Spencer Bellamy [East Flatbush Project] – The Unkut Interview

After coming up with Howie Tee as DJ and then producer, Spencer Bellamy started East Flatbush Project and released a series of quality records on his own 10/30 Uproar label at the beginning of the mid 90’s independent hip-hop vinyl movement. Best known for being the man responsible for the legendary “Tried By 12” instrumental, Spencer talks about the ups and downs of his experiences in the rap game.

Robbie: Can you tell me about how you started off with Howie Tee?

Spencer Bellamy: He used to have a crew called Count Disco. We were a local crew – myself, his brother and Howie would DJ – and then he had the MC’s, the Sureshot 4 MC’s, so they would do their routines. I hooked-up with him when I was around eleven years old. We played together for a few years and then we just became cool. After he cut-out of deejaying and went more into the production side of it, I would just watch what he would do. I was kinda like an apprentice, so to speak. From there, I tried my hand at production.

You were learning from Howie during the Real Roxanne/Chubb Rock era?

All of that. He was working with Full Force, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, Whistle, Special Ed. I remember when he would duck Ed, cos he just didn’t want to be bothered, for whatever reason. He used to have me, “Go answer the door – tell him I’m not home.” I remember his early demos, I liked ’em. He kinda reminded me of a little bit of Slick Rick.

So Ed just kept bugging Howie until he agreed to work with him?

That’s basically what it was.

Did you continue to DJ after Howie moved on?

I started out deejaying with DJ Scratchator cos we were in the same class, but then I hooked-up with Howie. Later on, I started deejaying with DJ Dice from Das-EFX and DJ Scratchator again. We did block parties and clubs as well, until I went to college.

Who were some of the other people Howie was working with?

He was working with Chubbs, Seeborn and Puba – I used to go to school with him too, Puma – and Little Shawn. Howie’s basement was like the hangout spot. A lotta times I would sit there and watch, or go through his records, or I would bring records to him, like, “Yo, you should use this part!” That’s how I started to get into the production end of it.

Did he let you use his equipment?

There was another producer named Jerry Callander, he worked with Monie Love. I used to go to his house and I used to do most of my production at his place.

What kind of a set-up did he have?

The SP-1200, the [S-] 950.

Was that the same as Howie?

I think he had a 950 too, and an Alesis drum machine.

Once you started making beats, did you try to find people to rap over them?

I was trying to find people to rap over them, but the people that I found weren’t that good. [laughs] So what I did was I would shop my tracks to a management company – the same people that managed Ed and Chubbs at the time. The first thing I did under that management was a girl from Brooklyn named PreC.I.S.E. MC, she was signed to Luke/Atlantic Records. That was my first taste of the music biz, and I didn’t like it. At that point I walked away from it, finished school. Once I graduated college, I still had that love for it. That’s when I formed the East Flatbush Project. Once I came out of school I hooked up with CL Smooth, right around the time when him and Pete Rock was hot. CL was supposed to be off doing his thing, and things just never worked out, so I decided to go off and do my own thing instead of waiting for him. This is when they were at the height of their game, when the Mecca and the Soul Brother album was out.

What exactly about the PreC.I.S.E. MC record was it that left a bad taste in your mouth?

It flopped!

How did you meet Stress and those guys?

I met Stress through a producer named Needles. I told him I was looking for some artists to work with, so he gave me a demo of Dox. I met Dox, and he gave a demo of him and Stress. I’m like, “Damn! Who’s this dude?” I just liked the chemistry that they had, they just sounded so good together. Then we just started knocking out stuff. Stress is like a Kanye – he produces stuff and he rhymes as well. He was his own lane.

What about your first single, “Madman’s Dream?”

Payday lived around the corner from my parents restaurant. There was a guy who used to come into the restaurant and he knew I did beats and he hooked me up with Payday. “Madman’s Dream” was the first song that we did together.

Why did you decide to release it independently instead of shopping to labels?

Not too long after that, Travis [Payday] got shot, and he had some brain damage. We talked about it and he’s like, “Yo, just put it out.” So I made up a bunch of tapes and just leaked it out that way and generated a buzz. Wherever I went, any venue I would just hand it out. I waited a good nine months to actually press it up. The first DJ I gave it to was Premier, when he used to DJ at [W] BLS, and he played it that night. Not too long after that, Flex used to give it love.

Were you dropping off boxes of records to Beat Street and Upstairs and places like that?

These was a DJ at Beat Street that I went to school with named Culture. He hooked me up with the manager and that was it. That sold all the time, it was a big seller in terms of that whole independent scene. That was one of the first records to be in there at that time.

It was a couple of years until you released a follow-up. Why was that?

I didn’t have anybody else to work with. “Madman’s Dream” came out in October of ’94, “Tried By 12” came out in April, ’96. I met up with DeS sometime in ’95, and we knocked out “Tried By 12” end of ’95, early ’96. That was the first record that we did together.

“Tried By 12” had a big impact, based on the fact that Ninja Tune released an album with eight different remixes of it. That was a big deal at the time.

That’s so funny cos I never thought about like that, that it was a big deal. I really never did.

How did that situation come about?

They just contacted me and they wanted to use the song. Just did the agreement and that was it. They reached out to me, I didn’t reach out to them.

What about the reaction back home?

Everybody would flip when they would hear that song, anytime there was a party or a hip-hop cipher. Someone told me that the Fu-Gees used it as a routine for their concert. Damn near everybody rhymed to that beat! That was one of the last freestyles Biggie rhymed over, and in last year’s BET cipher Eminem requested the beat.

Did you realize you had something special as soon as you made that beat?

Yeah, I did. It didn’t take long to do it. I didn’t have the record too long, I remember buying it from a little deadstock shop. Went to my boy’s house in The Bronx and knocked it out in about fifteen minutes. I didn’t even have a rapper at the time.

What did you work on after that was released?

’98 I did a song with Sauce Money and Jay-Z for the Belly soundtrack – the “Pre Game” song. I was working with Foxy Brown, cats from Terror Squad and worked with Sauce again. During that time I wasn’t putting out anything, I was just trying to get placements. Then I put something out with Paul Cain, Bop and E-Swinga [“Everything We Spit Is Hard”], and then I did two songs with Rustee Juxx. I’ve known Rustee since ’97.

What is it about Brooklyn rappers that makes it stand out?

Trendsetters. You think about Kane, think about Biggie, think about Busta, think about Jeru The Damaja. Their style and persona was very different. They were witty! Busta was animated; Jay was witty; Biggie was sick with the storytelling, his flows is crazy; Kane was hard and had the showmanship. His style was crazy. People wanted to be like Kane! Jeru’s style was so unorthodox, but he was witty. With Primo’s beats? That was such a perfect match. He probably gave him some of the best beats, just as much as he gave GURU. I liked the dudes from Queens too. I think they were really serious about their craft, they were really into it. Think about Nas, Large Professor, Kool G, Mobb Deep, Tragedy, Marley Marl, Run-DMC, LL – if you think about it, they were really serious about their business, man!

They’re scientists.

I just think maybe Brooklyn a little bit more grittier, but both boroughs contributed a lot, in a different way.

Do you have plans to release anymore hip-hop projects?

There’s no more East Flatbush Project, it’s dead. I just wasn’t feeling inspired. It didn’t take off the way I wanted it to.