KENNY DOPE (INTERVIEW)
Jon Freer's Interview with Kenny 'Dope' Gonzalez, 17th November 2004.
Beatsmith par excellence, Kenny 'Dope' has been making records since the
late
80s. His distinctive style, both on the decks and in the studio, comes
from the
way he applies a Hip Hop-centric approach to both making and spinning
music. He
became a 'house'hold name through his partnership with the diminutive
'Little'
Louie Vega. As MAW, the pair has provided a benchmark for producers
around the
world, in terms of their eagerness to push the creative envelope and
embrace
different styles of music. Their productions and remixes have propelled
them to
the top of the tree, and instead of resting on their laurels, MAW always
look to
take things one step further. Recently, the pair have spent time
focussed on
solo productions, which has given their audience a chance to
re-familiarise
themselves with the work of Kenny and Louie as separate musical
entities.
On meeting Kenny 'Dope' Gonzalez, it is easy to feel a little
intimidated, due
to his large frame and his tremendous musical achievements. However, on
speaking to Mr. Dope, any initial fears are allayed. He is a relaxed
guy, who,
with reason, is confident of his own skills as a producer and DJ. At
13, he
found music, after initially wanting to study art at school. He was
born to
parents of Puerto Rican origin and grew up in the working class district
of
Sunset Park, New York. Kenny believes that this Brooklyn suburb's
musical
melting pot and diverse cultural mix has had an important impact on his
development. He has realised through travelling and studying the
history of
music that "if I lived somewhere else, my music would be so different".
The
ethnic mix of the Sunset Park area exposed Kenny to many different
styles of
music from a young age.
Currently, Kenny spends two or three weeks in a month where he travels
the world
to DJ. He would prefer to cut this down to one or two weeks, but "while
I feel
I want to go out and play, I must do it". As a DJ, Kenny feels his role
is to
both educate and give people a good party, where he likes to play a
range of
music. He feels it is his job to "break music and play stuff that other
people
don't", for whatever reason. Kenny says "I listen for sounds that the
average
person won't hear" and he believes this gives him the edge over many of
his
contemporaries. I asked Mr. Dope whom he respects in terms of other
spinners.
He says "my little sister can mix" and therefore there's only a select
band of
DJs who impress Kenny. He cites Gilles Peterson and Keb Darge as great
selectors, and when it comes to technically gifted DJs, Louie Vega,
Jazzy Jeff
and Cash Money impress him.
The development of music technology is changing the way in which DJs
work.
Kenny feels he was "forced to put vinyl down" much against his wishes.
However,
as a jet-setting DJ, he was fed up with losing records or for them to
turn up
late. He believes "you can't use the next man's records" and therefore
he was
"pushed into a corner to play CDs", but admits with CDJ's he can do just
about
anything he'd want to do with vinyl. As a label boss, he feels the
downloading
culture is doing huge damage to the music industry. He's says it is a
"touchy
subject", where kids are caught up with downloading new stuff and
therefore
won't want to buy the finished article. He feels there'll always be a
market
for vinyl collectors, but as far as CDs go, he thinks the situation is
dire. As
he puts it, "Why buy a finished CD where you like one or two out of ten
songs,
when you could download ten tracks you really love for $10?"
Kenny enjoys spinning in Japan, as the crowds are very knowledgeable and
he
feels he can play anything to them. He also has a lot of time for
coming across
the water to Europe, with particular favourites being England and Italy.
He
says "you've embraced us since the beginning, and I've got mad love for
England". When quizzed about the clubs over here, Mr. Dope says he's
really
impressed by how "people are so open to soul music". He was surprised
by that
he found this a few years ago on early visits to the UK. In the US, he
feels
for a long time that "soul music was for people of colour". Kenny
admits there
was one stage when he was spending so much time in London that he almost
bought
a house, "I wish I had done, it would be worth a lot now"!
With a record collection rumoured to be over the 30,000 mark, I asked
Kenny
about his favourite spots to pick up vinyl. He says he checks
dustygroove.com
every week, as they make it easy for him to keep up to date. He feels
let down
by many of the shops he's visited around the world, "people who know the
style
of tracks I make should be able to sell me records", and he believes
"people
don't sell you records in the way the used to anymore". Kenny served
his
musical apprenticeship behind the counter of WNR Music Centre aged 15,
where
"you knew your 30 customers" and so ordered records for them
accordingly.
