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Part 1: Because somebody has to keep this shit alive

Platinum Pied Pipers

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Platinum Pied Pipers: Part 1: Because somebody has to keep this shit alive

[Part 1 of 2]

Platinum Pied Pipers is the brainchild of super-producer and
circus-show ring leader Waajeed and his multi-instrumentalist sidekick
Saadiq. The production team uses a rotating assembly of rappers,
singers and musical contributors to craft a modern soul sound. Coming
out of the Detroit school of basement music, Waajeed was mentored by
none other than Jay Dee and is considered a founding member of Slum
Village. He co-founded the Bling 47 record label, which gave several
Detroit artists an outlet for their music, and has been a regular guest
and favorite spin for U.K. tastemakers Gilles Peterson and Benji B for
some time. Now, with the help of Ubiquity Records, he's finally ready
to make U.S. audiences familiar with the sound that is Platinum Pied
Pipers.
I was hooked from the first time I heard Waajeed and
PPP's mix of hard drums, swampy bass and smooth vocals. Seeing them
live at New York City's SOB's only brought a more complete
understanding of just what this man is trying to bring to the world. I
got a chance to sit down with Waajeed at Junior's Famous Cheesecake in
Brooklyn. A laid back, casual character, Waajeed spoke candidly about
his start with Slum Village, why he decided on music over painting, his
place in the industry and his love/hate frustration with the city of
Detroit.

 

[more:]
Prefix Magazine:So first off, what's up with the name, man?

Platinum Pied Pipers: What? Waajeed? That means finder or seeker in Arabic.

PM:And what about Platinum Pied Pipers?

Platinum Pied Pipers: Oh, well, that's just some joke shit, but you know, like anything silly, you find meaning in it later.

PM:This
project has been brewing for a minute now. I know Gilles Peterson and
Benji B of BBC Radio have been playing stuff off this record and
talking it up for at least a year now.

Platinum Pied Pipers: They been beating people over the head with us, man.

PM:Yeah, but they've been getting such a strong response it's almost like they don't have a choice.

Platinum Pied Pipers: Yeah, that too. It's been a long time coming man; this project has been two years in the making.

PM:Where are you based now?

Platinum Pied Pipers:
I got a place in Park Slope now, me and my fiancée. We got a pretty big
bedroom, like a half bedroom that I use for a studio, decent living
space, decent kitchen and closets closets.

PM:That's good, because I imagine you've got a lot of shit.

Platinum Pied Pipers: Tons. Tons of records. I had to sell a lot of my equipment.

PM:Why? You just wanted to minimize?

Platinum Pied Pipers:
Yeah, man. Keep it kinda basic, you know? I was kicking it with Madlib
and he was talking about how he just uses the real basic shit, just
enough to get the point across and get rid of all the fancy extras and
whatnot. So I'm kind of in the process of cutting through the fat with
some of those things right now.

PM:I think it shows in the record. It does have a really raw feel to it, which is nice.

Platinum Pied Pipers:
Yeah, man that was really important. I mean, I love R&B. I'm an
R&B guy. But a lot of times, especially the stuff that's done on
major labels, it's just too polished. It's too perfect.

PM:Yeah, there's just nothing there. No layers.

Platinum Pied Pipers:
Nothing. There's no contrast there. So I think with the sensibilities
of a really good singer, like a lot of the people we have on this
album, and the combination of that with something real and rugged -- it
makes for a good balance.

PM:I
think it's safe to say you're really focused on the drums, because on a
lot of these tracks that's the first thing that you notice.

Platinum Pied Pipers:
That's the heart of it man, the drums. Even on our live performances
it's important we have a really good drummer. We need somebody that
definitely knows how to identify what it is I do and tries to emulate
it on a real drum set.

PM:And for the live show you're doubling up a lot of the drums on the MPC right?

Platinum Pied Pipers:
Definitely, but I'm also playing bass lines or even Rhodes parts that
are chopped up. All the parts that you hear on the album were played
through the MPC anyway.

PM:Everything?

Platinum Pied Pipers:
Eighty percent of it. Even if Saadiq played something, I usually
chopped it up later. I'm that anal. You know, re-played it back anyway.
Most of the stuff was just done in one or two takes as opposed to being
programmed. Like played all the way through.

PM:Yeah?

Platinum Pied Pipers: It's better that way. The thing I hate about the music that I hear that's really sample-based is it's just loops.

