Describe your sound: It is like a finger, pointing to the moon. Concentrate on the finger, and you miss all that heavenly glory.
When did you start? As soon as my mom and pops got that special gleam in their eye.
What's the song/event that defined what you wanted to do with your life? When I was little, my boy had a drum machine and he showed it to me. I asked him to borrow it, and kept it for like a year. The other event was when I got a notice from school that said I'd either have to shape up my studies, or get kicked out.
What in particular defined your style? When I was learning, I dug the sample-based production of people like Primo or Pete Rock, and then again I loved the instruments of people like The Roots. The way I work is kind of like a mutant breed between the two, where I play everything myself but it has the machine tightness to it.
Dinner with a hot chick or making beats? How about making beats while a bad mammajamma makes me dinner?
Outside of hip hop what are you listening to? Whatever I can. Sometimes I'll just flip through the radio and listen to whatever catches my ear. I'll be on AM stations, Spanish stations, jazz, classical, the whole shit.
What should an aspiring producer/rapper understand about "the business"? You're probably better off playing the lottery. But if you're serious-like "By all means necessary" serious-and you bust your ass, then you can increase your odds. That way they'll be more like "struck by lightning" odds instead of "lottery" odds.
What equipment do you use to produce your music? Mainly I use this computer that I built myself. It has a whole gang of software and sounds and stuff in it, and I'll play the different sounds together with a keyboard controller to write tracks. There's more to it than that, but if I told you I'd have to kill you.
Analog vinyl scratching or digital CD scratching? Both; got it all covered.
Favorite dish: Tuna taco. Actually, my favorite dish is Chinese, and I don't know how to say it right because I was born in New Jersey.
Comments on less promoted hip hop? It's a shame, the amount of incredible stuff that the public doesn't get to hear because of lack of promotion, funding, access to radio/retail, etc. Then again, there's a lot of crap out there too.
What are your plans as a mountain brother? Well, I've been trying to incorporate Riverdancing into our whole steez, like for live performance and costumes and stuff. Been working on that for the past couple years now, so soon I'll have it refined and unleash it on the world. If I can convince the guys how dope my idea is.
What's your "other job"? Doing interviews and stuff! I understand that you'll be scoring movies. Whats up with that? One of my boys, Classick, is working on a street movie and I'm about to get started on that. He wrote and starred in the joint himself. Plus I got a couple other people hollering at me about some upcoming film projects, either doing individual songs or the actual music for the movie itself. A lot of my musical heroes, like Curtis Mayfield, Isaac Hayes, James Brown, Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock, Roy Ayers, all did movie scores so I'm amped to get into that kinda thing.
Where would a person most likely bump into you? Outside the door of Import Tuner magazine selling incense, oils and fake Rolexes.
What can we look for in the near future from "Chops"? My own line of clothing, breakfast cereal, feminine hygiene products, incenses and oils, a fast food chain and a theme-park-casino. And oh yeah, tons more music! Pick up Virtuosity in stores now!!!
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