By Odeisel

Genius takes many forms and walks among us quietly. Sometimes it looks a a lot like crazy. Lee Bannon straddles that line, flying beneath the radar and producing quirky music full of original flavor. We had a chance to talk to the burgeoning producer about his craft, producers, who is overrated and underrated and ultimately his mission in music. Listen or read and get hip on Lee Bannon. Enjoy.

Planet Ill: Lee Bannon representing the great state of California. What up?

Lee Bannon: Ain’t nothing much, just hanging out.

Planet Ill: So there’s something in Sacramento other than cow bells, huh?

Lee Bannon: It’s just Hip-Hop and that’s pretty much it. And grass, basically.

Planet Ill: You’ve worked with a wide field of rappers East Coast, West Coast, underground overground. How do you get a feel for the emcees that you work with?

Lee Bannon: Usually the beat will already be made and it will kind of get to them one way or another, whether they hear it from a source like Dan, or whether they hear it on the internet or from a beat tape or something like that.  It will kind of trickle down and find its way to where it belongs, whether it be an East Coast song or like a West Coast vibe  or something like that

Planet Ill: So do you prefer that way of producing versus being in the studio with an artist?

Lee Bannon: A lot of the music that happened that way was older music that was just translated that way. The newer stuff I definitely prefer to be in the studio with human interaction and making the music that way. And I got that from being around Alchemist and seeing how he works. Seeing his whole vibe and how he’s creating stuff like I can tell the difference between him and a record that’s been assembled on email.

Planet Ill: What do you hear when you listen to music? When you close your eyes and listen to music what do you hear, what are you trying to do when you’re in front of the boards?

Lee Bannon: Lately like I don’t know if you’ve heard Midnight Noir, it’s one of the newer tapes but it’s basically like I’ll be watching a movie, like Midnight Noir was inspired by the movie Drive and stuff like that. It was basically car music. It wasn’t even intended for an emcee necessarily. It was just like just drive music; like theme music for driving. And actually, I’m working on one right now, like are you familiar with the movie Boomerang?

Planet Ill: Yes I am.

Lee Bannon: It’s basically a score to Boomerang; music FOR that. Not necessarily like a record for people to emcee on.

Planet Ill: Have you ever sat down and worked with one artist for the course of an album?

Lee Bannon: Yeah. I did that well, an EP for Willie The kid, but there’s stuff in the works right now where I’m developing it from the ground up. Trying to be on some old school D.O.C./ Dr. Dre type shit, you know? I actually would prefer to do a project like that because it starts to develop its own sound.

Planet Ill: What‘s the difference between your mentality on that and an instrumental album?

Lee Bannon: Especially after Donuts came out, an instrumental album is just an instrumental album to be listened to in its own. It’s not listened to like, “Oh, I’m going to rap on this,” it’s listened to like its own piece of music. That’s how I feel about it. That’s why a record like The Big Toy Box, or any of my previous records. It’s kinda like all over the place. If you listen to it from a rapper’s standpoint, like you’re trying to write a rhyme to it, you probably won’t like it because it jumps around a lot. But if you listen to it just like you listen to electronic music or something like that or you listen to it for the actual beat you would enjoy it a lot more.

Planet Ill: What’s your favorite record of all time? Doesn’t have to be rap.

Lee Bannon: I’m trying to think all time because I got a lot of favorite records…

Planet Ill: If you need three you can take three.

Lee Bannon: Okay. There’s a new album, One Tricks by Point Never, I don’t know if you’ve heard of him. That’s one of my new favorites, like I’d actually put that on there. Just for the pure creativity aspect. Are you familiar with X-Raided?

Planet Ill: Yeah.

Lee Bannon: His first project definitely, it’s underrated and it’s probably like one of my favorite West Coast projects. And the third one, let me think, it’s probably going to be a Miles Davis After Midnight. I’d put that on there. Just for the pure, they thought of it and they did it. And it wasn’t like a sound existed. That’s why I’m thinking of these people.

Planet Ill: Compare Dr. Dre on Efil4zaggin with Dr. Dre on The Chronic.

Lee Bannon: I feel like he had arrived. Like all that working on the first N.W.A., all that Wrecking Cru, I feel like he was developing his skills to become what he was on The Chronic. That was all training for that moment. Just the way RZA had to go through Prince Rakeem and all this other stuff before he became the RZA on 36 Chambers. So basically that’s the coming of how he evolved to who he was going to be.

Planet Ill: Compare Kanye on Late Registration to Kanye on Graduation.

Lee Bannon: See now that one, he digressed [regressed] I feel like.  Kanye, if you listen to the older stuff, he was never that great of a producer but he made great songs. Late Registration is probably his best album; he definitely digressed [regressed] from that one. They’re both good but he definitely digressed [regressed].

Planet Ill: There are bigger songs on Graduation but the musicality is far better on Late Registration.

