I was always pretty decent at fast stick work or doing stuff that seems impressive that’s not really; I was pretty tasteful and had good ideas musically. But I had a terrible sense of tempo, which is like being a blind painter. The conductor would just rip into me, and it lasted for years.
I love going into the studio with just an idea of the direction. Like, I want this tempo… I love to start from scratch, and the tracks sort of take on a life of their own.
Because my lower body is quiet, I need a full shoulder turn to generate power and speed. Keep your tempo smooth, and with the quiet lower body, you don’t have to worry about losing your balance.
The Nike joint ‘Classic’ with Kanye, Nas, KRS-One, that was a remix – Rick Rubin did the original, and his was a double-time tempo; mine was a regular boom-bap tempo, and they liked it so much that we ended up doing the video to it.
You don’t have a voice yet when you first come out. So even though I knew I had some deeper songs, my first album had to be about the tempo and the fun.
I’m more creative the more rules I have – note values, tempos, dynamic markings. Somehow, I find that really inspiring.
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