Frank N Dank

Right about now were in the presence of hip hop vets Frank N Dank who have been active in the hip hop game for well over ten years, firstly I’d like to thank you both for answering these questions and as it’s still early in the new year wish you a prosperous 2009. Right down to business, many of our readers would like to know how you first hooked up with the legendary J Dilla (R.I.P)?

Me, Dank and Dilla met back in 1986..we were all dancers and loved hip hop and clicked up and the rest was history!

The second question relates to your 2003 album ’48 Hrs’ I’ve read that the first and the second masters were both rejected by MCA possibly because of the use of samples in the project how did you feel about this at the time and did you learn anything from this unfortunate saga of events?

I wonder where people get their facts from? But to clear it up 48 hours had no samples and the record was accepted but shortly there after the people who signed us and were the champions of our movement got fired or quit because the company "MCA" was shutting down the urban portion, so long story short after a year and a half of back n forth unlike a lot of artist on that label we were granted a release not moved to geffen or left in limbo...as we went through it of course it was fucked up but at the end the knowledge gained can't be measured and we were able to keep making music.

Your home town is Detroit which over the years has become somewhat a Mecca of hip hop talent; can you let our readers know what it’s like to be from Detroit and some of the good and the bad sides to the city?

The D is great in a lot of respects, it's a place where working hard is the norm, so we are bread to go all out on whatever the task is, and it translates to the music and how we pursue it and that's why Detroit has the artists it does, and of course we have a rich music history so combine the two and there you go! Now with that said that means you go hard at whatever you do from music to selling drugs to working at the auto plant so the streets is grimey and not a place you can half step so you must be on point always...which ain't such a bad thing!

The FDR project saw you hooking up with Ralph ‘Young RJ’ Rice to release a cd and dvd double pack called ‘European Vacation’ but how much footage did you have to play with and how long did the dvd take to produce?

That footage was really random it started as just us documenting our touring and us just having fun, it was edited and done before Dilla passed away and we were not planning to put it out, we were watching it at the crib! But with the blessing of mama Yancey we decided to put it out to show Dilla for the soldier he was and how much love he had for this music shit! it wasn't a lot of footage but we actually have more ish we didn't show,

Going back to 2004 When you released ‘Xtended Play’, you featured a then somewhat unknown emcee / producer called Kardinal Offishall, did you know back then he’d become as popular as he has?

Yeah that's the home boy right there, Kardi was always putting in work! All the celebrities from Jay Z, to Fifty to whoever always acknowledge Kardi as the premier hip hop artist from Canada and he had hits there as well he just hadn't had the one that got the whole world and it happened! He always gives props to us so I'm real happy for the homie..

You’ve worked with a vast array of producers over the years, but who have you enjoyed working with the most and what have you leant by watching different producers work they’re magic behind the boards?

We've been able to work with so many producers, it's hard to pick a favourite but I can say that we learned how to make all types of songs and not to be afraid to try new ish. One thing Dilla taught us was to be able to mesh with any type of music because you never know what the next person will consider good!

You run your own independent record label called For Da Record, what are some of the highs and lows of running an independent and what are the differences between running your own label and being on a major?

For Da Record is me, Dank, and Young RJ and as far as ups and downs as an indie it's always a struggle to be heard and space is limited and mostly taken up by majors so you have to be 5 steps ahead if you wanna get it crackin, but it's great because you don't have to conform you can create new ish and go with it without so much red tape, so from an artist stand point you don't have to follow the trend.

You’ve travelled all over to perform in major cities across the world, which cities have you most enjoyed being in or have you never had anytime to take in the scenery / nightlife?

We don't get to see to much of the cities we hit it's usually interviews, food, show, go.. lol but for the record we love em all!

At the moment you’re in the UK and as were a UK based radio station some of our listeners / readers would like to know what you make of the hip hop scene here in the UK?

Man it's dope! So much music and different styles it's dope and they have a respect for the music as well as the artist that make it so for me coming from the U.S, the love they show is refreshing.

Thanks very much for doing this interview but to leave on a final question what can we expect from you in 2009?

You can expect a lot of music from FnD as well as solo stuff from Dank and Frank Nitt, Digipop is the name of Frank Nitt's label and the first release was "The Concert Hall Ep" Frank Nitt's solo project, so look for more music and the spreading of the frank n dank brand as a whole, tours, music and all the trimmings.

Interview by Lunatrix