Oh No

MONK ONE

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome from California, Oh No. So, people might have heard of you for various reasons, from the records you put out. But what I want to talk to you about, that they might not know, is video games. A lot of people don’t know, that there’s a whole world, similar to – I guess you might say – digging for records.

OH NO

Yeah, man.

MONK ONE

But what’s that all about?

OH NO

You know, I had a childhood hobby of playing games and stuff, along with music. And Madlib being my brother, we used to share a room. And whilst he had his music going on, I’d be on the games, and playing the crazy Nintendo and everything, all the crazy underground games, swap-meet games, all that stuff. And while he’d be gone, I’d be on the beats, messing with his equipment, grindin’ out both. But games is big, man. They’ve got over 8.000 Nintendo games, all kinds of stuff.

MONK ONE

So underground games, what’s that all about?

OH NO

That’s all about people at home making ‘em.

MONK ONE

So this is like a game that was never meant for a commercial release.

OH NO

Yeah, never came out. They might flip something. They could take Mario and put someone else in it, from Contra or Rain King. Then you’re playing a whole different kind of game. And they’ll flip it. And it’s made by underground people.

MONK ONE

Being that you are notorious for being one of the underground game kings, is there anybody else out there that could touch you?

OH NO

Yeah. My man DJ Romes, he’s definitely a gamer. Just Blaze is a gamer. Me and him be yakking on the Xbox 360. Heavy, heavy battling on that. I know Del [The Funky Homosapien]’s a gamer. There’s a few gamers out there. Not like me and Blaze though. Me and Blaze, we got everything. I got over 36 different handhelds that are like Gameboys. PSPs, GP32s, Zodiacs, everything. And each of them have crazy games on ‘em, each system has its own crazy games, and they’re all sick. Fighting games, adventure games, sports games, everything.

MONK ONE

So let the people know about that one special handheld you got.

OH NO

If anyone’s familiar with the Atari 2600, I got a portable Atari 2600. I got it made. It’s like a Gameboy. It’s small, it’s got a screen on it, with a spinner on it. You pop the games on the back, it takes batteries and stuff. I got that. I got a Dreamcast. Dreamcast is one of my favorite systems, I’m a real big Sega fan. So I got a Dreamcast made, a handheld one, where the CD spins on the back, it’s got a 5” screen. It only last for about two hours, though [laughs].

MONK ONE

Serious. So right now, everybody’s like: “Enough about games. I want to hear this guy talk about music.” So does the game world and the music world collide for you?

OH NO

Yeah, definitely. Games and music go hand in hand. Usually, when you’re playing games, you’re playing music to it or something. And when I make beats, I look at it like when I’m playing a game. I don’t play it just to play it, I play it to beat it, or play it to master it and have fun. You want to have fun with it. When I make beats, it’s like the same thing. Like, when I used to hear layers and stuff on games... (phone rings, Oh No checks text message) Layers in games, that kind of taught me about doing it on an MPC, with layers and stuff. Like Zelda, for instance, if you walked in a dungeon, you’d hear the music playing. But if you played the flute with it at the same time, then it would cut the music and drop the bassline just with the flute, so something different. And I would add that with the old drum machines and stuff, then flip it into the MPC, and it’s like, a grown man’s tool.

MONK ONE

It’s almost like, an advanced gaming console.

OH NO

Exactly, and I look at it [like that] with instruments, too. Like, I can’t play straight-up like normal musicians. But I like to have fun and just, having fun and being real high, it just comes out sick. It just comes out real melodic. That’s how I get it done.

MONK ONE

For real. So I know that at one point or another you must have flipped video game sounds straight into a song that came out.

OH NO

Yeah. I always do that. I got all kinds of beats with video games and stuff.

MONK ONE

What was that track?

OH NO

The one that came out on my album was called “The Ride”. It was taken from a Nintendo game that I don’t know if I should speak about. But a lot of people do know the game, probably seen it on the net or something.

MONK ONE

Can we listen to that one right now?

OH NO

Sure.

MONK ONE

Let’s see if we can hook this up. What’s it called?

OH NO

“The Ride”.

(music: Oh No – “The Ride”)

See, this is straight off a game. Put some layers to it, added a bassline, some drums. I don’t remember what the break was but them drums was hot. It’s a simple beat, it’s an older beat.

MONK ONE

Straight off the game?

OH NO

The old-school Nintendo, it has an actual audio plug, where you can plug in straight up.

MONK ONE

Really?

OH NO

Yeah.

