Photo: Mos Def and Jonah Schwartz in the background with camera

Jonah has been a busy man shooting various creativecontrol.tv projects, videos for rapper Curren$y amongst others, and additional video production of The Black Keys at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio and their various promotional activities.

The weekly Blakroc webisodes featured a different MC and song snippet each week; they brought the hype week in, week out. The visuals gave a rare insight into The Black Keys and leading MCs at work – a fly on the wall perspective enhanced by slick editing and rich colour tones.

The Black Keys Fan Lounge has been trying to interview Jonah ever since the Blakroc project dropped back in November 2009. Finally we get to speak to him. Jonah is a fan with an acute appreciation for the creativity of the artists he was able to observe. He’s humble about his contribution, proud of it nevertheless and above all relieved that his efforts turned out so well and are appreciated by so many.

The Black Keys Fan Lounge: Tell us about the full length Blakroc documentary?

Jonah Schwartz: A documentary was my original plan from the start. Once we had all the footage, we were like ‘what do we do with it all now?’. You know the webisodes were a given, My idea was that the webisodes would be a teaser, showing a little bit of the song in each one and the makinbg of each song, but for me the websiodes were always a trailer for the documentary. What ended up was, they ended up being so cool and so much fun, I fleshed them out. The documentary is similar to the webisodes but it’s just a whole lot more.

Most people would have thought this was really planned out with the weekly webisodes building up the hype, but sounds like it’s the other way around It was planned out a bit, but not while I was shooting it. The whole project was so organic, everything you did was organic. The first day we went in the studio no one knew what was going to happen – no one knew Mos Def was going to be there, no one knew Jim Jones was going to be there, no one knew they were going to make a song together. For them they were going to have a talk to see what would happen, for me it was like show up with the camera and my style is just to shoot everything I see.

Once we had that first day we were like ‘wow, this is really good.’ It just turned into that [doco], it was a natural progression of – what do I do next? As far as the editing goes, I didn’t plan on it being in the form that it was – it just ended up working that way. It was just the most natural way to assemble that footage and everything that happened – the music, the people, the video. Everything was just totally organic.

Just to be there in the presence of so many talented individuals that I’ve look up to for a very long time, I was just trying to hide in the corner and not get in anybody’s way.

Sounds like you were left to your own devices?

Yeah, there was no other crew, it was just me and the camera. I did all the editing, all the shooting, all of the everything.

Do you think that’s why you got that really relaxed style?

Oh definitely, I don’t think it could have been done any other way. If there were two of me, it would have been too much. It was such a small studio. It depends on the different people, you could tell some people were borderline and iffy about having the camera around, other people didn’t really care. It’s got a kind of intimacy to it.

I didn’t realise at the time I was doing it but if you look at alot of the shots the camera is being held kind of low. I hold the camera kind of at waist level because that way when I’m talking to people I’m not sticking the camera in their face. If you don’t think about it, it’s very easy to ignore it – you just don’t notice it because it’s not being pointed in your face. I would always keep it at waist level, being on the other side of the room was cool [to have it higher], but when I was next to someone I was trying to make it seem like it just wasn’t there. I remember the part where Raekwon is writing his lyrics and it’s just me and him sitting there when he locked the door. I just happened to be sitting there and I’m like ‘OK, awesome I’m in the room with Raekwon writing some gems’ [laughs].

If I had a sound guy there or a director it never would have worked that way. The music would have been made, but you wouldn’t have got the same feel on tape.

I wasn’t shooting to make it look beautiful, alot of the footage is grainy or dark and the sound is rough but I wanted it to be that way ’cause that’s the only I think you can get the reality of the situation.

While some people didn’t like the camera, do you think the camera also enhanced some of the performances?

I think the camera being there upped the pressure on everyone. Some of the artists weren’t used to working to the time pressure, like Pharoahe [Monche] was saying he’s never written a rhyme in one day before because he works so hard to make the perfect song. There’s pressure from all sides, but I’m sure having a camera recording everything that you’re doing kind of makes you wanna bring your A-Game. I’m sure it had some sort of influence. Even without it there it would have been as good.

