FDB Interview Spot – Damu The Fudgemunk

Y Society – ‘Colorful Storms’
taken from Spare Time (Redefinition, 2008)

[Audio remains active: cop this]

I mentioned towards the end of last week that you’d be hearing more from Damu The Fudgemunk here at FDB, and here it is in interview form. I was particularly pleased to get to talk with Damu because I genuinely believe that he is one of the most exciting and refreshing producers in the contemporary game, and if you’re still sleeping on either Y Society’s Travel At Your Own Pace or his recently released beat retrospective Spare Time then you need to remedy the situation immediately. Deeply rooted in boom bap aesthetics but with enough complexity and texture to demonstrate that he has more than a few original ideas of his own, Damu deserves to hit it big in 2008 after the successes of 2007. Here we talk about his early experiences of hip hop, the Y Society release and dispel a few myths about Tres Records.

From Da Bricks: Let’s start with a little background. You’re from D.C. which isn’t a city particularly well known for hip hop. What were your experiences of the culture like growing up there?

Damu The Fudgemunk: Since I came up as a child, I came up during the late ‘80s/early ‘90s, and I was still relatively young, you know, elementary school and junior high. Most of the hip hop that I’m influenced by was on the radio back then. It wasn’t until I got around to high school that it started changing. You could distinguish the difference between the traditional and the commercial rap and I noticed when it switched up.

Overall, I really wasn’t a part of the scene, not that it didn’t exist, but I was just too young to be a part of it. Most of the influence I have was just gained on my own, through my own curiosity.

FDB: I believe you started as a DJ, but how long was it until you started producing beats?

DF: Well, to set the record straight, I actually started out rhyming first. I was an MC in junior high and high school, I had a little duo with my man. We needed beats, and I started buying records and tried to loop them up long before I had a sample. I just had a turntable and a mixer. That grew into what I am now. I got my turntables at 16, and then at 17 I went out and bought a sampler. That’s when I hung up the mic, it was just so much fun, and I became a record nerd. (laughs)

FDB: Did you start out always replicating stuff you liked, like on your Youtube videos, or was it always in conjunction with your own original material?

DF: I guess it was just like the influence of what I had been listening to. As I already said, I could definitely distinguish how the music had changed, how people weren’t making the kind of music that had stuck with me, the soundtrack to my life. After a while of just diggin’ and finding samples, just making beats means you understand the production process, how things are done and edited. Most of the remakes I’ve done have just been out of sheer appreciation for the music and the producers. A lot of time it’s just beats that never had an instrumental release, and I didn’t have them on wax so I just remade them for the fun of it.

FDB: You obviously know your way around an MPC. How do you get around the standard 2 meg of memory?

DF: One thing is that I don’t sample CDs, I only sample records. That’s one way of getting around it. There are a lot of ways to do it, I could sample tapes or CDs but most importantly I do it the old school way, speeding up the records, pitching it down on the MP and then editing things, chopping them up into little beats and then reassembling them to make the loops.

FDB: You’re still active on the turntables as well, having done all the scratches on the Panacea album.

DF: Yea, I’m still in that group. It’s funny, because I read a lot of stuff that says the group has disbanded or that I’m no longer with them but we still hang out and make music, all together. Right now, with our label situations the way they are, the politics mean we’re not able to perform and record together as much as we’d like.

FDB: Was it K-Murdock who showed you around an MPC?

DF: Kinda, sorta. When I met him I had my first sampler which was an SP303, I had that for a couple of months. When I met him he had the MP. Around that time I was still learning how to make beats in general, he had just got his MP, so we would just go back and forth and have one on one beat battles, playing tapes and CDs, and then after I’d learnt how to use my sampler then I would just go into the studio when he wasn’t there and fool around with his. Once I graduated high school I bought an MPC a few months later. I’ve had it since 2003.

FDB: You mentioned before there are certain issues constraining your collaborations. Are there any plans for anything different, say a K-Murdock/Damu production project?

DF: Not that it wouldn’t happen, it’s not something that we’ve talked about… it’s possible. Right now, he’s definitely got a nice archive and I’ve done a lot of remixes for him, but as far as us doing a project together we haven’t talked about it. I’m sure it would be something that would come out nice.