MONK ONE

Science for all of you looking for sample sources out there, definitely. So, yeah man, what other sorts of things do you like to get into when it comes to making a beat? You’re sticking with drum machines or are you chopping up drums?

OH NO

I do it all. I just like to have fun, so whatever it is, I’ll make a beat. I’ll reverse, clowning, having fun. I tend to get ’em done pretty quick. I usually get real blazed.

MONK ONE

Right.

OH NO

Let me explain. When I get blazed, it helps me concentrate. Like, a lot of people blaze to do it. I don’t need to ’cause I make beats sober when I wake up as well. But I have so many issues going on in my life that I got to blaze to concentrate, otherwise I can’t concentrate right. I’ll be the madman, that’s when Oh No comes out. Reason for the name and all. So, I get blazed, calms me down, go in there, make a bunch of beats, go outside to the car, bang ’em, and just keep making more. Put the samples on. Listen to the samples and shit, clown.

MONK ONE

No doubt. And you definitely have a reputation for turning the beats out. So, yeah, you were talking about, you go out to the car and bump it?

OH NO

Yeah man, got to hop in the Cam. The ghetto Camry. I’m ghetto, man. I keep my shit real dirty. I’m dirty, I’m ghetto, I like it raw. I’m a raw dude, I’m not a clean dude. If you hear my beats, they’d be raw. Clean ones too, for the clean people. But most of the time, it’s pretty raw… [laughs]

MONK ONE

They’re dirty, man. So what kind of system you got in your car?

OH NO

I got an Alpine with some 16”s in there. Just some regular...

MONK ONE

Right. I think that’s the difference for me, between east coast and west coast rap. Most of the people out on the west coast are listening to music in their cars. So that requires a certain type of sound. Whereas on the east coast, a lot of us just had headphones, little boxes, something like that. That’s why you don’t [get] that deep kick …

OH NO

Like, where I’m at, people like bumpin’ particularly a lot of gangster music, or super-underground “backpack” music. Whatever they want to say. But like, I just saying I like it all. I just make sure my beats bump. I like to bump, go disturbing the area. That’s my main key. I like basslines and stuff. Make sure it knocks. I like raw beats too ’cause what’s what I was raised off. Being in a room with Madlib, I heard everything. I used to hear his beats. And he put me on to everybody too, like my sister put me on to everyone. I grew up off the raw, so I really like the raw a lot.

MONK ONE

Your brother has one of the sickest record collections out there.

OH NO

Sick. Sick. So sick I don’t even know how he even knows what’s going on with it (laughs).

MONK ONE

Are you a digger like that?

OH NO

Nah, not like Madlib ’cause he’s definitely one of a kind. He’s definitely a digger. He’ll be in the spot from when it opens till it closes. I don’t got money like that, like I said, I’m pretty ghetto. I got to extend it out everywhere. Nah, but I definitely go digging. I go digging for hours. Not a long time though. You know why I can’t dig a lot? It’s because they play a lot of other music.

MONK ONE

In the spots where you’re looking?

OH NO

Yeah! All kinds of other music. And, like I said, I smoke so I can concentrate. And being there, I can’t even think. I’ll have a game plan, like: “I wanna hear this and that, I wanna go out there.” And when I get there, it’s like I forgot everything ’cause I’m hearing this heavy metal guitar, then it goes into something else, they’re just playing the ill collection. It just throws me off every time.

MONK ONE

In the thrift stores, you never know what you’re going to hear.

OH NO

Yeah, it’s wild. Swap meets, go digging at them swap meets.

MONK ONE

Oh yeah? What’s swap meets all about? I heard about that a lot.

OH NO

MONK ONE

So actually, we got a chance to put your words to the test because for this whole ArRange project, you were given some material to do what you do with.

OH NO

Yeah.

MONK ONE

You came up with some stuff.

OH NO

I came up with some beats for the ArRange project. I didn’t really know exactly what was going on, I just know they gave me some music. I made like, six beats right off the bat, just to have fun with it and see what I was working with. They’re all creative beats.

MONK ONE

So let’s have a go with one of the songs you chopped up.

[Oh No scratches with CDJ.]

OH No

And then it goes back to it. And then I get blown again.

MONK ONE

Alright. Can you break down the elements (points at MPC pads)? Let them understand.

