By Odeisel

James Brown was dubbed the hardest working man in show business, with a constant schedule of albums and touring that would wear out anyone short of The Roots. Massachusetts-born Statik Selektah is trying to 2.0 the Godfather, with a relentless schedule of radio, DJing for Nas when Green lantern isn’t available and producing. Everything. If you’ve heard anyone with an affinity to the boom bap this year, chances are Statik is on their record. We chopped it up with him to discuss the music, his bout with alcoholism, producing, his impossible schedule, and of course, the music.

Planet Ill: You’ve done a lot of work over the past few years. How do you keep that pace and do all of you regular radio shows?

Statik Selektah:  I actually had to drop some radio shows because it got to be too much at some point. Now I only do the Shade 45 show. I was on 94.5 in Boston, I was on KDON in Santa Cruz, California. I was on the radio in Alabama for like six years. I had to like just chill on all that because it’s just too much. As far as production that’s all I do. If I’m not in the studio, I’m out at events politicking or whatever.

Planet Ill: You’re an officially trained producer. A lot of producers, they learn their craft from toying around with the machine, but you went to school for that. What kind of advantage does that give you over other producers?

Statik Selektah: I mean a lot of people know how to make a beat. They give it to an artist and that’s it. I take it real serious. I don’t even let other people mix my sings. If I do a record with you, I gotta mix the whole thing and all that.

Planet Ill: What made you decide to get into production? I know you’ve been in the music for a long time but what lit that spark?

Statik Selektah: I was focusing on DJing for so long, the mixtape game got dry and I felt there wasn’t enough music coming out so I decided to make it myself really. It’s funny cause like Quan’s here right now and I just played him this remix I did for Nas from like 2004 , right when I started like started to take production more serious. I started by just doing fake records for mixtape and eventually started to really work with the artisty.

Planet Ill: Boston’s been coming on  a lot. You’ve got REKS, You got Termanology; a lot of talent in Boston since the days of Edo G, Ray Benzino and those dudes, the original Gangstarr. How has the Boston sound progressed and what’s behind the current movement?

Statik Selektah: it’s weird cause I feel like everybody…like the only one that’s left in Boston is Term, who actually lives there. I mean Edo G is still there, REKS moved to Miami, I’m in New York. There’s a lot of like young talent up there; I’m not really up on it like I used to be. There’s some dope cats up there, my man Kali who’s on Show Off, he lives up in that area, Edo’s still doing his thing Benzino’s down in Miami Akrobatik, Riff, all those guys are still doing it.

Planet Ill: What do you think had held Boston back? There’s always been street cats and music coming out of Boston but what do you think held them back from having that full-fledged breakthrough.

Statik Selektah: In the 90’s they had it with all that underground stuff, then later on it’s just a lack of unity. Everybody was so against each other. There’s a lot of hate in that city but there’s a lot of love when we go up there though.

Planet Ill: Let’s go over some of you recent projects. 100 Proof: The Hangover, what was the science behind that record?

Statik Selektah: That’s a darker album because I was going through a certain time like all the songs I was like giving the hardest concepts to do. There’s a lot of shit about alcoholism and breaking up with your girl and all that shit. That album’s a lot darker. This new album is like a whole different vibe’ more upbeat records and more positive vibes.

Planet Ill: 1982

Statik Selektah: 1982, me and Term had been talking about doing it for so long. And the fans were always asking us when we’re doing an album. We actually just finished the second one, which is a whole different sound. Population control is like a whole different sound from my other albums but this new 1982 is a whole new…no one’s gonna expect this at all. It sounds completely different.

Planet Ill: Lyrical Workout with Bumpy Knuckles

Statik Selektah: Same thing, me and Bump had been talking about it and I actually, it all started by, I sent him this one record and he did a song called “Beats On Em.” And then after that he was like, “Yo, send some more. Let’s do a whole project.” And I was like, “Aight!” But its crazy cause me and Bumpy never even did any of that in the studio together. I would just send him the beats, he’d send them back and I’d mix them. It took like six or seven month but it’s cool. He’s a legend; I grew up listening to him.

