Sweatshop Union Interview Part 2

This is the second installment of the interview I did with Dusty Melodica from the hip-hop group Sweatshop Union.

This entire interview is available as a podcast from the Dope FM radio show on 93.3 CFMU Hamilton. Please check it out and subscribe to the podcast. It’s free and one of the best hip-hop mix shows out there.

Without further ado, here is part two of the interview.

Chase: “Yeah, so if I were to ask you what’s your favourite Sweatshop Union song, what would you say? “

Dusty: “Woah, favourite Sweatshop Union song?”

Chase: “Yeah?”

Dusty: “Um, that’s a difficult question. I don’t think I’ve actually ever been asked that before.”

Chase: “Really?”

Dusty: “No, but I don’t know. I’d probably go with Lead The Way just because that’s one of my favourite beats that’s ever been on one of my records by Rob the Viking. That song has dope lyrics by Innocent Bystanders as well but yeah, I’ll say Lead the Way.”

Chase: “Alright we’re gonna play that one right now. It’s off of Sweatshop Union’s third album United We Fall. And stay tuned because we’ll be back more with Dusty Melodica.”

Chase: “That’s a nice track definitely. You do some production yourself too, don’t you?”

Dusty: “Yeah me and Marmalade work on a lot of beats together. We have a production team going on.”

Chase: “So how is production handled as a group per se?

Dusty: “Well, ya know basically everyone starts off on their samplers. I use a MPC 2000 so we all kind of make the bare track or whatever, demo a song, sample based beats ya know stuff like that, put all our beats together, take it to the group and see if anyone’s interested in writing to the beat. Someone’s doing the beat, then will take it into the studio and develop it a little more, bring in session players. Ya know, whatever it needs on in that it doesn’t already have. Ya we just like to build up songs and produce a little more in the studio.”

Chase: “I was just reading a review in a local magazine here and it said you were 100% independent. So are you not on Battleaxe anymore?”

Dusty: “No on this record we’re not working with Battleaxe, no.”

Chase: “Oh okay. You still have some management with Battleaxe though don’t you?”

Dusty: “Yeah we still have some Battleaxe ties yeah.”

Chase: “Cause I was talking with someone from Battleaxe about setting this up so I was just curious what 100% independent meant. Alright. So, I’m a huge fan of Kyprios. When he got signed to a major label and had that video, I was like hyped. Haven’t heard anything from him as a solo artist. I was just wondering, do you know if we can expect another Kyprios solos record.”

Dusty: “Yeah definitely. He’s working on it right now in the studio. I don’t know exactly what his progress is on the album. I’ve been able to sample some songs from him but I don’t know if he has a release date just yet but he’s definitely working on something, yeah.”

Chase: “Nice. So are you on tour or you just got off tour?”

Dusty: “Yeah we just got off of tour.”

Chase: “So how was that?”

Dusty: “Good man, we’ve been really busy for the last three months. We’ve been going back and forth to the states, heading out east. Really focusing on the Western States.”

Chase: “Ya I noticed that because I was looking at all the dates and wondering, Man are you coming to Hamilton? Are you coming anywhere down here? ‘Cause I would love to see you guys live.”

Dusty: “I’d love to come back to Hamilton, it’s been a while.”

Chase: “So what are you bumping right now. What’s in your car deck?”

Dusty: “I’ve been listening to a lot of Blu lately. Blu and Exile Below the Heavens and the Johnson and Johnson album, that was really dope.”

Chase: “Yeah I like that one.”

Dusty: “I think he’s like the craziest shit out there right now. I’ve also been going back and listening to a lot of old Outkast albums. I heard that there supposed to be releasing three albums; each a solo album, and an Outkast album so I’ve been listening to their old albums getting back into them. Also I’m listening to the Knux. Ya heard of the Knux yet?

Gamma Krush: “They got that one song Fresh Cappuccino with a Mocha twist. I forget the name of the album but DJ Sage was telling em about it. He says ‘it’s like so-so’”

Dusty: “It’s got some really good stuff on it and some stuff that’s a little too pop-y for me but that stuff that works is unbelievable.”

We didn’t play Blu or the Knux at this time in the show but for the blog entry, I’d like to.

So here is “Blu Collar Workers” another great video. Check it out.

And here is the Knux video

Enjoy! See you tomorrow for part 3 of the Sweatshop Union interview I did for Dope FM radio. Stay tuned to the podcast and the blog. Thanks!


2 responses to “Sweatshop Union Interview Part 2”

  1. Hi ECD,

    I had so much fun doing this interview. I was really surprised to hear that they hadn’t been asked that question before. I guess that is a sign of a good interview.

    Thanks!