Was it a conscious decision to not make Dan and Pat the focus of the webisodes?

They are present, but they are never really the centre of attention.

I would say that was more just the way it came together. It wasn’t a conscious decision. There’s definitely more of them in the documentary. Each episode was different because it was a different MC, The Black keys it was a given they would be in the webisode. For the webisode promoting the different song and artists coming in to collaborate, I might have been focusing more on the artist. That’s what made each webisode, was seeing each artist and personality and how it clicked with what Dan and Pat were doing.

You have a background in documentary making. Can you talk about this background and how you came to be involved in the Blakroc project?

I’ve been film making on an independent level for a very long time, since I was in high school. I started making hip hop music videos maybe three years ago in Japan. I used to live in Japan for three years. I ended up through people I knew in Japan I ended up working on this documentary for about a year and a half.It’s about a rapper from Kyoto, Japan, and his whole life story showing a side of life there people may or may not know exists – that people in Japan may or may not know exists. I spent probably a year editing that, I didn’t direct it, I was one of the main shooters.

Meeting all the rappers in Japan I got linked up with making a video for a group who’s pretty big out there, Nitro Microphone Underground. I didn’t direct it but the director who’s doing it is actually a photographer, and they needed a Director of Photography for the video side of it. The Director spoke English too, and I spoke Japanese, and he’s from New York and I am too, and I got hooked up with the job and it came out really good so when I came back to America i went I’m going to make hip hop videos. That’s how it all kind of started from there.

How did you meet Damon Dash then?

We know each other through people for a while. I’d been introduced to him. I just started filming events and I kind of helped him and he was doing stuff with Jim Jones. I had been shooting him and helping him promote his son who’s a DJ. I was shooting alot of events, kind of documenting what was going on with him and Jim Jones and whatever he was doing. I would always be out shooting with him.

Then the Blakroc thing came up and it was out of the blue. Damon just called me up and he was something like, ‘What are you doing tomorrow?’ and at the time I was doing editing work and he was like ‘What would you if you had a chance to film Jimi Hendrix in the studio with The Rolling Stones?’ [laughs] And I’m like, um, I’d like to shoot that and he’s like ‘Cool, cause tomorrow we’ve got like The Black Keys in the studio and Mos Def might be coming through and Jim Jones is coming through…’, so it was like that. He sold me pretty well. It’s safe to say I took off work and said I had to go shoot Jimi Hendrix and The Rolling Stones [laughs].

I was definitely really nervous because that was my first time working with artists of that calibre where it was just me. It was all on me so there was a lot of pressure in the beginning, believe me. I think even for them they weren’t sure how I would perform. I think once everything started coming together, they started to feel better and I started to feel better and it naturally got better.

Was it hard being a fan of those artists and then having to put your professional hat on in those filming situations?

I think that’s one of the reasons why I was able to do it well. Being a fan I appreciate every little detail of everything that those guys do. When I see Mos Def writing down a lyric on a piece of paper, this is the golden moment for me. That’s what you see my camera focus on. I get nerdy on the little tiny details they do. When I see Raekwon coming up with a rhyme in his head I zoom that camera right in on his face ’cause I see him thinking. But at the same time when I have that camera it’s like I’m not even there. I can switch off the fan in me, it’s like zone out into my camera, so it’s all third person for me. I just pretend to myself I’m actually not there so it doesn’t distract me from the job at hand.

How has the use of the 5D camera influenced this project, it’s so small, and the visual style of this project?

I wouldn’t say it influences the visual style I think that is the visual style. I used that camera ’cause I had it at the time. When I started using it for that project it wasn’t being as widely used as it is right now. I had just picked it up about a month earlier when I did that video for NOE. I had gotten it specifically for that video because it was brand new at the time and I had started using it with someone else who I knew who had one.