Planet Ill: Then you got real creative. You got with Freddie Gibbs and you did Lord Giveth Lord Taketh Away …

Statik Selektah: Well I had already done the mixtape Straight Killer, No Filler with Gibbs and I did the EP with Freeway and XXL was like who do you want to do it with next. His [Gibbs] name came up, I hit him up and really that was how easy it was, we just made it happen. We had like 90,000 viewers.

Planet Ill: And now we come to your new album. You’re out on your own. What went on behind the scene on this album?

Statik Selektah: Really half the people on it I was already a fan of and I wanted to work with but there’s a lot of cats on there that I had to go out and research. Like kids like Tayyib Ali I just heard of them right before having them get on the album. Same thing with Chuuwee and that kid GameBoi. I was really just trying to research young kids and see who’s really worth a shot.

Planet Ill: How did you come up with the name Population Control?

Statik Selektah: Everybody think they’re a rapper; everybody thinks they’re a DJ. It’s basically saying you it ain’t for everybody but here’s some of the new cats that I cosign.

Planet Ill: What’s the future for Statik Selektah?

Statik Selektah: Well I got my album with Action Bronson coming out November 22^nd. And me and Term are going to drop the new 1982 album in December. And then I got a lot of other records coming out on other people’s albums. I got a lot of placements. Talib Kweli, Styles P, Nas. A lot of people. I’m trying to be on every album that comes out that’s dope. Styles comes out next week, Evidence album just came out, I did the bonus track on that. Man. There’s a lot of stuff I’m forgetting. Action Bronson & Statik Selektah “Cocoa Butter” feat Nina Sky by DCide

Planet Ill: You’ve become the go-to guy for that Boom Bap feel. How do you expand on that without giving up your flavor?

Statik Selektah: Just trying new things. You gotta always learn; if you stop learning and you stop trying new things, that’s when you get stagnant, which a lot of producers can’t get out of. Especially on these new album s, I have a new musician working with me. He’s on some like Beethoven shit. He’s like a musical prodigy; he’s real nasty with it. I been messing with a lot of instrumentation and actually producing the songs more as opposed to just taking a sample and chopping it up. But I still got those beats. But I just haven’t been doing as much of it.

Planet Ill: You ever challenge a rapper? If you get a rapper that you feel is special in the studio do you ever go out of your way to find a beat that will push his limits?

Statik Selektah: Yeah. All the time. It’s funny because sometimes people will take beats that I never would expect them to pick.  I just did a record with Roc Marciano. I had a beat that I had in the stash that I didn’t even think he’d really want. He’s the kind of dude that usually wants like straight loop shit.  It was on some whole different… I don’t know it’s hard to describe. It was like a mix between Pete rock and like I would never pick the beat I would never use it and Roc was like, “Nah, that’s it!” And it’s weird that he picked it.

Planet Ill: When’s the last record you heard where you were like. “Oh shit! I wish i did that!”

Statik Selektah: Big K.R.I.T. his Returnto4eva the one he gave out free, that shit is amazing. Besides him, DJ Khalil, I’m a huge fan of. Alchemist. Evidence’s album is real crazy, I’m a big fan of Evidence. Watch The Throne, SOME of it.  Not all of it but a lot of it. I’m a big fan of Kanye, though.

Planet Ill: If there was one rapper you could have on your beat to save  the Earth or stop the alien invasion who would you pick? Why?

Statik Selektah: Jay-Z. He’s one of the only rappers I haven’t worked with  and I think he’s  probably the greatest of all time as far as being an artist. He’s probably my favorite rapper besides Nas and Biggie.

Planet Ill: Is there anything that you would want the fans to know about you, your music or your projects that you never get asked?

Statik Selektah: Not really!

Planet Ill: Earlier you mentioned bouts with alcohol and relationship issues. Ho  did that effect your music? What went on?

Statik Selektah: 2009 was just crazy for me, you know? I was  a couple months away from a wedding. Called it off. Getting locked up all the time. It was just a lot of fuckery in 2009. But things happen for a reason.

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