dork magazine.

Dork: Your name is a play on the great jazz musician Count Basie. Were you a big fan?

CB: Yes, but actually I was more of a fan of Bassie's attitude and the way he treated his musicians. The fact that after he was gone and passed in ‘84, his musicians, the Count Basie Orchestra still have the ability to tour to this very day because of their relationship and the type of guy that he was. I wanna be remembered as a good guy like he was remembered as a good guy. I wasn’t as familiar with the big band early, it was more of the spirit. I love the arrangements, and I love the music, you know, it was obviously a little before my time and I’m not really like a retro artist like that, but it’s more of like the spirit of the musicianship. That’s what I love about the jazz musicians and jazz music in general, is the spirit of the musicianship.

Dork: You also play live instruments, which some people may regard as an essential talent for a producer to possess. Do you agree with that? Are there things that you feel are essential talents that an MC should possess as well?

CB: I believe an MC should study a lot of different things outside of MCing. I believe that when you bring that to your MCing table, it makes you who you are. I believe that people should concentrate on who they are as people. And if they concentrate on who they are as people, and when they bring that back to whatever discipline it is, be that it’s DJing, be that it’s MCing, BBoying, be that it’s producing, that’s how they become most original and stick out in the sea of people out there. A lot of people are studying DJ Premier, studying Pete Rock, studying Dilla, and that’s great but you have to study yourself and find yourself in what they’re teaching you and learn how to incorporate that and then you’ll see much more originality just pop out of you. Everybody as an individual has their own story so you have to bring that to the table.

Dork: I read somewhere that on a typical day that you come home from your day job, and then spend time with your family and then you make beats. How is it that a self professed “best producer in the game” still has a day job and time for the family?

CB: Uh, God makes that possible (laughs). As far as the ideas and the music that comes to me, luckily I don’t have to labor over it too long but luckily God completely translates those ideas directly and I’m able to put those into the type the machines I’m working with. With my family, I think it’s the same thing, where God hooked me up with a family this large so that I would be able to keep doing this thing. [Before] I didn’t want to be alive for many many years. I wanted to stop doing music for a living and all my day jobs weren't cutting it. It was a situation where after I started having a family I started having a reason to live. That’s the reason why I think God got me stuck in the music business, because I have to do it. That’s the only way I can feed four children, one on the way and my wife. It's all of us on tour. All of us everywhere. It’s not even a joke. It’s so real, it’s so real.

Dork: There was a time when you said you didn’t like rapping so you stopped, that was until your friend, MF Doom made Operation Doomsday and you liked it again. And then there was another time when you said you that you didn’t like producing so you stopped altogether and went to go work at a dry cleaner. Do you feel that it’s an advantage that you have the ability to stop just because you weren’t feeling it, as opposed to having some expectations you have to meet?

CB: Yes I think that’s a blessing, because instead of giving someone half my best, luckily I have a discipline where if I’m into playing music more then that’s a phase, at the same time I try to play my position and do the phase I’m in so that people get the best of me. And that’s the reason why people have been saying about me “The thing with Count is that he doesn’t disappoint”. And that’s because I’m not trying to be somebody else. I’m only doing exactly what I’m good at, at that time and if I’m not good at it at that time, then I’m not going to do it. The thing about the lyrics, I have always been into extensive vocabulary and being on a different range of subjects. At the time that I was doing it, nobody else was doing it. So I stopped doing it, I didn’t think that people would really feel it that way. You know Slick Rick always had the nice vocabulary and all that, [but] it wasn’t until Doom came out with the Doomsday, until that was the format. We had been affiliated for many many years, but I hooked back up with him in the early 2006 and he just took me under his wing. He basically gave me like a Hip Hop PhD. I’ve come through the ranks and I’ve had some good teachers, the Mighty BIC. Alot of people showed me how to work these machines, [but] it wasn't until I got with Doom. He completely broke me off with a bit of knowledge, that I’ll be able to take to my grave and I’m forever grateful about that.

Dork: Do you ever listen to yourself for leisure or is it mostly for the work like during the creative process? You have a favorite song you play or perform all the time?

CB: The only album I listen to every once and a while is Begborrowsteal. It’s like one big piece. It’s almost like a short film. The rest of my records, I don’t listen to that much, you know, I just don’t. The music comes and then it goes out. Because I’m the one doing it, and I’m the one involved, I don’t get an opportunity to sit back, enjoy and take in my catalog like everyone else. I’m just trying to keep going and keep going. But Begborrowsteal is a special record but the rest of them, obviously they are all, those are my adopted children. Prelife Crisis and Act Your Waist Size, I gave up for adoption.

