, management and at times organization.
We have a very limited staff, and its allot to be involved in all
aspects of each project that comes out. We are often overworked and
exausted, and cant explore all the opportunities because of lack of
time and work force. So its certainly is a trade off. But at the end of
the day we have more motivation to work twice as hard as other labels
to achieve what we do.
What's
the method of signing artists with Creative Juices. Is It based on
relationship/friendship or do they send you their demos...? We
dont have a set way to get involved with the label. Most the artists
are people we have known and worked with for years. But a few artists
got involved by submitting demos. The majority of the label are all
people who know each other. The mutual respect is an important part. It
leads to taking pride in the label, as opposed to a lable simply being
a corporate resource.
How can an independent label be
promoted in 2012? How can you reach out to fans and how can you spread
your releases in the media? Are you satisfied with the sales? These
are still things that we are trying to figure out to be completely
honest. This is one of the biggest challenges of starting a label....
All we go by is hard work and dedication. We have increased sales from
2008 to 2012 nearly 8000 percent. We continue to grow and increase
revenue on a monthly basis. If we continue on the direction we are
headed things will really start to add up. Years of hard work and
sacrifice are just showing their fruits. We have a very good thing
going, and if we continue on this path, the future looks prmising. If
we coudl get some management, a booking agent, more press and
mroe staff along the lines it would be a huge help.
What was the most successful Creative Juices release in the history of the label? Some
of the most successful as far as cd sales go. Were releases like Force
Fed, Watch Them Fall, Ideology, and Endless Varsities. Most of those
releases had more time to circulate, but continue to move frequently.
Our first mixtape Endless Varieties has sold over 10 thousand copies
since its release in 2004. Selling hand to hand, and online that is
very impressive. Of 10K we have less than 50 cds left currently. It’s a
small accomplishment, but something to be very proud of considering the
scale of our operation.
Nowadays there are many (not so
positive) changes in hip hop. There are artists (also from golden age)
who turn to new trends because of commercial reasons. Could the values
of real hip hop be lost? What is your opinion about
it?
Allot of older artists try and reinvent
themselves and come with a new sound. It’s a tricky situation, because
if they make material similar as to what they created in the “golden
era” everyone will have a expectation, and it will never surpass what
was previously done in the eye of the fan. So you can only let fans
down in that sense, some older artists try and keep with the
times, and start releasing music that is not of their original nature.
Theres a certain sounds of hip hop that we have grown to love. But I
try not to judge any artist decision s with their music. Than again you
have artist like Ghostaface killah, whos able to continue to release
material, even though its not the same as his 96 sound. The projects
are still dope, the material is new. Ghost is always himself. So its
just important at the end of the day to stay true to yourself when
doing music. As long as you do that, the material will sound show.
Creative
Juices Music is considered as "genuine hip hop". How hard is it to stay
in the traditional way now when most of the hip hop songs in the media
rather seem to be pop music? The funny
thing is it isnt a deciosn we made. This is just the music we love to
make. Theres a certain sound that just resonsates with us. Its a gritty
new york sound. Hard hittig drums, deep baaslines and melodic samples.
We are music enthusiasts and record collectors. We are vey opinionated
on music, but pop is not something that we enjoy, so we would never
make it.
How do you plan the future of Creative Juices music? We
are taking things one step at a time. Our greatest asset is our
reputation at this point. While other labels have huge offices, staff,
promo teams and budgets. Those same labels can fall victim to
circumstance and bad reputations. We have scene it happen several times
in the last 5 years. So for us its about doing good business, making
good music and standing behind our work and artists. We have some of
NYCs most talented emcees involved in the roster currently. We get to
make music at our own pace, with no obligation to fur fill a contract
and have to put our material for simply for filling a contractual
agreement (like an obligation to release 5 labums in a 2 years for
example). We have the privilege of staying true to our sound and
artistic direction. We worked for almost 10 years to simply create a
path. Now that a path has been presented, we simply need to stay moving
forward. Theres allot of potential for the future. We lack very
important industry contacts, so the possibility of getting some
management in the future sounds appealing. But we don’t want to seek
management; we want management to seek us. So we will keep growing and
making moves as we have been and hopefully within time some major
opportunities will be presented. Management would be key so that the
artists could focus on making music. The modern artist has to be a
manager, a promoter, a business man etc. Its allot of tasks to take on,
and sometimes it interferes with the music making process. As long as
we stay true to our selves and fans I don’t think we can loose. We will
continue to take risks and build our empire and see where that leads.
