Reconstructing Zo! & Tigallo Love The 80’s
ARTIST INTERVIEWS By LC Weber on August 1, 2008 at 2:49 pmTake one musician more versed than a collection of sonnets. Add one MC who rips tougher than a phone book. Throw them in an industry think-tank devoid of artist development and full of MySpace rappers.
A dash of humor. A sprinkle of throwback. Stir.
Such is the recipe for Zo! And Tigallo Love the ’80s, a joint project with Detroit native musician Zo! and Little Brother emcee Phonte. The piping hot result is a set of yesteryear covers crafted to perfection without straying into the overly produced.
With no effective blueprint for the industry to subscribe to for signing and squandering talent, Zo! and Phonte were afforded the opportunity to (-gasp-) actually make music. There were no rules and they could develop and push their project however they saw fit — which lead to individually numbered, autographed, limited quantity CDs with a compact but muscular play list.
I recently caught up with Phonte online and asked him about the decisions he and Zo! made for putting out the record.
“It just came from me looking at the marketplace and seeing niggas complain about buying CD’s, but then turn around and spend $400 on a pair of exclusive limited edition dunks,” he said. “I just wanted to bring some sort of excitement back to music. You’re not just buying a CD… you’ve become one of the few…the proud….the Zo! and Tigallonians. *salutes* I’m trippin… we don’t salute…. lemme do this right… *sprays activator*”
The project more or less began as an often revisited discussion about music, including ’80s favorites. The conversations snowballed into equal parts creation, friendly one-up-man-ship and personal conditioning.
“With each song, I just took time to figure out how I would voice it to make it fit in a modern-day context,” he said. “Because these were ’80s songs, a lot of ‘em had vocal effects that sound dated now… real heavy reverbs and shit like that… so I just had to sit back and play with different vocal styles to see how I’d make it work.”
Phonte credits sound engineer Khrysis with being his “right ear in the studio.” Together they learned the unpleasantries of voice alteration for the computery stylings of Tay Pain on the track “Steppin’ Out 2008.”
A Cliff Noted lesson on alteration:
1) Vocoder - Allows an instrument to sing. Requires you to play an instrument well. Not an option.
2) Talkbox - Also requires instrumentation. Not an option.
3) Autotune - Championed by folks who can’t sing worth a damn live, i.e. T-Pain. An option… but…
4) Pitch Corrector - Championed by female vocalists operating under the guise they can sing live. Creates the Cher-effect, if used correctly. Ding!
Phonte sang all of his vocals straight, sent the tracks out for pitch correction, and got them sent directly back because he had sung too well (Phonte can saaang… in case you haven’t noticed.) He rerecorded the tracks a little left of kilter and sent them out again.
“Soooooooo… he sends the joint back to me and it has the effect on it. BUT… the computer only recognizes key… it doesn’t recognize individual notes. So that meant that me and Khrysis had to go through and match EVERY NOTE to the right pitch of Zo’s instrumental. THAT. SHIT. TOOK. HOURS.”
Thus deaded Tay Pain — activator to activator, dust to dust — after his one and only appearance.
“I ain’t never doin that shit again.”
The next day I spoke with Zo! on the phone about the laboriousness of getting his tracks right and what drove both he and Phonte through the process.
TSS: It sounds like [the album] wasn’t anything planned out.
Zo: Nah. Doing the whole album it wasn’t anything like “Tay man, I got this idea. We should revisit the ’80s.” It didn’t even come about like that. It was basically like one song at a time up until after “Take On Me.” First we did “Steppin’ Out.”
TSS: You just did those for fun?
Zo: Yeah, the “Steppin’ Out” joint, I was coving that for my Just Visiting album that was only on vinyl. And [Phonte] had already heard a couple joints from that and said that he liked them or whatever. So I was like what the hell, man. I had already heard Tay sing on Little Brother stuff before. So I was like, “Man, why don’t you sing the hook on it?” I may as well ask him, and if he says no, he says no. He hit me back and said, “Go ahead and send it to me.” So I sent it to him and he turned that around pretty quickly. So I’m sitting over here tripping out because I have a joint with just Phonte singing — like he’s not rhyming, he’s just singing. I was just bugging out about that by itself.