I would say it gave me a lot more freedom to do what I wanted to do that wouldn’t have been possible to do before with any other camera. I did not need lights. I shot with two cameras, it’s not all with 5D. I only use the 5D for the performance shots because I thought it looked almost too good. I can’t shoot a documentary with this, it looks like a movie. I didn’t want it to look that good. Once you walk in that studio and you got that mic and it’s really dark in there, any other camera is too dark, you can’t see their face, but when I popped on that 5D it takes in light really well. If I brought in lights there and shined on their face it would ruin the concept of what I was doing – pretending not to be there, pretending to be invisible, and you can’t be invisible when you are shing a light in someone’s face.

Or if you’re even setting up lights. I’ve seen alot of studio videos and they make it a production with camera equipment and dollys and this and that, and they set up lights like a scene, and it looks cool on film but it’s not real. That’s the whole thing it’s made for the film, it’s contrived, it’s not reality, you’re creating that light, you’re creating that reality. That’s not what I wanted.

So that camera allowed me to capture alot more reality in a cool looking way. Also shooting with two different cameras, using that 5D camera specifically for the performances differentiated the performances from the other footage taken on a regular HD DV camera. It definitely has a different look to the 5D. Using that camera for the talking looked a little bit more raw, intimate, and then when you see the performances it really makes them stand out.

Is the documantary going to a DVD release?

We are still figuring it out [laughs]

Tell us about visiting Muscle Shoals Sound Studio to shoot The Black Keys making some of their new album Brothers?

I’m not sure how much I can say, what I can say is what an honour and privilege it was to be there to see them create their music. You could feel the history in the place. Apparently it was haunted, it had a real interesting vibe. It was in the country, it was way out there in the country. There’s nothing to do except be in the studio or be in the hotel. I wasn’t there for the entire recording, I was there for the last little bit of it. I just feel really privileged to have been able to see some of that happen.

Blakroc – Webisode 11 featuring Raekwon:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyFQt6PLu5o

Blakroc documentary World Premiere promo poster:

Related posts:

1. Blakroc: Interview with Joel Hamilton – Blakroc Co-Producer / Engineer
2. Blakroc: The Black Keys and Blakroc
3. Blakroc: Listen To A Very Cool Interview with The Black Keys on Sirius Satellite Radio

Do you have a mash up of a Blakroc or The Black Keys’ track? Make contact to be featured here.

Of course, there’s the old favorite of Mr Dibbs “Fight For Air” mash up of  tracks on the ‘Attack and Release’ album from 2008:

Fans of this website will be aware of the Jay Z vs The Black Keys mash up and Faimkills’ Strange Rhymes mash up:

Listen to Say Hello vs Psychotic Girl here

Here’s some more mash ups to like or dislike from Radio B featuring The Black Keys:

Listen to Oceans and Streams mash up mash up here

Radio B – Disciplined Defiance (Album) Download Link: http://usershare.net/nlzusk82zfje

And now for something different. The Black Keys and Jack Johnson mash up – Act Nice and Gentle / Wasting Time (acoustic cover) from HelloMoneySH:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YibOK5OvSFQ

Blakroc German language remix of Aint Nothing Like You featuring Jimmy Spliff:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4bSeQxbhSk

And if you do or don’t like that then I’m not sure what you’ll make of this – Josh Remixing Blakroc with jellotime.com:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lML1xrTyuRg

Related posts:

1. Blakroc: Instrumental Versions
2. The Black Keys vs Jay Z Mash Up
3. 'Strange Rhymes' Black Keys Mash Up for Blakroc Volume 2?

The Black Keys, of course, co-ordinated the musical production during the day while MCs added verse by night

Hearing them in this instrumental mode is how the various MCs would have been introduced to the tracks. Reckon you could have dropped as a good a rhyme over these tunes as quickly or as well as they did?

It brings the music back into focus hearing the tracks like this.

As Joel Hamilton, Blakroc co-producer, mentioned when the Blakroc album dropped all the attention would be on on the MCs and The Black Keys would be in a good position sitting back and observing it all. The rhymes are only a consequence of the spirit, adventure and live musicianship brought to the project by The Black Keys, he says:

What you’re hearing when Mos Def opens his mouth is his enthusiasm for what The Black Keys have already played.

