Eddie Hustle
If you haven’t heard, you better listen!!! Eddie Hustle is one of today’s top producers. He won a Grammy straight out the box for his work on “You Remind Me” by Usher. You have also heard his work on “Girl Talk” by TLC, “Howz About It” by Boys II Men, and also Mya, Changing Faces, Petey Pablo, and 112. Be on the look out for his new album with Hustlechild on Elektra Records. His first single called “I’m Cool” received rave reviews and was on the Transporter soundtrack. Look out, here comes the Hustle!!!
Interview by Rob Schwartz
WHO?MAG: In your opinion, what exactly is a producer?
Eddie Hustle: The title producer comes from the person who does the finance behind putting a project together. Basically they put up the money to see the product from beginning to end, but now in 2003, producer is the cat that does the beats and the music. He might go out & solicit other artists, put me on his beats, and take it from point A to point Z. Thus calling himself a producer. But as far as I’m concerned, considering yourself a producer because you can make some beats, that’s not enough for me. You gotta have something else under your belt. In my camp, I make sure that the producers just don’t make beats, but they’re making beats like DJ Casper. He’s making beats, but he’s also one of the hottest DJ’s in the city. He’s spinning wax like most people can’t do. Like Rhonin & Caesar Bacardi, they’re both MC’s and do beats too. Therefore, they’re producers, not just beat makers
WHO?MAG: You’ve worked with a lot of big acts. Do you custom a song for an individual?
Eddie Hustle: Nope. You want the Hustle, you get the Hustle. I’m gonna give you Eddie Hustle and that’s the fortunate part of being established as a producer. You got a sound out there & people start to flock to you. I was fortunate enough for my sound to be introduced to the world with “You Remind Me”, and basically the difference between me and a lot of other producers is that you get some producers that this is their sound and with their sound, this is all they deliver. So you’ll get 150 tracks from him that sound like the last joint. But with me, no no no, you ain’t gettin that because I don’t want my songs to just be played for 2002/2003. I was my sh*t to be played when you’re a parent & your grandchildren go listen through your oldies, they’re pulling out an Eddie Hustle Record & it’s like 1 of a kind.
WHO?MAG: Lately Philly has been getting a great reputation and a lot of respect in music. What do you think the difference in Philly production vs. any other city?
Eddie Hustle: True musicians. That’s the thing about Philadelphia, we come from the root of R&B. The music we put in our production is heavily orchestrated sometimes. We might pull in some live instruments on the regular because that’s what’s instilled, that’s are upbringing. Our upbringing is talent shows. At those talent shows you got people or open mic, that’s what real artistry is so the live sh*t is what separate Philly apart from all the other locations that are out there
WHO?MAG: What do you look for in signing an upcoming artist to your production company?
Eddie Hustle: The first thing I look for is loyalty. About 5 or 6 years back, I signed on about 13 artists. Out of the 13 artists I signed on, the only person that is with me that I sign is my brother, Caesar Bacardi. That goes to show you how loyalty was with me. I saw that you’re only going to be with me when I’m up, I started cutting people, like I don’t need that. Now the cats that I got with me now, they seen me up, they seen me down, so that’s what I look for. If your not loyal, then I don’t need you.