Jay-Z Production Team "Get Amped" About "American Gangster," "It Was Just About Making Good Music"
Tuesday - October 9, 2007

With the release of Jay-Z's heavily anticipated concept album American Gangster right around the corner, SOHH recently caught up with Jay's producers, Sean C and LV, the men responsible for six of the tracks on the disc. In this SOHH exclusive the duo discuss the CD's recording process, how they kept Hov's music from leaking and being able to get him back in the zone.

This is not the first time Sean C worked with the Brooklyn emcee from Marcy projects. He was there from the near beginning of the rapper's stardom, co-producing "Can't Knock the Hustle" from Jigga's groundbreaking debut Reasonable Doubt.

Yet never has the duo dubbed Grind Music- who have also worked with Diddy, Fat Joe, Ghostface, Swizz Beatz, Beanie Sigel and Remy Ma, among others - shown up in the credits this many times, back-to-back on the same CD.

The production partners credit Diddy with having the idea to get them on Jay's project.

"Puff was like, 'Listen, I'm about to call Jay to hear all these joints,'" LV told SOHH. "[Jay] was there in like 10 or 15 minutes, record time. He stayed for three hours and listened to 40 joints."

"He came back a week later with [the songs] "Sweet" and "No Hook," played them in the studio with Puff and we just got into a zone after that," LV said.

They worked on each track like that. With Sean C and LV showcasing the beats for Jay in one studio session, and the rapper coming back with laid vocals in another.

"He'd come back with his vocals and we'd add more stuff, little sprinkles to it," Sean C said.

"We would get amped after we heard what he did to [the tracks] and he'd get amped after he heard the music we added," LV added.

The listening sessions had to be done in person for security reasons. The drives the songs were stored in were locked and coded and nothing was ever emailed. The result of this back and forth process, according to LV, is a well-produced track listing.

"I must say these songs are well produced because it's different things happening throughout the whole song," he explained. "The beat changes with [Jay's] emotion. I'm not just saying that because we produced them."

About working with Jay-Z, "Really he's just a real cool, laid back person," Sean said.

"Everyone was on a music vibe. All the egos were left at the door," LV added. "It was just about making good music. We were just in a musical zone."

Jay-Z's American Gangster is scheduled to drop on November 6.

JIGGA MAN The GOAT

4 hiz new album ...