Double-deckers - interview with performers/producers Sean 'Puffy' Combs and the Dust Brothers - Interview

Interview, August, 1997 by Veronica Webb, Ray Rogers

There's a new kind of father figure in the world of music. As producers who also perform, Sean "Puffy" Combs and the Dust Brothers are rocking the cradle - with hits

At age twenty-six, Sean "Puffy" combs's story reads like hip-hop's own legend of King Arthur. As of press time, the self-made music mogul who heads Bad Boy Entertainment had produced three and performed on two, of the last four top-selling singles on the Billboard charts. His duet with Faith Evans, "I'll Be Missing You," a 'tribute to Puffy's late labelmate and friend the Notorious B.I.G., entered at number one, only the fifth title in the history of the Hot 100 to do so. Even before that, though, Puff Daddy, as he's now known to the hip-hop nation, had nailed down a place in the chronicles of pop as the architect of "hip-hop soul." In 1995 he was named ASCAP Songwriter of the Year, and of late he has found himself embroiled in a deadly cross-country feud with his chief competitor, Marion "Suge" Knight of Death Row records in Los Angeles. Now, after the winter release of his smash hit single, "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down" (featuring the rapper Mase), and this summer's solo album, No Out (Bad Boy/Arista), the star-making producer has added another incredible chapter, finally working his magic on himself.

At five minutes to midnight, Puffy is locked away in his new five-million-dollar recording studio complex. Justin, Puffy's young son, is holding court under the watchful eye of his grandmother, as three producers, a steady stream of artists, plus technicians, songwriters, and me, compete for Puffy's attention. Somehow he remains focused through it all.

VERONICA WEBB: Puffy, when we first met, you were an intern at Uptown Records. What did the world look like to you then?

PUFFY COMBS: I just couldn't understand why more people weren't interested in the music industry. Anybody'd tell you f was the first nigger that was like, "Yo, I wanna work for free." was the original intern. [Once they leek me] was just quiet, like if I made too much noise everybody'd realize I was there and kick me out.

VW: Back then, did you think you'd ever have your own label, or a record on top of the charts?

PC: I've never been surprised about what happened to me. I've put in hard work to get to this point. It's like when you become a lawyer - if you're bustin' your ass, you're not surprised when you get your degree. I came in to win, you know. This is why I stay up late while other people are sleeping; this is why I don't go out to the Hamptons. . . .

VW: You never stray too far from your work.

PC: I'm trying to be somebody. I didn't come into this business saying, I'm gonna look like the biggest black music man; I was like, I'm gonna be the biggest. I'm gonna go down in history as being one of the best music men and businessmen in entertainment. I admire Andre Harrell and Berry Gordy the most, the people who came up from the black community. But the people that I'm going to be greater than are Steven Spielberg, David Geffen, and Clive Davis.

VW: Lots of times the media tries to portray black people like they've just stumbled onto stuff, like they're naive.

PC: No. This is my plan. When I'm in the studio making a hit record, I'm not trying to make a hit record; I'm making one. This is what I studied. This is why I stay up twenty hours a day.

VW: You never compromise, and you never compromise melody.

PC: Andre harrell taught me that melody is the key to existence in the record industry, and also the strength of a hit record.

VW: How do you feel about your own hit record?

PC: I'm buggin' out. I'm shocked. Ain't no way in the world I thought that it would be sellin' as much as it is.

VW: Do you ever feel like an outsider in your own life because success as an artist is so different from success as a businessperson?

PC: I wouldn't say it's like that. It just feels good to the point where I don't want nobody to know how happy I am. I've been through a lot of ups and downs in life, and this is an up. I have learned to enjoy the ups for what they are, because those are the moments that feel like they go by the quickest.

VW: Nellee Hooper, who produced Bjork and Massive Attack, says he really likes you because you're a thoroughly modern producer. He says you know how to anticipate what people want and give it to them before they even know to expect it.

PC: What I'm known for, as a producer and on the label side, is making people dance, or making people feel good with a ballad or something like that. I study different elements, different genres, whether it's a melody by Nirvana, or the vibe of Metallica, or Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun." I just put together different vibes that people want - from a rebellious vibe to the vibe of crying out from hurt or happiness to just wanting to let go and party.

VW: Who coined the term hip-hop soul?

PC: Andre. But I'm the kind of hip-hop soul. Mary J. Blige is the queen, and Tony Thompson, one of my new acts, he's gonna be my prince.

VW: Have you paid a price for your success?