FDB: I bet. You’re down with Grap Luva as well aren’t you?

DF: Yea, that’s my man. I met him back in 2003/2004 and that’s a long story but basically ever since we met he’s been like my biggest critic or my biggest ear, so he has my archive. Whenever I make beats I send him like 20 or 30 beats, so although I slowed down a little with the release of the album, he’s got a lot of my beats. That’s why I give him so much respect because when nobody was listening down here, he would definitely listen to anything I make.

FDB: So do you know Pete Rock as well?

DF: I’ve met him quite a few times, but I can’t just call him up on the phone like Grap.

FDB: Cool. I see you as an artist who is clearly embracing shifts in the industry. Is YouTube and free downloads something you’ve been keen to address directly or has it just seemed like the natural thing to do?

DF: I guess a little bit of both. Honestly, I wish things could go back to the way that they were, before the internet, before YouTube, before everybody rushed to the internet to get everything. But you do have to shift with the industry if you want to remain dominant in the field of doing music.

Everybody goes to the internet to get their news, to find out what’s cool, what to wear, what to listen to… that’s just where the people are, that’s where the market is, that’s where the records are. That’s where you need to go if you really want to do anything business-oriented. It’s just a sign of the times. Hopefully one day I won’t have to rely on the internet to make a name for myself but right now there are some pros and cons with the online marketing and videos. I’ve definitely gotten a lot of opportunity from some of the things I’ve done.

FDB: Let’s move onto the Y Society album now. How did you initially hook up with Insight?

DF: I met him back in 2004, he was on tour with Edan, Procussions, it was the Don’t Sleep tour. I met up with him, I was too young to get into the club, but when he came out I was playing my beats outside and I gave him a CD. One of their promoters had a show the next day which was 45 minutes away from D.C. in Baltimore, and the promoter snuck me into that show and we got a chance to build. Me, him and Edan just talked and everything and ever since then we kept in touch. The album came about when I started working with Panacea. Tres came to the video shoot to talk business with me, I wanted to do an instrumental album but they didn’t want to do any at the time; it was all business. I had some instrumental records and they just said I needed to get with an MC and then they’d talk. I called up Insight.

FDB: So had you done all of the beats for the album before Insight had done any of the rhymes?

DF: No. Some of those beats, most of them, were made in 2006. ‘Peace I’m Out The Door’ was done in 2004, ‘Puzzles’ I did in ’04. ‘Puzzles’ was actually from our first album, we had one album we did for Tres that got shelved that hasn’t come out yet. Travel At Your Own Pace is our official debut but we have one that we recorded before that. The reason we did Travel At Your Own Pace was because they shelved the first album.

FDB: Any chance of that seeing a release?

DF: Um… we haven’t negotiated with any other label, we’re just sitting on it right now. When we made that, that was really where our heart was. Travel At Your Own Pace is definitely something that we’re proud of but when we made that first album our minds were in a completely different place. A lot of the beats that were on the first album were a lot harder than the ones currently on the market.

FDB: I’d love to hear that.

DF: Yea, I mean originally we recorded about 21 tracks and then we narrowed it down to 15/16. On Travel At Your Own Pace we did about 15 or 16 and then narrowed it down to the ones that made the album. From our first album we kept ‘Puzzles’ and ‘Scientist’, other than that, everything was stuff we came up with to make the release for October.

FDB: What’s it’s like at Tres Records, it’s run by Thes One isn’t it?

DF: No. A lot of people perceive it that way, but Thes is more like a consultant. It’s actually run by Chikamaranga of Giant Panda with his partner Sausen. They’re two Japanese cats that started a label and then when they first created the label Thes One definitely had a big hand in a lot of the music and production, but he’s kind of backed away as he’s real busy. He doesn’t have as much say in what’s going on and that’s his idea.

FDB: I read elsewhere on the internet that you had a possible project with O.C. lined up. Is that true?

DF: That is true, I did do an album for O.C.. I did a lot of beats for an unreleased album and I actually remixed parts of those songs three or four times so I used a lot of beats. Who knows, it’s basically a respect issue right now, I would love for people to hear the stuff I had done, whether it’s free or people pay for it, just the fact that it gets heard. Otherwise, I could give the beats to other places which I have plans for, but it’s a case of ‘don’t show, don’t tell’ and that’s what I agreed to. Right now, the project is lost. Who knows… I can’t do much about it.

