INTERVIEW: Black Milk at the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival, Plays DC Tomorrow

Dilla is the greatest producer I’ve ever heard.

Slum Village, Dilla, Royce Da 5’9, Eminem, Dwele, and so on. Both the underground and overground of hip-hop have been dominated it seems by one Midwestern city. Detriot, often ridiculed and maligned, has had a longstanding musical history, and the torch has been passed in recent generations to artists like MC/Producer Black Milk.

Gaining recognition in his native city earlier this decade Milk made waves by dropping the critically acclaimed 2008 album Tronic. Coming off of Dilla’s death the album (produced almost entirely by the MC) provided comfort and hope that the producer’s legacy was in good hands.

And with that there is much anticipation for the the follow up, Album of The Year, which drops on September 14th. Already highlighted with stage shows (showcasing the unmistakable Daru Jones) the project will hopefully get Milk’s name mentioned even more than in the past.

How you doin’ man?
I’m good man, I’m good. I’m just in NYC to rock this show.

Word. It’s been a minute since Tronic dropped, and I know we’re hotly anticipating Album of The Year. What can we look forward to when the album drops in September?

We have a few features on there. We got Royce Da 5’9, Elizi from Slum Village....

Man, I got to stop you right there, and we should’ve started on this question. What is it about Detroit that produces so much great hip-hop?

I don’t know man. I its not a city like New York or LA where there are a lot of things to distract you. All you can do in Detroit is work on your craft, be in the crib, be in the basement, and be in the studio working on what you love.

And we can’t talk about Detroit without talking about Dilla. How has he inspired you do do what you do?

Dilla is the greatest producer I’ve ever heard. If it wasn’t for Dilla man, I probably wouldn’t be doing music, and if I were doing beats, it probably wouldn't be sounding like it does now. So his influence was real big.

But it’s also about taking his influence and and incorporating what I’m doing with my own style, you know?  Dilla, Pete Rock, and DJ Premier are my three greatest influences of all time.

Black Milk will be performing TOMORROW in DC at the Gibson Guitar Lounge. Information and flyer at the end of the interview.