Damizza: Doing what I love
|  | | Damizza | | Damizza, the founder of Baby Ree Records, has been a fixture in the Los Angeles music scene for over a decade. He's worked with Mariah Carey and Keb' Mo, and done beats for Ice Cube and Snoop, not to mention for some time was the Program Director for the city's biggest hip-hop station, Power 106, before moving on to focus on music.
Ballerstatus.com had the chance to speak with him over the weekend and talk to him about his production company, the thrill of producing, and the ever-challenging search for the next big thing. Let's talk about Baby Ree Records.
It's named after my grandma. 1997 was the first year that we started doing stuff commercially though, that's when we did Mariah Carey's "I Still Believe" with Krayzie Bone and Da Brat. That led to doing more production for everyone from Snoop Dogg to Ice Cube and West Side Connection.
It's more of a production company than a record label. There's a song out with TQ right now, who just put out "Paradise", and a song I just did with him and Lil Wayne that is going on his album. The label's an independent label that's diversified. We have the LA Blues Alliance, which has Stanley Barren, Keb' Mo - who's the biggest name in blues. We've had twelve records at radio in 2007. There are a lot of things on the label, I mean, damn. There's no end. Do you come with a different psyche when you work with Snoop or Mariah or Ice Cube, than when you work with a lesser known artist?
I come at everything the same way. I think that's what makes me who I am. I approach everyone and everything the same way. There's no difference for any of it. If I sit down with Mariah or I sit down with Young B or Kurupt, it's the same thing. "Girlfriend" is your latest single out, and it's driven by a guitar-fused riff. What can you make of the new trend of putting guitars in hip-hop?
I've always used guitars. Whether it be with Nate Dogg or Mariah, they're always there - just in different works. We were sitting at Terry Reid's (famous English rocker) house, and Jared and I are sitting there by Terry's pool. And Jared picks up one of Terry's guitars and he does the [sings riff], and I go, "what was that?" And he starts singing, "I was chillin' - by the pool." And I was like, "Wait a minute. Hold up." We were just sitting around at Terry's house, enjoying life and being in Palm Springs, and just spending time with a legend. (excerpt from BallerStatus)
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