Marco Polo: Double Barrell Is Hardcore
Author: Nik Terrell Thompson
When most people think of Canada, they think of hockey, Canadian Bacon, and Bret Hart, but maybe not hip-hop. Hip-hop has been around Canada since it’s conception with artists like Maestro Fresh Wes all the way up to Kardinal Offishall.
Producer Marco Polo is continuing to fly the flag of hip-hop by putting out his own brand soulful, but nostalgic boom bap sound into underground hip-hop scene working with such acts as Kool G.Rap, Sadat X, and Boot Camp Clik. I caught up with Marco and talked about his concept album with Torae “Double Barrel”, the Canadian hip-hop scene, and becoming a “student” of hip-hop.
NTT: What kind of music you listened to as a kid?
Marco Polo: I grew listening to a lot of stuff from Jazz, to rock, soul, pop. Basically whatever my dad was playing in the house, which was a mixture of Steely Dan, John Coltrane, italian music because my parents are from Italy. So I definitely had a interesting mix of music in the house when I was growin’ up.
NTT: So how did you get introduced to hip-hop?
Marco Polo: I got introduced to hip-hop from just listening to the big records from back when I was in grade school that gettin’ played on the radio. You know in Toronto it’s different than it is in New York. I would hear A Tribe Called Quest or Large Professor. In Toronto, we had Fresh Wes he was like the big artist. My Pop ended up buying Tribe’s first album, because he liked “Bonita Applebum” that was like his song. That was probably the first hip-hop album that existed in the house. From there, I started getting more into, buying records and albums, just feel in love with the culture, the music, the beats.
NTT: From your point of view, how was the hip-hop scene in Toronto?
Marco Polo: When I was comin’ up it was really dope, there was a lot of good artists. It started with Maestro Fresh Wes, Michie Mee she was the first big female act. Then there was a lot of crews poppin’ up like The Rascalz and there was a circle with Choclair and Kardinal Offishall, there was cats like Frankenstein, Mr. Attic, Key-Mo were some dope producers. There was a lot of talent that was inspiring.
NTT: What exactly made you want to become a producer?
Marco Polo: I think it got to the point to where I was buying so many albums. Once I started getting introduced to hip-hop, I started catching up on the history because I wasn’t listening to hip-hop when it started, I wasn’t even born, I wasn’t into hip-hop when Eric B. & Rakim dropped “Paid In Full”, EPMD, or the Juice Crew. After I went back and bought all these albums and I got like every EPMD albums, every Eric B. and Rakim album, every LL Cool J album. I started getting into the production and it got to the point to where I said “listening to it is cool but now I wanna try to make beats”. So I ended up signing up for a Music Engineering School in Toronto called the Harris Institute for The Arts to learn about engineering and the music biz, studio setup. I finished and got a internship at the Cutting Room in New York, so I had to move from Toronto to New York. I ended up working for the studio that put in the mix with a lot of good artists like De La Soul was recording there, Kanye West before he blew up, Mos Def, Kweli, a lot of the Rawkus stuff. That’s like the short story.
NTT: What was it like being around those big stars while you was just starting out?
Marco Polo: It was awesome. I got to be right in the mix with all the artists that some of them I listened to. See how they created songs, I got to see what producers they liked to work with, and what beats they picked. I saw Kanye West play beats for De La, put a cd on and played beats for em. It just gave me a vibe of what artists liked and what kind of music they’re workin’ with and it helped me figure out what kind of beats that I wanted to make and that whole process. I wasn’t even givin’ beats to anyone, I was just listening and suckin’ in all the knowledge and information. Everyday I would go home from work at the studio and work on my own beats until I got to the point of where I felt comfortable and confident to give them out to people.
NTT: What equipment you started it out with?
Marco Polo: I used the MPC 2000 XL, that was the first sampler that I bought and I still use that one today with my beats. A simple turntable, a mixer, and all my records.
NTT: Who would you say influenced your style of production?
Marco Polo: DJ Premier is at the top of the list for sure, Ayatollah, Large Professor, Pete Rock, Marley Marl, Bomb Squad, The Beatnuts, all the classic guys. I just really like that East Coast, New York classic sound, I really want my beats to sound like that but updated.
NTT: Who were some of the artists you started out working with?
Marco Polo: Some of the earliest production I did in New York with the Brooklyn Academy Crew which Pumpkinhead, Jean Grae, Metaphor. My first album I produced from top to bottom was “Orange Moon Over Brooklyn” for Pumpkinhead, that was the really underground shit I was doing. The more known artist I got a beat placement from was Masta Ace. That started off my buzz when I did a track off “A Long Hot Summer” called “Do It Man” featuring Big Noyd. Then Masta Ace did a song for me called “Nostalgia” which was one of the first singles of my album “Port Authority”.