Lee Bannon: And I think he said he was going to do that. He said it was going to be more like a stadium album. Something you can play at hockey games.

Planet Ill: Who is your favorite producer?

Lee Bannon: Hip-Hop or producers because I look at producers like everybody. To be honest, I’d probably say Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys and Miles or like Phil Spector or something like that might sound crazy but he’s the dude. You can probably add nine or ten producers nobody would even know, but he influenced all of us.

Planet Ill: What’s the last rap act you got excited about?

Lee Bannon: It’s been a while but lately, recently but Space Ghost Purp I’m kinda excited about. The reason I say Space Ghost is because of the way he went about his first tape was like he did it on tape and it was real lo-fi like that but it was also like some Trap Music. So he was basically like the MF Doom of Trap Music if that makes sense.

Planet Ill: Who do you think is the most underrated producer of all time? Rap.

Lee Bannon: I was going to say Q-Tip, but is he really underrated?

Planet Ill: No I don’t think so because he’s always at the scene of the crime.

Lee Bannon: Maybe Alchemist? But then again he gets his, everybody knows who Alchemist is. I guess he’s not underrated but I feel he should be up there with like the DJ Muggses for what he was doing.

Planet Ill: What do you think was the greatest feat by a producer in terms of doing the most with the least? As in making a good project with guys who can’t fucking rap.

Lee Bannon: I want to say Digable Planets but a lot of people think they can rap. I probably say the first Digable Planets album because it was no more complicated than what Mac Miller’s doing now but the content was just a little different and the beats were a little fatter. Let’s not take anything away from them. I don’t know if you’re familiar with Shabazz Palaces and his new stuff…

Planet Ill: I’m not really digging it man. I know there’s a lot of people on it right now but they can have that shit, man.

Lee Bannon: I like the first one, I haven’t listened to the new stuff but I just like it because it’s kinda like liking the best of the worst.

Planet Ill: I can see it being a guilty pleasure or something. What do you think is the main difference between Dr. Dre and DJ Premier?

Lee Bannon: I think Dre has the bigger picture. He was recognizing it more as bigger than Hip-Hop while maintaining that Hip-Hop sound. At a certain point he just had a bigger vision. They’re both hardcore but one just appealed to the masses. If you take a person that’s not into music and you bring up the two, they’re probably going to know Dr. Dre and that’s for a reason. He was able to do a mass spread. Keep in mind, Premier could have did the same thing. He almost did the same thing [with Christina Aguilera]. Even with Biggie, like I heard he was supposed to do the whole thing at one point. I feel like if he would have just sat down and did his opus he could have did it. But I gotta give it to Dre.

Planet Ill: What do you think about Prince Paul and some of the stuff that he’s done? He might be the most underrated producer…

Lee Bannon: Actually he might be and I didn’t even think about him as underrated. He’s down with that whole Nerdcore following and stuff like that. I don’t think a lot of people know he did the 6 Feet Deep, The Gravediggas album. A lot of people think RZA did that.  You can put that back, I don’t know who I said was the most underrated but you can put Prince Paul in there.

Planet Ill: Let’s close us out with this: What is your mission in music?

Lee Bannon: It’s all about progression. In my music, you know everybody is sampling from everybody else but eventually the greats get to a point where they create the sound that is the new marker. I think in one or two more projects…like I’m not going to sit here and say my new project is that. I’m just going to say in one or two more projects I will be there.

I’m making new connects and finding about new people I never knew existed. I don’t know if you know Adrian Young, he did the Black Dynamite soundtrack from scratch and it sounds like some Stylistics shit. Doing stuff with Adrian Young. Don’t know if you’re familiar with Truth and Soul. I’m doing a collab with Blue Note and fat Beats. I did a straight jazz album no samples it’s all jazz fusion on some weird shit and it comes out on vinyl on Record Store Day and it’s cool to get down like that and do another piece of music that people aren’t expecting. That broadens the spectrum and puts you in another category with like a Madlib.

We could have put Madlib in underrated producers, too. He’s a genius and I’ve worked with his brother, I have some stuff with Oh No coming out in the next couple months but being around them and seeing how he work and his method, some of the stuff is kind of kooky but there’s a reason it’s kooky. It makes him, him. Like not using email and no cell phones on some modern day Thelonius Monk shit. He’s like a modern day that, to the way he was walking around in a circle and the shit he be saying. Even the way he be acting. A lot of people say Madlib’s an asshole and he kinda is, but what does that matter to the music? That’s kind of like what Thelonius Monk was on, too.

Planet Ill: Any last words?

Lee Bannon: Project-wise, I have  Fantastic Plastic coming out. It’s basically like it has a deeper meaning than people realize. It goes deeper than what I’m saying. Here’s the general concept. Plastic rules everything in our lives. So it’s kind of futuristic. I think Hip-Hop ran side by side with Drum and Bass and things like that and kinda got away from it and I’m trying to bring elements like that back with songs like “Search & Destroy.”

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