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Ask most hip-hop fans who their favorite rapper
is and they'll probably answer with an emphatic "Biggie!" Have them
list their Top Ten All-Time Favorite Hip-Hop albums and bet you Ready To Die
will be included somewhere in it. Then finally ask them to list their five
favorite songs from that album. Guaranteed that three of their favorite five
will be "One More Chance," "Me And My Bitch" and
"Everyday Struggle." That would mean the producer behind the
historical tracks of those classic songs has helped the Notorious B.I.G
become, arguably, the Greatest Rapper of All-Time. No we're not talking about
Puffy here (check the credits). We're talking about none other than Depth Charge's MC/producer Digga (formerly known as Lord Digga).
For you true
hip-hop heads, you might remember the name from Masta Ace's INC crew back in
the early '90's. Anyone who even remotely followed Ace's career recalls his
joints "Jeep Ass Nigga," "Who Ya Jackin" and
"Drunken Style." Digga produced them all. But when Digga started
noticing that the INC wasn't so incorporated, he decided to get gone. "It
seemed like Ace was out for himself and trying to limit my potential. So I
had to get out on my own and show the world what I was made of" states
Digga. "It's sought of like how the Raptors held back Tracy McGrady,
when he really had enough skills to be the best player in the league."
So Digga
bounced and started doing things his way. Talk about your way being the right
way. A year after his departure, Digga wound up being mentioned in Source
magazine's Unsigned Hype section for his production and found he and his production
partner's beat tape in the hands of an un-signed Biggie via Unsigned Hype
editor Matt Life.
But despite
producing tracks for faded artists like The Cella Dwellas ("Land Of
The Lost" and "Realms 3") as well as
hip-hop household names like ODB ("Brooklyn Zoo Remix"), Digga is
more than a superb track chef with a keen engineer's ear, he's also the one
of the fiercest you'll find in a vocal booth. There's none other who can mix
witty intelligence, sharp humor and true hardcore so well and then serve it
with a disciplined delivery and bully baritone. This is what had the West and
East Coast underground in love with Digga back in '98 when he dropped
"Flows Is Tight." He beautifully used a sample from the theme music
of the renown TV show "The Price Is Right" and an irresistible hook
to distract listeners as they got hit upside their heads with raps as hard as
granite. It was Digga at his beston all levels.
12 Me & My Bitch
Produced by Norman & Digga/Bluez Brothers, Chucky Thompson and Sean Puffy Combs
Instruments by Chucky Thompson
Nashiem Myrick That was a remix because we already had a track for that. I dont know why Puff aint use the original track. Either he couldnt clear the sample, or I dont know what happened. I forget the original song. It probably was an Al Green record, but I dont know. I cant remember. We did it over. Chuck played the guitar. He used original instruments. I guess that was another sample problem.
Digga The original sample that we used was from a Minnie Riperton song that Stevie Wonder wrote. When they sent it out to him, he was like, I love the song. But this cursing, Im not with it. You cant use it. So they got Chucky to come in and add some bars here and take some bars there. He just had to change up the music so that Big could use it.
Big started to record Me & My Bitch at the end of a session and he didnt like it. So he kind of like erased it and he went into another studio, wrote some more stuff and then he came back out. It probably took him a good 20, 30 minutes. He ate before he went in, and then he comes out like he just fucking walked to Russia. Aint no more chicken wings? Order some more wings! Like, Yo, we just finished eating, you was in there for like 20 minutes. He just burnt all that shit off. Big was just a real funny-ass dude at all times. The only time he had a little grimace on his face was when Puff tried to be an asshole. When that was going on, Big was like, This fucking guy! Hes trying to rule me. I cant rock like that.?
After a four
year hiatus, which included some personal and business obstacles, Digga has
weathered the turbulence and now with the assistance of DEPTH CHARGE he
is ready to re-introduce himself to the world of rap music. "I can
basically service the whole industry, I got tracks, I got rhymes and I can
engineer your project. How many artist do you know that can do all that,"
affirms Digga "; I mean one of the best rappers ever co-signed on me, so
that should tell you my level of skill."
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