Xing N Fox (Def Rugs) Cont....
Xing N Fox: We were two college kids with DJ backgrounds in the late 90s, interning at a recording studio out here in Jersey. Both of us were hip hop fans who were growing very disappointed with the quality of the music and our friendship basically grew from that. Then it became years of non-stop experimentation in the studio. We were very focused on what direction we wanted to go in, but people were not very receptive to what we were doing and we couldn’t have cared less! Back then we were going to labels and having to deal with the egos of A & R trash and record execs, and obviously they were not hearing it. Strangely though every time we got around the middle people and went directly to the MC’s, it was a different story.
Royalty Magazine: How would you describe your style of production? What sets you apart from your competition? Who would you say is your target market or who your beats cater to? What type of equipment do you use?
Xing N Fox: Our sound is built around our love for early hip hop. Anything from the early 80s up until 94. But instead of rehashing the sound, we take influences from other break and more club oriented music and try to build something sonically bolder. Every track is built from scratch, rarely using software or keyboards. We like to refer to what we do as “Future Street Music,” where there is a perfect balance of hard breaks and sub bass for the club but enough filth for the MC to destroy the track without having to revert to any gimmicks. When you put as much time and thought into your sound as we do, it speaks for itself. It becomes a part of us. When an MC hears our tracks they know what they need to do. They see the past and the future colliding into a new dimension. They know it’s hot and it’s beyond what is on the radio or what they have achieved before.
Royalty Magazine: You've worked with artists such as Tame One as well as Cappadonna. How did yall hook up? Who are some other artists that you have worked with and/or would like to work with?
Xing N Fox: We’ve known Tame since we started. He was the first one to really believe in us and we learned a great deal from him. Cappadonna was as simple as someone having his phone number, calling him and driving to Baltimore to record. As for people we would like to record with, we seem to be really accomplishing this by working with the legendary MCs we grew up listening to. We are definitely open to working with the new crop of MCs out now, but mainly for the exposure as opposed to “we are dying to work with them".
Royalty Magazine: You've been in the hiphop game for a minute now. How would you compare hiphop from when you first started to today? What positive changes have you seen unfold in the hiphop world over the years? What negative changes have you seen? Are you familiar with the term hip-pop? Are you feeling hip-pop at all or do you think it has an impact on the watering down of hip-hop?
Xing N Fox: The only thing that’s really changed is obviously the decline of the music industry and the amazing boom of social media. The music unfortunately hasn’t really changed that much at all. It’s funny because when we started we were referring to people like Wyclef and Diddy as “hip pop.” What you are referring to is just pop music. Just because someone delivers a verse in a song doesn’t mean that it needs to be associated with hip hop. Instead hip hop needs to look at itself more realistically and break itself down, so when an artist is developing or a listener is exploring, they don’t fall into this broad term “hip hop.” As far as what’s on the radio, it means nothing to us. But it’s sad because it represents this long slow downward spiral that we have been watching go on way too long in this music. The artists need to reclaim this music and stop allowing corporate America along with novice internet fucks to destroy the music and culture we used to love.
Royalty Magazine: From the perspective of a producer or even a DJ, what makes an artist hot? What makes their grind successful and/or what makes it fail?
Xing N Fox: We don’t think we could answer that question because we have never truly seen it. You have never seen it. The people have never seen it. Everyone who is out there is prey to middle people, record execs and a myriad of unnecessary influences. Yes there are some unbelievably talented MCs, but when you bring up the myth of the “grind” that’s all bullshit. No matter how hot an MC, their “grind” is beyond dysfunctional and if that wasn’t true, then the music and the artists performing it would be ten times better.