Dork: I was reading up on you and you’ve some interesting things so I’m gonna quote you on them. You’ve said before “I don’t believe that my music is for everybody. As a certain artist if there’s a person I don’t like, I would… discourage from buying my shit. As far as my music is concerned, I’m not as much of a capitalist… I’m perfectly fine. As long as me and the other five people that got my last name got something to eat…”. But what if only say, only 5 people in the whole wide world liked your music then, you wouldn’t be able to feed to your family. Would that affect your creative process in terms of style or would you jut keep doing everything the same way and hope the world is more receptive?

CB: Not at all, not one ounce. This is to death right here. It’s like a Jean Michele Basquiat painting. There’s only one person who has it and if that person’s willing to pay 6 million dollars for it, then that’s gonna feed his family. So if 5 people are willing to ante up and chip in an say “Yo Count, we’re willing [to have] you to just personally come here and make us some artwork, blasé blah...” I would completely perfectly happy with that. I have no goal of being larger than I am and not [having] one more person know who I am. There are so many people across the world who know me. I’m completely satisfied. I don’t see how these guys can have three hundred, five hundred million dollars and still charge $15.99. I think that’s bullshit and I don’t see how fans put up with that shit. You know what I mean? I don’t see how that’s fair.

Dork: You’ve been around the country alot, from Boston to Tampa and now you’re settled in Nashville which seems like a very unlikely place for a Hip Hop artist. How did you end up there, and did you feel that not being in the limelight of the big city with other artist is helping you creatively?

CB: Without a doubt. Its just a situation where Nashville, I ended up there, because I was in boarding school in Pennsylvania and I had visions of going Northeastern or Julliard to study more music but the streets kinds got into me a little bit. I still had the project mentality, you know. I was doing some drugs and some things like that in my room and because I was there on a scholarship, I almost got kicked out. I had to come down to a regular state school in Nashville to make my way. It was divine order, let’s say it that way. Because in Nashville I’m my own guy, I don’t have any pressure from anybody to sound like anybody or to compete with anybody for anything. Artists don’t even come down here to perform, I barely run into these dudes. So I feel like I can conduct myself in anyway. And I’m in Nashville because it’s the cheapest place for me to raise my family- nah seriously, it’s the cheapest place for me to raise my family and do my thing. That’s the only thing I’m here for, see what I’m saying? If I make enough money to handle my family, after that I'm trying to help the other people around me that I know are struggling, I’m not trying to get rich off of this in any type of way. The only thing I’m trying to do is seeing and taking care of my responsibility. That’s it.

Dork: Japan seems to see many of your projects first and it also seems like Japan is one of those countries that give a lot of respect to American artists who rarely get any play at home. Why do you believe so?

CB: I think it’s a situation with Japan, they're still music fans, they’re still music lovers. And what I mean by music lovers is that they still listen to music for music’s sake. In America I find alot of people buy records because they buy the first big record on Tuesday and they have to be able to start quoting lines with their friends on Wednesday. Its like certain people watch television shows not because they like them but because they’re so popular and they feel like at the water cooler the next day they're not gonna have anything to discuss with anyone. Japan is not like that. They listen to whatever the hell they wanna hear. And it’s not a matter of if the new big record comes out and if they don't know any of the words, then [they’re] gonna look like an asshole at school. That's why as far as Japan, they’re still music lovers. People don’t like music here, not for the most part, not any more.

Listen, music is product now. Like when you go to the grocery store, there are great detergents there right? And there’s a whole sea of detergents that aren’t, but you only see what’s [there] so you don’t sit there and say “I'm gonna seek out and order my detergent online or such and such”. No, what you see is what you get. So whoever markets it the best and whoever has the best placement is whoever's gonna win. It’s not a matter of who’s the best, period. It all comes down to opinions. It doesn't matter what detergent gets your clothes clean, it’s a matter of what's easiest for you to access. It's that that simple. And I’m fine with that because when I'm dead and gone, then people will have more of a reason to put my records on. That’s what happened with rappers, you get to make music until your dead and then everyone decides that they wanna go head. That’s the only reason why I’m making so much music now, that’s the insurance policy for my family, and that’s the honest to god truth. And I know it sounds corny, it sounds ridiculous but that’s the way it is. I’m trying to make as much music, and put it to the side. And I told Oriana, “If something happens to me, and those muthafuckas start calling and say “You got any other shit?”, then you can start to negotiate.” Seriously that’s the god honest truth. That’s the only way I can live.

