In part one of Hard Knock TV’s interview Young Guru & DJ Khalil talk with Nick Huff Barili about Dr Dre, Roc-A-Fella, N.W.A, Dilla, DJ Premier, Dj Quik, De La Soul and much more.

Meet Young Guru. He’s a Glass Explorer, acclaimed DJ, producer and audio engineer who has helped shape the sound of music legends including Jay-Z, Rihanna, and Beyoncé. Join him as he explores the Los Angeles soundscape on the hunt for inspiration to create a new track. This film was shot entirely through Google Glass.

Before playing Rapsody’s new “She Got Game” mixtape 9th Wonder and Young Guru got into a discussion about Kendrick Lamar’s verse on Big Sean’s “Control” and why a response may be futile.

The Come Up Show caught up with Young Guru when he came to Canada for a mini DJ Tour and he was lecturing at Google Canada headquarters in Toronto. They touched on Piracy, the Lord Finesse and Mac Miller lawsuit, if Jay-Z is ever going to retire, Young Guru’s new headphones, the art of the album and much more.

In this episode, the “Sound of New York” and Jay-Z’s right hand man, Young Guru, talks about his early love of D.C. “go-go” music, U2 drum breaks and producing Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind”.

Just Blaze and Young Guru sit down for an exclusive conversation on Hard Knock TV. In Part 2 Just Blaze and Young Guru start off talking about early Rocafella days and how they think there won’t be a conglomerate like that again for several reasons. As the interview continues they share stories of how Keep It Real Wednesdays came about and how producers would get laughed out of the studio if they didn’t bring their a game. Just Blaze goes on to say how he decided who got what beats including stories of how Cam’ron got the beat for Welcome to New York City so Jay-Z could jump on the track and how Just Blaze made the beat for Roc Da Mic for Freeway and then Beanie Sigel heard it and jumped on it.

Just Blaze and Young Guru sit down for an exclusive conversation on Hard Knock TV. The interview starts of with Young Guru asking Just Blaze about his new song Higher and about making transition from Hip Hop into EDM. Just Blaze says that he has always made electronic beats but that he didn’t always have a place to release those beats which were often ahead of their times. Now that the genre lines are so blurred it is seen as more acceptable to listen to everything. As the conversation continues Just Blaze says that now he is “comfortable doing whatever it is I want…I’m comfortable playing what I want, I’m comfortable wearing what I want and just being me as an individual…not that I wasn’t comfortable with who I am but I was definitely doing a keeping up with the Jones kind of thing…I had to have a fresher jersey than Dame but meanwhile Dame was getting them for free from Mitchell & Ness cause he is Dame Dash and I had to pay $500 for it and I had to this every day for years straight…”

Young Guru tells Just Blaze that one of the biggest things that he had learned from him was to construct the record in his head before he sampled the parts. Guru talks about the making of Jay-Z’s Song Cry and that when he first heard the sample Just Blaze was going to use he thought it sounded off but that after Jay-Z laid his verse to the raw beat at night, they came back in the morning and it sounded like a masterpiece after Just Blaze was done building the track. That day Jay called 2-3 producers and told them that they were not on Just Blaze’s level.

Just Blaze continues by telling Guru how Jay’s “Girls, Girls, Girls” was originally intended for Ghostface and how Busta Rhymes originally heard You don’t Know and he wanted it for himself.

In part 2 of Al Lindstrom’s interview, they talk with Young Guru about the success of J. Cole. They ask him how he feels about the sales of the album, after most people counted Cole out for a lack of a radio hit. They also talk about fan loyalty, the labels approach to digital music sales, and if Watch The Throne’s sale strategy hurt the sales in the long run.
]]> http://www.hiphopsite.com/2011/10/20/young-guru-speaks-on-the-future-of-the-music-business/feed/ 0 http://www.hiphopsite.com/2011/10/13/young-guru-speaks-on-roc-nation-j-cole-jay-electronica-more/ http://www.hiphopsite.com/2011/10/13/young-guru-speaks-on-roc-nation-j-cole-jay-electronica-more/#comments Thu, 13 Oct 2011 14:08:42 +0000 http://www.hiphopsite.com/?p=39302

Engineer extraordinaire Young Guru speaks on his work with Jay-Z and the Roc Nation imprint.
]]> http://www.hiphopsite.com/2011/10/13/young-guru-speaks-on-roc-nation-j-cole-jay-electronica-more/feed/ 0 http://www.hiphopsite.com/2011/04/07/alchemist-drake-sha-money-xl-young-guru-speak-on-9th-wonder/ http://www.hiphopsite.com/2011/04/07/alchemist-drake-sha-money-xl-young-guru-speak-on-9th-wonder/#comments Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:44:11 +0000 http://www.hiphopsite.com/?p=32648 [cont.]]]>

The Wonder Year – The Alchemist speaks on 9th Wonder from LRG on Vimeo.

The Wonder Year – Drake speaks on 9th Wonder from LRG on Vimeo.

The Wonder Year – Sha Money XL speaks on 9th Wonder from LRG on Vimeo.

The Wonder Year – Young Guru speaks on 9th Wonder from LRG on Vimeo.

Each of these are “trailers” (more like “clips”) for the upcoming 4/20 release of The Wonder Year, a film about 9th Wonder, directed by Kenneth Price for LRG.

Longtime Jay-Z engineer speaks with HHC UK about a number of topics, and towards the end explains that Jay’s next record has an ill concept behind it.

The man credited for bringing 9th and Jay together gives a few words about 9th Wonder. This is taken from an upcoming 9th Wonder documentary, dropping in 2011.