A foundational architect of Hip Hop’s golden era, Ski Beatz remains one of the culture’s most revered and adaptable sonic craftsmen. Originally discovered by DJ Clark Kent and cutting his teeth as an MC with the 1990s group Original Flavor, the North Carolina native truly found his calling behind the boards. He cemented his legendary status by shaping the distinct, soulful boom-bap landscape of JAŸ-Z’s seminal 1996 debut album, ‘Reasonable Doubt’, producing timeless masterpieces like “Dead Presidents” and “Feelin’ It”.
Beyond introducing a future megastar to the world, Ski Beatz went on to fully craft Camp Lo’s critically acclaimed, jazz-funk-infused classic ‘Uptown Saturday Night’, and later extended his streak of innovation by anchoring Curren$y’s highly influential ‘Pilot Talk’ series.
The Hip Hop Museum caught up with Ski Beatz to talk about the early days working with JAŸ-Z, his lost album with Jay, the balance Jay struck between the streets and the studio, and more.
Adam Aziz: What do you remember about producing “In My Lifetime”?. And was Jay serious about Rap then?
Ski Beatz: When I met Jay around that time, we met him through Clark Kent. You know, just to go back a little further, when I was with Original Flavor, Clark, he brought Jay around to one of our video shoots, and, you know, he was telling Dame, this kid is the truth, you need to manage him.
Obviously, when we heard him rhyme, we were like, “Yo, this guy’s incredible.” And Jay, I guess, had already kind of established himself because he was with Jaz-O, and I know he was doing stuff with Big Daddy Kane before he came into our fold.
He kind of hooked on with us. You know, when we was on our promotional tour, we would come out with Jay because we had this song, “Can I Get Open,” featuring Jay, and that was a way to kind of get him exposure.
I tell this story all the time. When I heard him rhyme, I kind of knew, you know, I was going to have to put the mic down because this kid was so good. And I’m like, you know what? If anything, I need to produce records for him because he’s that guy.
AA: Was Jay writing his lyrics down back then? Or was it off the dome from the start?
Ski: I can’t say he was writing per se. I know he would, initially, he would write some things down, but it wasn’t like coherent words, it was more like, uh, hieroglyphics-type vibes, you feel me?
Like, I didn’t know what—what he was doing. Eventually, he just wasn’t bringing anything. He was just going straight off the top.
AA: ‘Reasonable Doubt’ was the project that set the tone for Jay’s career. What was your mentality going into that project and working with him? What did you want to give him to work with?
Ski: Well, the good thing is, I got a chance to hang around Jay and, you know, just kind of absorb the vibe he was on. And that—that kind of helped me construct what I was going to construct for him. And also, hearing like the initial tracks that started the album, those were from Clark Kent, you know, the original songs, that kind of like set the mood for the whole thing.
I knew, whatever I did, it had to be kind of like musical, kind of cinematic. It had to have a vibe to it because of the subject matter, what he was talking about, you know? It had to be a movie.
That’s one thing I always tell a lot of these younger cats. I say, Yo, if you spend time with the artist that you’re working on, you can—the music is going to kind of write itself because if you absorb the energy of the person that you’re trying to produce, if you absorb that energy, if you’re around them enough, you’ll know.
Like when I was doing ‘Pilot Talk’ for Curren$y, same thing. I was just hanging out with Spitta so much that I just kind of knew like, okay, this kid likes to get high, he likes smooth music, so I got to make melodic, smooth, wavy, hypnotic-type of shit for him, you know what I mean?
AA: I believe you said in an interview sometime ago that you accidentally trashed an entire album that you and Jay had made prior to ‘Reasonable Doubt.’ What do you remember about that project, and what was the vibe like? Was it ‘Reasonable Doubt’ vibes?
Ski: Yeah, it was headed in that direction. It was hot, man. We had this one song called “Report to the Bridge for Blow Up.” That song was so crazy. That was like a saying, like a New York saying, street hustlers, guys would say that when they were getting money.
