DJ Khalil Tells All: The Stories Behind His Classic Records!!!

@ 10:43 AM 09-18-2019

Bill Wallace

^x8

27 K 6 years ago

'14

↪ https://www.complex.com/m .. wont-back-down

G-Unit "Lay You Down"

DJ Khalil: �I was making a lot of beats and I was sampling a bunch of European progressive rock. I came across this record by a group called Klaatu and they had this crazy sample [�Doctor Marvello�], but it was pretty much a straight loop. I put those West Coast drums on it, replayed some of the sample, and it came out really dope. I remember giving it to Sha Money XL�he was the A&R of G-Unit [Records] at the time�and he loved it. He was a fan of my work but I was signed to Dr. Dre, so I had to give Dre all the stuff first. It's just funny because you never know what Dre is gonna like. He has a particular ear and my whole thing is that I just give him whatever I got. [Laughs.] You never know what he's gonna pick. So that kinda went to Dre and then ended up with Sha Money. Sha gave it to 50, and then that's pretty much how that song came about.

�It didn't make the album, but they also had a version with Snoop Dogg on it. I've heard it. They played it for me and I was like, �Snoop is on this?� And it was just dope because I had never done anything with Snoop, so to hear it I was like, �This is crazy.� But Snoop said some controversial things and it wouldn't have been a good look for G-Unit if they had put it out. Snoop was kinda calling out some people in the song and 50 had to take his verse off the record. They were just like, 'Nah, we had to kill Snoop�s verse on this. We don't wanna have any issues with anybody.' It's hilarious. [Laughs.] [The verse was about Suge Knight] for the most part. It was kinda crazy but they took him off. I think it was their decision collectively, basically they didn't want Suge breathing down their necks so that's what ended up happening. I don't think that [verse will] ever surface. [Laughs.] They might have just completely deleted his verse, you know what I mean?�

The Game "Da sh1t"

DJ Khalil: �I made that beat with Dr. Dre in mind for Detox, but Dre passed on it. So I took it to Game. I have a really good relationship with Game�when he got signed to Aftermath is kinda [the same time] when I got signed [to Aftermath] as a producer, so we kinda like grew together over there. I can go work with whoever. I already had a relationship with Game, so Dre and Aftermath didn't have a problem with who I worked with. It wasn't like Dre and Game had a bad relationship. It was just the circumstances of the beef and whatever else was going on at the time.

�I took the track to Game and he started writing on it immediately. He was like, 'This is crazy.' I had the hook on it and everything. It was actually a replay of the artist named Zoogz Rift who is an avant-garde �80s rock artist. I added some extra parts to it because the beat had this weird timing on it like it had the extra beat. It was a real challenging record for us to finish because of that little extra half bar. Then Game was like, 'Yo we should take what's his name from Tales from the Hood saying all this sh1t.' So, he laid the song right there and he was like, 'Yo, take this back and add these parts to it.' So I took it back, added the parts, and brought it back in. Everybody loved it. I remember he was in the studio with Busta Rhymes and Busta was like, 'Yo, who did this beat? You did this?' I was like, �Yeah.� That was my first time meeting Busta Rhymes and he was just like, 'Yo, this is one of the craziest beats I've heard in a long time.'

�I have a real dope relationship with Game. Whenever I have ideas I can just go directly to him and for the most part he'll try it. He'll try stuff out and if he's really feeling it, he'll go in the booth right away. So it was real dope to be there and actually produce the record with him. The dope thing about Game, he's just real creative. He gave me the idea, I took it back, worked all of the parts in. We just collaborate like that. He'll call me and he'll just pitch stuff to me. When you work with an artist that has a vision and actually wants something in particular, and you can deliver it, that�s really dope. That's how it's supposed to work in my opinion."

+10

0 comments best trash