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Guru & Solar What's up guys? Guru & Solar: Peace! Tell us a little about the Jazzamatazz series. Guru: The series started in 1993. At the time everyone was sampling Jazz and whatnot. I was like, "okay people are sampling Jazz but they don't really know what its all about. So I was like, "let's take it to the next level and actually get the Jazz cats we've sampled and get some world class vocalists together in the studio and put it over some Hip Hop". Other collaborations were similar. Even groups like Digable Planets, Carlos Santana had Supernatural, so many others. Even Neo Soul you could say was influenced by Jazzamatazz. So Jazzamatazz is definitely ahead of its time. Since then it's evolved. At the basis you had Hip Hop and Jazz but then it evolved into elements of R&B and Soul, Funk, Rock & Roll and Reggae. Now we are at Volume 4 and Volume 4 is the first to be released on our own label 7Grand Records which I'm very proud of. Was Jazz your favorite type of music growing up? Guru: Oh for sure I was influenced by my Uncle and my father. Again there are a lot of similarities Hip Hop and Jazz with the cadence and beats. I felt my voice sounded good when you blend a Hip Hop beat with a mellow Jazzy tune and so forth. I just felt it was good fit. What are your earliest memories of Hip Hop, and did you have any musical experience before you started rhyming? Guru: I was always that kid that wanted to show off, whether it was dancing or performing. I had other relatives that were shy but I wasn't. So when it came around I gravitated to the microphone. So you were the kid at the family cookouts that would put on a show for the older folks. Guru: Yeah all of that type of stuff. Who are some of the artists you collaborated with on Jazzmatazz Vol. 4? Guru: We got Damien Marley, Common, Slum Village, Blackalicious. It's an all-star event. Do you start a Jazzmatazz project with a wishlist of artists you'd like to work with? And who are some musicians that you haven't had a chance to work with that would fit into a future volume? Guru: What we do is, Jazzamatazz represents the art of collaborations as opposed to just getting an artist to sell some units by getting on your record or get him on the record so you can sell units or whatever. It's the opposite of that. We fix the tracks. So we get the tracks, we put the concepts together and we say "who's going to fit this concept?" I definitely conferred with the super producer Solar constantly on this album to get feedback on who we should get. We also reached out to people and everyone we reached out to showed us love. Number one: for the stature of the Jazzamatazz legacy. Number two: Once we sent them the tracks they got open. And Solar only made one track per each individual. Every person who recieved a track hit us back like, "That's hot! I want to schedule studio time." So we scheduled studio times and kept going. You featured groups like Blackalicious and Slum Village who aren't as well known but well-respected in the Hip Hop community. Do you consider yourself to be a fan of Hip Hop today and do you listen to a lot of artists on the brink of success? Guru: Yeah, I listen to a lot of the up and coming artists that I like. I listen to everything really but the ones I like I definitely buy that shit up. Yeah definitely, I've always loved Slum and Blackalicious. To me it's not about whether you're more popular than the next person, it's about skills and the songs you make. Real Hip Hop to me doesn't depend on sales or whatever. Tell us a little about your 7Grand label. You've had label experience before so how have you applied that to the current one? Guru: That's what it was all about. Everything that I went through before prepared me in a way. 7Grand is more than I have done before because 7Grand is a real label as opposed to me trying to put my homeboys on or whatever. This is a real label with a CEO, a President, worldwide distribution and a vision. It's a movement and I'll let Solar break it down for you more. Solar: First and Foremost for all the heads out there. Solar; born and bred New Yorker. Super producer Solar never to be confused with someone whose been featured on one of Guru's albums called MC Solar. Solar is my attribute of power, it's not just a show name. It's the name I go by and that represents me. Being a born and bred New Yorker I saw there was an era in Hip Hop that didn't represent New York and didn't represent what I knew as Hip Hop. It's just something that came out of someone's imagination and they turned it into a reality. Hip Hop now under 7Grand is coming back to reality. The reality of what Hip Hop was meant to be when it's started in its inception. Those who've made great sacrifices for the culture to live have to be known and noted in the progress of the culture and the music. There are principles in 7Grand that that are open for inspection. Anybody can look at 7Grand and estimate the value of the content and what real Hip Hop is about. The growth of Hip Hop and the health of Hip Hop. It's a counter balance to the garbage that these other cats put out. Now it's all perfume. That's good, let them sell perfume and super Solar and Guru will sell good hip hop.  