Published: Wednesday - January 12, 2005
Words by Ruben Diaz
Kamal Gray (Photo: OkayPlayer)
By now, if you're a hip-hop aficionado, you are quite familiar with the legendary Roots crew. Yes, the Philly outfit often tagged with the title of the "hip-hop band." You might reference The Roots with either a distinct beard-rocking lyricist known as Black Thought, or perhaps even, a Julius Erving-like afro'd drummer known as ?uestlove. But behind the scenes of it all, is a fellow bearded musician whom has played just as a significant roll to The Roots' orchestrated success, and he answers to the name of Kamal Gray. Looming in the shadows of hits such as "Break You Off," and "Next Movement" among others, Kamal's decade-plus of extensive work is about to come full circle.
Kamal still remains a vital player in the said group, but is about to delve into other territories and let his production talents take him to new levels in this uncharted land of music. BallerStatus was fortunate enough to sit down with Kamal at his hotel suite, which towered over the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip, while on tour. Read on and see what new seed is about to be planted and set to branch out on its own.
BallerStatus.com: What's Kamal up to these days?
Kamal: These days, I'm up to a lot of different things. I'm working with a few different artists, and I've got a production company called Watch Dog Music Productions. Also, I got a guy named Truck North on the [Tipping Point album] and a couple other albums, so I'm focusing really hard on him. And I got a lot of other stuff. Right now, I'm just focused on getting myself really out there and other artists [that I'm working with].
BallerStatus.com: What's your production mainly based off of? Hip-hop?
Kamal: Well it's mainly hip-hop based, but there's no limits to that. It's whatever. It can range from stuff you've similarly heard from some stuff I did before, to even some R&B stuff. The thing now is a lot of R&B is hip-hop and vice versa.
BallerStatus.com: What prompted you to start your own production company?
Kamal: Well, I've been producing for a while now, but I've done stuff for compilations, obviously for The Roots, and there's always been some left over stuff, so it's kind of been there waiting to be done. From that, I wanted to start my own production company and help my own artists. Plus, I've seen how a lot of artists have been done wrong or things didn't happen right, so I figured the best way to get myself out there is to do it on my own, with my own artists.
BallerStatus.com: So with this Watch Dog Music, do you have a project coming out soon or next year?
Kamal: Yeah, but right now, it's kind of hard because the industry is so messed up and I don't have (pauses)... none of the artists that I'm working with have big deals or anything. I'm just trying to grasp a few labels and see if I can get their attention, and hopefully with that be able to set up my own label situation. That's my main goal. Otherwise, just try to push the independent thing.
BallerStatus.com: Comparisons aren't always fair or justifiable, but can you give people an idea as to who you compare your production company's sound to? Is it stuff we've heard before that you did with The Roots?
Kamal: Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, it's just pretty much me and the artists I work with coming together and working as a union. But on the last album, I did a song called "Sacrifice," so you can get a taste of the production there. Those are the kinds of things that I do, but I wouldn't really compare myself to anyone else that's out 'cause I'd like to think that I have something that's just a little different from what everybody else has. You can compare it to Pharrell to a, you know, Kanye, but I got my own little sound. You just haven't heard it yet, outside of The Roots, but the masses haven't really heard of Kamal [and his sound] yet!
BallerStatus.com: If you could get your beats and your production to a particular artist, who would it be?
Kamal: Man... I think I got something for everybody. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I honestly feel I have something for everybody. You know, when I go in the lab, I always come up with ideas. So, I can't control what you feel and you come up with different things. But, I think I'm gonna try to link up with T.I., Floetry ( who are good friends of mine), Styles [P]. So you know, those kind of people are the ones I want to work with. And it's hard because I got to be thinking like, "I'm the producer," and I have to be arranging all kinds of things. And at the same time, I have to worry about being the artist that I am over here [with The Roots], and then to try to have my artists working and doing things here and there. It's been a couple months, but hopefully people will see what we're doing and get ready for what we got!
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