We had kept in contact and whenever we talked it would always turn into this huge musical conversation, whether it be on the phone or IM. We’d be talking about stuff that we either loved or hated. And one time we got in a deep conversation, I think it was on IM, and we were just going back and forth about songs from the ’80s like, “Yo, man have you heard this?” And he’s sending me tracks back like, “Nah, you heard this?” We’re sending this stuff back and forth and then we start talking about “Africa.” It just popped up, and I was like, “I’m down to do it if you’re down to do it,” and he was like “Maaan, can you imagine the harmonies on that?” and he started doing the harmonies. So we was just like, “Fuck it, man. Let’s do it.”
I had a drum track that was already laid out that was kind of remanicent of it. So I was like, “Well I’m going to play the keys over the drum track, and then you can lay the vocals over that.” I sent him that and then a couple of days later he sent me back vocals for it.
I mean you got to understand, everybody knows Phonte as Little Brother. He’s a very talented MC, real dope on the mic… and then I get this track that five, six minutes of Phonte singing. And we would joke about it like, “You got to do it, you got to do the accent. You got to do it all the way.” And so he sent me this joint back and he’s got the accent and I’m buggin’ like wow! I’m having a party in my apartment listening to this joint. I hit him back like, “Man, you was buggin’ with that, man.” So with that, I took it and added the change at the end, and sent it back to him… like, “Handle that.”
It was almost like a duel. Like we were trying to outdo each other… it turned out to be a friendly competition, hand-to-hand combat kind of thing.
TSS: And that’s the way the whole album evolved, essentially?
Zo: That’s basically how it evolved. I mean, after that we were joking like we need to do another one, but it need to be a little bit more left field. And we picked the most Charlton Banks, sweater-wrapped-around-your-waste joint we could think of – we was like, “Man, let’s do ‘Take On Me.’”…
At the time I was thinking what was I going to do with “Take On Me?” What can I do that’s going to make it sound presentable with Phonte singing on it? So same thing, I sent it to him without the change on there, and he ended up putting Carlitta Durand on there to sing the change, and I was just like, “Oh man!”
From there it was like we had three joints, why don’t we just keep going?
TSS: How did you pick the rest of the track list?
Zo: We did “Something About You” after that. “Something About You” and “Human” were definitely Tay’s idea. That was something like a personal quest like, “Ay man, we need to do these two joints.” And both of those were talent instrumentally anyway. You hear “Something About You” the original, it sounds like something from “Miami Vice,” but it’s dope! And I’m thinking what can I do with it that isn’t going to destroy its legacy, but is still going to keep it current.
And “Human,” although it’s Human League, it’s Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis so it used to get played on urban radio stations, so that was something that black folks was familiar with too. So I’m like if I mess this up, I’m going to be touching a nerve! You know what I mean? So you got to be creative, but you also got to be careful that you’re keeping the original effectiveness of the album. You’re just kind of putting your own spin on it in that aspect.
I think the last one, “Written All Over Your Face,” that’s like a classic, you know what I mean? So that was another one that we really had to be careful. I remember going in there, and even after it was finished, like, still tweaking stuff. I was like yo, this is not even leaving this apartment unless everything is perfect because I don’t want to hear it — I don’t want to hear it later like, “Oh man, your snare was off at the two minute, twenty-four second mark. And I hate you for that!”
So you got to make sure everything is on point, because the Internet will let you know about it.
TSS: For sure. I think we prove that every day. So you played all the instruments on the album, right?
Zo: Yes.
TSS: And did you know how you were going to attack it every time, or was it sometimes a struggle to figure out how you were going to do it without making it an exact replica of the original?