So how did you two end up linking up together? Guru: About 6 years ago through a mutual friend and we hit it off as friends, so we started hanging and tearing the streets of New York up. When I met Solar he was a well established individual, straight from the hood but well established. In fact he had more than I did so he didn't need anything from me, which is very much the opposite of people that are around me. So I was like, "This dude is cool, I want to hang out and learn from him and so forth". So we hung out, unfortunately I complained to him a lot about the situation of major labels [laughs] and how people tried to tell me what to do with my creativity. I expressed that to him a lot and one night we were out having a good time and he was like, "man, if it's that bad then start your own label". So I called him back a couple of days later and was like, "yeah I want to do this label thing". He was like, "I was talking about you starting your own label, I wasn't talking about me." [laughs] Eventually we worked it out. Solar: Bottom line, as a friend I saw he wasn't happy with his situation with his label and his production, so I felt that his frustrations were founded. The decisions that they wanted to make weren't advantageous to Guru. It was advantageous to his other production situation. To make a long story longer - bottom line is Guru needed to start something new for himself. In doing so he started something that's great for Hip Hop, good music and love for the culture. It's going to stimulate intelligent music that's going to counter balance the social leaders that we see in these cats. I'm tired of hearing how much money they got, I'm tired of seeing big yachts and cars, I'm tired of seeing big buck willy. It's time for real Hip Hop again. It's time for the babies and the young people to have something healthy and good they can build on again. And I don't want to hear "Hey Babay" and songs that haven't had a lump of thought put into it. I think they need to start reconnecting with some principles in Hip Hop and I think the art form as a whole will grow and we can start writing songs that are more relevant. We're in Genesis and we got songs like "Hey Babay" that's just empowering the people that would like to have us imprisoned under Willy lynch laws. Are you set to release any other acts? Solar: Yes we are. We have a project which will accompany Jazzamatazz which will be like the street version or Jazzamatazz where you'll see me showing my real history as a producer, doing what I do well which is making Street Federal tracks with some crazy uppercuts and legends which I'm really not going to speak much more about it. Just keep tuned to the movement. 7Grand is a movement, it's not just a label. It requires those of you who would like to get involved with the music. You need to get in tune with us. Support what we are doing and you're going to see something come back good for everybody. Everybody is going to have a smile on their face. Guru: That's right, hit us up at www.myspace.com/guru7grand and www.myspace.com/solar7grand. Or GuruJazzamatazz.net . You had a video for "State of Clarity" with Common and just released a video for "Cuz I'm Jazzy" with Slum Village, correct? Guru: Both of those videos were directed by Super Producer Solar. Another reason why we call him Super Producer, he's multi-talented. The first video was an animated video that was incredible in itself. Now we got the new video with Slum right now that's on myspace, it's blowing up. Solar you seem to be very versatile.  What does your background entail? It seems you go deeper than just beats. Solar: I think in terms of the modern day producer I'm the prototype. Not just talented in the studio but also talented on stage cause I spit, also as a leader of a label. I think people want more from the label presidents now, I think they could have done more. I think it's the responsibility of a company to look out for its base. People who buy 7Grand records, I have a responsibility to them. If they have a problem that's affecting them I need to address it. I think if I don't do that then I'm not doing my job and equally I need to bring attention to things that are good and healthy for Hip Hop and 7Grand. So my background is that of Hip Hop and it being great to the world. Guru: New York City baby. [Laughs] Do you have any other videos planned? Guru: We got a bunch of things coming like I said. Check out them websites and stay tuned. Solar: Stay tuned to the movement. It's happening now, you haven't seen anything like this since the 60's. This is the 60's of Hip Hop, let's make it happen. Guru: People that are complaining about this or that about Hip Hop, that's its dead or needs to be resurrected or it needs this, it needs that. Ok, then step up. What's next for Guru after you're finished promoting Vol. 4? Will Solar be your producer on future projects? Guru: All my future projects. We're riding this one. This is it man. Anything else you'd like to add? Solar: Again I say to the cats out there, you have choices. So you can support 7Grand. We need you to go out and support and buy physical cds, go to a specific site Amazon or Itunes and download legally so this can live. It's up to the fans, when 7Grand grows the ones that supported can know they supported this and watched it grow. We are not going to shove the money back in your faces. We got love for those hustling doing that 9-5, we're not going to shit on ya'll. It's all good man, you're working at McDonalds keep your head up man. I know what you're doing; I know you're doing it because you got to do it. You're not doing it because its fun, you got to work because you got to do it. Equally to my little dudes that are out there hustling in the grind, in the danger zone. Equally I say go holler at the God. You got options too man, don't let these dudes convince you that's the only way you can make it in life, selling drugs. Again, if you know what's right go with 7Grand, if not go buy some perfume and have a good life. Guru: And I would like to say to people like you, keep what you're doing. It's important for the media like yourself to keep the lines of communication open. It's a good thing that you're doing what you're doing so continue with it. Drew & Andy