Listen to the MP3s:

Listen to Hope You're Happy instrumental here

Listen to On The Vista instrumental here

Listen to Stay Off The Fuckin Flowers instrumental here

Listen to Aint Nothing Like You (Hoochie Coo) instrumental here

Listen to Hard Times instrumental here

Listen to Coochie instrumental here

Listen to Dollaz & Sense instrumental here

Listen to Why Can't I Forget Him instrumental here

Listen to What You Do To Me instrumental here

Listen to Tellin' Me Things instrumental here

Respect to jizamez for the tip.

Related posts:

1. The Black Keys and Blakroc Mash Ups
2. Blakroc: Listen to Dollaz and Sense single featuring RZA, Pharoahe Monch and The Black Keys
3. The Black Keys: Rarities, Un-Released, B-Sides

The Black Keys Fan Lounge has long covered the interviews on Triple J radio, Australia, featuring The Black Keys. Triple J is a kind of the youth version  of NPR in the USA.

As always it’s grand to hear an interview, rather than reading it.

The interview covers the background to the Blakroc recordings.

There’s a good description of the experience of recording  with Billy Danze from M.O.P.: “When he starts rapping he’s terrifying”.

For more on Pat’s interaction with Billy Danze listen to Blakroc co-producer, Joel Hamilton, describe the hidden track on the Blakroc album here.

Related posts:

1. Listen: Dan Auerbach Interview On Triple J Radio
2. Blakroc: The Story Behind The Hidden Album Track
3. Blakroc: Listen To A Very Cool Interview with The Black Keys on Sirius Satellite Radio

Make the most of these Blakroc live performances, since it’s going to be difficult for all those who contributed to be in one place at the same time for a tour and even further performances.

The David Letterman Show – ‘Aint Nothing Like You (Hoochie Coo)’ featuring The Black Keys, Jim Jones and Mos Def

Mos crooning on red Elvis microphone, Dan hollering backing vocals, Pat with dark glasses, Jim Jones cheerfully rapping.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZsA4f2pda0

The Jimmy Fallon show – ‘Dollaz and Sense’ and ‘Telling Me Things’ featuring The Black Keys and RZA

This medley of two tracks that RZA contributed to has a real urgency to it compared to the laidback vibe of the Letterman performance. Dan shakes a maraca and plays guitar at the same time, Pat drums with a tambourine. But the real catalyst is RZA who is clearly enjoying the moment.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYv4dak6A7w

Related posts:

1. Video: The Black Keys On The Letterman And Fallon Shows 2010
2. Blakroc: The Black Keys and Blakroc
3. Blakroc Lyrics

The graphs below track the fans searching via Google and mentioning “Blakroc” on Twitter over the last few weeks.

Some significantly healthy numbers there.

The media campaign from John Peets (The Black Keys’ Manager @ Q Prime) and Damon Dash to introduce weekly videos, product placement and limited release magazine and radio interviews seems to have paid off. Certainly hitting #1 on the iTunes hip hop chart must owe something to the pr.

The combo of rock and rap has brought two aspects of the music industry industry together bringing added hype.

No doubt we haven’t seen the end of it.

Related posts:

1. The Black Keys: Trend Tracking
2. Blakroc: Listen To A Very Cool Interview with The Black Keys on Sirius Satellite Radio
3. Blakroc: Listen to Pat Carney on Triple J Radio

Listening to an interview is always so much better than reading them. If you missed it live love the technology – wouldn’t be able to do this in the olden days.

You’ll need an hour or so but it’s so worth it – cool tunes, fine chatter.

Highlights include:
- The Black Keys expression of their love of hip hop
- Rapper Curren$y’s weed habit
- Respect paid to RZA and his contribution
- discussion on rock/ rap collaborations
- Blakroc live tour
- Future collaborations. GZA?
- The production of the album over 11 days
- The background to the ODB track ‘Coochie’

For more mp3s from the Backspin show and hip hop news and views check out Proghiphop.com

Related posts:

1. Blakroc: Listen to Pat Carney on Triple J Radio
2. Listen: Dan Auerbach Interview On Triple J Radio
3. Interview: Jonah Schwartz – Blakroc Videographer

Pat may have a renowned sense of humor but maybe not a  lot of common sense for picking on the biggest guy in the room.