Zo: It was a struggle. It was a stuggle, I’ll be honest… Like “Something About You” kind of came. I was scratching my head in the beginning, but once it came, it kind of flowed. The “Human” one on the other hand, I was like “Maaan.” He hit me up like, “Yo, you get the “Human” done yet?” and I’m like “It’s coming, alright?” and I’m looking at my keyboard like, “Shit, I haven’t even started yet.”
So the “Human” one… I got married and moved, and that was actually the first joint I did after I moved, so it was kind of like the new environment helped twist that one out a little more. That got me my first neighbor complaining at the new spot, so you know, it’s got a little special place in my heart… That’s another one I sent to Tay and he was like, “Aw man, I’m about to do my thing on this one,” and we got on him a little bit, “Man, you was having you a little moment. It got a little good to you!” But I really like how the “Human” one ended up coming out.
TSS: This sounds like something you guys had been working on back and forth for awhile then.
Zo: Yeah, I would say for about a year I guess. Because the main reason we were doing it was to keep each other on point, number one. If I had a new joint I’d always send it to Phonte because Phonte won’t hold his tongue as far as giving an honest opinion. And you need that. So it was a way of kind of keeping each other on our toes and sharp in the studio, as we were both kind of in between albums. At the time Get Back was getting ready to come out and I had finished Freelance, so both of us were back in the creative mode.
And you know, we don’t want to look bad in front of each other. I don’t want Tay over there clownin’ on me, “Where is this coming from? What kind of shit is this you’re sending me?” We want to make sure we look good in front of each other, so it keeps our game tight.
TSS: That sounds like a consistent working relationship. Does that mean you’ll do something in the future with him?
Zo: I definitely don’t rule it out. I know for sure we’re doing stuff for my solo album – he’s actually writing to a couple things for that. I mean, me and Tay will definitely be working together in the future for sure…
TSS: I mean, I’m not a record executive or anything, but to me it seems like the way you put this album out is like a new blueprint that could be built off of. You numbered every copy so every copy feels special – I know every time I see my No. 290 I get excited like I’m an individual – you autographed them, you did all the Internet promotion, nothing crazy, just word of mouth so it feels really cult-classic, you know?
Zo: Oh yeah, for sure. You know, we were trying to do a combination of things with that. One, we were trying to bring the fun back into producing an album, you know what I mean? We have so much music that if you get an album on Tuesday… it’s out of rotation by Thursday. And if that’s the case, and that’s the case week after week, there’s no reason to get excited about a new release. So we wanted to make it so that people get hyped up for what we bring to the table.
Tay made a real good analogy as far as comparing it to limited edition shoes – where, if someone comes out with limited edition gym shoes and the joints comes out at midnight, folks is real hyped up. They get the gym shoes and they going around bragging about that for months to come…
And just to pair it with the ‘80s, no body knew when an album was coming out like that. There wasn’t no 2000 magazines or Internet promoting the things for months before it came out. You just walked up in a store and there’s Thriller. There’s Janet Jackon’s Control. Like, “Oh, I didn’t even know it came out! Let me go cop it real quick.” So we were real tightlipped about the track listing and the release date and all of that because we just wanted it to come out.
It was just having fun. We had fun creating the album, so we want people to have fun when they purchase it and actually get their hands on it.
For more info, visit www.myspace.com/zoandtigallo.
Zo! is currently working on projects with Asylum 7 and Tiffany Paige, as well as his next solo album.
Phonte is half of Little Brother and Foreign Exchange, continues to work with Khrysis and his brethren at The Hall of Justus, and is featured on S1’s forthcoming album.
You can purchase Zo! and Tigallo Love The ’80s from FatBeats.
Get your Gordon Gartrell Radio podcast here.
Previously Post - Zo! & Tigallo Love The ’80s | “Written All Over Your Face”
Posted in ARTIST INTERVIEWS, GENERAL, Reconstruction — Tags: Little Brother, Phonte, Tigallo, Zo!, Zo! and Tigallo Love the 80's
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33 Comments
i cannot get enough of that picture. lol.
