This dude is dope. Producer Ceaser is fresh outta Italy. He dropped a Jay-Z & Biggie mixtape last year, but this joint he has out now is on another level. It's called 'Definition Of Empire' and its all his own beats blended with the entire roster of Def Jam. It's also hosted by The Butcher himself DJ Vlad. I first heard about Ceasar a little while ago. I slept on his first tape, but after seeing the track 'New Jersey Drive' pop up on peoples mixtapes and on AllHipHop, I knew I had to check him out. On that specific track, he blended Redman and Joe Budden, two of Jersey's finest together on his own beat. The beat was so sick that I at first was astonished by the whole thing. He is so versatile on his tape that he seemlessy can go from a Jay-Z and Young Jeezy track over to a Ne-Yo blend without any weak points. Big Chew from Rapmullet gave his tape a 3 out of 4 rating, so you know its something serious. I was able to catch up with him and really get down to the nitty gritty on what makes Ceasar tick.
Definition Of Empire Sampler
New Jersey Drive (Prod. Ceasar) - Joe Budden & RedmanWacks: Whats up Ceasar, how you doin?
Ceasar: All good, just tryin’ to work as much as I can.
W: Your latest mixtape just dropped which is entirely made up of your production. Tell us about that?
C: I thought that making a mixtape like this would be a great way to show what I am capable of doing. I try to be a producer and not just a beatmaker and this type of project is a good way to show not just my ability in making beats, but also my exact vision of the track. It shows how I interpret the whole song.
Definition Of Empire has received good reviews from all over the world: US, Australia and Italy. Honestly, better than what I was expecting.
W: What made you decide to blend your beats with the entire roster of Def Jam?
C: When I made the first tape (Brooklyn’s Finest, feat. Biggie and Jay Z) I noticed that the only negative comments on it were “the tape is good, but the concept is overused”. So this time the first thing I wanted to do was find an original concept that would allow me to work with different types of beats. The Def Jam idea seemed the best because it would have given me the possibility to work with different sounds, from Tru Life to Young Jeezy and even Ne-Yo.
W: Your track 'New Jersey Drive' leaked all over the place, lots of people were thinking it was an official track. How did that happen?
C: It’s one of the tracks off the tape where I was really able to make it sound like an actual song and not just a blend. Like for the other songs, I looked for rare acapellas and the Joe Budden one was particularly rare.
I really care about every small detail in my remixes, even shouts or spoken parts. Like at the beginning of that particular track where I put Budden saying “I think it’s about that time” and Redman answers “Yeah”. It gives a touch of realism to the song and I knew it would have fooled anybody that wasn’t familiar with those acapellas. The track ended up as an “exclusive” on AllHipHop.Com for 2 days!
W: What made you decide to hook up with DJ Vlad for the release?
C: Vlad is one of the DJs that made blend tapes popular. His was the first name I thought of.
W: How would you describe your style in a few words and why?
C: I consider myself a “mainstream backpacker”. I prefer by far working with samples and producing beats that have “soul”, wether they are street bangers of smoothed out tracks. But I’m tryin’ to never give myself limits and to be as versatile as possible, in order to be able to work with any type of artist.
W: Which one beat made you say "WOW. I WANNA DO THAT!!!"?
C: 90% of Premier’s catalog. “Mass Appeal”, “Come Clean” and that type of stuff. Reasonable Doubt’s SKI. Pete Rock too, “T.R.O.Y.” is probably my favorite beat ever. Almost everything that came out of New York in the mid-nineties.
W: Who are your favorite producers and why?
C: I would say Premier cause he’s the definition of a Hip Hop producer. Almost everything he did is a classic.
Just Blaze cause in my opinion he’s the most versatile producer in the game right now. He got everything: street tracks, soulful tracks, R&B tracks and still everything sounds with his own distinctive sound. He’s just amazing to me.
Timbaland cause he’s probably the most original producer ever. He’s a musical genius to me.
W: Do you remember the first beat you made? What was it like?
C: It was garbage…basically I took a dance demo from some cheap software, changed a few notes, added some drums and bragged all week to my friends that I had made a beat! But seriously, as soon as I listened to it the first time, I knew that music was what I wanted to do.
W: How long have you been producing?
C: I started without knowing what I was doing in ’96. I was about 15-16 years old. But I’ve only been taking it seriously for the past 4-5 years. When I started realizing that I could do it for real.
W: What equipment do you use?
C: The first two tapes were done almost entirely with Cubase and some VST for the synths. Nothing special. But I just purchased a new setup: an MPC 2500 and a Yamaha Motif ES6 and from there I finish everything on Cubase. I’m studying some sound engineering cause I prefer doing the mixing myself. The way I see it, I’m the only one that knows exactly how something I make should sound!
W: Which do you like to make more: grimey street beats or R&B, softer kind of beats?
C: I like to make good music. Wether it’s street beats or soft beats, I just want whoever is listening to feel something.
W: What's the deal with Prestigio Records? How'd you hook up with them?
C: I was looking for someone that would help me release this mixtape and through a mutual friend I met E Money (Prestigio Records’ CEO). I’ve been to New York a number of times and he is Italian like me and has been living in Toronto for a long time, so we have a very similar vision of Hip Hop which is very different from the standard one in Italy. He liked the idea of the mixtape right away and from there I just became part of the label.
W: Your from Italy correct? What's the hip hop scene like out there?
C: As far as I’m concerned, there is no Hip Hop scene in Italy. Don’t get me wrong, I think there are good artists, but the public is too young and there is no real attention towards this type of music. A successful Hip Hop artist usually sells between 5’000-10’000 copies and maybe only 2 or 3 do more than that. Mixtapes are almost inexistent due to strict anti-piracy laws. Plus, cds are more expensive than in the US. This means that the music business is decreasing and so it’s difficult to see a label invest in new artists or in genres that don’t have big followings.
W: What do you have in store for the rest of '07 or the later future?
C: I’m trying to put out at least another 1 or 2 tapes within the end of the year. In the meantime I’m working with some up and coming artists from NY, such as Mickey Factz and Oun P amongst others.
With Prestigio Records we are thinking about releasing an album of mine in Italy and I’m also working with Amir, which is one of the artists on the label and that has an album coming out later this year under Prestigio Records/Virgin Records.
W: Got any shoutouts?
C: illRoots.com, E Money and Prestigio Records, Ill’ Club, Pesos from I Can Make You Famous Consulting, Mickey Factz, Oun P and Ty Trackz.
A big thanks goes out to Ceasar for doing this interview with us. Go cop his new mixtape 'Definition Of Empire' over at his MySpace, and keep an eye out on this dude!!