Billy Danze doesn’t miss when coming back at him. If you bought the album you’ll be able to hear this spoken word track after the ‘Done Did It’ track. Download suckers will miss out.

This funny moment expresses the comraderie between the artists on the album – a coming together between musical styles, personalities and backgrounds.

The Blakroc album is officially released 27 November, 2009.

Read the rest of The Black Keys Fan Lounge’s interview with Joel Hamilton here.

Billy Danze:

Related posts:

1. Blakroc: Listen to Pat Carney on Triple J Radio
2. Blakroc: Instrumental Versions
3. Blakroc: Listen to Dollaz and Sense single featuring RZA, Pharoahe Monch and The Black Keys

Joel was uniquely positioned to see the creation of, and influence one of, the most anticipated hip hop albums of the year.

The Black Keys Fan Lounge recently caught up with Joel to ask him about the recording process, working with The Black Keys and other artists, and his insights into this hip hop meets rock collaboration which is released 27 November 2009.

You can also listen to Joel talk about the hidden Blakroc album track here.

Joel with his beloved analogue recording equipment at Studio G:

Is there an aspect to the album that you would like to bring to people’s attention from your perspective or they might not necessarily be thinking about when they listen to this record?

Well, that Dan and Pat are incredibly talented, they brought a ton to this record. What’s amazing is as big as The Black Keys are getting and as well as they are doing, they are in an interesting back seat position because of the nature of the guests they got on.

The people Damon (Dash) brought to the table, the fact that RZA is on a track people are focusing on that, if Mos Def is on a track people are focusing on that. I’d really say the way this stuff feels, not just musically, but just the excitement that’s built into it and the sense of adventure is Mos Def responding to The Black Keys spirit of adventure. So (the guest artists) became a part of it only after Damon invited them to hear what The Black Keys had already done.

It’s not the other way around. What you’re hearing when Mos Def opens his mouth is his enthusiasm for what The Black Keys have already played.

How did the album come to be recorded at your studio, Studio G?

The Black Keys and I had a bunch of people in common. I had worked with things they had known about and vice versa. It kinda came to be that way. We had a meeting to see if it was going to be mutually flattering and, you know, and we ended up hanging out for a minute and figuring out pretty quickly we would be happy to work together, that we shared an aesthetic sense.

I know you are a big fan of analogue recording. Tell us about that love you share with Dan, in particular.

I’m not as crazy about it as Dan is [laughs] like I use Pro Tools where as Dan would prefer to record to mono on quarter inch tape or something. I’ll use more than one microphone [laughs].

Your Studio G console is a Neve console, and the ‘Keys have just recorded their new album at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, so I was thinking the ‘Keys wanted to use Studio G because it was a similar type set up?

They [The Black Keys] ended up renting some stuff to use at Muscle Shoals. The orginal console at Muscle Shoals was not a Neve, it was this crazy Phillips thing, that place is a piece of history. So Dan and Pat brought in some rental gear to use there that was like tube and they really got old school about it and they wanted to use the room there – so much history has been made in that room.

So, the Neve doesn’t hurt but for sure after meeting we knew no matter where we were working – because we did record some of the Blakroc stuff at another studio on the Lower East Side when my place was busy – it would work.

As we worked on it, the three of us became a really solid thing.

Do you think the analogue recording show through in the final recording?

I think going into it all three of us wanted something that didn’t sound like the current state of hip hop in the world. (We wanted) something like the raw power of hip hop records, something that almost sounds ‘garagey’ but with the biggest MCs on it. Just because it is Mos Def on it, doesn’t mean it has to sound like one of his records or just because it is RZA it doesn’t have to sound like one of his records. It should sound like The Black Keys but with those people.

It had to stay true to Dan and Pat’s aesthetic, which is more raw and more analogue, cause otherwise we would’ve just used an MPC and basically made Dr Dre sounding tracks and had fun with it but it would have had nothing to do with The Black Keys.

Studio G is a relatively small recording studio, do you think that environment enhanced the recording?