They should do I love the 90’s
Houston rapper Paul Wall was not injured/killed as rumors were floating around the net this morning stated. Unfortunately though, his friend, Emanuel “Lil E” Hobbs, 23, was slain in a gunfight that left three others injured.
“Swishahouse and Paul Wall want to let everyone know that he is fine and alive,” a representative told an online publication today. “The concerns and questions are overwhelming, we thank you for your concern.”
Officers found the dead man lying on a driveway about 11:15 a.m. The wounded men apparently fled, police said. They later showed up at area hospitals, where they were being questioned later Thursday.
MAN THIS ALBUM WAS PRETTY COOL!!!
MY FAVE IS WRITTEN ALL OVER YOUR FACE AND I’M ONLY HUMAN….
“….YOUUUU GOT ALOTTT OF CLASS AND GOOODD TASTTTEEEE!!!!”
Anotha Time,
Mally
Little Brother !
i jus wana kno w yf some1 ere, hav some notions of french, with school, bak in the days… 2 understand
some french lyrics… n’ one of th best album in dis fuckin’ language… amazin’ ish !
thx.
Zo! and Tiggalo
gotta do a “Loves the 90’s” album
The Rudeboy’s cover was fly as hell, and that Intro “Come Inside” remake left me wanting more of that good shit
you shouldn’t have fucked with “written all over your face.” i know it. you know it. but you did it, and you nailed it, so nothing left to do now but move on, i guess…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLp0H6ckknc
damn.
THIS IS THE PROBLEM WITH HIPHOP FANS..THEY GIVE NIGGAS LIEK PHONTE CHANCE AFTER CHANCE…ALONG WITH JOE BUDENS .HE BITCHED OUT OF THE BATTLE BETWEEN FAB AND ROYCE…THAT SHOULD BE THE NEND OF HIS CAREEER…SURE HES A GOOD RAPPER BUT IF HE DNT WANNA BATTLE HE CAN GO RAP WITH HIS GRANDMA….
THIS IS THE PROBLEM WITH HIPHOP FANS..THEY GIVE NIGGAS LIEK PHONTE CHANCE AFTER CHANCE… …SURE HES A GOOD RAPPER…
===================================
So… what you’re saying is it’s wrong to support good rappers? Nah, you’re right… lemme run out and buy FAB’S ALBUM? I’m not going to further this discussion, but you’d be doing yourself a favor to support good music like Zo! and Phonte’s. Original shit like this is a rarity… be grateful it’s still available for you.
Son has trouble w/the English languange lol
Haha…i think it’s a dead give-away that someone is speaking nonsense when their comment is all caps…
LC. You nailed this shit…great read..
DAMN LC,
why you so harsh?
duh-duh-duh-duh-duh
signed,
f-a-b-O-l-o-u-s
Artist: Sam Cooke
Title Of Album: Portrait of A Legend 1951-1964
Year Of Release: Jun 17, 2003
Label: Abkco
Genre: Soul
Format: MP3
Quality: 320 kbps I 44.1 Khz I Joint Stereo
Total Time: 1 h 19 min 8 sec
Total Size: 181 mb
Contains an untitled hidden track which follows “Jesus Gave Me Water.”
Personnel includes: Sam Cooke (vocals); Clif White, Bobby Womack (guitar); Billy Preston (organ); Lou Rawls (background vocals).
Producers include: Bumps Blackwell, Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore, Rene Hall, Sam Cooke.
