We continue our conversation with Black Milk. In the latest installment, Black explains to us the driving force behind his trademark sound where he uses plenty of live instruments and undiscovered samples:
HHNM: There are very few producers who can rap well too and you’re right up there on that list. How will you describe your sound? It’s definitely different than the usual we keep hearing these days.
Black Milk: My style is very Detroit. The most important element of my music is the feeling. Like a lot of Detroit artists, I like to use my vocal as an instrument, an extension of the production, as opposed to using it against the production.
HHNM: I notice that you really like to play around with a track either in the beginning of it or at the end and infuse some instrumental interludes every now & then. That’s particularly the case on ‘Popular Demand’ and ‘Tronic’. Sounds great but a listener has to play the album at least twice to really understand the concept. Do you make a deliberate effort to do that? I love it by the way.
Black Milk: I like to leave a special stamp on my larger bodies of work by attaching those rare “magical moments” to the beginning or ending of a song, and also in between tracks. They give the album or song a certain feel and force the listener to rewind. The influence for me to do that comes from listening to albums like Pete Rock’s “Soul Survivor” or Dilla’s interludes in between songs. They add replay value.
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