Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Featured DJ Of The Week: Mathematics




Bio


Mathematics (a.k.a. Allah Mathematics) is a member of the Wu-tang Clan family; he is the official DJ for Wu-Tang Clan as well as one of the top in-house producers for Wu-Tang. He is the man the group members turn to when they want that classic Wu-tang sound. Mathematics is also the inventor of the world famous Wu-Tang "W" logo. Born Ronald Bean in South Side Jamaica Queens he was exposed to hip hop at an early age. One of his older brothers would bring home tapes of Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, Treacherous 3, Cold Crush, The Force M.C.'s and more, he would also stay up till 2 or even 4 in the morning waiting to listen to the "World Famous Supreme Team Show" on WHBI, one of the few places and time that hip-hop could be heard on the radio. Mathematics with his brothers and sisters would put 2 "boom" boxes together to make copies of park jams and live hip-hop performances. The future producer originally thought of himself as an M.C. with the influences of Kool Moe Dee, Spoonie Gee, Mellie Mel and others. Later on the realization came to him that it was the DJ who controlled the tempo and flow of everything in hip-hop and after witnessing one of South Sides finest DJ’s Grandmaster Vic at a park jam he realized that is what he wanted to do. By 1987 Mathematics was throwin' his own park jams with his crew in Baisley Projects home of the notorious "Supreme Team". A few years later one of his brother's would hook him up with future Wu-Tang member and co-founder of Wu-tang the "GZA" then known as "The Genius".

The GZA was on the Cold Chillin'/Warner Bro.'s label and was in search of a DJ, but this was only the beginning of the Mathematics-Wu-Tang association. One day GZA invited Mathematics to a video shoot that his cousin was doing out in Queens, to Mathematics surprise GZA’s cousin was actually someone he had already known... the RZA then known as Prince Rakeem, the video was "Ooh We Love You Rakeem", at that time the RZA was on the Tommy Boy label. When Wu-Tang was formed Mathematics was called upon to create the Wu-Tang logo because of his graffiti skills, he also became Wu-Tang Clans official DJ, he would later go on to create the GZA’s logo and design the GZA’s"Liquid Swords" album cover.

Mathematics would begin producing in 1996 learning a bit of production skills from the RZA, but the main lesson that he would receive from the RZA would be to "do your own thing", so he did meshing together the sped-up soul samples, chopping them up into tiny pieces then reconstructing them to create his own soulful loops, a style which has since been imitated but never quite duplicated. With his technique he pushed out Wu-Tang classics such as "Cobra Clutch", "Wu-Banga 101" & "Mighty Healthy" off Ghostface Killah's "Supreme Clientele" album, as well as "Publicity" & countless other songs for the GZA to RZA’s "Must Be Bobby”. His catalog runs extensive within the Wu-Tang family providing songs like "That’s That Sh*t" & "Fire In The Hole" for the Method Man, Redman "Blackout" album to a string of Wu-Tang hits and classics from Wu-Tang Clan albums such as songs like "Thing Things", "Handclap", & "Rules" among many.

In 2003 Mathematics would release his 1st full-length album "Love, Hell, or Right" Independently on his own Quewisha label in conjunction with High Times (magazine). All songs on this album were produced, arranged, & mixed by Mathematics himself. In 2004 he would write the theme as well as do the entire score for Fox Television's comedy show "Wanda at Large" staring Wanda Sykes. In 2005 he would follow up his critically acclaimed album with another critically acclaimed album "The Problem" which featured the entire Wu-Tang Clan including O.D.B. on the Quewisha Recordings/Nature sounds label. 2006 left Mathematics touring vigorously with a "Wu-tang Reunion Tour" for O.D.B. & a number of Method Man tours, but he still managed to put out his 1st full-length instrumental album "Soul of a Man", as well as 2 tracks on the Method Man "4:21 The Day After" LP. One of the songs was called "Everything" featured Inspectah Deck And Streetlife, the other song "Dirty Mef" was co-produced with veteran producer Eric Sermon and featured the late great O.D.B. himself.

2007 starts the year off with Mathematics releasing his 1st full-length documentary movie "The Beat Kings", where he is a producer went out and interviewed other producers. The DVD boasts an all-star cast of producers such as The RZA, Marley Marl, Pete Rock, DJ Premier, Kanye West, Just Blaze, Swizz Beats, Trackmasters, Havoc of Mobb Deep... just to name a few. Mathematics has also earned a spot on the highly anticipated Raekwon's "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx PT2" due out September 8th 2009.

 You can also catch up with Mathematics on the Footprints in Hip Hop Tour, DJ'n of course for MethodMan & Redman.






Mathematics' first real exposure to the nuts and bolts of production came late one night when he attended a session where he witnessed RZA construct a beat from nothing. The track would eventually develop into "Ice Cream" from Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. RZA inspired Math to follow the Wu-Tang, giving him advice on the nuances of hip hop production over the coming months and years. In 1996, Mathematics dove head first into production, at home, in between heavily scheduled tour dates and rigorous road travelling.
His first track, "Fast Life" featuring Ghostface Killah & football star Andre Rison, made it on to the NFL Jams compilation. Though this track faded into obscurity somewhat, it would lead to several more collaborations between Mathematics and Ghostface; Math also began to produce for many other Wu-Tang members and affiliates, including several tracks on GZA's second album Beneath The Surface as well asMethod Man's Tical 2000: Judgement Day, Inspectah Deck's Uncontrolled Substance and Method Man & Redman's Blackout!. Eventually he was to produce for the Clan as a group, with "Do You Really (Thang, Thang)." This was the only track on their 2000 album The W not to be produced by RZA, and then on 2001's Iron Flag he contributed "Rules".
In 2003, Math made the jump into the TV world, as he produced the main theme and all original music for the short lived show "Wanda At Large," which starred Wanda Sykes and aired on the Fox Network. During this time and in between continuous touring, Math would start work on his first solo full length project Love, Hell Or Right. Completely mixed, arranged and produced by Mathematics himself, Love Hell or Right was ultimately released in fall of 2003 on his own Quewisha Records label in conjunction with High Times Records, and it went on to scan 30,000 units.
As well as featuring rappers from Math's home borough of Queens, Eyes-Low and Buddah Bless, Love Hell Or Right featured appearances from all the Wu-Tang Clan members except GZA and the then-incarcerated Ol' Dirty Bastard. Mathematics soon signed to the popular independent hip hop label Nature Sounds (home to Wu-Tang colleague Masta Killa as well as MF DOOM) and released his second albumThe Problem in 2005. This time, the entire Wu-Tang Clan appeared, including a posthumous appearance from Ol' Dirty Bastard. As well as working on his solo albums, Mathematics has continued to contribute beats to many Wu-Tang releases, including the debut albums from Masta Killa and Streetlife.
 video clip of Mathematics going in on the 1s & 2s

Production Credits
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