Tracklist
———
1. Touch The Hem of His Garment (2:04)
2. Lovable (2:26)
3. You Send Me (2:45)
4. SOnly Sixteen (2:03)
5. (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons (2:40)
6. Just For You (2:22)
7. Win Your Love For Me (2:47)
8. Everybody Loves To Cha Cha (2:43)
9. I’ll Come Running Back To You (2:14)
10. You Were Made For Me (2:55)
11. Sad Mood (2:40)
12. Cupid (2:38)
13. (What A) Wonderful World (2:09)
14. Chain Gang (2:36)
15. Summertime (2:23)
16. Little Red Rooster (2:53)
17. Bring It On Home To Me (2:45)
18. Nothing Can Change This Love (2:39)
19. Sugar Dumpling (2:45)
20. (Ain’t That) Good News (2:30)
21. Meet Me At Mary’s Place (2:43)
22. Twistin’ The Night Away (2:44)
23. Shake (2:53)
24. Tennessee Waltz (3:11)
25. Another Saturday Night (2:42)
26. Good Times (2:28)
27. Having A Party (2:37)
28. That’s Where It’s At (2:37)
29. A Change Is Gonna Come (3:13)
30. Jesus Gave Me Water (2:31)
31. Interview (0:32)
http://rapidshare.com/files/62402949/Portrait_of_A_Legend__1951-1964__www.vasiliska.com.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/62405550/Portrait_of_A_Legend__1951-1964__www.vasiliska.com.part2.rar
hahaha! Because, OED… I be gettin rumble vision when people come out with ignorance. Formalities are out the damn window.
No harm no fowl to Fabolous.
Gotty, You seen this?
http://youbeenblinded.com/michael-jordan-me-vs-kobe-not-even-close/1430
^ Gotta love a woman who will scuffle with a dude over some hip-hop.
Gotty I shouted you out on my new song
Incredible Freestyle
http://www.zshare.net/audio/1636250333ee2c8a/
you fine citzens can leave me some love / hate
by clicking my name …
I’ve never said this before… But, these dudes are like “Tools” lol. I can’t even laugh at them pictures, I feel bad. I guess it has to do with growing up in the 90s not 80s.
braaaaaaaaaaaaand new:
The Clipse Present Re-Up Gang - Re-Up Gang
01. Re-Up Gang Intro 04:29
02. Million Dollar Corner 04:30
03. Street Money 03:04
04. Fast Life 04:09
05. My Life’s The Shit 03:04
06. Bring It Back 04:09
07. Emotionless 04:47
08. We Know 04:53
09. Money 03:36
10. Been Thru So Much 04:47
11. Still Got It For Cheap 04:01
12. Show You How To Hustle 03:37
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5K6QQTFV
http://rapidshare.com/files/134168797/The_Clipse_Present_Re-Up_Gang-Re-Up_Gang-2008-C4.rar
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1PEEOGME
http://www.mediafire.com/?6vy5183pdgj
http://link-protector.com/555487/
http://link-protector.com/555488/
http://link-protector.com/555489/
J-Hood-Judgement_Day-2008
01. Intro 02:18
02. Bang Em Out 03:31
03. Everyday 03:46
04. Jena 6 01:54
05. Piss Speaks (Interlude) 00:45
06. Thou Shall Not Lie 02:21
07. I Need You 02:25
08. R&R Jewelers (Interlude) 02:45
09. Truth Hurts 04:05
10. I Told You 03:15
11. Piss Speaks Pt. 2 (Interlude) 00:54
12. You Know Where To Find Me 02:34
13. One Hit Wonder Man 04:08
14. Reality Check 02:28
15. Couple Of The Year 02:42
16. Homicide 03:45
17. More Words From Piss (Interlude) 00:58
18. I’m A G 01:54
19. Outro 01:20
http://www.mediafire.com/?3tip09euvn8
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HE3L1BLF
http://rapidshare.com/files/134182021/J-Hood-Judgement_Day-2008-C4.rar
The LA Times reports that a state prison inmate who once implicated a Los Angeles police officer in the slaying of the Notorious B.I.G. testified Thursday that he ‘took back’ the allegation because of threats he received from Death Row records founder Suge Knight.