OH NO

Alright, let me explain it. See, when I make beats, too, I never save. I usually make a beat and move on ’cause usually when I save stuff, it’ll have errors. Like I said, I’m from Oxnard, so my MPC’s pretty ghetto. I usually make it with it open ’cause the buttons be flipping out and stuff. I don’t save it, ’cause when I save it, it always has errors. So, when they told me I was doing Clare Fischer, I had to re-do it again, and usually when you re-do it, it doesn’t usually sound the same as before. So it’s a little bit different to what I had. It doesn’t matter but… [_plays MPC pads] So that is the original sample. But I put it through a wah-wah effect. Like that part has a little high part in it, I put it a bit later in the song. But I just put it all on one thing, because I had to redo the beat, so I had to resample the shit. Then I went for the bassline. For the bassline, I like my basslines real low, ’cause again, I like to bump. So again, we just going with a simple thing.

MONK ONE

Where did you get that tone from, the bass tone?

OH NO

Bass tone? It can come from various things. That particular one came direct off a 808 bass thumps, like “d-doooommmmmm”. So I trimmed it to a certain part, and then looped it, so it’ll “hummmmmm” and you can play it as long as you want.

MONK ONE

Aha! OK, secret techniques.

OH NO

For some lows. Cymbals, snare [plays sounds from MPC]. It’s a simple beat. And then I added some cymbals and stuff.

MONK ONE

Let me hear the original.

OH NO

[rewinds record, finds the spot] Like I said, I could’ve used a lot of pieces from it. But my man Dilla, for respect, I didn’t want to use pieces that he had used.

MONK ONE

You didn’t want to use the same?

OH NO

Like yeah, he had flipped it for Q[-Tip] [plays parts of the original record] … I put a timestretch on it too.

MONK ONE

A timestretch?

OH NO

Yeah, ’cause it’s fast, it’s extra-fast. So, as you can see, it’s slower on there.

MONK ONE

So, can you play the beat again?

OH NO

Yeah [plays beat], see? Slower. Timestretch. By the way, if you can’t do a timestretch on the MPC you can do an easy timestretch with a CDJ [slows tempo, but not the pitch on CDJ in front of him].

MONK ONE

So, what you’re saying is?

OH NO

You can sample it like this [runs CD slowly] or like this [runs CD fast]. Trick of the trade.

MONK ONE

So, you can use the CDJ as a timestretcher by basically using the tempo function and the pitch control.

OH NO

Yeah, it’s probably easier for a lot of people.

MONK ONE

Than doing a timestretch. So you normally use the MPC?

OH NO

Yeah, I used to use the SP-1200 back in the days. That was Madlib’s, though. When he moved out I got my own stuff.

MONK ONE

What’s rest of your studio look like?

OH NO

Oh my studio, it’s just ghetto, man. Like I said, it’s in a room. Like, I got two studios. I got one in DJ Romes’ spot, from the Lootpack, and then I got my own spot. It’s just in my room, man. I got a little ProTools set-up, a couple of keyboards, an MS-2000 or whatever. I got a couple of Roland keyboards and stuff. MPC. Couple of effects things. Some DJ stuff. Turntables, CDJ. Just a regular set-up. I got a Roland VS-1680 …

MONK ONE

Is that what you record into mainly?

OH NO

I used to record into that all the time, but nowadays I just record straight into ProTools, that way it’s there already. I go from my MP, to my Roland, to ProTools. So I make the beat right there and then I save it like that, that way I don’t got to save it on disc.

MONK ONE

So when you record into ProTools, do you have the tracks isolated like that, so that you can separate them, drums and the bass and all?

OH NO

Yep. I don’t spend a lot of time doing mixdowns either though ’cause that’s not how we do things in the Ox. We like it dirty, we keep it raw. We do them five-minute mixdowns. One pass and we’re done.

MONK ONE

So, what do you look for in a track when you’re doing the mixdown? You want the drums up front, loud? What’s the key element?

OH NO

Really, there is no key element when it comes to that ’cause every beat is different. I tend to make beats different all the time. I don’t usually like to make ’em the same all the time. I dig for different sounds. If I make a beat off something, say, a soul record, then the next time I pick up a record it’s not going to be a soul record. Say, a classical record or something, jazz, maybe some rock, whatever. Might be a Nintendo game, whatever.

MONK ONE

Right.

OH NO

I mean, making beats to me is just about putting sounds together. You’re arranging the sounds and it has to be fun and creative. Be creative. That’s all it’s about.

MONK ONE

So you got another one queued up there on the MP?

OH NO

Sure, I’ll get one real quick. You want to play a Deodato?

MONK ONE

Yeah, here’s one made up of Mr Deodato’s tracks.

OH NO

This one is made off... I didn’t want to do too much. It’s from Skyscrapers.

MONK ONE

Skyscrapers?