However, Mr. Dope says he always checks out Vinyl Junkies when in
London, as he
normally finds something there, and being a music addict, Kenny admits
"I'm
always curious to find new records"!
Kenny says that the records in his vast collection are an important
inspiration.
He is critical of young producers today who have not studied the music
of the
past, and make "stuff that is so minimal". He says that just listening
to stuff
by Pete Rock, Marley Marl etc "can inspire something different". When
it comes
to producers currently making House, there are only a few who are
currently
exciting Kenny. He is impressed by the likes of Kerri Chandler and
Osunlade,
who have good grasp of what works musically.
It is blatantly obvious from hearing a couple of bars of one Kenny's
records,
that he has made the beats. Programmed with an incredible vitality and
strength, he believes they've become his signature because he's "very
critical
with the sound" and that his Hip Hop background "gives it the edge". He
admits
that originally, he used a different drumkit for every single
production, down
to even using a set of dissimilar beats on vocal and dub versions of
remixes!
When working in the studio with such luminaries such as Roy Ayers,
George Benson
and Jocelyn Brown, Kenny feels things work in the same way as when he
just sits
in the studio and manipulates samples. Incredibly, the vocals and
musical parts
for some of their most famous tracks such as "You Can Do It (Baby)"
which
featured George Benson, were recorded in one or two takes. Mr. Dope
believes
the reason why him and Louie were able to do this was because the
artists they
work with "trust our musical judgement" and realise that MAW want to
"capture
their vibe and take it to the next level". Understandably, considering
the
array of talent that MAW have worked with in the past, the list of
people that
Kenny would still like to collaborate with is now very small. He wishes
that
they'd been able to do something with Fela on the Nu Yorican Soul album
before
he passed away, and would love to work with Stevie Wonder, but feels
Stevie is
"hard to touch".
As remix dons, Kenny and Louie have waived their magical production wand
over
tracks by a huge rang of artists. Kenny says "every one was a
challenge" and as
they wanted each remix to be better than the previous one, "the more we
progressed, the harder it got". They booked studios for weeks at a time
in
order to complete mixes, where Kenny would make beats in one room and
Louie
would then add more components in another. Tracks would then go back
and
forth, and they often had two or three remixes on the go at once. Kenny
picks
out remixes of Lisa Stansfield, Alison Limerick and their own revision
of "You
Can Do It (Baby)" as a trio of his personal favourites.
On the compilation front, Kenny has put out a few choice selections over
the
years. He enjoys compiling them because he feels it is just an
extension of him
playing records. He admits that his Lifestyles compilation "caught a
lot of
people off guard", but he wanted to release it to "show there is good
music out
there if you are willing to listen with an open ear".
Understandably, Kenny has a special relationship, with his long-term
production
partner and friend, Louie Vega. Kenny feels their partnership works
because "we
are completely different types of people", this isn't just musically but
also
"from food to women to clothes.". He believes that when they work alone
"we can
hold our own", but when they link up, they have "something special".
Kenny
cites scheduling as the biggest difficulty for them at the moment with
regards
to spending time in the studio together. He's not sure "how we managed
to do
the amount of stuff we did together in the past", but "crazy deadlines"
probably
had something to do with their productivity.
Louie's "Elements Of Life" album has finally seen the light of day, and
his Vega
Records label has been very productive of late. Not to be outdone, Mr.
Dope has
one or two things up his sleeve. He wants to release between three and
five
albums this year, including a 'Broken' beat styled album, a soulful
house
longplayer and a live-based soul and funk album for his Kay Dee label.
Kenny
now feels comfortable and so finds he spends "a week chilling after
touring",
but he still has the zest to make new records a reality. He has
achieved a
great deal, but is still hungry for more..--
Jon Freer(jon.freer@wrongsteps.com)
*Website: www.mosoul.co.uk.
*Freelance journalist.
Publications include -
Keep On Magazine
Blues & Soul Magazine
XLR8R Magazine
FACT Magazine
City Life Magazine
Blowback Magazine
Inner Loop Magazine (R.I.P.)
littleplanet.net
pitchadjust.com
beyondjazz.net
deephousenetwork.com
skansen.no