Not many people hold the title of producer, professor, MC, and sneakerhead. Not many people are 9th Wonder. With a hit resume as eclectic as Erykah Badu, as pop as Destiny?s Child, as recognizable as Jay-Z, and as recent as Wale, the NC beatsmith has parlayed his passion for hip-hop into cross-genre success and a teaching job at Duke University. As of late, he?s picked up the mic on his new album and jumped in front of the camera for a documentary. We caught up with 9th to discuss his thoughts on retros, working with Lil B, and what it?s like to be followed around by a camera. See what he had to say.<\/p>\n
What shoe started it all for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n It was the Air Jordan 1. When the first Jordan released I was 10 years old. Before that sneakers didn?t matter to me because there wasn?t a big emphasis on sneakers. The sneaker culture hadn?t taken off because there wasn?t one athlete pushing a shoe. You had Dr. J pushing Chucks, but that was it. The Air Jordan was the first ?OK, we?re gonna name a sneaker after some one.?<\/p>\n Besides it being a signature, what made it important<\/strong>?<\/p>\n Him as a player and the way it was marketed. The first pair was $65 and it just looked different from any shoes. Black\/Red-White or the Black\/Red, nobody else was doing colorways at the time. They really tried to sell you that a human could fly and that?s what really got kids into it.<\/p>\n How has the sneaker culture evolved in your lifetime?<\/strong><\/p>\n In the 80s and early 90s it was about the Gucci sneakers and the Ballys. Now it?s becoming something totally different. You?re always looking at people?s feet. I made a comment on Twitter that this may be the first generation where a 30-year-old?s sneaker game may be better than a 19-year-old?s. And it?s not because of money, it?s because we actually grew up and saw all the ?retros? now. We remember those times. <\/p>\n Being around from the start, do you trip over re-retros or quality of materials?<\/strong><\/p>\n No! I know cats that get into the OGs, but for me, looking at a pair of retro Jordans is exactly the way I felt when they decided to make a movie for Transformers<\/em>. It?s like, “OK, it?s not the first Hasbro cartoon version,” but it?s giving us a way to relive our childhood. If I can get the kicks I had when I was 11, 12, 18 years old, that brings back memories for us. That?s what it?s all about for me. When Nike\/Jordan Brand decided to do re-releases they understood how powerful of a brand it was and how it changed the face of sneaker culture. For us 30-year-olds that?s what it?s all about.<\/p>\n Among your music peers, whose sneaker collection stands out?<\/strong><\/p>\n When you?re traveling all the time you constantly see friends in the game and look at what?s on their feet. Other than DJ Khaled–he has a ton of sneakers–it?s my man Greg Street. The rest of us DJs, producers, and rappers get in where we fit in, but we don?t have the time to ?collect-collect?. I probably got like 200 pairs of sneakers, but I highly collect Jordans and Nikes- I don?t care about anything else.<\/p>\n Are there any Jordans you?re still searching for?<\/strong><\/p>\n The 11s. The ?Concords? and the ?Breds?. I missed the Defining Moments Pack with the Black\/Gold 6s. Those are the ones that I?d want to come back out. Those are my favorite. (Then) the Black 3s and Black 4s. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n A record that got a lot of attention was ?Base for Your Face?. How?d that come about?<\/strong><\/p>\n I went online to 2 Dope Boyz<\/a> and I saw a song<\/a> that Lil B had with Tony Yayo. He was actually rhymin? on the joint! I hadn?t heard a lot of Lil B before that. I?d heard about him, but if I hear something that I don?t think is ?good? I don?t waste my time. He?d already hit me up over and over about working together and I’m like, “You can?t be serious.? I hit him again after I saw the Yayo joint and he was like, ?Man, I?m serious?. So we started talking on the phone and I find out he?s a super intelligent dude. Crazy intelligent guy. He?s talking about Quasimoto and a bunch of Madlib stuff. I?m like, “All the stuff you?re doing is really a joke, you?re not that bad.” So he said, “Send me a record and see what I can do.” The first thing I thought was Based God?Flavor Flav?base for your face! He sent it back and I sent it to Phonte the night afterwards. He jumped on it and I sent it to Jean. All three of us can?t be wrong. We?re way past the point in our careers where we do things just to get attention.<\/p>\n When we spoke to Big KRIT he said you gave him sound advice. What other young artists are you keeping up with?<\/strong><\/p>\n I?ve just got a great relationship with Big KRIT on a mentor level. The same thing that cats did for me I do for Mac Miller and Kendrick Lamar. Those are cats I really, really like. They keep me inspired about the game. We talk from time to time about things and that?s more important to me. We may never work together, but that?s more important to me than anything.<\/p>\n Who played that mentor role for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n Jazzy Jeff, DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Dru Ha from Duckdown, and most recently David Banner. In this game you can be the same age wise, but years in the game is a lot different. I learned a lot from Ludacris when I was in the studio with him, I learned a lot from Jay-Z. Those guys can drop jewels that last a lifetime. <\/p>\n Of all the projects that you?ve done, does one stand out as a favorite?<\/strong><\/p>\n ?Is She the Reason? by Destiny?s Child. That?s something that was totally left field for me at the time and came out sounding exactly liked I hoped it would. That?s always my favorite.<\/p>\n How does working with an R&B act differ from working with an MC?<\/strong><\/p>\n It really ain?t that different because I don?t make beats that are void of melody. The one thing that trained me with Little Brother was to make beats that Phonte could formulate a hook on whether he wanted to sing or rhyme. Working with Destiny?s Child was really no different from working with Phonte.<\/p>\n Is it possible for a producer in this day and age to be exclusive to an artist or a project?<\/strong><\/p>\n It depends on the height of the producer. I think a producer can take a rapper and do his whole project, but it?s kind of hard when you?re coming up together for that entity to stay together. And I think that?s what happened with Little Brother. Phonte says all the time that we all grew into who we were supposed to be. Phonte wanted to do Foreign Exchange; he?s more eclectic in sound and his ear is more eclectic than all of us. I?m more of a hip-hop purist, so we kind of went (apart) even if we didn?t want to. In this day and time the dynamic is very hard.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n