OH NO

Yeah. With the bassline [sings the notes]. This ain’t no rocket science. My bad, it’s loading.

MONK ONE

Oh, it’s still loading? The MPC 2000 XL…

OH NO

Like I said, I don’t usually save stuff. And it’s definitely never zips. If I did, it would be like ten discs or something ‘cause the samples are so long. What they gave to me, I wanted to make sure the orchestra could do it as well. I didn’t wanna make it all crazy and chopped up so they’d be like: “What the hell is this?” I wanted to stay true to his element as well. It’s actually off of two Deodato songs, I took the drums from Deodato as well.

MONK ONE

So it’s a combination of two different…?

OH NO

Yeah.

MONK ONE

OK.

OH NO

[plays Deodato beats] So that’s one for Deodato and the orchestra. The orchestra will be playing that tonight if we can get some rehearsal time in.

MONK ONE

Absolutely, which is the reason why we have to cut this whole process a little bit shorter than we could’ve done.

OH NO

The reason why is that I’m doing a four-beat medley. So, sitting down with the arranger to do all the notes, it’s taken time. So, when the first rehearsal day came, only one part was done, so they couldn’t do anything. The next day came and it still wasn’t done. So, hopefully we’ll knock it out today and it’s going to be ready to go.

MONK ONE

The important thing is to have fun.

OH NO

Exactly.

MONK ONE

And make your music.

OH NO

Exactly, it’s what it’s all about.

MONK ONE

So just before we open it up here, I just wanted to find out what projects you’re working on right now?

OH NO

Right now, I just finished up my man Roc C’s album that’s coming out on Stones Throw. He was featured on the Dilla track with me, called “Move”, he’s got a single out now that’s doing real well. I’m finishing up a project with Galt MacDermot. Galt MacDermot is the guy that composed Hair, Cotton Comes To Harlem and all that stuff. My man Egon put me on to it and I basically flipped 40-something beats out of that, turned it into a compilation. Getting all kinds of OGs on it that I looked up to, from Wise Intelligent, Posdnous from De La, all kinds of cats, Wordsworth, all kinds of cats on that.

MONK ONE

You got into Galt MacDermot’s tapes?

OH NO

Yeah, yeah. I went out there and hooked up with him, he gave me all kinds of material. Egon gave me all kinds of material. They said: “Do what you want to do with it.” So, that’s on its way. It’s called The Exodus Into Unheard Rhythms. Exodus being a large group, going on a journey. And the rhythms, it’s not like typical Oh No stuff. I mean, it’s banging, but it’s all Galt MacDermot stuff so I wanted to make it real melodic and musical. It’s pretty sick. It’s going to be real sick.

MONK ONE

And that’s coming out on Stones Throw?

OH NO

Yeah, yeah. And I’m like 60-something songs deep into my next album.

MONK ONE

Wow.

OH NO

Me and Madlib are working on a project too. We got like, 15 or 16 songs done. That’s coming out real sick, too, so look out for that.

MONK ONE

So how much time do you usually spend on a beat if you’re… I’ve heard you’re doing eight in a day?

OH NO

I’ve done ten or 11 in a day. It just depends. Some beats just need days on ’em, some need a minute. Depends on how you’re looking at it, what you’re wanting out of it. If you want a raw beat, raw beats don’t really take too much. If you want it real melodic and layered out, that’s going to take a minute, depending on how you look at it. Some people catch it right away. You got to hear basslines in music. Not necessarily the bassline that’s playing but the one that you hear that goes along with it in your head. You got to make it up. My head’s always making things up. It’s just always moving. That’s why I got to slow it down.

MONK ONE

Right. Well, I know you got to be out of here soon to get over to the rehearsal, so I want to give everybody out there a chance to say what they have to say, if anybody got any questions for Oh No up here. Anybody? Going once. Anybody?

OH NO

I gotta question.

MONK ONE

What’s up?

OH NO

Where’s the blunts at? (laughter)

MONK ONE

That’s something we can discuss after the microphones are turned off.

OH NO

That’s what’s up.

MONK ONE

Alright then. You’re going to get over to the hall for rehearsal and tonight we’re going to hear some incredible music, I’m sure.

OH NO

It’s going to be real live. A lot of people out here, doin’ it. Real big. Kirk Degiorgio, Underground Resistance, everybody. Definitely the greats are knocking in that hall. David Matthews. Damn! Deodato, all of them. Clare Fischer, Brent Fischer too, his son is out here too. It’s going to be live.

MONK ONE

It’s going to be nice tonight. Alright man, thanks for coming down.

OH NO

Thanks.