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1) Mixtape DJ Grandmaster Vic Influenced Large Professor's Production on Nas' "It Ain't Hard to Tell"
What a 2012 XXL interview reveals about the importance of mixtape DJs in music production history. https://microchop.substack.com/p/mixtape-dj-grandmaster-vic-influenced
What a 2012 XXL interview reveals about the importance of mixtape DJs in music production history. https://microchop.substack.com/p/mixtape-dj-grandmaster-vic-influenced
2) Over the summer I put together a Large Professor reading list for the Micro-Chop Twitter feed. I had a lot of fun diving into the archives and pulling out quotes from some of my favorite interviews. https://twitter.com/micro_chop/status/1286624647006519296?s=20
3) There were two particular moments that stood out to me that both came from 2012 stories. The first is a quote from highly respected engineer and studio musician Anton Pukshansky,
https://www.discogs.com/artist/479906-Anton-Pukshansky
https://www.discogs.com/artist/479906-Anton-Pukshansky
4) who worked on Main Source’s 'Breaking Atoms,' Kool G Rap & DJ Polo’s 'Wanted: Dead or Alive,' and scores of other seminal rap projects. He spoke about Large Pro’s remarkable aptitude for composition despite a complete lack of formal training.
5) Here’s a clip from Pukshansky’s 2012 OtherSounds interview: “I was amazed by his ability to hear something, grab it and match it to something else, change tempos, change pitch and with no form of musical training whatsoever, turn it all into a cohesive musical piece.”
6) So if Large Pro had “no form of musical training whatsoever,” how did he develop this otherworldly compositional ability? There’s no one simple answer and his musical mastery is likely due to a variety of factors and influences over the years. https://microchop.substack.com/p/mixtape-dj-grandmaster-vic-influenced
7) However, a forgotten 2012 XXL seems to give a bit of important context. https://microchop.substack.com/p/mixtape-dj-grandmaster-vic-influenced
8) In @carlchery’s 2012 @XXL article “Large Professor Breaks Down His Songs With Nas,” Large Pro explains something fascinating that I’ve never seen him talk about on record before.
https://www.xxlmag.com/large-professor-breaks-down-his-songs-with-nas/
https://www.xxlmag.com/large-professor-breaks-down-his-songs-with-nas/
9) While breaking down “It Ain’t Hard To Tell," he explained that listening to mixtapes from renowned Queens blend DJ Grandmaster Vic played a role in teaching him about mixing smooth R & B songs with gritty rap production elements.
https://www.xxlmag.com/large-professor-breaks-down-his-songs-with-nas/
https://www.xxlmag.com/large-professor-breaks-down-his-songs-with-nas/
10) Here’s the full Large Professor quote: “You had a dude like a Grandmaster Vic who was already blendin', so he kinda taught all of us, like, ‘Yo, you could take Michael Jackson and mix it with Biz.’ We was taught by him."
https://www.xxlmag.com/large-professor-breaks-down-his-songs-with-nas/
https://www.xxlmag.com/large-professor-breaks-down-his-songs-with-nas/
11) "That was in that vein right there. It was like, ‘Yo, I’ma just take an ill classic, one of them glorious ill joint and just grit it up and Nas just gon’ come through with that golden god shit and just flip it.’"
https://www.xxlmag.com/large-professor-breaks-down-his-songs-with-nas/
https://www.xxlmag.com/large-professor-breaks-down-his-songs-with-nas/
12) Though other mixtape DJs like Neil Armstrong have talked to me about the influence people like Ron G had on ‘90s rap production, this was a rare example of a producer making a very direct link from a mixtape DJ to one of their own famous productions. https://microchop.substack.com/p/mixtape-dj-grandmaster-vic-influenced
13) Beyond his study of Vic’s mixtapes, it also seems like Large Pro was just a very astute student of music willing to study the craft from many different angles.
https://open.spotify.com/album/7K4nhhoHKUyzw0DnAYtS1v
https://open.spotify.com/album/7K4nhhoHKUyzw0DnAYtS1v
14) “I would just sit there and study records on my little portable turntable,” he told Andrew Nosnitsky in a 2008 Cocaine Blunts interview.
https://web.archive.org/web/20081222035756/http://www.cocaineblunts.com/blunts/?p=1084
https://web.archive.org/web/20081222035756/http://www.cocaineblunts.com/blunts/?p=1084
15) “I kinda had the knack for what to use like, ‘Yo put this with that and that with that’ and boom it’s good money. It was just having that knack.”
https://web.archive.org/web/20081222035756/http://www.cocaineblunts.com/blunts/?p=1084
https://web.archive.org/web/20081222035756/http://www.cocaineblunts.com/blunts/?p=1084
16) The connection between mixtapes and rap production is ripe for much deeper exploration, especially given how many producers started out as DJs and how much live early live DJs sets influenced production.
17) Ron G, Houston’s DJ Screw, and Grandmaster Vic all had their own unique influence on beatmakers, but I’m sure someone with extensive mixtape expertise could draw many more connections.
18) If you like this thread subscribe to my newsletter.
I write about cool stuff like John Carpenter sample flips and replays on rap records. https://microchop.substack.com/p/john-carpenters-halloween-theme-was
I write about cool stuff like John Carpenter sample flips and replays on rap records. https://microchop.substack.com/p/john-carpenters-halloween-theme-was
19) Gangsta Boo rapping over horror movie samples. https://microchop.substack.com/p/underground-memphis-rap-tapes-gangsta
20) And rap record samples and replays on video game soundtracks. https://microchop.substack.com/p/rap-samples-and-unexpected-replays
