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Breaking Up Is Easy 2 Do (When It's With You)

2009-08-19T23:28:44.605Z

It was 1988 I just got my $3,000.00 advance from the Now defunct Gee Street Records who licensed my underground hit "Let's Make Some Noise" b/w "This Is THe B-Side" which I heard done pretty well in the U.K. and other parts of Europe. The first thing I ran out and done with my money was buy an Akai MPC-60 at Sam Ash on W.48th Street in Manhattan because the Brooklyn store didn't have it in stock. My Casio RZ- which I used to make the record that afforded me this tiny luxury didn't have enough sampling time and I was excited by the idea of sequencing 4 synths and sampling from one location.

Even though I was outside Sam Ash with a big box and I was dressed well, I couldn't catch a cab and when I did get into a cab they refused to take me to Brooklyn. Back in those days Brooklyn was not a place anybody wanted to be especially when it got dark but this one cab driver happened to live in Flatlands which is near my hometown of East Flatbush so I caught a lucky break. When I got home I remember being so excited that I hooked it up and read the Manual as I experimented with it. The following 2 days I put this track together.

Just When You Thought It Was Safe

2009-08-19T23:27:15.543Z

Special Ed was really smart kid beyond his years back then. Yes he made all of his hit records with Howie, but he also recorded demos with other producers including my dude Backspin who produced the hip hop classic "Wild For The Night " by Rampage and Busta

I actually met Ed through another MC called Da' Lord they both went Erasmus High School in Brooklyn and back then it was downright crazy in that school, in fact it was considered the worst High School in Brooklyn and I actually was bold and brazen enough to sneak into that school with my cousin De' One to break Da' Lord out his academic Prison, One day Ed joined us we got to build.

Ed's Youngest In Charge was blowing up and my single was out so Tony Irby put it in my head that I should work on tracks for Ed to demo and this was the first result.

The Night

2009-08-19T23:25:18.445Z

I used to be signed to a production/management company called True Blue Productions they had everyone who was hot in Brooklyn at that time Chubb Rock, Special Ed, ESP, Little Shawn and of course Hip Hop's first hip hop superproducer and the father of sampling The Legendary Howie Tee.

True Blue was ran by three guys Adrian "Tank" McRae, Tony Irby and Terrence Gittens and Tony came by my crib to check out the MPC one day and I played "Breaking Up Is Easy 2 Do" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5sAE5... and he said he didn't like that track and that he wanted me to step up because they wanted me to blow up as a producer. So based on that conversation I whipped up this beat for Da' King and I who I was supposed to have produced their first record but it didn't work out that way. I Introduced them to Tony and then things changed hands. I was disappointed back then but the way I see it now it was actually a blessing in disguise.

Comic Books

2009-08-19T23:23:55.409Z

One of the illest MC's I had in my camp was Benz of The group Dreadnotz, Dude was like the 2nd coming of Kool G. Rap and Rakim all raveled in one to me and he was only 15 years old when he came to me so I was excited. Tony Irby liked him but Tank wasn't feeling him. I never caught Terry's opinion because he was on the road touring with Special Ed at the time. But Benz was a lyrical beast!

Because he was a street kid that told great stories about jumping turnstiles after boosting gear from Macy's or beating down some idiot trying to talk slick to his girl I wanted him to be who he was at that time. One of the thing me and him had in common was comic books and we'd have conversations about how these fictional characters were metaphorically like our favorite MC's, DJ's and rap groups. So this is the beat I came up with for him.

Ah Yeah

2009-08-19T23:22:44.527Z

Chubb Rock and me always had a weird relationship when it came to music. At one point I used to seek his opinion when it came to my music because dude is somewhat of a rocket scientist. But then again who isn't ...right? Anyhow Chubbs came by the crib to pick up some records he said he needed for him and Howie to sample. so I filled up a bag of records and played him some of my then new beats and he told me I was in a dark place in life. I didn't react kindly to him on that comment but his thing was everything needed to be uptempo, bouncy and light so my mellow beats seemed depressing to him. He didn't get what I was trying to do back then so I was heated and took the records back. So when he left my crib I made this beat with the intentions of doing a subliminal diss to him. Yeah he got me mad. LOL.