For sure, because there’s nowhere to hide. I mean, that place specifically Tony (Maimone) and I have it like a clubhouse but with all the gear of any major studio. To be honest, we also have a really good deal on the rent also [laughs] so we haven’t moved out. We’ve outgrown it 10 times in 10 years but we keep it because we have such a good vibe in there. You go in and you feel like you are at your friends apartment,  if your friend had a 2 inch tape machine and Neumann microphones and a Neve console.  And then there’s books and a little kitchen.

You can see from the videos it’s really chill, you don’t feel like the emphasis is on the gear there like you would at some studios.  It’s not like there’s a spotlight on the tape machine, there’s more of an emphasis on the people and the work being done. That’s a huge semantic shift in a workplace where you are supposed to be creative.

I think it’s at the end of the 2nd video which has Mos Def, he says “Oh y’all are doing it like this?!” You know, and he’s “dam this is perfect”. We weren’t in some 6 million square foot place uptown, we’re in some gritty spot in Brooklyn making gritty sounds. It felt more real, more garagey that way, and like I say we were using top of the line equipment and our brains were in the garage even though we were using top notch stuff.

In terms of the collaborative aspect and your engineering of the album, did that create any special challenges? Normally the band and the artists would have plenty of time to rehearse whereas here MCs just had to perform on the fly.

Same thing with Dan and Pat though where they would come in and get into something and I would re-evaluate some mic choice or whatever. It was almost like there was four different set ups rolling at the same time so if you muted the really fucked up distorted microphone you would get the more r ‘n’ b sounding microphone, Stax sounding stuff, and then if you muted those as well you would get the clean almost modern rock sounding drums but it was all happening at once.

The analogy I kept using was that with these people that were coming in, it was like a school bus doing a jump over a canyon and we needed cameras on every side to capture that and then we would choose after the fact what the best way to tell the story was going to be. Like, what’s the best way to show that event in? You would choose afterwards like you were making a movie about it and so we did the exact same thing we just had multiple sounds available and then mixing became a deconstructive process.

Even what we submitted to some of the other mix engineers that we had as producers, we had come in to do other mixes, this guy Tchad Blake mixed a bunch of the record – he’s pretty incredible…

The name rings a bell. What’s he worked on?

Everything from Soul Coughing to Pearl Jam to Sheryl Crow.

You mentioned the cameras there, from a recording aspect do you think that created a performance during recording?

There was always alot of people in the studio as well. I mean, like when you watch the (video) with RZA in it it’s like RZA performed like the control room was a show. He lit that room up. It wasn’t just about punching in and trying to get a take, he really kicked ass. Just him flying at us with microphone and Blackberry in hand, that was the stance. He had to rock the people in the room for it to come across that way on tape.

I think Jonah (Schwartz) who did all the filming is really, really good at being at the right place at the right time and never in the way.

It was more about the people being there than the camera. But it definitely helped, we were aware of it but it was definitely just part of the energy in the room. There was alot of energy with moving quickly with that type of person in the room but we knew we were there to do something good.

You’ve produced lots of records, Dan and Pat have produced, and then you have someone like RZA who’s a bit of a studio whizz in there. Did that create extra pressure on you, did that enhance the experience? Or did one person have the overall say or control?

Everyone had enough experience to know when somebody was on a roll and pursuing some vision for the song, that the other people were smart enough to step to the side just for that instant to see where pursuing that left us. If you felt strongly there was another direction we could go you could start moving with intent toward your goal and the other four guys would move a bit out of the way as well or whoever seemed to have the best vision at any given moment, or the strongest vision at any given moment, would grab the wheel and the others were smart enough to him go.

It definitely was a recipe that could have lead to insane amounts of power struggle [laughs] but magically because of the energy and the nature of the process being really fast there was no time to argue.

In terms of the speed of production, Dan and Pat have always recorded fast, you had 11 days to record. tell me about that.

