>> Hi Tek
bio: In the late 1990s, he helped define the sound of New York’s independent rap scene through his work with Mos Def, Talib Kweli and others. In the last few years, he’s become one of Dr. Dre’s most prized producers thanks to his hard-hitting work with 50 Cent, The Game and Lloyd Banks. Now, beat maven Hi-Tek returns with Hi-Teknology 2, his second stellar solo album, a brilliant collection that showcases his wide-ranging, genre-defining production work as well as his polish as a rapper.
Like 2001’s revered Hi-Teknology, the Cincinnati-based producer’s new album features the genre’s elite lyricists (Jadakiss, Talib Kweli, Raekwon, Ghostface, Nas, Common, Busta Rhymes) flowing over Tek’s mesmerizing beats and showcases some of music’s most promising new talent (London singer Ayak and up-and-coming rapper Papoose).
“I wanted to do the same type of album with a new energy,” Hi-Tek says. “One of the purposes of this album is to display my versatility. With versatility, I don’t mean reaching so far that it’s purposely done, but that this is what I do naturally. I’m a person that comes from the Midwest that really studied hip-hop and respects it.”
Hi-Tek’s love for hip-hop shines on “New York,” a song that features the All-Star lineup of Jadakiss, Talib Kweli, Raekwon and Papoose. It’s a street record that sounds and feels like New York, the birthplace of hip-hop and Hi-Tek’s primary musical inspiration. “I wanted to pay my respect and do a dedication to New York,” Hi-Tek says. “I’m paying my homage to New York because New York has been a big inspiration to my career.”
Another major influence on Hi-Tek’s music is his family. Born from family jam sessions Hi-Tek regularly has on Sundays in Cincinnati, the touching “Josephine” features his father on bass and vocals, his mother on strings, his uncle on guitar and his best friend Big D on drums. “Every time we got in the studio, I would catch a crazy vibe,” Hi-Tek reveals. “I really realized where I got my talents from.” Also featuring Ghostface, the song is about the struggle a woman goes through when she succumbs to drugs.
With such a strong bond for music thanks to his artistically inclined family, it’s no surprise that music plays such a central role in Hi-Tek’s life. On the elegant, flute-driven “Music For Life,” which features raps from Nas, Common and Hi-Tek himself, each artist conveys the special place music holds in their lives. “Nas touches something, an expression, a passion that hasn’t been heard in a long time that matches with the sound of the music,” Hi-Tek explains. “I really wanted to express how deep into music I’ve been since I was a kid. I think it’s a blessing that I have, this hunger for hearing good music and an ear, and the way I interpret music. Music, that’s my whole life.”
The soulful, feel-good “Can We Go Back” finds Hi-Tek showcasing up-and-coming London singer Ayak, whom he discovered on myspace.com. “I heard her and was like, ‘I’ve got to work with her.’ She’s so incredible. I’m in the process of signing her now.”
Elsewhere, the high-energy, militaristic “March,” featuring Busta Rhymes, shows yet another side of Hi-Tek’s sonic mastery. While working with such established artists as Nas and Busta Rhymes, Hi-Tek is able to reach into new parts of their artistry. “I think that I’m able to bring them into Hi-Tek’s world and really give the fans who like Hi-Tek’s music something,” he says. “I think I am able to bring them to something that they might not even know that they’re able to do by being on major labels, with the type of music that major labels expect out of them. With this record, I’m able to give artists like that a chance to really breathe and maybe do something in a certain way or through a different side of them.”
Growing up in Cincinnati, Hi-Tek was eager to show the world his own talents. A die-hard hip-hop fan and b-boy, he fell in love with the seminal hip-hop movie Beat Street and made his first trip to New York in the mid 1980s, when KRS-One’s Boogie Down Productions and Eric B. & Rakim were emerging as superstars.
Following in his parents’ footsteps, he started making his own music. Hi-Tek hoped to get an opportunity to have his music heard. “In my mind, I always thought, ‘As soon as somebody hears this, they’re going to feel it,’” he recalls. “I wanted people to hear it, what I was doing since I was 8, 9 years old.”
Hi-Tek’s first big break came with fellow Cincinnatians Mood, who were signed to TVT Records. He produced several songs on their Doom album, which led to his landmark work on Mos Def and Talib Kweli’s Black Star album. His stellar work on “Definition,” “Redefinition” and “Respiration” lead to Hi-Tek’s teaming with Talib Kweli on the Reflection Eternal album, which Hi-Tek produced in its entirety.
From there, Hi-Tek catapulted to one of rap’s most in-demand producers, working with Common, Kool G. Rap, Big L, Beanie Sigel, dead prez, Cocoa Brovas, Ras Kass and others. Impressed with his versatile sounds, Snoop Dogg enlisted Hi-Tek to work on a number of his projects, including Tha Eastsidaz and his solo material.
Hi-Tek credits his wide appeal to his diverse sounds and musical moods. “Like I said on ‘The Blast’ verse, I really do think I’m a chameleon,” he says. “I think I’ve gotten longevity in the game because I understand all aspects of people. I’m from the Midwest and I grew up listening to a lot of music and respecting it. I was inside the music. I took the best from each region and made it my sound, and that’s how I think I’m able to do whatever I want to do and still feel like I’m putting my heart and soul into it.”
Now a staff producer and talent scout for Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment, Hi-Tek has been one of Dre’s most consistent beatmakers. And, in a nod of his belief in Hi-Tek’s work, Dre has also signed Hi-Tek’s R&B artist Dion to Aftermath. “Dre gives me the freedom to just do what I do,” Hi-Tek explains. “Whatever fits the Aftermath sound, we place it on a project. If the sound fits any artist that Dre’s signed, then that’s where the track goes. He gave me a captain’s seat. He allows me to do the Hi-Tek sound, and that fits a chamber of what Dre’s doing at Aftermath.”
With his production work landing on such multi-platinum projects as 50 Cent’s The Massacre, The Game’s The Documentary, Lloyd Banks’ The Hunger For More and Snoop Dogg’s last two albums, Hi-Tek is primed for his sophomore solo set.
“I felt that it was time,” he says. “I’m looking at the rap game, and my music is the missing chamber out of everything that’s going on with music in general. As an artist that really cares about his fans, I just really want to give back to people who like Hi-Tek and who love my music.”
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