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Following Pete Rock’s performance in Gala Hala, Ljubljana (SLO), we got the opportunity to have a chat with Soul Brother #1. We spoke about the past, the present, his future plans and his overall thoughts on the current state of Hip Hop. Pete’s a warm and humble interviewee and it was definitely a pleasant conversation with the Hip Hop legend, even though it was almost 3 in the morning after his DJ set. Check out the interview after jump (continue reading).

How you doin’, Pete? Last time I caught you was at Outlook festival and your set was a bit more obscure, this time you brought forward some more classics. What’s the concept of your current tour?

I’m doing good, thank you. Basically, what you saw tonight is just me being a DJ, going out there doing a couple songs first, show the people who I am. After I present myself with my raps, I go up there and control the 1’s and 2’s, which is really my first love.

Nice. Lets talk about your new release, Petestrumentals 2. You released it on Mello Music Group, which has established itself as quite a refreshing Boom Bap label. Are you going to release some more material for them?

Yeah definitely glad we linked up with them, thanks to my manager Gary who set it up and made it happen. I’m not sure about a new release, but we definitely have had talks about future projects.

Regarding the instrumentals, where do they come from? Are they specifically made for that project, or were they supposed to be for other artists?

A bit of both. Some of them are beats I’ve been sitting on and I think these would be nice to use, maybe a few I’ve really made for the project, I thought would fit in.

Are you producing a whole album for an artist at the moment? Because you know, you’ve had ’em with CL Smooth, InI, more recently you’ve been working with Torae, what’s going on?

Ye! So, I’m working with Torae at the moment, Smoke DZA right now and also making an album with Joell Ortiz.

I recently watched an episode of Cratediggers that featured you. In this episode you said that whenever you tour the world, you also go crate digging. Since you’ve been in our region more than several times, have you dug up any Ex-Yugoslavian records?

Of course I have! There’s a bunch of Yugoslavian stuff I have, Slovenian records, they’re pretty funky too. Pretty ill. That’s basically one of my favorites to find out of country records. I can’t name any now, but it’s all really funky stuff.

You’ve also worked a lot with Grap Luva on the SP1200, you still working together?

Well Grap does his own thing nowadays, he lives in Maryland right now so we don’t get to see each other as much. He’s doing music, I’m doing music, so surely one day we’ll get together. He definitely gets busy.

What about CL?

He’s chillin’.

So what’s your choice of equipment now? Do you still use the SP1200?

Oh yeah, sometimes. I use the MPC now, 2000XL.

Are you familiar with any new production techniques?

Not really, man. I’m an old fashion type, old school dude. I just like to do things the way I always did, you know? It’s how I’m most comfortable with expressing myself.

That’s cool. Are there any new artists you like?

Of course. There are a lot of new artists out there doing dope music. To name a few, Kendrick Lamar, Joey Bada$$, Action Bronson, J. Cole.. You know, people like that. I like what they’re doing and there’s a few more that I feel are making real music.

Glad to hear that. Now I have a few questions for you from the fans. Žarko Rebac from Croatia asked:

“J-Dilla once said you are his biggest inspiration. If im correct, he was even calling you on the phone just to play you his latest joint. But did Dilla also changed your point of view on beatmaking and music in general?”

Of course he did. He changed a lot of people’s perspective. I admitted it! You know, his ear is incredible! He was just one of those people you would become a fan of instantly when you heard his beats. I felt like when he was around he was destined for greatness, because he was already a champion! It was amazing to hear his beats for the first time, I really flipped out.

Word. What was he like?

He was naturally a champion. Very smart kid, humble, really nice dude. He was bound to be anything great. Whether it was flying planes or making beats. Definitely.

Nice to hear. Danilo Segić from Banja Luka asked:

“How did it feel like to work on such a classic as Illmatic?”

Straight Hip Hop. Nas is an incredible artist and I was very happy to be a part of the project. Making The World Is Yours turned out to be a great song.

Was it competitive?

Definitely was competitive with Primo, Large Professor, LES, Q-Tip.. These are all top notch producers that were on the album. It was heavy competition, but look what heavy competition produced! Greatness. That’s Hip Hop.

Great! Last but not least, a question from Radovan Simikić from Brčko:

“TROY is the most popular song you produced, do you also consider it to be the greatest masterpiece of yours?”

I do, it’s very special to my heart because of a friend I lost. So yes, I put all my love that I have for him in that song. I consider it my best.

Okay and did you ever make a song you thought would be a hit, but didn’t turn out to be?

Maybe very few, but yeah, everybody goes through that. People just get indecisive and change their minds. But I’m cool with that. Sometimes it’s up to me, sometimes the artist, but that’s how things go.

Well Pete, that’s about it. Thank you for the interview and the show.

Thank you, I appreciate it.

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Interview: Tone
Photos: Jasna Rajnar Petrović (Društvo GOR)