Dork: I came across something you said about the parallels between crate-digging and graffiti -"I apply the same rules to it. I believe in getting up on the biggest spot that you possibly can. It’s definitely illegal, that’s the reason why I still sample. I believe in order to make real hip-hop, you have to really be making some sort of parallel to graffiti. So, I applied the same thing to digging for records". Could you explain that more, how that is real Hip Hop?

CB: That is Hip Hop. Hip Hop started with graffiti. That was before everything. That was before people were hooking up, in ‘73 and ’74. The same thing too, when you talk about putting together block parties, you guys were stealing the electricity just to be able to get power. My point is, that’s how Hip Hop starts. It is a renegade type of music, its like punk rock is the only way you can really describe it. It’s not supposed to be any rules, it’s not supposed to be any format. Nobody supposed to follow anything. Or anybody. The location changes every time. The block party wasn’t in the same spot. If the cops come shut it down, well you gotta move it. It’s like the same with graffiti. If you’re getting up in the same spot for a while, and it gets hot you gotta move it. Graffiti is what dictates everything. If you’re not following the model of how those guys just went after it - for the love. None of those guys ever blew up and made millions. But a lot of the guys were able to parlay that into things to make money for themselves. But I don’t understand this whole arts millions and trillions type shit. That’s not me. I got into it for the art of it. I’m not a good business man. I don’t know shit about it really, I spent most of my time learning about the arts. As far as with the graffiti thing, that’s the parallel to Hip Hop. I believe that if you can’t find some sort of a parallel to what somebody’s doing and graffiti, to me that’s not Hip Hop. For me, personally I think Hip Hop is completely dead as a result of nobody having that attitude anymore. It’s like an unspoken rule that’s supposed to be there and it's just not there anymore - not across the board, obviously you find little pockets here and there. But across the board, I think it’s just gone. You know what I'm saying. If Kool Herc doesn’t have a mansion, if Grand Master Flash doesn’t have a mansion, if Bambaatta doesn't have a mansion, then the whole shit is a fraud. And what I tell these guys too, is if you’re an inspiring musician and you talk about Hip Hop this, Hip Hop that, you make sure you study the guys who started this shit, because you see what’s happened to them. Look at what DJ Hollywood’s doing and see if that’s what you wanna do. Look at what Grand Wizard Theodore is doing and see if that’s what you wanna do. Don’t look to Puff and these guys because that’s not what’s going to happen to you if your studying Hip Hop [correctly]. If you're doing the Hip Hop shit correctly then you're not gonna end up with a Bentley and all that other shit. It just doesn’t happen that way. So you have to ask yourself “Do I still wanna do this for a living?” If you doing Hip Hop and you aspire to end up like Kool Herc or Grand Master Flash, cool. Which is a lot of respect, not necessarily doughwise, because I never seen Kool Herc - he may have a Bentley, he may have a mansion… I don’t know. But my point is that I should see him on MTV cribs showing me what the benefits of this Hip Hop thing has done for him. He’s not seeing the residuals, if it's really all supposed to be about Hip Hop, then how come Crazy Legs isn’t ambassador and doing all this crazy shit? I’m not hating on these big dudes now. Don’t get me wrong, but lets call a spade a spade and see it for what it is. Rap music is not music, and you guys are doing a great job, but rap music is pop music. When I see Jay-Z and Puff and them, I see Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears. No different. And I don’t hate on these girls for what they’re doing , but at the same time that’s not what I do. I tap machines. And I'm creating a music theory that these guys are gonna have to come back and study. Pete Rock is creating a music theory, Doom is creating lyrics that people are going to have to study forever. That’s it.

Dork: Any exciting projects we can expect from you?

CB: Yes, it’s my wife’s book and its called “Something to Cope”. It’s a collection of her writing. She just had a whole bunch of writings; short essays, prose and poetry. I had an idea and said “You know instead of just putting the book out… I wanted to do an audio CD that comes with it”. There are 48 different writings in there so I did 48 beats, put ‘em up under there and just had her speak it. Its not like spoken word or nothing, its just her speaking the writings as the writer. I’ve been working on it for 5 years now. I put most of my heart and soul into that project and so that’s the most exciting thing I’ve been working on. That will be coming out the top of next year, probably around January or February. It’ll be manufactured in hard cover and everything. It’s my gift to her for everything she’s done for me because she really is everything for me. I wouldn’t even be here, musically or anywise. I didn't really give a crap about doing any of this, but she knew I had to feed the children I gave her, and put me on track and made sure I handled that. So musically I can get it done and she does the rest and that’s how we’re doing it.

--el fin

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