Shawn Setaro
[The super-producer Dame Grease (DMX, The LOX, Max B, and countless more) recently sat down with hip-hop personality and SOHH correspondent Shawn Setaro on his popular “The Cipher” podcast. Listen to the full interview and check out five gems Dame dropped during the Q&A.]
On his early influences:
“My parents were into music. But then you got the crack and drug era, which erased everything, and turned everything into survival. I was reintroduced back into music by groups like Public Enemy, NWA, A Tribe Called Quest, and Leaders of the New School.”
On composing “We’ll Always Love Big Poppa”:
“That song and that beat was channelled through me…To this day, I still can’t replay them chords, because they didn’t come through my head. They were channelled.”
On first hearing DMX’s single “Born Loser”:
“When I first heard it, I didn’t like it. I was like, ‘It’s too hip-hoppy.’ But I was like, ‘The n*gga on there, though, is saying some sh*t, but it ain’t getting captured.'”
On trying to make timeless music:
“My thing is, I am the 1800s to 3015. I leave that much leeway in the production. The key to music is timeless records. Every five years, the game and the world is going to change. So if you’re not back a few years or ahead a few years, you’re just here.”
On the variety of sounds he uses:
“I’ve been around the world. I’ve got the sounds from Japan, from Libya, from everywhere. I’m universal. I put everything into it.”
