Mathematics:Mastering the Art Of Entertainment

Posted On: March 1, 2010
Posted By: odeisel
Comments: 0

By Odeisel

Mathematics is the science of measurement. How far. How fast. Over the course of 23 years or so, producer Mathematics has seen how far the music can take you. How fast you can rise, and how sharply that fall can take away from that high. The Southside, Queens native chose the way of the DJ over the way of the streets and stands poised for another run at success. Planet Ill recently spoke with Mathematics about beats, life, and the love of the music. Here is what transpired. (Scroll down for audio)

Planet Ill: You’ve been involved in Hip-Hop since’ ’87, long before anything Wu related came out. Tell us about you evolution in this music.

Mathematics: ’87 was like really my debut as far as being a DJ out in the park. I used to do park jams. I’m from Southside Queens you know. Baisley Park, Baisley Projects. I used to DJ for some of the basketball tournaments out there. That’s how long I been in it. Then I also started Djing for a dude by the name of Mr. X back in them days too. Old heads would be familiar with him from “We Drink Old Gold,” a parody of “I Know You Got Soul” by Eric B. & Rakim, but his was “We Drank Old Gold.”

At that time I was one of the youngest DJs that was out. I was mad young at the time. But that was my start back then and from there I just kept on continuing with the DJ. Actually, you know, I started out trying to be an MC rhyming before that. But once I started messing with the turntables it was a wrap. I just fell in love with the turntables.

From there I ended up with the RZA DJing and producing for the Genius when he was on Cold Chillin’ a couple years later. From there it turned into the WuTang thing, for those who don’t know I did the WuTang logo. And after that, I just went into production. I really went into production after GZA did the Cold Chillin’ album Words From The Genius. After that album me and him were trying to do a couple joints; we started producing joints. We didn’t really know that was production we were just trying to make some beats, make songs and stuff. But then RZA came into the picture and he already knew what he was doing. At the same time he had a deal on Tommy Boy and he was doing his own production over there. And GZA and RZA, everybody knew were cousins.

Planet Ill: In that time, from the beginning of the Wu to now, how have these guys evolved as MCs. How have their styles changed and how have they grown on the mic?

Mathematics: They’ve definitely grown. Cats is always nice but I think we’re all kind of critical of ourselves so we always try to do better than what we did the last time. Sometimes you become too critical of yourself so sometimes you might try a little bit too hard than what’s needed.

But cats’ pen games definitely picked up as far as wordplay over the years. And I think a lot of the fans might have fallen in love with some of the earlier wordplay and the earlier styles, but sometimes being an artist is a double-edged sword because you want to give the people what they like but at the same time you want to please yourself too and you’re always trying to evolve to something else; you’re always trying to…like me personally, I always try to get better; I’mma speak for myself. So it’s like when you hear my beats now they might sound a little different from how they sounded years ago but I like to keep some of those elements though because it’s a part of me. That’s the soul of it. I try to keep the soul of it.

Planet Ill: How important is music in your life?

Mathematics: Real important. You know what it is? You gotta separate the two. I gotta know when I’m working and when I’m not working. Music is always in my head. If I’m working, it’s definitely important and I’m constantly trying to figure out if I’m making this beat, what I’m doing to it or how to arrange it. Or if I’m working on a certain track with somebody it’s there.

But then when I’m not doing that, and I step away, I’m just listening to music now, so now I’m not working no more, but music is still playing a part. I might throw on Stevie Wonder or something and just might be zoning out. For me, music is in everything. When you watch TV or see a movie, it’s music in there. It’s like I look at it and try to learn what type of music should go here. I’m always studying. That’s my problem I might see a movie and hear how they did the music and be like “Man you should have done it that way, or you should have did this.” Even video games; there’s music video games. The music you listen to is the soundtrack of your life. My movie is filled with a crazy soundtracks and scores. There’s music going through the whole thing. It’s very important.

Planet Ill: When an artist like Michael Jackson or Teddy Pendergrass dies, or a Barry White does that give you extra motivation to use their music in some of your composition?

Mathematics: No not really because I appreciated them when they were still alive. It’s like when I heard that they died it’s like I damn near feel like it’s personal to me because I grew up listening to these cats and I study them, like I said. Isaac Hayes, who I had the pleasure of meeting, I never had the pleasure of meeting Michael Jackson or Barry White, but listening to their music over the years, that’s my relationship to them. So when they are gone to me I just feel like it’s a great loss. And maybe the world might start appreciating some of these cats the way I do.

I been incorporating their music, maybe not straight taking it but maybe the groove or the feel. I may have studied something that they might have done and I might have used it; I might have borrowed it and took it and did my own thing with it. To me they are just always been inspirational and still are. To me it’s just a great loss.

Planet Ill: When was the last time you were mesmerized by a beat? Old or new.

Mathematics: It’s been a long time. Besides my stuff. I’m working on a couple projects at the same time right now. One guy he’s on Return of the Wu and Friends, his name is Eyes Low. I been working with him, and a kid named Bad Luck. He’s just so incredible the stuff he’s bringing out my music and when I hear it, I’m listening back and I’m like “Wow!” I want the world to hear it right now. But we’re still mixing and tweaking and things like that.

