Dante Ross

Oliver Wang interviewed producer Dante Ross for Issue 9. We offer bonus coverage with Ross talking about his own group, the SD50s.

Oliver Wang: When did SD50s come into creation?

Dante Ross: Me and John Gamble basically did everything. I would do the beats and Gamble was doing the engineering. I did a remix for this group Seduction, this song “Heart Beat,” and they used to play it like crazy out here. That was probably the first one that hit. Then I guess maybe 3rd Bass’s “Pop Goes the Weasel” was the first big, big hit.

You were already doing stuff with Sam Sever, why not link up with him?

Because Sam kind of jerked me, I thought. I thought on the 3rd Bass record, he didn’t really take care of me. He didn’t give me no cash and he was kind of raping my record collection. I just didn’t feel like he was being truly righteous at all times so I decided I wasn’t really fucking with him like that.

How were you evolving your sound? What kind of equipment were you using with the SD50s?

SP1200 and an Akai 900.

Was it because you just liked the sound or that was just more of what was available?

That’s what everyone used. Originally I used an MMT-8, which was an old sequencer I think Diamond D was still using a couple of years ago. I was just using my 1200 mostly.

What other producers did you have the most respect for?

Marley Marl, everything he ever did. At that point, he was just crazy funky to me. He was always a big influence.

Especially someone who’s an acolyte of the SP-12.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. I mean, his shit was just funky too and he was the first dude really chopping the shit up.

Did you do a lot of chops?

Yeah, I always chopped shit up, you know what I mean. Back then especially, everyone was fucking with drum loops instead of drum programs so I was always chopping shit up. Every record you made you chopped up a drum loop basically.

Can you give me an example of something you worked on like that?

“Wake Up”—I chopped up Parliament drums and I had the Nite-Liters sample on top, “Tango Goo Bonk.” If you know where that’s from and you listen to the record you’ll hear I chopped it. I wasn’t extreme like it was a couple of years after that but definitely there was some form of chopping everything up at that point.

So you weren’t doing just doing straight loops.

No, if it’s that great straight loop you gotta use it but I was not super into that. I’ve never liked using breakbeats a lot either, but you know, man, if you know records, you know Primo is not above grabbing a straight loop. It’s just that great loop you got. “All For One,” is a loop. I didn’t do it but that’s a straight loop.

You were straddling different sides of the industry, making beats on one hand but also A&Ring. Did one inform the other?

I guess it was all one and the same. I mean, there wasn’t that much separation of church and state really. I’m just a natural-born hustler, it was a way to increase my hustle.

Who else were you producing for at this time?

3rd Bass, started working with Leaders [of the New School] after I signed them, Grand Puba. I was producing Hard 2 Obtain and Kurious also.

H20 never blew up.

Nah, I never really liked the band either, I thought they were kind of wack actually and I kept saying that the whole time.

How did you end up doing their whole album then if you felt that way?

They were MC Serch’s boys. We bonded, we did a couple of songs, they were cool, everyone thought they were better than I did. They weren’t that good. One of the dudes wasn’t really an MC, the other dude sounded like Puba. I just wasn’t really interested in it by the end and it was kind of fucked up because it was a band I wouldn’t have signed but I produced them. It caused a lot of dissention amongst us in SD.

After that, SD was just you and Gamble?

You know before that though, I gotta tell you, my man Geebe was not doing much, he was really not doing a lot. One of the big things was we had this really big discussion. I was like, “Look dude—if you’re not pulling your weight, you can’t get a check. So from now on, your name can be on the record, but if you didn’t help do the beat on any level or any of the song, I don’t think you should get paid. He was like, “Well, fuck you.” And I was like, “That’s it, you’re done.”

What are the tracks that you’re proudest of?

Probably “What It’s Like” by Everlast. Just because it was the most natural shit and I knew it was great and actually something that I knew was great that had a great result. He played the new song on my couch and we made the beat a week later and I programmed the drums with no sequencing, I just programmed them live with no sequencer basically. I just had the basic loop and we did the shit so quick. I think Gamble played bass on the demo, we did it like in an afternoon, and I was like, “This song is really fucking good,” and I knew it was going to have a good result and it ended up being a huge record. It was like one of the only times my thoughts were totally 100% validated by the public.

I’ve got to ask. What did SD 50 stand for?

Stimulated Dummies. 50: Our studio was 50 number. Busta Rhymes gave us that name.

The whole name?

He was calling us the Stimulated Dummies and then we just took it we put the 50 on that, SD 50.

What did Stimulated Dummies mean?

Busta just thought we were Stimulated Dummies because we used to smoke weed.

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