Platinum Pied Pipers (PPP) are comprised of Waajeed and Saadiq, a two-man
dynamic musical duo paving the way of modern hip hop and soul. Waajeed (a
founding member of Slum Village) and Saadiq's first two singles started the buzz
which landed them on URB's top 100 2004 and helped secure them a record deal
with Ubiquity records. For two years they have been hard at work in the studio
releasing remixes and whetting our taste buds for their debut album Triple P.
They now have a hungry fan base waiting in line for their fresh-faced approach
to soul-infused hip hop music. Waajeed and Saadiq were introduced through their
mutual friends, Slum Village, and the two joined forces musically at the turn of
the millennium. While Waajeed is known for his gritty Detroit hip hop style,
Saadiq is a master keyboard and guitar player who was taught by world-renowned
songwriter Barrett Strong (most known for his work with Motown artist Marvin
Gaye).
Tiny Mix Tapes was lucky enough to trade emails with Waajeed before he got on a
plane to Europe and started the first leg of their European tour.
Could you quickly walk me through your music-making history? Briefly describe
your time with Slum Village to the Bling 47 group to your current album with
Saadiq as the Platinum Pied Pipers. Also include when you began making music and
decided that this was going to be your profession?
I started seriously making music on my own in 2000 --- Bling 47 was formed in
2002 with Ladybug. Slum Village and I are childhood friends; we formed the group
in 1989. I was a part of the group until I went to college in 1994 and met
Saadiq around 1996 -- Saadiq and I formed Platinum Pied Pipers in 2002.
Your songs are heavily layered, utilizing lots of different sounds and
techniques. Have you ever had any formal musical training? What production tools
do you favor (MPC, Reason, Pro Tools)?
No, but I was a DJ before I started to make music, so part of studying records
and the whole process made it easier to develop my own production side. As for
my favorite production tools, I like all of the above!
With your early start in the production game doing beats and helping with
production for Slum Village, do you think that constant comparison to Jay Dee
and SV has helped or hindered your career and your own musical growth?
BOTH! In a way it's helped being associated and compared to one of the greatest
hip hop groups is a great thing, but at the same time people want to put you in
a box and they apply all these expectations on you because of Slum Village's hip
hop soul music, and that's why I decided do this album the way we did with
random multiple influence type songs so people couldn't just box us into one
category.
Let's touch on your new album dropping on Ubiquity records; what was the
inspiration for the PPP project?
Inspiration? Anything and everything. Life!
When I go looking for your records at the store some times, I really have to dig
around to find your music. Since your style is a mixture of neo soul,
down-tempo, and hip hop your record could be placed in any one of those bins.
Where would I be able to find this record?
You might have to check in all the bins because it's a combination of all
sounds. I don't know where they're going to place it and I feel bad for buyers.
I see that a lot of up-and-coming artists are on your album. Most notable are
Jay Dee, Sa-Ra Creative Partners, and Lacks. What was it like to collaborate
with these artists and who would you like to collaborate with in the future?
It was great fun collaborating with everybody, particularly the people I really
look forward to collaborating with again is Tiombe Lockhart, Lacks, and
Invincible.
Which artists and or music are you really feeling right now?
Jneiro Jarel and Georgia.
Even though you guys have been busy for the past two years doing remixes and
working on the PPP album, what else do you like to do in your free time?
Sleep!
Thanks for talking to TMT and good luck with the tour in Europe. Please feel
free to add any last thoughts or shameless promo. Thanks for gracing out site.
Please pop out the album on Ubiquity Records when it comes out May 10. Join the
movement.