Best Posts: Mark Batson Interview - Talks Detox,Eminem

Mikey · Oct 6, 2020

Oct 6, 2020
https://hiphop-n-more.com/2020/10/mark-batson-new-age-album-detox-status-exclusive-interview/

I found this a good interview.

You have worked on music that has sold a whopping 150 million copies. That is really huge and very uncommon. Out of all the amazing artists you’ve worked with, what are some of your favorite memories?

Working on India .Arie’s first album (Acoustic Soul). It was when I first got serious about making records. I was the musical director for Kelis’ band and I met Pharrell and Rob Walker, his manager. They were an inspiration to me that I could be successful as a producer and not just a road musician. That first album I made after meeting them was Acoustic Soul and it got nominated for Album of The Year at the GRAMMYs. It was a dynamic ride going from playing keys in a band to being at the audience at the Grammy’s and meeting Bono. On a side note, Pusha T was the rapper for our band then, and was named “Terrar.”

I have so many great memories with artists I can’t count… Working with Eminem and Dre and the Aftermath squad in Hawaii for months at the Kahala resort, in Vegas with 50, Dave Matthews in Virginia at their Haunted Hollow studios. Music can take you to some incredible places.

Definitely. According to me, the peak Aftermath era with Dre, Em and 50 is one of the most influential times in modern music. Do you agree? And looking back at it, how do you feel about being a part of such a monumental period?

It was amazing, and one of the best musical experiences of my life. Working with the top people had a lot of benefits, and they were all really fun to work with. 50 Cent is absolutely hilarious. He used to come to the studio and have the whole room on the floor laughing until our stomachs were hurting. There would literally be tears pouring down my face listening to his stories… and Dre is the best band and team leader I’ve ever worked with. His work ethic is ridiculous and we made a lot of incredible music. He rarely releases songs and I probably have a thousand to 1500 tracks that are in his vault. He plays the music loud with the best sound system in the country, and a lot of people couldn’t take the intensity of the volume beating in your chest, but I grew up with Hip-Hop and going to jams, block parties and clubs so I loved it. Creating with him was like going to the best club in the city, making the music, and then having drinks and rocking out to it.

“He (Dre) rarely releases songs and I probably have a 1000 to 1500 tracks that are in his vault.”

Beyonce, Eminem, 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, Maroon 5, Alicia Keys, Dave Matthews Band and countless more, you’ve contributed to a lot of great music and it’s in different capacities: sometimes as a producer and musician and other times as a writer. Is there a role you enjoy the most?

I have a flexibility because I believe that music is a universal language. I started out learning classical piano while living in the projects in Brooklyn, and then being in a rap group with my brother at the beginning of the rap era. When we practiced classical music in the projects, older kids, some tough a--- dudes used to come to my floor to smoke weed and drink 40s while listening to me and my siblings practicing Bach, Brahms and Beethoven. They had mad respect for me and my brother on the musical level and also on the fighting level. At a young age, I knew that music was an ethos, that if practiced diligently in search of perfection, one could apply to a myriad of art forms. I knew that different styles could be appreciated if presented in the right context. I bring that sensibility and respect to every art form, and consider Eminem in some ways to be parallel to Yo-Yo Ma in talent. I have collaborated with both of them and both are supremely dedicated to the highest level of performance and emotion. If you study your craft, you become flexible and confident. It makes fulfilling a variety of roles that much easier.

Speaking of highest level of performance, Dr. Dre is a perfectionist and I understand that a lot of the music he creates doesn’t release to the public. I’m sure there’s a lot that you would have contributed to as well. Does that ever get frustrating?

With Dre, you have to respect the system and not get too emotional about it. Sometimes, you feel like you just made the best beat in history, and he might not like it, and move on….hitting you with the hardest one word criticism that I have ever heard.. “Ehhh.” A lot of people don’t have the stomach for it, but I enjoy coming up with new ideas and looking for the perfect beat. I have songs with Dre, with Jay-Z, Nas, 50, Em and Game that have never been released and maybe never will. I learned over time that Dre enjoys creating music, and has enough control over his ego to not feel that everyone should listen to everything he does. With that system, he is able to deliver some of the finest albums ever created in Hip-Hop, with listenability from top to bottom. Sometimes, it could take him recording a hundred songs to get to one he likes enough to release.

“Sometimes, you feel like you just made the best beat in history, and he (Dre) might not like it, and move on….hitting you with the hardest one word criticism that I have ever heard.. “Ehhh.”

That brings me to a question I will always ask whenever I chat with someone from the Aftermath camp: Will Detox ever come out? (laughs)

At the end of the day, I recorded over 200 tracks at least for Detox. I pitched him a variety of tracks and he even selected a few to create songs to. At some point, he realized he didn’t like the direction he was going in, and decided not to release it. When we were in a session on Game’s album (The Documentary), he was reinvigorated to make Detox when we made the song ‘Higher‘. He even says “look out for Detox” at the end of the song. However, I remember something Anthony Hamilton told me about myself… “you get excited really quick, but you get bored just as fast.” That sometimes happens with people who have an endless creative supply and love to build things. They often build something they like for the moment and then move on. Dre would cut what I would think were whole albums for Detox, listen to them for six months and then describe it with that word: “Ehhh.”

People on the team would want him to put the music out, because they thought it was not fresh for him but would still be brand new to everybody else, but his level of all-time perfection would kick in, and then the spirit of creativity, and then he would be on to something else. Dre loves the process of creating. He can be satisfied sometimes with making the art, reveling in it on a personal level, and then moving on to something else.
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