PM:It gets boring.

Platinum Pied Pipers:
It's boring! And I ain't trying to discredit nobody out there with what
they doing, but I want to make music, man, and fucking Herbie Hancock
didn't do that shit. Roger Troutman, David Bowie, they wasn't looping
shit. So I want to emulate people like them, the best I can with what
I'm doing.

PM:It
seems like you're getting a lot of respect for that, too, especially
from other artists. The thing you hear the most right now is, "Well,
Waajeed is a musician," as opposed to just a beat-maker.

Platinum Pied Pipers:
That's what I'm striving for. I'm almost 30, and I've been doing this
seriously for the last four years of my life. And that first year, when
I first learned the MPC, I kind of went through my loop phase within a
year.

PM:You burned it out in a year?

Platinum Pied Pipers:
I burned it out, man. That was the first year I met my fiancée, and
that's why we're getting married. Because she was able to put up with
my B-side, my personal confidant, the MPC, where I would just beat it
out for a whole year. And that's when I started to get serious about
music. It struck me like, "This is what I want to do."

PM:So back in those days. You're chilling with Slum and Jay-Dee?

Platinum Pied Pipers:
Yeah, I was in college, doing my creative thing and the whole nine, and
then my boys was just like, "We're going on tour, B. You do not
want to miss this." We're from the hood, homie. So there's not many of
us that see Europe that's not in the Army. So I'm like, Do I stay in
school and finish up this scholarship or do I travel the world with my
boys and mess with fine broads? I mean, is that really a choice to a
twenty-five year old? No, that's not a choice.
So I left my
books, I left my paintbrushes, I ran. So I traveled with them on and
off for about two or three years. And then, just seeing the insides and
how things work, I kind of had an idea of -- keep in mind, this is when
Slum was like really, really hot -- so I got an idea of what it was
like looking from the inside out. And it made me think, Damn, this is
kinda fly. Until I had to start doing the work [laughs].
But I mean, I still had an idea like this maybe could work. And when we
got off tour, me and Jay Dee would go record shopping almost
religiously. And I would go back to the crib and chill with him, and
all these dudes would come over there. Like Common would come over
there, and Questlove would come over there and just hang out and kick
it about music. I remember one of the first times I came to New York
with him, and he did a session with D'Angelo, and Q-Tip and Lauryn Hill
was there.

PM:Wow. Okay.

Platinum Pied Pipers:
Yeah. Rosario Dawson is just in the studio hanging out. And I'm like,
"This could work. This could really work for me." I mean, fucking Premo
would stop by. It was crazy. So it was my introduction to the game all
under the coat of Dilla, who was my guide. So that kind of experience
just wet my earlobes as far as new sounds and new opportunities. I
mean, here I am, starting out as a painter

PM:Wait, you were originally a painter?

Platinum Pied Pipers: Yeah, I'm a painter at heart. That's what I do. But I don't want to be no fucking Van Gogh: without an ear and then I die and then
my stuff is worth a million bucks? Fuck that. So I had to decide: Do I
jump into this thing now or do I wait until after I'm dead? So if that
was the question, then my obvious choice was to jump in. That's when I
started thinking about music as a career.
But that's why it
was easier for me, making the transition from being a painter to being
a producer. Because it's the same process. You got four corners -- that
could be your four measures in a track. You lay a bass. You add, take
away, add, and it ends up being the same process. And I think that's
what really made it so easy for me to make that transition. Seriously,
I learned in about a year, so I caught up quick. And I knew my
influences, who I was surrounded by was a big part of it. Shit, Dilla?
Who wants to sit next to that dude? Let alone be in the same crew with
him. And you can't come weak. You got to get your weight up. Fast.

PM:That's funny, because our introduction to you was through a friend of ours from England, actually, sending us the BPM Instrumentals
thing you did. And first of all, a lot of these hip-hop instrumental
records are, like you said, boring. Because after you hear that loop
twenty times

Platinum Pied Pipers: I know

PM:And
so then we got yours and we're thinking, Great, it's another guy from
Detroit. And it's not necessarily that we were discounting it from the
outset, but we were skeptical.

Platinum Pied Pipers: You have to be.

PM:But
then we threw it on and we're like, Damn! Okay. And my man J was even
like, "This motherfucker is almost better than Jay Dee." Which is, to
people like us, really saying something.