Dan and Pat had an aesthetic in mind and Dan and Pat would play through a bunch of stuff and then I would figure out which section I would loop because I had the perspective of sitting there while they were playing it rather than having any emotional attachment to any given moment. While you are playing it sometimes there is a part that feels good and it didn’t sound as good as the part that didn’t feel good. So I would choose just based on what I was hearing coming out of the speakers rather than how it felt. I would wind up with some basic loop and then Dan and Pat would over dub to that or we would keep the entire performance because they just held down a groove with an A and B section.

There’s a song called ‘On The Vista’ with Mose Def, that one’s straight through there’s no loops in that one, it’s just Dan and Pat playing. As opposed to something like ‘Coochie’ with Ludacris and ODB, that’s totally based on loops because the original was based on loops and we had to lock the orginal acapella to what they were playing. We had to work on it more like a traditional hip hop track and with varying degrees with all the songs.

But it’s always Dan and Pat playing and then anything we looped was like how RZA would loop it which is not even quantised, raw, almost like a tape loop, really rough. Sometimes it feels jumpy back to the one and loops in a crazy way and that gave the vibe for us which was crucial so it can’t feel like a R Kelly song or something [laughs].

So, the ‘Keys would lay down some tracks, the MC would contribute, and then feel good about it and move on. I know on ‘Aint Nothing Like You’ a synth was later added to an early cut, is that how it went?

It was pretty much record in an incredible frenzy, like a fire drill kind of pace, and then end up with sixteen elements that could possibly be the melody depending on how you presented it. So what you’re hearing when you hear a synth that’s not in one of the earlier permutations, because it had already been tracked we may have pulled it down in the first rough mixes that Jonah cut (video) to deciding the guitar would be the melody and the way the synth worked with the voice was something Tchad (Blake) or me or Dan figured out that worked really well with the melody.

It’s been remarked in the past that Pat has a natural loping hip hop drumming style on The Black Keys’ mid-tempo tracks, what’s your take on that?

He’s got this constant falling over itself type feel that’s impossible to program. I think the guys responded to that. A lot of these guys are chatting over tracks for a living, they respond to really small shifts in feel if the snare drum is a little bit late or the kick drum is a little bit early, those are the subtleties that make a beat what it is.

How it comes out of the speakers is why somebody’s programming is more sought after than others because they cut the samples differently and there’s a cerain feel that’s loose or organic. Pat is an incredibly organic drummer.

Were there tracks that you were like, er, that’s just not working and had to discard so it wouldn’t sound like a bad Limp Bizkit track?

Yes, would be the simple answer. It’s what to do about it at that point. Meaning, the only clear cut, I think Dan and Pat would agree with this or we would laugh at each other [laughs], what we did have going on was a very specific set of parameters like “this track should be bass heavy with really distorted this” or whatever in my mind. They would just play and I would cast a vote with a certain timbre, meaning if Pat had come in and I had distorted the crap out of his drums and they sounded like (John) Bonham,  like sort of explosion like drums, that would inform the next move so let’s put in a more guitar heavy thing that’s more Jimmy Page instead of like a wurlitzer keyboard that would be more like a  mellow, jazzier vibe. It’s sort of one move would beget that next.

So, if you advance some sort of aesthetic footprint all of a sudden that would give Dan some inspiration like “wow, yeah, the drums are so raw on this one, how about a piano sound” but we’ll fuck it up with a distortion box. So we were really bouncing off each other.

Was there a moment in the recording that just blew you away?

As one of the three producers in the room, I was definitely responsible for knowing when I got the chills, like that’s the one (take) we have to keep. Because we did three (takes) before this and didn’t get the chills and then this one for some reason just kicked my ass. You can’t control situation but you can at least learn to recognise it when it’s happening.

When Mos was standing next to me at the console rocking backwards and forwards for like 40 minutes solid while we looped the track and I could hear him mumbling under his breath and then he goes “Aight, aight” and goes and starts singing the hook for ‘Aint Nothing Like You’. We were all flabbergasted, our jaws were on the floor, this guy is like incredible.

I would say when RZA said my name at the beginning of this track “Oh man Joel” and then he goes into his first verse and it’s like I thought something was wrong and fucked up and I turned around in time to just see him rock the control room. Everybody on the couch, everybody standing around, felt it in the room at that point. He’s doing it like that while there’s people like Billy Danze, Pharoah Monch and all these guys are around and that hadn’t happened for a long time.

