With an untitled collaborative album on the way, Sadat X and El Da Sensei stopped by #BodegaRadio to discuss which rappers impressed them in the studio. The Brand Nubian member spoke on hitting the lab with Jay-Z, Pharrell Williams and Uncle Murda, explaining how Hov wowed him with his ability to lay down tracks without slowing down.
“Besides my man El Da Sensei and besides my man AG, I remember I did a session with Jay-Z one time. We flew down to Virginia to do it with Pharrell and that’s when I did the chorus and later on he did the joint with Uncle Murda. They had me in the chorus,” said Sadat. “When we get down there, there’s like eight rooms. [Pharrell’s] got eight rooms of music going. So Jay’s going from room to room to room, laying joints down. He goes into this room, lays something down. Comes back, lays something down. And he just kept going in a circle. Just the work ethic. A lot of people see Jay-Z and think that it came easy. I remember when Jay-Z used rhyme over here on Moore St. just battling dudes. It wasn’t like it came easy. It just was his grind. I remember that day how I was impressed how he was going into each individual studio, knocking something down and coming back. At the end of that day, you can look back and say, ‘I had a productive day today.’ I was very impressed with that.”
For El Da Sensei, he named Pharoahe Monch as the most impressive studio artist. He recalled recording the track “Frontline,” which also featured Prince Po, Organized Konfusion, Mike Zoot and FT, and how watching Pharoahe lay his verse was like being “a little kid getting something for Christmas.”
“Besides my man, [Sadat X], for me Pharoahe Monch. When we did ‘Frontline,’ he came in not knowing what I wanted him to do. Sean J Period’s in the studio. The beats rocking. I’m watching him write and he’s like, ‘So, where do you want me to go with it?’ I’m like, ‘Man, I don’t care where you go with it. I just wanna hear you rock.’ I’m watching everybody else. I’m commanding the song because I’m telling everybody where I want them to go. He’s like, ‘Yo, come in the booth with me.’ I’m like, ‘OK.’ So I’m in there watching him and saying to myself…I’ve got my favorite emcees for certain reasons. For me, watching him in the booth took me to when I first heard ‘Thirteen‘ [off of Internal Affairs] and I wondered how it was to see this dude do that kind of song. When you recruit certain emcees to do a song with you, you recruit them for a certain reason. I’m a fan full-fledged, so just being there watching it, I felt like I was a little kid getting something for Christmas. I was like, ‘Wow, this is what I always wanted.’ So after he laid his verse he asked me, ‘Yo, you cool with that?’ I’m like, ‘Are you serious!?’”
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Listen to the full interview below, where they also discuss beefs between MC Shan and Marley Marl, as well as Common and Drake.
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