NTT: How did you feel when you came apart of Rawkus Records?
Marco Polo: The deal that I signed was with Soul Spasm and they linked up with Rawkus which was a bonus because you know Rawkus Records is a classic label that put out a lot of classic material that people have in their collection like Black Star, Reflection Eternal. For to have a record of mine be on that label was very humbling and it was a good look, it helped people who didn’t know me buy the album because it was a Rawkus release. It was a good look for me to get my name out there more.
NTT: Other than signing with Rawkus Records, How did you know when it felt like you “made it”?
Marco Polo: I still don’t really feel like I made it 100 percent but it felt good to be recognized by industry veterans that put out records and to getting’ down with Rawkus. I’m still working hard at my craft everyday. Honestly, I don’t wanna never feel like I made because I want to keep that hunger to keep striving towards making it you know what I’m sayin’? That “never gonna settle” feeling. Everything I achieved up to this point feels great and the people I worked with, the labels from Rawkus and now Duck Down. It’s been extremely humbling.
NTT: As far as your contemporaries, What producers you look at and say “I think all their stuff is hot”?
Marco Polo: A lot of the same dudes that I mentioned earlier that influenced me. I’m still checkin’ for Premo. If I wanna take to more recent guys, I’m a big fan of Jake One, Kev Brown, there is a kid from France that’s really dope name Deli.
NTT: So how did you hook up with Torae for the “Double Barrel” album that y’all comin’ out with?
Marco Polo: I met Torae at Masta Ace’s studio, me and him did a skit for one of his projects with the group eMC with Punchline, Wordsworth, Strick. We just kept in touch. Me and Torae recorded some tracks together for my mixtape called “New Port Authority” hosted by Mick Boogie. We had a good vibe, he ended up comin’ on the road with me in Canada with Masta Ace. We just became really close friends and we decided to work on a album. There was a great work ethic, Torae is one of the new dope rappers comin’ out of New York. We decided to just do a concept album with just that gritty New York Boom Bap hip-hop.
NTT – For anyone who is about to pick up the “Double Barrel” album, what should they expect?
Marco Polo – Some hardcore hip-hop, it’s definitely not following the trend of what’s going on now. It’s us making a record of the music we want to hear, a record similar to what we came up on.We’re not trying to copy or bring anything back, we just literally sat down and decided to make a record that we wanted to hear. Make something that people kind of left behind, the style, the sound that was forgotten for all of this newer shit. Hard Beats, Hard Rhymes!
NTT: In your opinion, How you feel about the state of all music now, not just hip-hop?
Marco Polo: There is definitely good stuff comin’ out but it’s back to when it was where you had to dig a little deeper for it in the underground, a lot of the indie stuff is dope. The label aren’t really tryin’ to push that type of music to the forefront, so you might miss a lot of it, you gotta look a little harder. Back in the day where some of the beat music was in the mainstream, when you could hear A Tribe Called Quest on the radio and you would feel like that was a Pop record, it would just be a good record that receive Mainstream love. Nowadays, a label just want shit that gonna make them money that’s trendy and that goes for all genres. A lot of the cutting edge, really creative music you gotta look a little harder for.
NTT: You worked with a lot of big artist so far, Is there someone you’re a fan of that you want to work with?
Marco Polo: There’s a lot of artists like that. A couple of names that come to the top of the head are like Ghostface, Styles P, Jadakiss, I would love to do a record for M.O.P., Slum Village.
NTT: You have “Double Barrel” coming, What else you got in the future?
Marco Polo: Just a lot of production stuff I did for people here and there. I did a track for Rakim’s album, I have no idea when it’s comin’ out, I did a track for KRS ONE and Buckshot new album that comin’ out on Duck Down, Still workin’ with Masta Ace. He got a project comin’ out with a DVD documenting his whole life and have a whole bunch of new music on there and I definitely got some stuff on that.
NTT: When it’s all said and done, What kind of legacy does Marco Polo want to leave behind?
Marco Polo: I just want to be remembered for making consistent, quality music that you can play at any time that still sounds fresh. I don’t want to be the “Flavor of The Month” guy, I want to make records that can stand the test of time that’s my goal when I sit down and make something. I don’t wanna make fad music and you can play it whenever and it sounds as good as the first time you heard it.
NTT: I thank you on the behalf of QtheQuestion.com and I thank you for taking time out for the interview.
Marco Polo: No Problem man, I appreciate the interview.
Filed under: Interviews