The threats were apparently communicated to him through a former LA Times reporter.
Waymond “Suave” Anderson said reporter Chuck Philips passed him several written messages wrapped in plastic at Corcoran State Prison on behalf of rap mogul Suge.
The threats reportedly led him to give false testimony at a deposition last year in a civil lawsuit brought by the family of Biggie.
Anderson is a convicted murderer whose credibility has been questioned by prosecutors.
The inmate made the claim against Phillips and Suge in a hearing examining evidence that he contends shows he is innocent of a 1993 murder. He is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
The former Times reporter said, “That never happened. I’m flabbergasted by this whole thing. This is the ultimate betrayal.” Philips has written several stories about Anderson’s murder conviction suggesting that Anderson may be innocent.
http://www.freetheslaves.net/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?pid=183&srcid=-2
Jay-Z is set to work with Kanye West as well as Timbaland on sessions for his new album.
The rapper’s follow-up to 2007’s ‘American Gangster’ was previously reported to be produced solely by Timbaland, but the hip-hop star has revealed that sessions are more of a musical competition between his collaborators.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Jay-Z said: “I’m a person that works off music. If Timbaland makes 10 great tracks then he produces the album, if Kanye West makes 10 great tracks then he produces the album; if he makes three, I’ll take three. I let the music dictate the direction.
“You know I love Timbaland, he is like a brother to me, but until the music is done it’s premature.”
Jay-Z also reflected on his Glastonbury headline performance last month (June 29), saying: “I believe they were ready for a hip-hop act to headline, so even before I got onstage there was this rawness.
“The statement they made before I got onstage was ‘Come out and if you’re brilliant, you’re brilliant and if you’re crap, you’re crap’. And I came up and I delivered on it. And as the far as the rest of Europe, I’m being very honest, I really had the best run I ever had in my life.”
LC for the win!! A great read as always.
The perfect “director’s cut” companion to an ill collection of songs. I wanna call it a classic, but this is one I’m not gonna even try to label. It’s just dope.
@ Wit-e
Good lookin on that Re-Up Gang
*prepares for the worst*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKB9uQpLAa0
NaS’ Untitled On PianO !
DAaAMmMNnN. really hot !!!
… yo Nas ! give him ya acapella version and this man will can drop an acoustic piano version.
peace
deep low dock us
There seems to be a certain hypocrisy about how TSS will drop links to an entire artist’s catalog but fails to do so on this 80’s album tribute here.
If you’re promoting people to check the music out, THEN go buy it, great. That seems to be what you’ve always done. But with this project, nary a link for people to check it. Perhaps these artist’s asked you to do this and you’ve respectfully done so, but I’m pretty sure an artist like Kane, or any others you’ve featured, would ask you not to give their shit (ALL of it) away also.
I’m not saying what’s right or wrong here, just asking why it’s one way for some and not others.
That cover is classic!!!
@ Snow…
Despite your assuredness we didn’t put any links for DL, if you had clicked on the link we posted at the bottom for “Written All Over Your Face,” you’d have seen that “Written All Over Your Face” was, in fact, made available for download.
And you can also check all of the MySpace links I included to hear their music more in depth.
If an artist specifies they don’t want their music posted, we certainly honor that… though that wasn’t the case with Zo and Phonte. Usually with a longer interview like this we don’t offer up the music as well, because you have to discern what you’re trying to get across - information or music. This was information… an in-depth feature.
I was incorrect in saying that there was ‘nary a link’ because there was- here and there. I was more asking from a general standpoint, because it somewhat amazes me when you guys/girls put down an entire discography to an artist or group, but i had not seen a full album DL for this 80’s project.
And it was a question, more than anything, regarding this album, and the general way you decide in distributing music. Now that you’ve answered it I will return to the void.
aw, nah Snow! Don’t fall into the void! I appreciate an open forum for discussion on any topic. Intelligent conversation is a necessity! You points were dually noted, my good sir.