best in an artist? Dru: With Jeezy, we actually made the record there in the studio. We’d shoot the idea to him and tell him our vision for the record. We’ll get animated with it, we really get down to the nitty gritty. He’s real creative and he’s real cool about vibin’ with us. And it’s the same thing with Luda. They like to be creative and vibe together. Then there’s some artists, like Trick Daddy, who prefer to have the track sent to them and they do it themselves. Mayne: At the same time, we respect the artist so we let them do their thing. It’s not like we do a record and tell them what to do. An artist on Jeezy’s level is a professional, so when he hears the beat, he hears the finished product in his head. When he’s picking his beats he knows which record to go with and what he’s gonna do on the record. But when you’re working with up and coming artists who need a little more direction, that’s when the producer side of us comes out and we make it happen. Who are some local artists you’re working with? Dru: Balli, a rapper in Orlando. That’s really it right now. He’s signed to our production company, Trac-N-Field Entertainment. Any other big names you’re working with that we haven’t talked about? Dru: Fat Joe, Fabolous, Twista. That Young Jeezy single with Keyshia Cole is a really incredible record. It’s kinda different from what anybody’s
heard from us because it’s like a mid-tempo sample record. Mayne: A lot of people are gonna think the whole record is a sample. The whole record is not a sample; it’s just that we sampled the hook. We did the same thing we did with “Hustlin’” but in a different light. The music and the verses are original. I gotta let that be known, because a lot of people think the records we do are samples, but that’s not showing our musicianship. Dru: On “Dreamin’,” we worked so hard with Jeezy in the studio for two weeks straight to get him that perfect record. That was an emotional record for him and it was a great feeling for us to be able to accomplish that. He’s an artist that we always wanted to work with, so that was a great accomplishment for us. Mayne: Jeezy’s a real dude. I know there’s a lot of fabrication in this game. There’s a lot of artists acting, trying to be something they’re not. But we can say that Jeezy’s a real dude and we appreciate the opportunity that he gave us coming in the game as young cats. He knows that record is gonna boost our career, and he saw the hustle inside us. We made sure we showed him our hustle so he could give us that opportunity. Dru: We got in the studio at like 10 PM and we’d stay there til 4 PM the next day without sleeping. We’d be there like two days straight just continually working and trying to get him that perfect record. We knew his album was
WE LET THZEYM O S T IS T R A E CT TH ON JEE ’S T IS T R A N “WE RESPEIR A . .. THING IONAL, SO WHEN HE DO THE A HED ROFESS RS THE FINIS LEVEL IS EPA A E H E H , T A ]B AD.” - M YNE E H IS H HEARS [OUR IN T C PRODU
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