All these guys were referencing how there hadn’t been that much comraderie on a hip hop record in many years. It felt like back in the good old days when everyone would be all over each others records and there were a lot of collaborative efforts going on in the early 90s in particular.

Having to morph the way that we were working around to suit this new superpower that would walk in the room was just incredible. They would be sitting around for like an hour before they got in to the booth and then as soon as they stepped up to the mic it was like “Oh wow that’s why this guy is famous” because he pushes something down the wires that makes eveyone smile.

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2. Interview: Jonah Schwartz – Blakroc Videographer
3. Blakroc: The Story Behind The Hidden Album Track

Let’s not forget some of the finest MCs were asked to provide spontaneous verses, a reaction to the vibe and music they heard, often on the same day as they recorded. Under the pressure of video cameras, armed only with their Blackberry, notepad and pen, and/or bottle of Hennessy’s and medicinal smoked herbs, they had to deliver to meet the constraints of the recording sessions.

See all the webisodes showing the artists working in the studio here.

As Dan Auerbach from The Black Keys recently commented:

He [Raekwon] was sorta what I imagined watching Bob Dylan work in his prime would be like. Raekwon came in, heard the music, got inspired and just sat down and started writing. He wrote like 20 verses, just like that, in 45 minutes. And everything that he says is so visual, such a story. His rhyme schemes are just insane.

Help decipher and transcribe Raekwon’s rhymes with other fans in this Black Keys Fan Lounge Forum topic.

The best collection Blakroc lyrics is over here. No sign of ‘Keep off The Fuckin Flowers’ yet though.

Ain’t Nothing Like You (Hoochie Coo) featuring Mos Def, Jim Jones and The Black Keys

Intro: Mos Def – Pure heart/ I love you

Chorus: Mos Def – Pure heart/ You’re super cool/ You’re live and elemental/ You’re sweet and you’re true/ Youre sooo true/ Oo-ooo-oo-ooo/ You’re plain and yet so special/ Its nuttin’ like you/ You’re so cool/ You’re sweet and rude/ You’re so plain that its special/ Its nuttin’ like you/ Well aww hoo/ oo-oooo-oo-ooo/ You make me stand up, and holla do the hoochie coo/ You’re so cool

Verse 1: Jim Jones – They told me pain only shows you where you goin/ You get to laugh then that shows you where you been/ And when you get the cash that only shows you how to sin like when you gettin fast money and you blow it in the wind/ Where we from success one in a million/ We thought success was getting money in front the buildin/ End of the summer we was countin up the killins, like they killed baby boy trynna run up in the buildin now/ Love/ I bouged one of her rose petals/ She was from the concrete and came up out the cold ghetto/ But so gentle/ But it appears like, on a clear light it could thunderstorm/ Want some more

Refrain: Mos Def – Oo-ooo-oo-ooo/ Pure heart/ I love ya, pure heart/ Pure heart/ Uh-ooo-oo-ooo/ Ha, its nuttin’ like you/ You’re soo/ Do-doo-do-doo/ You’re live and elemental/ You’re sweet and you’re rude, so cool/ And fiery too/ You’re plain and elemental/ You’re sweet and youre rude/ You’re soo true

Verse 2: Jim Jones – Most say I’m politically incorrect/ But most people scared they spit it so indirect/ I been accused of, same thing as you but, I refused ta, follow rules of who/ The complexion of politics done changed and the computer glitch put so many problems up in the game that uh/ I prolly still be selllin ‘caine if I, didnt get a chance at the stardom or the fame/ Bein humble is a hard quality to achieve when your ego is crazy with no modesty/ We make good music just usin the black keys, and Im flyin through the hood in my newest of black Vs/ Peace

Outro: Mos Def – Wahoo-oo-ooo/ You’re plain and elemental/ Aint nuttin’ like you/ You’re pure heart

Related posts:

1. Blakroc: Live Performances
2. Blakroc: The Black Keys and Blakroc
3. The Black Keys, Jim Jones, Mos Def Recording Together?