I have been a fan of his production since 1997. The crew was K-Otix outa Huston Texas. Remember them? That EP "Spontaneity" from 97 and the "Universal' from 2001.Yea those are some of the classics from back then. The ARE has been dropping heavy beats for years and is still on his A Game. Peep my interview with The ARE.
Cratez - where you from and grew up?
The ARE-I’m from Houston, Tx. I grew up there and spent
most of my youth there.
Cratez- Who were your influences coming up?
TheARE-I think my earliest influences in Hip Hop would
have to start with Marley Marl. I had many
influences before that when it came to shaping my
taste in music. Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, The
Beatles and much more but when it came to hip
hop, hearing Marley’s production is what made me
curious as to how something from another record
could be looped up and used in the way he was
using it. Soon after, I was pulling inspiration from
Dj Premier, Pete Rock, Diamond D and many
more. Basically I was running to the record store
and reading the back of the records to check
production credits.
Cratez-The first time i heard your production was when
you were part of KOtix back in 97. I remember the
vinyl record "Spontaneity " Still got doubles of that
by the way lol.Then ofcourse the "do you wanna be
an mc "and questions records.Tell me about the
history of the KOtix?
The ARE-I’m from Houston, Tx. I grew up there and spent
most of my youth there.
Cratez- Who were your influences coming up?
TheARE-I think my earliest influences in Hip Hop would
have to start with Marley Marl. I had many
influences before that when it came to shaping my
taste in music. Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, The
Beatles and much more but when it came to hip
hop, hearing Marley’s production is what made me
curious as to how something from another record
could be looped up and used in the way he was
using it. Soon after, I was pulling inspiration from
Dj Premier, Pete Rock, Diamond D and many
more. Basically I was running to the record store
and reading the back of the records to check
production credits.
Cratez-The first time i heard your production was when
you were part of KOtix back in 97. I remember the
vinyl record "Spontaneity " Still got doubles of that
by the way lol.Then ofcourse the "do you wanna be
an mc "and questions records.Tell me about the
history of the KOtix?
The ARE-I was living in NY for a little while around 1990. I
had a drum machine and a 4 track but I needed a
sampler so I decided to move back to Houston to
save money and buy one. When I finally got my
Ensoniq EPS, I started putting beat tapes together.
One of my tapes got into the hands of Doug King
who was a producer and had left RapALot to start
his own label. He had 2 guys that he wanted to
sign but they were more east coast influenced and
he felt that my music fit them best. We had a
meeting and I met Mic and D and we started
recording music from that point on. We eventually
left the label and continued doing shows and
recording but it wasn’t until 94’ or 95’ that we
realized there was an independent movement
building and we could press our own vinyl and get
it distributed. From there our goal was just that,
record and EP and press it up, record a few singles
and eventually create an album.
Cratez-What is your studio set up like? and what is your
weapon of choice when creating beats?
The ARE-I’ve always kept it simple. From the very beginning
I used the Ensoniq EPS and eventually moved to
the Ensoniq ASR10. I still try and create a majority
of the music with the Ensoniq but occasionally I’ll
pull up some plugins in protools to add to the track
and help broaden the sound. So right now my main
set up is Ensoniq ASR10, Pro tools and a
turntable. Simple
Cratez- Dem Damb Jacksons is a great Album.How did
you link up with Oh No and Kay for that Album?
and what inspired you to make that tribute?
The ARE-Michael Jackson and The Jackson 5 are among
my top greatest of all time as they are to many but
to be honest, when I did that project I was just
looking for a good concept to help promote me as
a producer. At that time, producers were starting to
come out of the shadows and create instrumental
projects to help them make a name for themselves
and eventually help them place tracks with other
artist. I had already leaked out 5 or 6 beat cd’s so I
wanted to expand my concepts. Kay and I have
been friends since the early 90’s when Kotix was
formed. He was part of a group called Example.
After he heard the Jacksons stuff I did he wanted
to take the concept further and put vocals on it.
Kay’s name is Kevin Jackson and he had already
worked with Oh No who’s name happens to be
Michael Jackson. So Dem Damb Jacksons is a
play on both Kay and Oh No as well as The
Jacksons.
Cratez-Damn that's dope
Cratez- Whats the story behind track masters? how did
you link up with them?
The ARE-After real easing a slew of beat projects, I linked up
with Punchline of the EMC crew to produce a few
songs for their album. Punchline has always been
a close friend to Poke & Tone who he eventually
passed a beat cd to because they were looking to
rebuild the Trackmaster team. One day I received
a phone call from Poke and he wanted to know if
I’d be interested in coming to NY for a few months
to work on the Lil Kim album. I was on a plane to
NY within a couple of weeks and we worked out of
Battery Studios for 3 months. During that time, we
recorded Lil Kim’s album(which never came out)
and a a gang of other songs to shop. I still work
with Poke & Tone but I’m back in Houston as my
home base.
Cratez-Uphill piece of mind is a great album. track 20
"fly" dope instrumental.I heard that track after
with some one rhyming on it. Who was it? Shit
got me stumped
The ARE-Yeah, Fly was always a favorite of mine. An Mc
from Houston Named Cardiac is featured on that
album. He got the beat through a friend and
laced it up.
Cratez- Shit that's right! Off of the Still Climbing EP
Cratez-You are featured a lot on rappers i know How
Cratez-You are featured a lot on rappers i know How
did you link up with them?
The ARE-FWMJ and I have been friends for a long time
now. We met because he was going to college in
Houston and was friends with several of my
friends. When he started Rappersiknow, he
initially wanted it to be a site that showcased his
friends (Rappers he knew) and that included K-
otix, Kay of Example and a handful of others. We
are all still family and work together as much as
possible.
Cratez- Is Here,My Dear is a tribute to your
daughter? Tell me about that album.and
beautiful video by the way.
The ARE-Marvin’s Here, My Dear has always been a
favorite of mine. The tone and the subject matter
of that album is very real. I split up from my ex
girlfriend and moved out on my own. It was a
difficult situation because I had been a stay at
home father because I could work from home.
My daughter and I have a bond like no other and
continues to be that way. However, the tension
and harassment was at an all time high from my
ex and Marvin’s Here, My Dear became very
therapeutic for me. I decided to close that
chapter of my life by recreating the album in my
way and make it a tribute to my daughter and
fathers out there that are being REAL fathers to
there children. It means a lot.
Cratez- Salute to that fam.
Cratez- Anything in the future for the Burnerz ?
The ARE-Zumbi and I are working on new material now. I took
a little break from the industry to try and reset my
creativity. I hope we can finish things up soon.
Cratez-Are you a vinyl digger?
The ARE-Oh Yes! I’v been heavy in the vinyl game since
the early 90’s. At one point I started scaling
down my collection because I just had too many
records and no place to store them. Nowadays, I
try and keep my collection down to the things I
enjoy most. Rare doesn’t always mean good. I
like my collection to be gems that I’d play, not
just collect.
Cratez- What's in the future for The Are? new
projects? Dejay gigs?
The ARE-After taking a break, I’m getting back to biz and
exploring new projects. Kotix are finishing a
project now. I just recently did something for
EMC and there is a few other things bubbling. I
DJ quite often now. I do a 45 set at Onion Creek
in the Heights and I have a weekly on Saturdays
at the Flat. DJing keeps things fun for me and
thats what this music is supposed to be about.
having fun and being creative. When it stops
being fun, you really have to step back and re-
evaluate what your doing. You have to get back
to doing what you started doing it for in the
beginning.
Cratez- Oh and by the way peep this Tribe tribute right here.
Cratez-I want to thank for The ARE for giving me the opportunity for the interview. Peace
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