HipHopSite: So tell the world a little bit about your history – where you started in the hip-hop industry and where you are now.

Maker: My history…. I grew up in Aurora, doing dumb ish. I got into graf in the early 90s and start playing records at parties. From there, got into production, messing with samplers and records in my boy’s basement. Years later, I am here talking to you. It feels like it’s been forever since I knew how to do anything else. I like making beats, playing records, and traveling. I also enjoy long walks on the beach and a nice quiet dinner by the fire.

HipHopSite: In more detail, tell us about your career – who you have worked with, what projects you have done thus far – basically how you got “in”…..

Maker: Man, I started off with my crew “them badd apples” we all came up together.. put out some albums in the late 90s. Kevin Beachum (of Rhymesayers Entertainment) played our song for the first time on the radio. Time travel! Just going to parties and shows and meeting people in the scene, I started working with others. My record, “Honestly”, came of that. The song “Honestly”, with qwel on that album came out very well, I thought. I really enjoyed working with him and we joined to do “The Harvest”, which was a pleasure to make with him. I am also apart of a group called “Glue”, which is Adeem, Djdq , and myself. I met adeem in chicago a few times when we (them badd apples) opened up for adeem and shalem. We connected, shared some music, and made a song called “maker mine” for his album “sweet talking your brain” and it all went from there.

HipHopSite: Ok, so how does your solo album – “Shooting The Breeze” – differ from the other material you’ve released thus far? What were you looking to accomplish with this record?

Maker: People always ask me, “Where is the Glue instrumentals, where are the harvest instrumentals?” “Honestly” had instrumentals, but just half. The difference is that.. its just me for the whole record. I have always worked with other people and I love that. This was a little harder. It took me a while….. as for accomplishments, I am not trying to move any mountains, change anything, it’s just a record to sit back and listen to, drive, make love, smoke, and or smoke to. So, I guess all I want for this record is for someone to enjoy it and maybe bust it out in a couple years and remember something they did or how the summer of 2005 felt. I dont know…I can move mountains later.

HipHopSite: So as far as your continuing career is concerned, do you see yourself doing more records in this vien, or instead being the beatsmith for your other crew members?

Maker: I think i’ll do both, if you all do not mind, ima bogart this joint. I want to do more records like this, and I will. I also enjoy the records I do with Glue and others. I want to work with more live musicians and maybe some vocalists as well.

HipHopSite: Outside of your current stable of artists you work with, who would you like to collaborate with (realistically and unreallistically)

Maker: Hmm…..good question. I would like to work with the following: Lateef and Lyrics Born, Apathy, MF Doom, Kurious, Aria Silenced, Pigeon John, One Be Lo, 2mex, Masta Ace, Trouble Neck Brothers, Edan, Big Daddy Kane, Ghostface, J-Live, Mr. Lif, Bel Biv Devoe, Brother Ali, Common, Funkytown Pros, aaaaaaaaand Prince. (realistically and unrealistically).

HipHopSite: So obviously people will compare “Shooting The Breeze” to DJ Shadow’s “Endtroducing”. Was that record a major influence for STB? Do the comparisons bother you?

Maker: No, they don’t. There isn’t to much out there for people to compare it too. The masses know Shadow, RJD2 and Diplo, respectively. They all kill it. They don’t bother me. A big influence was “Express Rising” by Dante Carfanga. That album is great and if you can find it, get it! I made this album very sublte, moody, grooves and soundscapes. (Dante’s) album is very much like that. Thanks Dante, for hitting me up at Danny’s.

HipHopSite: Without revealing your secrets, how would you describe the creative process for making songs for this record? How much is sampling vs. playing?

Maker: Well, it was more sampling than playing. The process was long though. It took me about a year. When I would be home, I would work on it aside from working on the new Glue stuff. Some songs I would start, come back to many times, some songs I had to finish. I put in a few long days on one song, I am obsessive like that.

HipHopSite: So what can we expect from the new Glue record, “Sunset Lodge”?

Maker: Sunset Lodge is us at our best. We work strangely smooth together. Songs seem to come together well. You can expect to hear something new, different from “Seconds Away” and different from the album that will come after that. I think we keep growing together as a group and it will show listening to “Seconds away” and listening to “Sunset Lodge”. 

HipHopSite: And what projects are you currently working on for the future?

Maker: Right now, the only project I am currently working on is the next Glue album, “Catch As Catch Can”. We are almost finished with that, and I am very happy with it. Other than that, nothing solid, a few things in the works with some other folks, but I cant really speak on that now. I am doing a 7″ series on Shake It Records that will feature some great beatmakers like Joey Beats, RPM, Rehash, and others.

       Just as with any artist in this genre, Maker’s employment of hard-hitting snares and kicks, combined with dusty samples will inevitably draw comparisons to DJ’s Shadow or Krush, but Maker seems happy to take the compliment. While it’s obvious where his influences lie, there is a different degree of sampling happening here, as found on the reggae influenced “Remember The Name”, or the timely “Broken Promises”, built off a Vietnam-era folk song, mirroring today’s controversial wartime politics. The jazzy “Love Tomorrow” is a beautifully breezy re-freaking of a sample last used by People Under The Stairs, but shows just how uniquely two like-minded artists can put their own spin on the same piece of work. The title track, “Shooting The Breeze” presents the artist in his element, evolving a simple 2-bar drummer-boy loop into a magnum opus with several layers of sound. 

       While filled with great compositions, Shooting The Breeze will take criticism from some, from time to time. Towards the middle, “La Saluda” seems to drag things down a bit, while the drum programming of “Street Strut” doesn’t exactly mesh with much of the other songs on the album. And towards the end, people will undoubtedly pigeonhole the still dynamic “Live It” or the last two phenomenal songs,  “Augusta 90B” and “Sandcastle”, for having a too “Shadow-esque” sound, but the blind listener’s head wouldn’t stop nodding if you told them this was a Josh Davis album. Fact of the matter is, Shooting The Breeze plays wonderfully like a worthy sequel to Endtroducing, especially since Shadow couldn’t go home again on The Private Press.