Jake One is a rare case for contemporary Hip Hop. He works with nearly everybody, and still gets paid. The Emerald City beatmaker has been earning his keep as one of the underground’s most consistent forces for years now, crafting bangers that always made you wonder who it was: De La Soul’s “Rock Co.Kane Flow” and “Days Of Our Lives,” Strange Fruit Project’s “Soul Clap,” and MF DOOM’s “Hoe Cakes” come to mind. Having paid his dues already, making highlights from Interscope Jackson’s Curtis album, G-Unit’s releases, Freeway’s latest, and even John Cena are welcome additions to his catalog.

These days, the self-proclaimed “Perfect Beat Writer” is prepping for the fall release of White Van Music, his Rhymesayers Entertainment debut [click to read] that features a star-studded line-up of Little Brother, Young Buck, MF DOOM, Freeway, M.O.P., Elzhi, Royce Da 5’9”, and others. In an interview with HipHopDX’s Producer’s Corner, Jake One talks about the wide spectrum of his clientele, living far away from established Hip Hop locales, and his upcoming project.

DX: You’re located in Seattle, so you’re not too close to Hip Hop hot spots like New York, LA, the south, or even the Midwest. What’s the Hip Hop scene like out there?
Jake One: It’s been a strong scene for a long time, it’s just very underground. We’ve got a couple people to really break out. Sir Mix-A-Lot, a lot of people know about him, he’s kind of the face of Seattle rap to most people. We had Ish (Ishmael Butler, a.k.a. “Butterfly”) from Digable Planet. And there are some people who made it here and there, but most of it has been a very local thing. It hasn’t really caught on nationally, but hopefully that’s going to change.

DX: How often does being there hinder your ability to work with other artists?
JO: It’s definitely difficult, because it’s not like people come here like they go to L.A. or Miami to record. People will come through town, I might meet ‘em. I know when I first started, the way a lot of people heard about me is they would come to Seattle, I would meet whoever it was that’s down with them, I would give them my CD—or I guess my tape back then—and then I would hear back from them, like, “Oh man, you’ve got some dope stuff.” And you just kind of build from there. … I’m not going to catch [50 Cent] in the studio down the street, that ain’t going to happen down here. I think for me, creatively, I like creating here because it’s really no pressures or all that. I’m just working in my own world, and whatever I do, I can be comfortable with how I came up with it.

I know people who move to New York from here looking for their big break, and it doesn’t necessarily work out there that way. You’ve got to have the music first and foremost. You can have all the connections you want, but if you don’t have that music to follow up, or you could have the music, but you don’t have the melody skills, or the personal skills. It’s so multifaceted how this thing works. But I’ll definitely say that’s a disadvantage of being here, you’re not just going to fall into some shit.

DX: How did you link with G-Unit?
JO: I did a song on the first G-Unit album, “Betta Ask Somebody.” I did the beat, and another producer had shopped it to them, so I was kind of a third party at that point. Then, I would say about in 2005, the Anger Management Tour came in town, and I’m pretty good friends with Denaun Porter, he’s looked out for me. I gave him my CD in 2002-2003, and he liked what he heard, so we kept in touch. He came to town with that, and he brought me backstage and I ended up meeting Sha Money [click to read]. I didn’t really know Sha Money knew who I was or anything, When I met him, he kind of did a double-take, like, “That’s you,” because I guess he had been checking for my beats for a while. I gave him some beats, he told me he wanted to manage me, and we went from there. At that point, I got a better lane to get my music to the people, and I think I was just making the right stuff they were looking for. So I ended up doing, I guess it’s like eight songs now that came out with them, and 10 more that haven’t come out that we’re working on, or stuff they didn’t use. But for some reason, they hear my stuff and it seems to suit what they’re trying to do. And it’s funny, because I’m not making beats (specifically) for them, I’m not trying to craft a beat for G-Unit or for 50. I’ll get in my mode where I start doing some stuff that sounds like that, but the stuff I do for them doesn’t sound like the shit they get from everybody else. Mine is a little more Hip Hop, and it’s a little more, it’s not as commercial. So I’ve just been filling that lane, doing the hard Hip Hop joints for them. So it’s been great for me. Continued on page 2 »