Smiff and Cash

I did this interview a couple of months ago, but it was never picked up....oh well, people need to know the hotness behind Killer Mike. People need to get to know Smiff and Cash.

Sometimes a producer and a rapper come together to make themselves more than they were before: like Pete Rock and C.L Smooth, Guru and Premier, and Outkast and Outkast, Smiff and Cash have taken Killer Mike to that proverbial next level. But this was not a case of a rapper finding his star produceris backyard: Smiff and Cash came to Killer Mike via the small Caribbean island of St. Kitts, which has a population of 35,000. The twosome went of to produce “Deuces Wild” and “That’s Life” among other standout tracks on Killer Mike’s excellent I Pledge Allegiance to the Grind mixtape. Although Killer Mike has cosigned onto their career, the twosome of Jevon “Smiff” Manchester and Stephen “Cash” Claxton plan to take on the whole world of hip hop by storm.

SS: I heard that Killer Mike linked up with you while you were in New York: how did he get a hold of your tapes?

Cash: We had been making doing stuff for a whole bunch of people in New York, you know starving artist. We were struggling trying to make it and we considering giving up this whole production thing. We decided to give it one last shot, so we made a demo with all our best beats and sent it to every major label in the U.S. At the last minute, Smith was like maybe we should send it to Aquemini, but I was like nah,nah. We ended up sending it to Aquemini and the next thing you know two months later we received the call saying they were feeling us and they would like to meet us. A month after that we went down to Atlanta and met with Killer Mike and he showed us love from that point on. The rest is history.

SS: Do you think your past as an artist helps when you’re producing. I’ve read that you consider yourself producers, not beat makers. For example, in “Deuces Wild” it sounds like it was crafted, from hook to baseline, with Killer Mike in mind.

Smith: You’re absolutely right. I think the artist background definitely help us with our production, it makes it that much better. Our approach to producing: as we always say we’re not beat makers, we’re producers. The main goal is to make songs, not to let a rapper get on a beat. The fact that we were once rappers we know what to do in terms of music to bring out the best in a rapper or a singer

Cash: Just from our experience, as an artist and from listen to a million songs, we know what a good rap record is. A lot of times we could give a rapper the dopest beat ever and they could take it in a totally wrong direction and the track wouldn’t turn out as you would hope it to be. We make a beat and immediately hear a hook on it or we hear a concept for the album. Even if they don’t accept our concept, we let them know. Generally we don’t give someone a beat and hope for the best. A lot of time we present the track with the concept.

Smith: Most of times when we come hooks, that one we do, we come with hooks. We know what it takes to make a good record basically

SS: I get that from you…your music doesn’t have a geographic center. It’s not southern, or typically east coast or west coast. Do you think being from the Caribbean effected your openness of what hip hop could be?

Cash: We grew up as a hip hop lover and not from a specific region we were open to whatever. I grew up listening to everything under the sun. I didn’t care where the rapper was from because no one was from St. Kitts. From the get go we didn’t approach it to trying to have one style over the other; we just wanted to make a good rap song. I guess it because we listen to so many types of rap songs. A lot of times the style just sort of fit together. Like we could have a New York type of song with a sample with southern drums on it: I don’t think about that. We just make good songs.

Smiff: Growing up in the Caribbean, we have influence by so many different genres, calypso, soco, reggae, dancehall, stuff like that. Our music can’t be one style just by default.

SS: It seems like Killer Mike picks up on this well…When you work with Killer Mike, it seems seamless, but is it like that with other artist?

Cash: I don’t know if it as seamless. I think a part of it is that we work so much with Killer. He knows us and he knows what we looking for and we know what he’s capable of. So when we work together, it comes naturally. We can’t really expect strong chemistry with somebody you don’t really know. After somebody knows what kind of records we come with time after time, then it start coming. We would be in the studio with Killer night after night to like eight in the morning for like six months straight. We lived in the studio with Killer basically. We were sleeping like four hours a day.

