Aboveground; underground…it’s all relative to Platinum Pied Pipers' producer Waajeed. Being in the game since the early '90s as he teamed up J Dilla, where they both worked together on the song “Welcome to Detroit,” Waajeed had created a name and following for himself amongst the Hip Hop scene.

Working with a fellow Detroitian Saadiq, the two met through their mutual friendship with Slum Village, they made their first album Triple P together. Artists such as ?uestlove of The Roots swears by the album claiming he’d go to jail for PPP because the album is that hot. Waajeed knows this, but do you? Brooklyn will with this month's upcoming Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival, where Waajeed will assist in a Detroit-themed event. With the sophomore album, Abundance, set to be released in this fall on Ubiquity Records, the hopes to be played in the club and not Kinko’s is expected. Keepin’ it fresh and unpredictable is always good.

HipHopDX: I read an interview a while ago where you stated that in Detroit they don’t support you as much as in other states or overseas. When you decided to move to Brooklyn, was it done in spite?
Waajeed: I can’t say that Detroit doesn’t support their own [musicians], but what I will say is that the resources for Detroiters are not there. They can’t support their own in the way that other cities can. I think that’s probably what I meant when I said that. It’s just more or less about the resources. There is only so much you can do in the city in regards to before you “hit the ceiling." Ya know…as far as the “connects” you can make, or as far as the radio people who can play your stuff or the venues that you can play in. I think that is what I meant. This move to Brooklyn was only done for newer resources and for more opportunities for your music to be heard.

DX: What is your approach to getting you creative juices flowing musically?
Waajeed: Well I find that when Saadiq and I work, it’s better if we work on our own first. Generally, the way that this upcoming album was done, we would get together and speak about what we’ve been listening to, our influences, what’s the latest and the greatest. We don’t necessarily talk about the direction we came up in or where we wanna go, and usually we have the same idea or similar feel of what direction we want to go in. We usually have a general feeling of what is good and bad and we just work separately. Then I bring in my ideas and Saadiq will bring his and sometimes his are better then mine or mine are better then his and we kinda challenge each other that way. Generally, once the production, sketch or an idea is there, usually I kinda take the track and kinda manipulate it and kinda manipulate it or produce it or Saadiq will take it and add bass or keyboard.

DX: How do you incorporate what you’re currently listening to into something organically your own? For instance, if you’re feeling OutKast at the time, how do you work with that or incorporate that?
Waajeed: Most of our influences are older stuff. Like for instance a lot of Aretha [Franklin] and all the old school Motown stuff that my mom used to listen to. My mom had an interesting story. She was raised in the same neighborhood as Diana Ross. I believe they were both beefing about some boy who lived in the neighborhood. They both had a thing for him or they were both seeing the same guy in Detroit. So, a lot of my influences for On A Cloud are based around that, and the fact I couldn’t listen to many Motown records as a kid because my mom didn’t really like Diana Ross.

DX: The crowd that typically you attract is it what you had expected or did you go into your endeavors with no expectations?
Waajeed: No, not really, it’s kinda my job to make the music and I guess its peoples job to respond to it. I don’t have any particulars about who likes it and who doesn’t like it. I really don’t give a fuck really. If you’re into it great, if not…keep it moving. But yea I don’t have any particulars about who is into it. The more the merrier.

DX: Since no one is buying records across the board - does performing in Europe work better for your career as opposed to playing shows in America? If so, how?
Waajeed: Not really, to be honest with you. As far as our last record. The sales for the United States and Europe were about the same. I think some artists kinda in general have this vision that the grass is greener on the other side. But it really isn’t. The dollar is just better on the other side and that’s really it.

DX: It seems like they try to make it that artists have this stardom and that there is more openness artistically overseas.
Waajeed: I really don’t understand that either. The response we have gotten in Europe has been as relative as the results we have gotten here. I don’t know, I think because our sound may be a little different, at least on the last record it was a bit different, people just wanted to peg us as one of those groups who would have more success with Europe, but…that’s bullshit.

DX: Since the Internet allows people to have better accessibility to resources such as music, have you found that it has given you greater success?
Waajeed: Yes and no. The problem with Internet success is you get a lot of buzz, but, buzz doesn’t equate to success to some degree. With the Internet there are a lot of pros and cons. One being that it is a great resource to get your music out here and to be heard and to get people to check for you and whatnot. The con that comes with it is that the buzz is not a sustaining buzz. The buzz kinda comes and goes quickly and it affects sales. And sales affect everything. It is the music business and whether you are in it to make creative music or to make money or stuff that’s just straight ahead like Pop, Hip Hop or whatever, sales are important. Sales ultimately affect how you get booked in a territory and how a promoter decides to use you or not. If a promoter hears about you and they check your Soundscans and [if] your Soundscans suck, they won’t bring you to the territory because they know they’re not going to make their money back. For me, it’s a love/hate relationship because like I said, buzz doesn’t equate to food on the plate. My landlord doesn’t take buzz for rent payment. Continued on page 2 »