That song was one of the songs that was kind of setting the tone. Because initially, Jay was on that fast lyrical type of thing, but then I guess his friends got into his ear and were like, “Yo, you need to talk about what you really do, and slow it down.”
AA: Was there a title for the album?
Ski: Nah. It was just him coming to the crib, and we was just recording music, just making songs. But it was some hot ones on there. We had this song called “The Hurt.” Ooh! Oh my god.
AA: You never found the album, did you?
Ski: Nah, man. All that stuff was on ADATs, and I got rid of all that shit when Pro Tools came out. I didn’t think—I wasn’t thinking. I wasn’t even thinking it was going to be like this, man, you know? When you’re in the moment, man, you don’t know what’s going to happen.
AA: Around those ‘Reasonable Doubt’ sessions, do any interesting stories come to mind?
Ski: A lot of it has been talked about. From being around B.I.G. (The Notorious B.I.G.), B.I.G. and Jay’s relationship and just how Jay was paying cats for production. I remember being on the train with a backpack full of cash I received for payment. It was street hustling meets Hip Hop.
It was crazy. Jay was definitely a Hip Hop person, but he was, you know, he was doing other things, too. And that—that world meshing together, it was just crazy. It was crazy.
AA: How serious was Jay about Rap as a career at that time? Was it sort of one foot in music and one in the streets still?
Ski: It felt like a little bit of both. He was definitely a serious Hip Hop practitioner, but at the same time, you know, he—he had to get his money. He had some other things he was doing. So, yeah, he was—he was one foot in, one foot out.
But his skill level as an MC just definitely outshone and just took him way—just took him up out of that life completely.
AA: What’s your favorite Jay album and why?
Ski: Besides ‘Reasonable Doubt, obviously, it’s ‘The Blueprint,’ you know? Because when the industry was going right, he did ‘The Blueprint’ and just went left with it. And the music is so soulful. Everything is just well put together. I love that album.
AA: You didn’t work with Jay after the ‘Unplugged’ album, is that correct?
Ski: Yeah, the last thing we did was “People Talkin’” on that album.
AA: Why didn’t you work with Jay after? Your chemistry was amazing.
Ski: I know exactly why. Because I started Roc-A-Blok. I kind of jumped out the pot too soon. I should have stayed and just kept doing what I was doing with Jay. But, you know, around that time, Camp Lo had came out, Bahamadia had came out, Jay had came out—all of this came out around the same time, and all those records hit the Billboard charts. And so I got offered a record label with Ruffhouse. And so I went over to Jersey and started that, with Dame’s (Damon Dash) cousin, Darien Dash. And, you know, there was no love lost. It wasn’t like, they wasn’t messing with me or we had any kind of beef or anything like that. It’s just that I went another direction.
AA: And why did you call it Roc-A-Blok when that was so close in name to Roc-A-Fella?
Ski: My man Tone Hooker, he created the name for Roc-A-Fella. And I told him I needed a name for my production company. He said, “Yo, let’s call it Roc-A-Blok.” And because it was Roc-A-Fella, Roc-A-Blok, we was—it was family, you know what I mean?
AA: What’s one thing you learned from working with and being around Jay?
Ski: He definitely opened my eyes when it came to business. That’s why I started Roc-A-Blok because I saw those guys doing it, and I’m like, “Hey, I can be an entrepreneur, too,” you know what I mean?
Jay, Dame, and everybody that was around at the time, they had their eyes on the bigger prize. They all taught me how to maneuver in the business world. But when it came to music production, I showed them that – I showed them everything else. Music and showmanship, that came from me.
AA: Why do you think Jay is still so relevant musically today than he ever was? Especially having not released an album since 2017.
Ski: He put that work in, man. He put in his 10,000 hours. When he had that run, they ran with it. When he took it serious and ‘Reasonable Doubt’ and Roc-A-Fella and all that shit started, they just didn’t stop. And he just solidified himself. The guy’s a legend. He’s never going to die. He’s Michael Jackson, you feel me?
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