Famed Virgina producer/emcee Nottz released his first solo album last year in You Need This Music. Additionally, the longtime hit-maker for Busta Rhymes, Ghostface Killah and Little Brother produced Rah Digga’s comeback album, Classic, and a free mixtape with Asher Roth, Rawth EP
. With a banner year in 2010, Nottz may get a massive commercial breakthrough this year, should Dr. Dre finally decided to release Detox. Speaking with Conspiracy Worldwide Radio last evening, Nottz touched on his long-standing contributions to Dr. Dre’s third and final ensemble album.
“When [Dr. Dre] first started talking about Detox, I had the first joint on that album. Now, I have the first joint on this [latest working version] of the album,” said Nottz, referring to Dre’s work in the early ’00s as well as more recent creations. “The first song, Game did a verse to it, and Dre was on it; they rapped on the intro of the album,” he revealed. “I never heard it, but Dre and them told me about it, that it was hot. Just Blaze told me that he heard the joint [and thought] it was crazy [also].”
Although Nottz did not indicate which songs, that initial early ’00s Detox production would later be used by two then-Aftermath Entertainment artists. “I had did two versions to the track,” Nottz said, before Busta Rhymes and Stat Quo both recorded to the song.
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As far as the title of the early incarnation of Detox, Nottz also revealed that Dre and Game were going to kick the album off with a song title “As God As Might Witness,” he said, before hesitating “or something like that.”
Nottz, who on several occasions flew to California to work in Dr. Dre’s recording studio compound, has watched Detox shift in sound and focus. On his first encounter with Dr. Dre, Nottz said that the N.W.A. alum played him 40 beats, all rooted in the sound employed on his 1992 solo debut The Chronic. Noting that Dre’s production team, which once included Scott Storch, Mike Elizondo and Mel-Man, now includes Dewaun Parker, Che Vicious and others has changed, Nottz revealed that a more recent sampling of Detox sounds was built upon “30 east coast tracks.” Nottz, who has worked with some of New York Hip Hop’s biggest names said, “It threw me off, ’cause it was all east coast records. Then he scrapped all of them, threw them out.” Despite the change of sonic climate, Nottz rests assured, “I think he kept like two of my joints.” The producer is also under the impression that both Jake One and DJ Khalil have confirmed placements on the album, expected to release this year.
Then again, Nottz can only be so sure. As this Detox album has changed and evolved throughout the last decade, Conspiracy Worldwide’s host, Mista Montana, asked Nottz how certain he was that he still had that Detox intro, the veteran confirmed, “We got checks cut, but you know, records don’t make albums.”
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The full interview, which also includes segments with Pete Rock and MC Eiht, is below:
