Dame Grease: It's About to Pop Off

By Mark Williams-Washington

Super producer to rap heavyweight DMX, and mentor to Swizz Beatz, Dame Grease has definitely made his mark in the rap game. Check out the interview below to find out what's good with Vacant Lot Records, and what he's got planned for 2006...

Shine: So, what's good man?

Dame Grease: I'm chilling. It's a new year let's get it poppin'.

Shine: Where you been at? I haven't heard anything from you in a minute.

Dame Grease: I been around and sh*t. Actually I been on the road with X and sh*t. We did the European tour. The newest joint I put out is on Flex album with Cam and Juelz. I did something on Dipset's More Than Music album. I been working on my label, I've been on a few DVD's, and working on a mixtape. It's a lot going on right now. I got this new X album coming out. I got a movie coming with that called "Last Hour." And a new reality show. I got a bunch of projects about to pop off.

Shine: How do you manage to work on so many projects and stay sample free?

Dame Grease: I sample, I play live, I mix it up and sh*t. If I do sample I throw my own version to it.

Shine: How long does it take you to make a beat?

Dame Grease: Less than five minutes.

Shine: Word?

Dame Grease: Yeah, one minute. One minute.

Shine: That's crazy right there fam. You serious?

Dame Grease: I'm dead serious. I can do it in one minute. It's nothing.

Shine: Are you still rapping or you just doing production only?

Dame Grease: On the real, production is my day job so I ain't going to get that twisted. But I still do my thing. Actually I've done a few new joints that a lot of cats is feeling. The sh*t that I rap is totally different. I ain't going to lie my sh*t is street...gangster. But, my sh*t is more pure. I'm not rhyming like "yo AWWW". I ain't rhyming like that, I do it how I do it.

Shine: Can we ever expect a solo album?

Dame Grease: Maybe, but right now I am in a group also. My group name is Lenox Ave Boys…we on the new Smack DVD.

Shine: What do you think about producers making entire albums for artists?

Dame Grease: That's what it's about. It works man. It works always. Like look at the DMX album. You got me, Swizz, and sometimes PK. We the main guys that normally work on X albums. We have a couple different guys, like Kanye did a joint for his last album, Scott Storch did a couple on this one. So it's like we basically keep the chemistry between us. It depends on how the feel of the album is coming.

Shine: I read that you taught Swizz Beatz. How much did you actually teach him?

Dame Grease: Nah, I didn't teach Swizz Beatz how to make beats. We all used to bang out in the same Ruff Ryders studio and all that. Actually I used to make more beats back then because I was one of the main guys who started the Ruff Ryder thing. So a lot of guys within the camp adapted to my sound and the Ruff Ryder sound is actually a Grease sound. But I didn't actually teach him though.

Shine: What's the difference between making a beat for an artist and making one for a movie?

Dame Grease: It's totally different. It's something totally different. It's not even something that is comparable. [With] making a score you have to capture scenes. Imagine making a song or album that played continuously for two or three hours. And it has to be about live instrumentation. This ain't about beats and banging some sh*t, it's like real orchestration.

A lot of stuff that I play on my keyboards gets played …then I have live orchestra come in and play over what I've done to bring it out and bring it to that real feeling. Most of all, when I'm doing scores I have everything at my disposal.

Shine: How long does it take you to do film score? You were saying that it takes you like one to five minutes to bang out a beat. How long with a film score before you are satisfied?

Dame Grease: No lie, not even to brag or anything and sh*t, but "Exit Wounds," I did that score in two weeks. I did that whole score in two weeks. The "Cradle 2 the Grave" was a lot longer but "Exit Wounds" I did that in two weeks. That's actually how I shocked Hollywood. A lot of the producers, Warner Brothers, [and] my man Joe was like 'Wow.' I left them in shock. They thought I was just a hip-hop producer. I came in and did the movie and had n*ggas going crazy and sh*t.

Shine: What do you think is better, going the indie-label route or the major-label route right now?

Dame Grease: Whatever works for anyone, that's what it is. But for my situation I chose to do it in the realm of both. Stay in the realm of both. Besides Grease, my label, and my artists - they have a leg of they own. We support the underground like a motherf*cker. I used that same chemistry to pop off DMX, and the Lox. So as far as the major, we going to do that, but we always going to f*ck with both realms.

Shine: What's poppin' with Vacant Lot right now?

Dame Grease: I got my new mixtape out. You can go and check mtv.com. They previewed my joint. That joint is crazy. It's selling like a motherf@cker. We doing shows, we just eating up right now. I'm not even looking for a deal or any of that because I don't believe in just going and getting a deal. I like to hit the streets and get sh*t on fire. Whatever I do…I get sh*t popping first. I don't just go in there asking for a deal on some silly sh*t.

Shine: Any last words or shout outs?

Dame Grease: Shout out to Harlem, you already know what it is. In 2006 you going to see a whole lot of me. You going to see Dame Grease everywhere, you going to see Vacant Lot Records everywhere, you going to see DMX everywhere. Everything I'm apart of we making it beautiful.