HHNLive.com writer Quinton Hatfield gets deep with producer/music executive Ski on his work with Jay-Z on Reasonable Doubt and creating classics such as "22 Two's" and "Politics As Usual", his new artist M.O.S., his thoughts on Hip-Hop today, what happened with his label Roc-A-Blok, Jay-Z using his flow on his debut album and much more! A must read!

Q: I would like to know what Ski's been up to lately?

Ski: I've been up to a lot of stuff baby. I got an artist signed at Jive who goes by the name of M.O.S. whose doing real good as we just finished a single with Mannie Fresh. I been working with a lot of artists down south, I have this one artist I'm working with and his name is J-Bully from Durham, N.C. and he's hot. I recently did a track with Shareefa from DTP, I did a joint with the kid Khao who is signed with Grand Hustle and I did a track with the freestyle battling kid Serius Jones. Right now I'm working with this ring tone company called Tone maker DJ's. It's going to be on a lot of Sprint phones where you can make beats on your phone, it's like fruity loops on your phone. I just been giving them sounds for the phone and it's working out pretty good.

Q: A lot of people wanted to know what's been good with you, because it seemed you disappeared.

Ski: Yeah I'm still working man, I've just been down south putting in that grind. I'm originally from North Carolina so when I went home I've just been working with these artists.

Q: I didn't even know you were from North Carolina, you know I go to North Carolina A&T.

Ski: For real, get out of here [laughs]!

Q: Now a lot of young hip-hop heads don't know that you worked on the classic album "Reasonable Doubt", so can you reflect on that experience working with Jay-Z?

Ski: When I was doing that album it was like a beautiful movement for hip-hop. That was when hip-hop was really coming up, it was when being creative and different was the thing to be. Working with Jay was crazy, when your working with the best you step your game up and working with him was amazing. His lyrics was bananas, being with the whole crew Dame and everybody was a good experience, it was a family vibe and it was real cool. Another classic album that I produced was Camp-Lo's "Uptown Saturday Night" and working with those dudes was amazing too man.

Q: On "Reasonable Doubt" you did a total of four tracks and my favorite song was "Dead Presidents" so what was the chemistry like on that track?

Ski: When I did that I was just thinking hip-hop crazy. What it was when I created that track was when Nas was out and he had that song the one which Pete Rock did. That put me in that mode to create that, that's why I gave Nas a tribute by using his voice in the hook.

Q: What about "Politics as Usual" and "22 Two's"?

Ski: "Politics" was crazy, because I was in the car with my baby momma. I was in Long Island listening to the radio and I heard that sample on the radio and was like "Yo this is crazy". I heard the original and was like "Yo if I do this beat right here Jay would kill this shit", so that same day we went to the record store. I picked up the Stylistics album took it home, chopped it up and gave it to him, then of course he heard it and that was it. That was one of those moments where I just heard it on the radio and that was it. I'm like "This is bananas, I'm surprised nobody hasn't used this".

Q: What about "22 Two's"?

Ski: "22 Two's" that was more of a beat I just did a while ago. When he heard the beat he was like I'm a spit "22 Two's" to it. Now "Feelin It" that was a good vibe, "Feelin It" was a record that me and Camp Lo did as that was our song at first. The way Jay was flowing was the same way I was flowing, Jay heard the record and was like "I like that song can I buy it?" and I was like "I ain't coming out no time soon, so yeah you can get the record". He got the record and actually used the flow I was flowing with, not the same words, but just the flow.

Q: What happened with the label Roc-A-Blok productions?

Ski: Roc-A-Block...we had our little run for a second. We had Sporty Thievz who did the pigeon song. What happened with that was around that time I was going through a period of music and I wasn't really feeling the music...that was when I moved back down south. It just kind of shut down, but we did our thing with it, I just needed a hip-hop break for a minute.

Q: What's your opinion on the current state of hip-hop today?

Ski: It is what it is, business wise it's doing what it's doing. A lot of labels are putting out different stuff, they have to see the numbers, but creatively I wish it was more like '98 or '99 when cats weren't afraid to be original. The south is real big, the funny thing about the south is that you have different styles of southern music. You have Atlanta south, Texas south and New Orleans south. I just feel that the south is so big they should be more creative man and just bring a new element to the game like when Outkast came out. What Outkast was doing was original and I like originality man. You have to do something to make me listen and hold my attention, I just can't hear a bunch of dance songs all day.

Q: [Laughs], I know you can't.

Ski: Nah I'm not from that era. I like to hear an album and know who the artist is, when you bought "Reasonable Doubt" you knew Jay-Z, you felt who he was, you knew he was a hustler, you knew what he was trying to do. When you bought "Illmatic" you felt Nas, it was like a story, when you bought Biggie's album, Pac's album it was like a story man. Them dudes took you through a walk in their life, nowadays you put on an album and it's like every song you in a damn club.

Q: Right and that's the thing about it, a lot of young dudes I bet can't name five classic albums that came out before 1995!

Ski: Of course not! I'm not gonna be a hater and hate on the generation, but there has to be some more originality man. People need to remember how to make good albums that's all I'm saying.

Q: Would you say hip-hop is dead?

Ski: I wouldn't say it's dead, I just think it's resting right now. It's coming back, it's gonna do a 360 and come right back. Remember how disco was? Right now hip-hop is like disco and eventually your gonna want to hear good music again. It's not one day where I won't hear a conversation where someone is saying "Yo rap sucks what are they talking about, I'm tired of this". People are starting to listen to R&B more and that's why it's taking off again. People are starting to listen to good music again and eventually it will stop, shut down like they did disco and they will get back to making good hip-hop music.

Q: What artists are you feeling in the game right now?

Ski: I like Kanye West, I like how he puts his albums together. I feel T.I., T.I. can take you through a walk in his life and his music makes you reflect. I feel Jeezy, Jeezy can make you reflect, I feel artists that know how to put albums together. I can't feel the Yung Joc's, the Young Dro's and shit like that because their not talking about nothing!

Q: You keep it real with that!

Ski: [Laughs].

Q: Back to the artists you are working with, what's next up from them?

Ski: Well M.O.S. that stands for "Money Over Sex". He's actually about to get affiliated with Dipset, he's signed with me and Jive Records, but Dipset wants him to be part of their crew. The reason why is because he's on that whole movement, the thing that their doing.

Q: What do you like most about working with him?

Ski: M.O.S. has raw energy, I just feel him and you can hear the energy in his voice. That's the type of artists I like, I like artists that are artistic, that aren't afraid to try something new.

Q: Nothing like bringing creativity.

Ski: Yeah.

Q: Alright Ski good talking to you, anything to say to the fans of www.hhnlive.com?

Ski: Yeah you can check out M.O.S.'s record on www.myspace.com/skibeatz it's called "Drug Related". Always check out myspace page if you want to know anything that's going on with me.