Philadelphia Hip-Hop has long been the staple in that held the Tri-State area down. From the days of the Tuff Crew and HillTop Hustlers, to Beenie Siegal and Freeway, the City of Brotherly Love has shown it can compete with the industry heavyweights.
Ready to turn the heat up in Philly is DNA Beats. The duo consisting of Dnali, and Ridd, is steady on the rise with three hot singles topping the local charts in this year alone. Placements with Bump J, Peedie Crack, and Gillie Da Kid is just the beginning to a variety of musical opportunities.
Patterning themselves after classic producers like Gamble and Huff, DNA brings a unique blend of Hip-Hop arrangement to the party. The two took time out with BeatDynasty.com to discuss everything from their budding success to why they listen to old school music. Read on.
BeatDynasty.com: Tell me first about the single with Gillie The Kid that jumped off for you.
Dnali: Basically we were down Florida and I was hearing this track from my manager Kyle that was on the internet. He was asking if that was our track. It was the "Pretty Girls In The VIP" joint, with the Too Short sample. He contacted them and went into Gillie's email and got the track. It started spinning in Philly and the rest is history. The joint picked up, and we got asked to do the remix. From that it spawned a relationship with Diamond Kuts and we spearheaded her project.
BeatDynasty.com: Is the Diamond Kuts song "Salt,Pepper, Ketchup, and Hot Sauce" going to have the video to it?
Ridd: We shot a video a month ago for it in Bristol Pennsylvania. Diamond Kuts came to us with the song idea at first. The original was a Philly Club song at like 135 BPM (Beats Per Minute). We took it and tried to make a Roxanne Shante' 2008. They came to our studio here in Berlin, New Jersey and Casino wrote the song for her. Two weeks later it was on the radio and Philly is eating it up. We're blessed because we have three of the hottest singles out in Philly within the last year. Our studio has been doing real well on the local talent too with the love we've been getting.
DJ Diamond Kuts "Salt, Pepper. Ketchup, and Hot Sauce" Produced by DNA Beats
BeatDynasty.com: As a team, one of you is a DJ and the other is a drummer. How do you guys work together on tracks?
Dnali :To be honest with you, we take turns starting our vibes. Sometimes Ridd will come in with a dusty break and we'll load that and loop it up. Maybe we'll play over it or approach it with another sample. A lot of time we listen to a lot of old school Hip-Hop. He's really into the old school Philly scene and the era of old school Hip-Hop. We might take a couple of samples out of that and just hit 'em with the "Boom Bap."
BeatDynasty.com: Yeah, y'all are taking it back to the Boom Bap huh?
Dnali: A couple of years ago I was reading an article that was basically saying that the Boom Bap has left Hip-Hop. Everybody's complaining about the South, but the reason why they're winning is because the formula is very simple. It seems as though over the last year, Hip-Hop up top ( North East) has become complicated. That's basically the situation and the reason why it's not winning. We figured why not just reset it , but make it fun though.
BeatDynasty.com: That's shows versatility to go from a club joints to street joints, to Southern Joints.
Ridd: That's just a part of us. With DNA, we wake up in the morning and we're in a different mood. We might feel like making a Pop joint. When we first started working together as producers we were also roommates. We basically started doing music and forming a whole sound within itself.
Dnali: We really studied the music and listened to what was making top ten and Billboard. We kind of tried to figure out a way to, instead of making a straight Southern track, incorporate the 808s, and the classic drums, and bring them over to East Coast. To stay broad, we listen to a lot of music.
BeatDynasty.com: So from switching the sound, what other opportunities has that led to?
Dnali: We had the opportunity to work with a group called Cherry Hill, that just got signed to Interscope. We were doing Southern tracks and all of a sudden I got to start doing some Pop joints. That was definitely a good experience and it showed us how to diversify our catalog. That way we can always stay relevant.
Young Tre " Like This" Produced by DNA Beats
BeatDynasty.com: You call yourselves students of Gamble and Huff. Explain how you guys, being Hip-Hop, connect with that?
Ridd: A lot of people don't know that Gamble and Huff are one of the top five best producers to ever touch music. When I graduated from school, I was working with Philadelphia International Records. We had a lot of opportunities to go in the studio and meet Gamble. On any given day, The Bluenotes and a lot of older groups could come through. We studied being around that sound and understanding how they kept number one hits on the radio for a span of fifteen years.
Dnali: They're in this area so there's always stories around how their songs were created. We kind of take that, and approach it the same way with the tracks. Even though it might be a "Snap" track, we make sure there is always some kind of progression with the track.
BeatDynasty.com: A lot of Hip-Hop producers don't take tips from those types of legends. Do you think that's where Hip-Hop lacks?
Dnali: It's kind of microwave now for real. You got cats that are getting their hands on software, and not learning the craft. They're not learning about compression or the EQ because it's kind of commercialized. All those rules like pitching a sample a certain way to make sure it's on key is lost. You have a kid that can make a track in fifteen minutes and all of a sudden, he's on the radio. We had opportunities were we could have gotten an advance in our career, but we fell back because we needed to learn more. Once we made our move, we feel as though we can stay on top.
Ridd: Also, who do you go to for inspiration? When you're making beats every day, you might have a beat block. Who else better to go to than a Gamble and Huff, or a Isaac Hayes.
BeatDynasty.com: Does it worry you at all that with the "Salt Pepper Ketchup" club song and the video that it might pigeon hole you a little? Hip-Hop fans love to box people in.
Dnali: You're right, but it's all about the records that you follow up with. Look at what the Runners did, and they changed the stigma. They have records with Keyshia Cole, Chris Brown, and other R & B. They were just known as Southern producers. You can take that fifteen minutes of fame and turn it into something big. I feel that we have the records to back other records up. It's going to make it a lot easier because people are going crazy over a record that we think is miniscule compared to our catalog. I'm ready for it.
Ridd: While most producers replicate what has worked for them, we actually try to go in left field with it. We switch it up on them. At the end of the day , those type of tracks may be hot now, but in six months, people will want something else.
BeatDynasty.com: So give us a rundown of what you guys have coming up.
Dnali: We basically have a lot of records pending right now. I think the work we put in, in '08 will pay off in '09.
Ridd: We've been sending a lot of stuff over to Briscoe. His album is set for December so we're waiting to hear from that. We've sent stuff to Gillie. We're working on a follow-up single for Bump J. Also a new artist Casino, who's our younger cat. We just actually started a record with Casino, Lil Mama, and Dougie Fresh. A lot of things are starting for us right now. We just want to make sure our sound continues to grow.
Bump J Featuring Gillie Da Kid and Peedi Crack "Pretty Girls In The VIP" Produced by DNA Beats
.jpg "dnamain(2).jpg")
