EXCLUSIVE! This Week On The Philebrity Player: RJD2’s The Third Hand
This week on The Philebrity Player, we are psyched to be premiering The Third Hand, the new album by Philly transplant by RJD2. Known by many for his work in the indie hip-hop scene over the last six or seven years, where he’s remixed/done beats for everyone from Aesop Rock to Astrud Gilberto, RJ’s latest record is gonna surprise everyone. Because after years as an instrumentalist and remixer, The Third Hand marks his venture into rock music. Like with guitars and drums and synths and vocals and the whole bit! It’s a crazy record, and if you never thought you’d be reading words like “Rush,” “Yes” and “King Crimson” in an RJD2 record review, get ready to do just that. Throughout the record, however, The Third Hand still feels like it is strictly for the heads. Enjoy!
Click here to launch RJD2’s The Third Hand on The Philebrity Player!
And after the jump, we sit down and chat with RJD2 about 9/11 conspiracies, his new record and Philly. Read on…
The Philebrity Interview: RJD2
RJ, what’s up? You in there? We just ate a lot of shrimps, opened a cold one and now we’re gonna sit down for THE RJD2 PHILEBRITY INTERVIEW!
once i heard 8ball and mjg call shrimps scrimps, the terminology became permanent in my lexicon
Scrimps up, ho’s DOWN.
im watching [american ] idol and both “rock with you” and “never too much” got done, which is funny cause i have a conspiracy theory about MJ and Luther’s records: i think that Luther’s Never Too Much LP is Off The Walls sister record. Both are hella short. both have no duds. both are on Epic, and came out right around the same time. and i wouldnt be surprised if bruce swieden worked on luthers record, cause the drum sounds are so similar
You just blew my mind a little. It just goes to show how you never can tell.
here’s my journalist question for you. why hasnt any publication, local, national, regional, anything-covering all the “911 truth” info? there’s a million resources for scientific analysis of 911, and alot of it is fascinating. if i were an editor, i would run this shit all day. have you read any of this shit?
I don’t know, do you think the story’s been that underserved? I feel like most people I talk to at least know about Loose Change and such.
maybe im just missing the coverage. whats loose change?
Loose Change is like the definitive 9/11 truth movement documentary. Look it up on Google video. It has the funniest/worst “trip-hop” soundtrack of all time.
i just googled it. looks like similar info/resources than some of the documentaries ive seen. i was surprised at how many panels have been held by phd’s across the country on the whole thing.
That liberal academia: If only they could smash the system with thinking.
see, i always thought the conspiratorial(?) element was in the admin getting warnings, but not heeding. so all this shit about how the buildings couldnt have come down from planes alone was new to me until about a week ago. hahaha.
Yeah, that’s the one thing I couldn’t get my head around.
yea. its crazy. but the more i read about it, there is so much evidence to support the controlled demolition theory, it almost seems irrefutable. point being, some of these pieces that physics professors have put together are so informative, i think they are front page news-worthy
I have half a mind to start interviewing you a la The Game interviewing Nick Sylvester.
GAME @RIFF CENTRAL: THE PICTURES OF YOU ON THE INTERNET HAVE GLASSES BUT NOW YOUARENT WEARNING GLASSES
GAME @RIFF CENTRAL: I’M GOING TO MOVE INTO THE SERIOUS QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR LIFE, I HEARD YOU GOT A FIRE FROM A NEWSPAPER PLACE FOR A PIECE YOU WROTE ABOUT THE GAME
Alright, sorry about that.
“please call me game”. classic! from then on, he should have been “so, the game…” that shit is funny
OK. Game, not a lot of Philly people know this, but you live in Philly. How does no one know this? How did you end up here?
sorry, im sidetracking you. if you are trying to commence with the serious questions, serious away…
Game, these questions are top serious.
see, thats what you go to rappers for. quotables. game is the king of quotables.
Ramble John, we’re gonna need you to answer some questions.
ok. please, call me ramble
Done. See above question, please.
oh, my bad. which question? oh philly. duh. i wound up here cause in 2002 there were about 5-7 arrows pointing to the “move to philadelphia” solution. the problems-columbus got too small. i was going to nyc for work alot. my girl got sick of ohio. i had friends here. and the whole musical history. at the time, the sixers were killing. it was like a no-brainer, cause i knew that buying a place in nyc was not an option, and my friends sister had just bought a place for peanuts in philly. so the lightbulbs went off. maybe thats why i get treated so well, cause people here think im visiting or something?
“The Sixers were killing.” Wow. I know this record is a major departure, but overall: Did your music change when you moved here?
ummmm. i think that from the get-go, my tastes in making records have tended towards having fun, and keeping it interesting, and i guess you would say that brings about change, stylistically. i dont think much of it was related to philly specifically, but i do think that being in a city where you know that alot of great music is being made, and your neighbor may well be making a better record than yours right now puts me in a place to challenge myself, in general.
i think that if i was still in columbus, i would probably have lower expectations of myself as a producer, most likely
That’s pretty telling. So Philly or no Philly, how does Mr. Indie Hip-Hop Cred (that would be you, Ramble) wind up making a record that is, if you will pardon the rough description, prog-synth-funk-R&B? Like the song “Sweet Piece”: That is like Warren G + “Owner Of A Lonely Heart” + Giorgio Moroder or something. And the middle 8 is like Blue Oyster Cult. You are one crazy dude.
hahaha-thanks man. moroder and warren g, thats a big compliment, thanks. and im a big BOC fan, too. the short story would be to say that i feel like im moving from sampling records, to trying to make the kind of records i would want to sample. for example, alot of times i approach writing the part to a particular instrument like this: before playing anything, i think to myself, what kind of passage do i wish i could find on a record? and im not a big chops guy obviously, so i always kind of keep things within my ability.
No? How did you track these songs?
i also have alot of little fetishes, or interests, as far as audio. i love synthesizers. i love polyphonic synths. i like harmonized anything, especially lead guitar lines. i like to do vocal harmonies, its really a crutch i rely on because i dont like the sound of my voice doing single passages. so all these little things kind of add up to a collective thing, and i think its why i dont approach things so much from a “genre faithful” place.
i tracked the songs just one instrument at a time, by myself.
Have you always done that? Because it sounds like you’re inching towards a band of some kind…
have i always done what? the tracking instruments one at a time?
Yeah, lone wolf, no band, no other dudes unless it’s a collab.
thanks for the compliment-one of the things i was shooting for,even when i was just using samples, was getting as close to a band sound as possible. that’s the eventual goal…
You’re gonna play these tunes on tour with a band?
yea, i got a band together. we’ve been practicing. im excited.
Who’s in it?
to answer your question, really, this record is the first thing ive done where i played more than a fleeting keyboard part here or there, so it was kind of a learning process, as far as engineering.
my band is sam brown, derek dicenzo, and harold chichester. all guys from columbus. heavyweights.
Have you ever been in a band before?
i played in a few bands early on in high school, before i got into djing/records/ etc. to answer the inevitable follow up-yes, we sucked. like a bad king crimson knock-off
Haha. It’s gotta be weird to be 8 records into a career proper though and be like, yeah, I’m getting in the van with a bunch of dudes! Many would question your sanity!
yea, my wallet is screaming in protest-dudes gotta get paid before i do. but its worth it, i think. i question my sanity sometimes. but at the very least, i think people will get a kick out of the live versions of old songs. its coming together well, and they are laid back dudes.
That’s awesome.
yea, these guys are no joke. they are serious pros. im the slouch of the band, definitely.im gonna check out this loose change thing-take care of yourself. i will talk to you soon. thanks man!
No problem! Later!