I can tell you something I like recently that I heard. The New York [Empire State of Mind] song, Jay-Z. When I first heard that, because that’s a song… I listen to songs for a while before I touch them. I been like that for years. One time I might find a record and I’ll just go attack it. I still do that from time to time, but for the most part, certain songs I listen to for a while before I touch it because I want to make sure when I touch it, I touch it right. And that happened to be one of the songs I wanted to touch but I didn’t because I just wanted to touch it right, but then when I heard it, I appreciated it, like wow they did it nice; they did it right there.

Planet Ill: You’ve worked with a lot of MCs with different flavors. When you produce, do you make beats that they force themselves on to or do you wrap your production style around the talents of each individual MC?

Mathematics: I would make joints and then I can just hear somebody on it like “Oh yeah, this is for Ghost, you know, this is good for Meth.” But nowadays I’ve learned a lot and I know how to tap right into that channel. I know “Ok this is what he like.” I know the sounds he likes. Which drums go with the right tempo for this one or whose voice is going to accent this type of beat. Now I make beats particular for a person or if somebody in the Clan might ask me for a track I know what to give them.

Even though I might know what to give them, sometimes an MC might not recognize himself on it either. They might pick something totally different than you would even thought they would have picked but still kill it. I always bring three joints to the table now. I got one that I think would be really good for you, I got the next one that I’m sure you gone like and then the third one is something crazy dope or whatever. I try not to overkill nobody ears either like bring too many tracks. I try to keep it limited. I’m sure within those tracks they gone find something thing and they usually do.

Planet Ill: When was the last time you were challenged by an MC? In terms of having a track that fit them or hearing someone so dominant that you had to find a different way to produce for them.

Mathematics: I can’t say I have because it’s like I make tracks; I make all types of tracks. The world may hear only certain tracks but I have a wide range of tracks that I have worked on over the years that I still work on. I try to be a well rounded producer. I’m really known for a certain type of sound and a certain type of style but that’s not all that I can do. I practice, I study, and I got all types of things laying around. Something that may seem kind of crazy or wild to me somebody else might hear and be like whoa. Or I might come across a person that’s just right for that track one day. I got something for everybody.

Planet Ill: Coming from Southside Queens during that era how did you manage to escape that drug s**t?

Mathematics: It’s not really something you dip and dodge and try to escape, you have to be focused on what you want to do and just do it. Even some of the basketball tournaments that I DJ’ed for, they were sponsored by certain individuals. Just because cats sold drugs or did certain things don’t always make them a bad person either. I know people that was in the game and did things yet they did so much good for the community. They did a lot more good for the community than half of these so-called rappers that come from these so called troubled hoods.

I was just focused on DJing. I come from a big family. Certain people that I know or may have been related to may have been involved in certain things and I chose to go the other way and I was told to go the other way, actually. That’s how I got my first set of turntables. My first set of turntables came from one of my older brothers. I had saved up a little money got a Gemini turntable. It was real weak but it was cheap; that’s what I could afford at the time. So when he seen that, he came to the house he laughed, he said, “I’ll be right back.” He came back later on that night, him and his crew they came in with the coffin, the turntables and the mixer, all that! He basically like, “If you gone do that, do this. Go in this direction.” And that’s what I did. When he first got it for me, I’d say for like two or three months straight I was on them decks every day! All day every day.

Planet Ill: Now we come full circle. What’s the new project you have coming out?

Mathematics: Which new project?

Planet Ill: What do you have on the plate. Tell us everything

Mathematics: You got the Rae Meth and Ghost album coming out. I got four joints on there. I think I got four joints on there. One of the joints you gonna hear I got Eyes Low and I got Bad Luck on it too. Then I’m working with those two on their albums.

Planet Ill: You worked with those two before…Peace and Love?

Mathematics: Eyes Low was on Love, Hell or Right. And then Bad Luck came on the first Mathematics Presents…The unreleased joint. Yeah I’m working with them cats. Eyes Low album is called Love and Loyalty. It’s off the hook. Also I got a couple other projects I’m working on like Wu related. I just did a joint for Hellraiser, he got a joint coming out. I did the Beat Kings, which was a documentary where I went around interviewing mad producers. Got everybody on there from Premiere, to Marley Marl to Kanye West, you know wide range.

I just finished this other movie and it’s called The Art Of Entertainment. It’s a real informative and a study guide for those that’s really trying to…it’s the business aspect of entertainment in general. Cause I got people on there; artists on there like Method Man, Ghost of course. But then I got other people on there like Taure, Len Burnett who started Vibe Magazine. I also got Burt Padell on there. He’s like the biggest accountant there is. Started off with Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe, from them to Madonna to Biggie Smalls to 50 Cent, he do a lot of people.

But you know it’s all about right now dealing with The Art of Entertainment. Everybody always asking what is the state of Hip-Hop; it deals with that too as well as the music industry, the internet. It’s real informative; it’s something that everybody should really take a look at. And I did the score and all the music in there. And I’m working on the soundtrack for that too as we speak.

Planet Ill: How different is scoring from producing an album?

Mathematics: Scoring, to me I like them both. It’s different but kind of the same. Even when you do an album, you know the best albums to me are really colorfully painted. It’s a storyline. You want it to be visual rather than just partying or whatever. Some of the best albums ever were just formatted so beautifully was like a movie whether it was Cuban Linx or Ready 2 Die or Criminal Minded. They’re well put together. Same thing when you’re scoring or trying to put a movie together. You got the visual, now you need the feeling. The music is what really brings the feeling into it, so you gotta know how to make certain things dramatic or feel good. To me, it’s the same but it’s different. It’s definitely different but they share a lot of the same principles.

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