Platinum Pied Pipers: Yeah, that's a big compliment.

PM:I mean Scales and Tron and some of that stuff is just ill.

Platinum Pied Pipers: Oh, I love Scales.
But I know I have a long way to go in regard to my career and
everything I want to do and where I want to go, but I think in general
this Motown legacy that we're all kind of committed to -- we knew what
we once were in regard to Motown and them being a cornerstone in music
for a period of time. I think that weighs on everybody. I think that
weighs on Theo Parrish. I think that weighs on Moodyman. I think that
weighs on Amp Fiddler. It's almost like a responsibility we have to
carry on.

PM:But
from my understanding, you guys are kind of rare. Because it seems like
you're willing to try to help each other out. I mean, Amp Fiddler
taught Dilla how to use the MPC.

Platinum Pied Pipers:
Yeah, taught Dilla how to use the MPC . I wish I had some more help
from those guys. But regardless, Detroit is funny in that way -- in a
way it's like crabs in the barrel. But then in a way it's like if
you're hooked into the right people . But it's hard, too, because like
when Dilla decided to move to L.A. he caught a lot of slack from
people. On some, "you selling us out and you leaving us," bullshit. And
the same with us, too. But you know what? Fuck 'em. You gotta eat, man.
Detroit is a great place for the creative aspect of it, but there's
just not a lot of outlets.

PM:Yeah,
and another thing I wanted to ask you about -- that I've heard Jay Dee
speak about, too -- that has to be weird and frustrating, is that when
you're in Europe or wherever overseas, you're basically stars. Or at
least people know who you are. But then you're in Detroit and nobody
even knows.

Platinum Pied Pipers: It's crazy. I mean crazy

PM:What does that feel like?

Platinum Pied Pipers:
It actually feels pretty good, to tell you the truth. Because you can
just go and do your thing and go anywhere and eat a sandwich and don't
nobody give a fuck. It's like being in New York. Don't nobody give a
fuck if you're sitting next to DMX or whoever. Nobody cares. But that's
the beauty of Detroit. It's honest, it's real, and you almost feel
yourself going to work. If you're going to Europe for a month, it's
more of a feeling like, I'm going to work for a month. It ain't the
type of thing where somebody's trying to look at the type of water you
drinking because they think that's going to make them make better beats
[laughs]. Or they trying to follow you, or you're scared to
leave your shit around. I had my jacket stolen from a coat check. Some
crazy motherfucker running around with a big P on his jacket and shit
-- and let me tell you, there's not that many people running around
with P's on their jacket.

PM:So when you see that dumb motherfucker you're going to say, "That's my jacket."

Platinum Pied Pipers: That's my fucking jacket homie [laughs].
But you know, it's kind of cool to get away from that, man, because
those are my sensibilities. I want to cut to the chase. I'm not with
none of this "star" bullshit. I just want to make some fucking fly shit
and make a couple dollars and in turn just keep doing the same.
Recycling. I didn't really sign up for all that bullshit man.

PM:I
don't think Jay Dee was really on it like that either. I just heard him
say something along the lines of, "I come back from doing packed houses
and I come home and do a show and I'll be lucky to have a hundred
people come out."

Platinum Pied Pipers:
A hundred? That's real lucky. But it's crazy man. I was just on the
phone with Theo Parrish talking about the same thing. Talking about how
he could spin at a club down in Detroit and fucking five people show
up. But I saw him at Plastic People and I couldn't even speak to him
because there were so many people surrounding him. Okay, I'm going to
tell you the truth right now. When we were in London we must have sold
125 copies of our album at one show. In Detroit, a record store that
I'm not going to name ordered eight copies to sell.

PM:That says it all.

Platinum Pied Pipers: That says everything!
In New York last night we sold tons of CDs. But in the D, they ordering
eight copies of the record. And how do I know this? Because my father
went to buy the album and they were sold out. And he asked them [how
many they ordered], and the guy told him eight copies. If anyone from
the D is going to read this, they need to know that. This is why my ass
is gone. Because that is some bullshit, for real. That's where I'm
from, and they ordering eight copies.

PM:But there are heads in Detroit. I mean, I've been to St. Andrews. I've seen them.

Platinum Pied Pipers:
Absolutely. I wouldn't exist if it wasn't for that community. That
supports and recognizes what real hip-hop is. Eminem wouldn't be who he
is if it wasn't for those same people. But it's a dying breed.

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