FDB: What other projects have you got in the pipeline?

DF: I have so many beats, I would prefer to release just instrumental albums. But then again, like you said earlier, being keen to what’s going on… I look at the internet and the industry and I can see how much that can pay off. Of course I want the respect, but mainly it’s just going with the flow at this point. Shopping beats, which I’ve been doing, working on the new Y Society album. I want to go into the archive and release some beat CDs, some instrumental albums rather. But I change my mind everyday! (laughs)

FDB: I know you’re a big vinyl junkie, so I’m assuming that everything you do is still sample based.

DF: Oh yes, if it’s on a record I’ll sample it. There’s nothing wrong with sampling CDs or anything like that, but for my creative process that’s what works for me. It just adds to my aesthetic of making beats.

FDB: Original pressings only then?

DF: I don’t have any reissues, all originals. As I said, there’s nothing wrong with it, I don’t knock anybody for doing it, but then again I do it the way that they did it. I don’t sample any reissues. Music is music, beats are beats, a dope producer can sample reissues and be dope, or you can have a dude with thousands of records and he’s wack, so in some ways it doesn’t really matter.

FDB: If your house was on fire, which one record would you save?

DF: (laughs) I think about that every day! I don’t know, it would have to be a couple. I’ve got two copies of ‘Impeach The President’ or Melvin Bliss, you know just the breaks that I’ve been looking for. I don’t know, I really can’t tell you. I have a lot of records.

FDB: I read you were still trying to track down Kool & The Gang’s ‘NT’ break.

DF: Oh no, I have that. You know, actually, I used the ‘NT’ break on our first album, but of course you won’t have heard it. I’ve had that record for a couple of years.

There are still records that I don’t have like Skull Snaps, there are a lot of things on my want list but I have a lot of breaks that other people don’t have and other people do. That’s just a part of diggin’: one day I’ll get them. Like, I don’t have the Lafayette Afro Rock Band records, I have a couple of David Axelrod records but not the full collection. Anything dope, anything funky… The Whatnauts I still don’t have.

FDB: So in terms of contemporary hip hop, what releases got you excited in 2007?

DF: Gosh… I was definitely excited about the Panacea record. What else did I buy? I bought the Percee P album… honestly, I’m trying to remember what came out. The releases were so scarce last year and I was in the house working on the album so I can’t tell you exactly what records I bought.

FDB: Were you a fan of the Marco Polo album?

DF: Yea, it was good. I guess I’m very picky about production in what I buy. I did like the album, it was a solid release but in all honesty I didn’t buy it. It was a better year for hip hop I think.

FDB: Anything you’re particularly looking forward to in 2008? What about the Pete Rock album?

DF: I’ll buy it because it’s Pete Rock, but I can’t say I’m really looking forward to it. I’m just being honest… I haven’t made beats in months because I’ve been promoting the album and I’ve been in New York so much, I’ve been away from home and I’m really just looking forward to just making beats again.

FDB: Cool. I checked you in the bow tie and stripy socks on your MySpace. Is your personal sense of style important to you?

DF: I guess it’s not to the point where I’m looking in the mirror all day and I can’t leave the house a certain way. It’s definitely fun to have my own style and be different but not try too hard at it, the bowties and the striped socks… believe it or not they’re not socks, they’re tights! I have a nice little hefty collection of both. It’s fun, and it’s kind of a calling card when you walk around the city, people know you for wearing that and can draw you out of the crowd.

FDB: And finally, have you got any plans to come over to the UK at any point?

DF: I’d like to but right now there aren’t any shows or tour dates lined up, that would be dope. I definitely look forward to it one day, but right now I’m just keeping my ear to the street and to my heart, doing what I feel like doing instinctively. As far as Y society goes, I probably did about 20 beats that I scrapped that I think I’ll put out before we put out the next Y Society album, that’s what I’m feelin’ right now.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 21st, 2008 at 12:35 pm and is filed under Interviews, Producers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.