Q&A With Big Stacks x Nite Tyme
Hey Big Stacks and Nite Tyme! Finally a Hip Hop rapper/producer duo we can actually say we 100% RESPECT!! Your guy’s music is simply amazing!! Please let us know who the duo came about? Where are you guys from? etc
Nite Tyme: Thanks!!! I hail from the Midwest City of Milwaukee, WI.
Big Stacks: Thanks!!! I’m from Fayetteville, NC but I reside in Franklin Township, NJ. Nite Tyme and I met in the Disc Man Music Store in Milwaukee. A clerk at the store, my man Katari (big ups, kid!!!), was playing one of my instrumental CDs over the sound system and Nite Tyme was in the store. Nite Tyme asked the clerk what was playing over the system, and he told him those were my beats. Nite let me know that he rhymed, so we linked up and started recording not long after we met.
We have seen some many Duo’s break up over the most littlist of issues, how have you guys been able to overcome the pressure to eventually be able to work together as a solid duo?
Nite Tyme: I have so much respect for Stacks as beat technician, crate digger, musical historian, professional and as a person in life. So for me working with him is pretty easy.
Big Stacks: The key is mutual respect. Nite Tyme is great at what he does, so I just let him do his thing vocally on the tracks. Likewise, he respects me musically to shape the sound, so it’s a match made in heaven. I’m very perfectionistic, so I can be annoying sometimes running recording sessions. But, Nite is always prepared so he records his vocals perfectly in one or two takes max. It’s a beautiful thing to have a great MC to bless my tracks.
As a duo, do you guys have Hip Hop duo influences?
Nite Tyme: I have so many influences. However since I have to narrow it down Pete Rock & CL Smooth, Tribe Called Quest, Eric B & Rakim, Gang Starr, Showbiz & AG, Mobb Deep and Run DMC.
Big Stacks: Off top, I’ll have to say Mantronix, Eric B & Rakim, Black Sheep, Mobb Deep, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, The Beatnuts, and too many more to name.
Please breakdown the creative process of your album The Balance Of Power.
Nite Tyme: As an emcee my creative process comes from life experiences in terms of subject matter. Also when I hear a beat by Stacks, the music tells me what to write. The music creates a mood that instantly tells my brain this is the topic.
Big Stacks: I make a ton of beats, and I would pass along beat CDs to Nite Tyme. He’ll pick the ones that he gets a vibe from, and as he said, form the concept for each track from the music. It’s amazing how he’ll form the rhyme around what the music provides. For example, I made the beat for “Help Me” before he came up with the concept or lyrics. The genius of it is that he formed the concept of the rap game being in trouble from the hook sample in the song. Crazy!!!
Rappers nowadays think by throwing up a few videos up on social media and pushing quick projects, they can blow up overnight! Give us your view on how over saturated the market is right now with so many MC’s/Producers but not to many quality music.
Nite Tyme: When Stacks and I were coming up the music was raw and still young art form. Now with the popularity of the culture you have people all over the world who do this. So the era we came up in it was so important to be who you were and standout. I think many of the young kids now (not all) don’t study the essence of the music and where it comes from. I truly believe if you had more kids studying the craft the quality would improve vastly.
Big Stacks: Yeah, I agree with Nite Tyme. I’ll just add that there doesn’t seem to be as much of a filter or quality control as there was ‘back then.’ Back in the day, you had a get a deal to get any kind of exposure or even present a recording to a mass of people. Now, with the new technology, any kid with a bedroom studio and an Internet connection can produce and share music. Some of it is great, some of it, ah, not so much. To each his own, though, and more power to those who are trying to make it happen good, bad, or otherwise. Salute!!!
Out the box type question, If it came down to 1 ALBUM only, what underground Hip Hop album would you consider THE BEST OF ALL TIME!!!???……One 1 album you can choose.
Nite Tyme: Wow, I have so many but since I can only choose one I would say “Mecca and the Soul Brother” Pete Rock & CL Smooth
Big Stacks: That is a tough question, but I have to say “Midnight Marauders” by A Tribe Called Quest
Here it is! Our most popular question! What is your definition of “underground hip hop”?
Nite Tyme: Underground hip hop to me is a sound that is not compromised by the mainstream sound. Underground has subject matter that is enlightening, thought out lyrical content, consciousness and grimy/smooth/hard beats.
Big Stacks: Underground hip hop is creative and gritty, untainted by industry pressure and conformity. Underground hip-hop artists create the hip-hop they want to make and express their true voices and sound.
Where can people find your music on the web? Drop all the vital links.
Big Stacks: The link to “The Balance of Power” album by Big Stacks & Nite Tyme is http://producerbigstacks.bandcamp.com/album/the-balance-of-power Also, you can check out our Soundcloud page at https://soundcloud.com/resign-johnson Finally, I have a youtube page where I post beats https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoTFqK9RF7KOaURXAAD-wBQ
Lastly, and shout out? (friends, family, management, etc)
Nite Tyme: Shouts and thanks to my G’s Tone, B John, Rick, Craig P, J-Ack, Marlon, Dennis (my cousin) my brothers Matt, Ty, Ronnie and Dedrick, my sisters Tasha, Yolanda, Debra, Brenda and Cheryl. My wife Tiana and daughter Samara. My moms. All my nieces, nephews, cousins, uncles and aunts. Love.
Special shout to my boy and dopest producer and partner Big Stacks
Big Stacks: Shout out to God, my wife, Toni, my dog (literally), Terri, my pops (RIP), my moms, my brother William (RIP) and his family, my in-laws, uncles, aunts, cousins, and nephews, my neighbor Kevin and his family, Godxilla, J-Meez, Aji, and Doc B., my fellow producer brothers in the DMV and the Dirty Ol’ Men, my knuckas Bags, Dirty Water, Karaam Agitator Black, Tylique, B-Positive, Apex and A-Flex, Divine, Soma and Big Ghate (G.U.N.), Phill Most, Raj Mahal and all my Soul Strut dudes and dudettes, El Da Sensei and Tame One (Artifacts), and all my peeps down at Retro Fitness. Shouts to all the DJs and fellow artists making that real hip hop.
An extra strength, massive shout out to my brother and favorite MC, Nite Tyme, Mil-Town’s finest. Deuces!!!
