Is it true that you’re reluctant to do things for Bollywood because the music wouldn’t be yours anymore?
Yeah, that’s right, because in Bollywood, they tend to buy the rights. They want to buy the whole rights from you. And obviously their marketing is good within India only, so then you lose the rights to release that yourself anywhere in the world. I do get offers, and I have done stuff for Bollywood, where they said, “Look, we want you to rap or produce a beat for so-and-so’s production.” And I’ll say, “OK, no problem.” But more likely, I don’t actually go out there to try and get deals or anything. A lot of my tracks do get licensed out there, though, that’s the thing.You rapped on a “Chaiyya Chaiyya” remix, right?
That was actually for Spike Lee, for the film Inside Man. It was remixed by DJ Premier, and Spike asked me to rap on the track. The thing with working with films and getting commissioned to do music is that people tend to have certain specifications for what they require, and I find it quite difficult to make music to order, so to speak. When the music, the vibe, comes, I’ll just produce it at the time. That’s more how I do it.How was it working with Premier?
I mean, he’s definitely one of my idols. To me, Premier, Dr. Dre, people like that, they are the pioneers of the sound of hip-hop. Definitely it was a great honor to be in the same studio as him and to work with him. It was amazing.
Nice to hear from him again!
