Peace, I'm Julian Caldwell AKA JSwiss from BET Social
and I'm here with...
Black Milk and I'm Pulling Up.
Yes, sir, so you got the brand new album, Fever, is out right now.
M.C. and producer, one of the illest doing both out right now.
Yeah, something like that, a little bit, yeah.
- And repping Detroit. - Yeah, always.
So, it's like, I dunno if you would say, on the low kinda, Detroit...
is really one of the top cities out there that's really contributed, you know,
to the hip hop culture over the years, you know, with you and Slum Village
and J Dilla and Eminem and Dej Loaf, the list goes on.
Do you feel like Detroit gets its just due
and does it really matter?
Na, yeah, I think we get our respect
you know what I'm saying, of course...
It being a city that's like known for...
These artistic expressions and just like...
Music in general.
I think it's a thing where, you know, with the hip hop scene in particular,
it still has a little more ways to grow and break through
all the way, you know.
I guess that barrier but...
It feels like everyone
that's in the know and that's music savvy,
they respect what comes out of Detroit.
Not just in the hip hop scene but, you know, any genre, so...
So yeah, it's cool, I never feel like we're not getting our...
Just due, you know what I'm saying, so yeah...
I've heard, just like I am, you're also a fan of J Dilla, Slum Village?
But you had the unique perspective of being able to work with them.
Yeah.
First, as someone who's just a fan, like I am and a lot of people
and someone who's been able to work with J Dilla,
what's something that sticks out to you about him,
with that personal experience?
Man, I think it's...
It's more of a...
I guess a mentality, you know what I'm saying,
that I've like...
Got from him or learnt from him, you know what I'm saying,
and a mentality of er...
I guess, creatively, always trying to push the envelope,
stay progressive, you know what I'm saying,
and that was...
When he was one of the first producers
that, kinda showed me, as a producer,
like, how to think outside of the box, musically, creatively
and that was my biggest takeaway from him as an artist.
So, yeah, yeah, I think that's the main thing.
So, I would say, with the title, Fever, I dunno what it's about
but I would guess that there's some thought into that,
so why the title, Fever?
Title Fever? Um...
It's one of those things where I started the album
a little over a year ago, you know, and I initially went into the album
to make something kind of...
Like, feel good, more vibrant, more bright, you know,
'cause my last couple albums before was more on a darker tone, so...
[laughing]
Yeah, I went into this to make something more like, feel good
but, you know, over the last couple of years
with all of the, either social issues,
current events, you know what I'm saying,
I couldn't ignore what was going on around me,
so I felt like I had to address some of the things that I was seeing
and just almost, basically just give my perspective
on all of the topic of discussions that's been had
over the last couple of years, whether it's...
You know, race stuff, whether it's police brutality,
whether it's sexism,
whether it's anything that's, like I say, been a topic of discussion
for the last couple years I felt the way, like,
I felt like I needed to address it at some point,
so Fever kinda came from, like...
A thing where the temperature is high
in the climate that we live in right now, so...
That's basically all it really meant
and plus I just thought the word fever, like,
looked cool, you know what I'm saying, I like the letters, so yeah...
As someone who does equally the producing and the MCing,
what really drives the direction of the album?
Is it really the music drives where you're gonna go with it
or do you know what you wanna say going into an album?
Like, which...
For me, personally, production is like, first.
That's what drives the lyrics, the song topics, you know,
concepts, all of that, so...
So yeah, me getting in there, you know, doing what I do as a producer
and bringing in musicians to play and add layers to what I'm doing
and, you know, that kinda sets the tone of where I wanna go, you know,
as a songwriter, so yeah,
and that's what you hear when you listen to the album,
you hear, like...
This album was probably my most laid back,
vibed out, you know, album, you know, and um...
And yeah, the music just drove that, I think the times that we're in,
kinda just pushed me into that space, musically, so yeah...
I would say you hear a lot more space in the verses.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I wanted to make sure, I mean, the reason for that,
I wanted to make sure I got my point across,
you know what I'm saying, and like, the message that I was trying to...
convey was clear, you know, so, a lot of the songwriting
was bold and just simplistic and was straight to the--
In a way where it was still clever and witty but...
You can understand what I was trying to,
the message I was trying to get across.
I wanna get into some of that songwriting on...
Well, specifically the lead single, "Laugh Now, Cry Later".
There's like, a couple parts I wanted to pull out
and have you elaborate on those lyrics.
So, one of 'em is "All fun and games, screaming out 'Gang, gang'
till little homie pull up with a bullet to the brain".
What's behind that? What made you write that line?
I mean, it's just one of those...
It's one of those things where the whole entire song was basically
I treated it like, if you was looking at a timeline,
your timeline, you know what I'm saying, and all of the different...
I feel like everyone goes through this emotional rollercoaster
that they're not even aware of when they're scrolling through,
you know what I'm saying, social media,
'cause you'll be hot about something one minute
and then you will see a meme for that same thing you was mad about,
the next minute you be laughing at it.
So, it's one of those things where every...
bar was kinda just a snapshot of like, a timeline, so...
That line in particular was just me seeing, you know, being online
and kinda seeing some of the youngens, like, you know,
or not even some of the youngens, me just seeing people
that might not be from these communities
where this gang stuff and this like-- These things are happening,
a lot of these issues are happening but like...
You know, I guess I say a line in the song
to about appropriating the culture, you know what I'm saying,
so, yeah, that's kinda what that line came from like,
man, it's a lot of people, you see a lot of people screaming,
this "Gang, gang" thing and they're not even from,
you know, the communities that most of my people is from.
So it's just weird, so, it was just, like I say, just...
Snapshots of a timeline, so yeah.
And you kinda mentioned using a lot of live instrumentation
on this project, got the homie Daru Jones, shout out to Daru,
on that and several other people,
when did you start doing that in your career?
Man, I've been working with live musicians since,
my second album, which came out like, in 2008, Tronic.
You know, so I've always-- Once I, like, incorporated that sound
into my music and realized it gave the--
extra layers, extra dynamics to what I was doing as a producer
and then bringing it to the live show,
I've been touring with a lot of bands, like...
For like, the last ten years, you know what I'm saying.
So, yeah, it just brings an extra layer to my music that I like
and I love that I can't get just by sampling record and, you know,
drum machines, so it's cool to always have,
- like, that live musicianship. - Cool, cool.
Lastly, you work with a lot of people, in and outside of hip hop.
Yeah.
If you could work with, try to think,
one or two people that you haven't worked with,
dead or alive, any genre, who would you wanna work with?
Any genre... You know,
Prince is like my biggest, like, top three biggest influences,
you know what I'm saying, so, in what I do and...
More so, just like I said, mentality of how he approaches art.
So, Prince is one of those people I wish I could have, like,
had the chance to at least, like, have a conversation with.
You know, so him, uh, who else? Who else? Who else? Who else?
Er, right now, I don't know, like...
It'd be too obvious to say J.
But, er...
You know, I'ma go a little left field, I'ma say...
Kevin Parker from this group Tame Impala,
you know, from the group Tame Impala.
Like, I'm really into, you know...
His music and the stuff he's been doing, he put out a album
a few years ago, a couple years ago, called Currents and that was like...
That was the album that really kinda influenced this--
My new album, Fever, you know what I'm saying, in a way, so...
So, yeah, I'm say my mans Kevin Parker from Tame Impala, so yeah...
- This is Black Milk. - Yes, yes.
Like I said, top notch M.C., producer out of the D!
Julian Caldwell AKA JSwiss from BET Social.
We just Pulled Up, peace.