Buckshot Speaks on iTunes, Puffy,The Music Biz And More

Posted On: January 19, 2010
Posted By: odeisel
Comments: 1

By Odeisel

Click To Hear Interview Buckshot Interview part 2

Planet Ill: 2010 is the 15th Anniversary for Duck Down. What can we look forward to from Buckshot?

Buckshot: 2010 for Buckshot is dedicated to my business. It’s dedicated to the person that created Buckshot. The person that created Buckshot is the person that created Duck Down. He’s the one that started as an intern, he created all the things you see as a pair off from Duck Down and Black Moon. He’s an unseen force.

I’m the one that people talk to; I’m the one that people come to for information. Hip-Hop is the person who’s in charge of Young Money. Hip-Hop is the one who’s in charge of Drake. He spoke to me as far as what direction should he go with Drake. He had the conversation with me and Dru. We may not have been the sole reason he went independent. But you cannot tell me that my conversation, my hour long conversation did not affect his decision to stay or go or the route that he went in. All you got to do is talk to Buckshot for five minutes and you will see you can’t talk to him without him teaching you something.

There’s a lot of people that want to be a part of the industry and don’t know where the industry is about to go; they have no idea what’s about to happen. I wish I could tell them in a 5 second form but I put it in a book. It’s not telling stories. It’s actually a manual on how to get in the game. Not a manual to get in the game but a manual of how to perfect this.

In my book I go over ever question you could possibly ask me about the industry. If you’re going to ask me a question that’s not in this book it’s probably an irrelevant question or a rumor or something that has nothing to do with facts. What is a retail rep? What is radio? What is promotion? What is marketing?” What is an IO? How do I make a record? How do I get my record to the DJs? How do I work my record digitally? All of these questions and more are in this book and I answer every last question starting with the American Heritage definition of everything I explain and then I go into the facts. So there’s really nothing you need ot ask anybody if you get this book.

The year and the era of bein g ipressed by anyone’s ability to put cat rat and bat together is over. Tht is what excited Hip-Hop initially because we were excited by words matching and being put together. And it went from Kane matching words and everybody being excited to being bored and then Das Efx hyping it up, then it became character AND rhymes. And then Buckshot came with character, rhymes AND business. And then Puffy came with character, rhymes , business, AND fashion.

The bar will keep being raised; but it’s not the era anymore where you can run up on Buckshot and kick a freestyle and that means anything at all. You couldn’t rhyme to Puffy, Dre, or anybody and it means anything because in order for you to come out as an artist today you need to be what is called a phenomenon. That’s not just a generic word. You need to be a star; a superstar. You need to have acting ability you have to have sales ability, production ability, business ability, fashion ability. You have to have all the elements in today’s day and time.

Planet Ill: As far as new artists, do they come to you as finished products and you distribute, or do you work hand to hand with them as far as Duck Down goes?

Buckshot: It’s both. With Kidz In The Hall they came to us with a package and we completed it. We will help you as far as giving you our advice, based on what we’ve seen, but as far as production, we do that too. It could be anybody. Pete Rock and Smiff N Wessun is working on they album, he been in the studio constantly with them.

Planet Ill: Is there anything you want to get out to the people?

Buckshot: The book is called Common Knowledge of the Entertainment Industry. There is no trickery, crazy grammar, funny book wordplay; there’s none of that. I talk like a common intelligent cat. You can understand me perfectly clear. I used to hear certain people on TV, all these big corporate people, and everytime you ask somebody a question they always go, :Well in my book, I talk about that,: and I’d be like shut the fuck up, nobody wants ot hear about you promoting your book man. But now I understand, as a person it’s hard. They’re not just trying to sell you the book, they just saying that everything you want to know, if you read that book, I swear to you, you will come back to me and be totally different.

Everything I could say to you that will impact you is in that book. So that’s what I want to promote, the book will be out like March and that’s the reason why I’m telling everybody just look out for the book, support the book. If you want to be a part of the industry, if you don’t find the answers in this book, I’m just like any other company, I’ll give you your money back.

Planet Ill: One last question. When you hear Duck Down what does that mean to you?

Buckshot: Duck Down to me is the John O Connor of the industry. Real talk. We the last of the Mohicans that come from the old world of emotions and feelings and being in tune and sitting down with an artist and feeling where they want to go and having passion for them and fighting for them. We’re one of the last Mohicans of that everybody else is in the metrocard, computer era. They don’t talk to you, it’s not emotional, they have nothing to do with that, it’s all about numbers, and that’s it.

Duck Down is one of the last survivors that you can actually call up on customer service and that’s why everybody be like, “Fuck that, I’m going to Duck Down because I know that I could survive as a human over there; I can bring my own label over there, I can operate as my own label.”

Duck Down primarily signs labels now just because we know everybody is working in that field. And they got they own production, and they want they own ting, and they want to be respected as a production. And that’s what we do. Jamla, that’s 9^th Wonder’s label; that’s his label. And then you got Kidz in the Hall, Major League, that’s their label. And then you Have Temple of Hip-Hop, KRS-One that his label, his production. So everybody with us is respected as their production.

Last but not least, the number one thing about Duck Down is that they work so hard, they got the owners of Apple to call them in for a direct deal at iTunes. Not an aggregator, not some middle man. This was Apple themselves saying we want to speak to this company called Duck Down because we see that they are wise when it comes to the internet system. Who are those guys? They brought us in and gave us a direct deal with iTunes. So now we put out artists’ deals and put them through iTunes. They don’t even have to be on Duck Down!

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