Smiff: We learned a lot hanging out with Killer…Hanging out in clubs, lot of times on tour, going out to eat, straight up chilling and stuff like that, and helped us get a feel that helps in the studio. That definitely helps with the chemistry in the studio. It easy for us to get chemistry with other artist, but with Killer we spent so much time together it’s like magic in the studio.

SS: Who is some other artist we should be looking for you working with in the future?

Cash: Everyone wants to work with Jay-Z, Kayne, Little Wayne, and Chamillionaire.

SS: It’s funny you bring Chamillionaire up. I think you would be really good on your tracks.

Cash: Actually, we have a track with Chamillionaire on F.L. Jones Underground that’s coming up. Keep an eye on that.

Smiff: Personally, I want to work with the Clipse, I would want to work with Alicia Keys on R&B, we both want to work with Rihanna cause of the Caribbean connection for sure. I feel like something we could come up for Rihanna would be real special.

SS: What is your favorite thing you worked on so far?

Cash: That’s a tough one…”That’s Life” or “Deuces Wild” or, that’s a tough one, to be real.

SS: Personally, my favorite is “Deuces Wild”.

Smiff: My favorite is "Juggernaut". The energy that the beat brought out of Killer, I think that song was perfect. I like the hardcore hip hop tracks.

SS: Who are some other producers you jock right now, who push you competively to the next level?

Cash: You got Timbaland, that the person who got me excited about beatmaking in the first place. It’s like half admiration, half wanting to get to that level. I don’t know if you can call it trying to compete, just trying to get to this level. I remember when I was younger; I was just listening to the beat, not even the song. Timbaland is the first person that really got me excited about production. Of course, you got Dr. Dre. You know, I thinking about the people at the top, because that’s where I’m aiming in the next three years.

Smiff: I really impressed with the Runners, they are definitely doing their thing. I’m also impressed with Just Blaze, he’s the best with sampling.

SS: Do you start with the sample, or the drum, or the bassline with your songs? What is the process like?

Smiff: There’s really no formula. I might have some drums and Cash may have some samples chopped up and we could go from there. Or it might be the under way around and Cash may lay some keyboard on the track. We don’t have anything in particular; we just go with the flow.

SS: What equipment are you using right now?

Cash: We use a computer program called Making Waves.

SS: What are your career expectations from here on out? Do you see yourself making more drops or vocalizing on tracks?

Smiff: We specifically look for that type of thing, but we’re up for anything as long as the track good. If you ever heard the track we did for Aqua Teen Hunger Force, that was me on the hook.

SS: How did that come about?

Cash: I came up with the hook before we even seen the film. We look to see what is going to benefit the song.

SS: How is the industry in Atlanta versus the industry in New York? Do you have a preference?

Cash: I don’t know if I have like a preference, the circumstances for us are different, because I New York we were fending for ourselves. In Atlanta we have a crew backing us. The circumstances would make it Atlanta more than anything else.

Smiff: We really don’t know. I felt like people in the industry are more welcoming, I guess you could say. They definitely were showing us more love.

SS: I think a lot of this was due to Killer, they were more open to show you more love whereas in New York you were scrapping by, no one was willing to cosign you.

Cash: We have to deal with more middle men rather than deal directly with the artist, it was like ten doors between them. In Atlanta, after we dealt with Killer, we straight up talking to Bun B.

SS: It seems like southern artist may, I hate to say it, harder work ethics. They seem like they’re ready to work with anyone who’s ready to work as hard as they are.

Smiff: I don’t know if I say they have more work ethic, I definitely say they more open to appreciate work with different people. I don’t think you have to have the big name to work with them.

SS: Is their anything you would want to tell our readers?

Cash: Look out for the S.L. Jones Underground Album; we’re executive producers on that. It got Clipse, Chamillionaire, Gangster Boo, and a whole gang of people on there. We got some stuff with Grand Hustle also. Everyone should keep an ear out for Smiff and Cash; we've got a lot to offer.