HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
COURTESY HIFF
Dan "The Automator" Nakamura, a Bay Area native, just spent five weeks producing "2K7," a record for a video game. He got his start in the music business as a DJ.
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On the independent hip-hop tip
DAN "The Automator" Nakamura is like any good independent film -- you may never have heard of him, but sit down and pay attention for a bit and you'll find yourself completely absorbed before you even realize it.
'Dan the Automator'
"Cut and Scratch: The Sounds of Dan the Automator & Far East Movement"
Club concert: 9 p.m. Friday; doors open at 8 p.m.
Place: O Lounge
Admission: $10 advance; $15 at the door
Call: 944-THEO
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So it's fitting that he's the featured guest DJ at this weekend's Hawaii International Film Festival kickoff party at the O Lounge. Los Angeles' Far East Movement will maintain the underground vibe with a performance the same night.
Nakamura's work with the likes of Kool Keith and Prince Paul on "Dr. Octagon" and "Handsome Boy Modeling School" have garnered him critical acclaim, with his production work on the Gorillaz's 2001 debut album getting him some mainstream shine.
He recently took things a step further with the release of "2K7," the official soundtrack for this year's "NBA Live" video game that features guest appearances by everyone from E-40, the Hieroglyphics and Dilated Peoples to Slim Thug, Fabolous, Lupe Fiasco, Mos Def and a Tribe Called Quest.
The Star-Bulletin spoke with Nakamura last week, where he was hard at work in his studio in San Francisco.
QUESTION: When you first got into hip-hop back in the '80s, was it your goal to be a producer?
ANSWER: I started out DJing. I was really young when I got started, but by the time I was able to understand it, I was really interested in (that) aspect. But I was also interested in music in general, and they go hand-in-hand in a certain respect.
Q: Who were your initial influences as you got into the Bay Area scene?
A: As I grew up around Q-Bert and all those guys, a lot of turntable stuff that is now considered turntablism was happening around where I was from. So we were all kind of doing that stuff, you know what I mean?
At the time, all that stuff that was going on was undeveloped. These guys ... took turntablism into popular culture. When we were doing it, it wasn't looked down upon. It wasn't looked at, period.
Q: You started pressing your own vinyl in college and have stayed on the independent tip for much of the past 15 years. Has your approach changed at all?
A: It's changed, but still the same. I'm from the Bay Area, where we have a long lineage of just doing our own thing. From Too $hort to MC Hammer and the Digital Underground ... pretty much everyone comes out independently first. Master P even came from here.
It just seems natural; we don't really go to industry at first out here. We do our own thing.
Q: What's up with "2K7?" What was it like making a record for a video game?
A: Here's the thing. It was a lot of fun, but there was one catch: I only had five weeks to make the record. I'll never make another record like that if I can help it.
The hard part was not being in the room with all of (the guest artists). Don't get me wrong here -- I'm perfectly happy with the record and I like the way it sounds, I just know the chemistry is better when you sit in the room with people.
Q: Why did you want to work with such a diverse group of rappers?
A: The conscious decision was to make a straight-up rap record. Over the years, people have associated me with a lot more rock records, so I wanted to go back and make a rap record. I felt that showed some of the diversity of hip-hop, especially in the context of basketball. I wanted to get the backpackers, the mainstream, the gangstas ... the thing it gets down to with all these cats is that they all have skills.
I make music because I want people to enjoy it. If it grabs you, for whatever reason, then it's all good for me.