The Alchemist: High and Mighty

By Jaeki Cho

On his previous album, The Alchemist successfully put together a cohesive album filled with grimy bangers. Five years later, the producer/rapper is still on the same tip, but this time with more diversity from production to guest appearances. Chemical Warfare (out July 7th) is a must buy, a well thought-out coordination of sinister melodies and hooks with the kind of verses that call for numerous “rewind that” moments.





Now most hip-hop fans are familiar with The Alchemist. They know his catalogue of highly sought-after beats, and they know his role as Eminem’s trustworthy DJ. But do they know how he became Em’s DJ? Or what took so long for a producer of his caliber to even get a chance to work with Slim Shady on a full track?





We were as curious as the fans, so we caught up with the multi-tasking producer to check out what he’s been cooking up. Trust us—from working with Kid Cudi, to exclusive new Relapse 2 material from Eminem, to the Jewish reign in hip-hop, The Alchemist is always happy to drop knowledge on his beat science.











AllHipHop.com: Have you spoken to Prodigy lately?





Alchemist: Yea, I go visit him. I spoke to him on the phone. He’s actually good. Getting his health right, mind right, staying away from the bulls***. He reads and watches the news. He’s up on more current events than I do. I knew he had some s*** to say about the swine flu thing. He says, “Son, you know that was just so the health industry could get money off the vaccine. They’re just putting out a flu so everybody gets scared so they could go make money.” I’m like, “Damn, son. You got the theories over there even.” But I’ve been playing a lot of music over the phone. We’re working, man.





AllHipHop.com: To kick things off about the album, why did Eminem only spit one verse on the track “Chemical Warfare?”





Alchemist: It’s leakage. That version leaked out before we could finish the track, man. But now the full track is ready.





AllHipHop.com: What about those short joints with Fabolous and Lil Fame?





Alchemist: Those were actually all short records. I wanted to have those songs that are used as a mediator between songs like those old Premier s****. Plus, I feel like attention spans for people are shorter these days.





AllHipHop.com: In regards to the album, I really liked the joint “That’ll Work.”





Alchemist: That was like an experimental beat. I had a sample on the MPC and I held on to all 32 buttons with my hands and the chopped sound goes, “Doo-loo-loo.” I was like, “That s*** sounds ill!” So I just pressed record and I put my whole hand on the MPC pads. I could have never programmed it like that. It was some mistake s***.


http://www.allhiphop.com/stories/features/archive/2009/07/10/21767957.aspx