Hemispheres away from each other,Roc MarcianoandThe Alchemistare in sync like theyre in the same room.
During our conversation, someone walks up to show him love.
Alchemist is always sending beats, and Roc is always writing.
ART THAT KILLS; Joaquin “Sinematic” Vargas**
Their chemistry is apparent throughout our conversation as they finish and build on each others thoughts.
That cohesion comes through on the albums first single, Chopstick, which exemplifiesThe Skeleton Keys overall vibe.
Their sophomore collaboration comes at the end of banner years for both artists.
In March, Roc Marciano released his well-regardedalbumMarciology.
Hows your 2024 been?Alchemist: Its been eventful.
Its been more than I could ask for.
I wont say comfort zone because we never give a shot to get too comfortable.
For years, I felt like we were pedaling to create the landscape that we have now.
I feel like thats why its…
Were pretty much in sync.
We always making music.
Im always sitting on a batch of beats from Al.
Alchemist: Im not sure.
Some of them we did, but we live in the same city now, too.
I feel like were damn near in the same studio every morning because of our respective work areas.
[Laughs] Features are always an afterthought.
Whenever I put features on my album, theyre usually my friends.
I never think of an album and be like, Yo, I need rappers on my album.
I dont give a fuck about features.
Alchemist: It felt like we needed to just do this one.
I feel like if anything, they might be annoyed.
It wasnt one of those events.
It felt like a quick mission we needed to pull off, just us in our bag.
It naturally became that.
And I think it says something too.
Its a very self-contained creative product.
I always wanted to work with him from back in the days since the Mobb Deep days.
So its respect and admiration from my side.
Those are two separate things.
I dont ever let one conflate the other.
Your best friend is the guy whos going to take your beats and breathe life into them.
My friends make me look good.
Without these guys, theyd just be a bunch of cool instrumentals.
Alchemist: That aint easy, because Rocs standards is high.
So all I have to do is confirm that I hold up my end of the bargain.
When Im doing my own production, obviously, you got to wear both hats.
On Street Magic, you said: I dont need my ego stroked.
Roc is truly the essence of that.
He dont care with nothing.
It got to sit right in his heart, and where hes at in his career.
If somebody else likes it, that shit is trivial for Roc, because I look at stuff.
I like to do consumer research and see whats out there.
Roc really, he appreciates it, but he aint tripping on that.
Its truthfully [like] we validate this first.
We do it for a deeper, higher purpose.
Roc: And I dont trust peoples tastes anyway.
People have bad tastes, so a person with bad taste cant tell me shit.
Its no need for me to even make a run at wrap my head around that.
I trust my taste over 99% of motherfuckers out here, so have at it.
If people love it, they love it.
If they dont, its cool.
What does your consumer research look like, Al?Alchemist: I do my studies, man.
I love watching it.
I watch the reviews.
I have a go at give hope to some of them guys in their room doing those reviews.
Roc: I got your bad review hanging right here.
Alchemist: [Laughs] I never thought in my life that I would be in retail.
At this point in our careers, we actually run our own labels.
We make all the decisions.
So its on some consumer research key in of thing, just seeing whats working, what isnt.
I check the temperatures out there.
That reminds me of the tweet you made recently.
Theres a producer,Child Actor, whos really dope that was on my radar.
I reached out to him.
I didnt wait for him to hit me like, Yo, youre dope.
I mess with you.
And its genuine, too, like these are people I get inspiration from.
Roc: Yeah, I love doing that, too.
They cant believe it.
You be like, What, you think Im corny?
Im not corny, bro.
If you dope, Ill show you love.
It aint no skin off my back.
So to show love, it dont cost you nothing.
Al, I saw you were in one of Eminems trailers for his recent album.
I was wondering what that experience was like, filming that trailer.
Alchemist: It was cool.
It was an honor.
Anytime they give me the chance to wet my shoes with some acting.
And yeah, its cool to add that to the list of things that I do.
Just being affiliated with Eminem.
Obviously, Im overseas right now on tour with Eminem.
Its a blessing to be hitting on all levels.
So yeah, it was dope.
This is a whole world.
Its like, Shit.
So it was fun to be able to do that.
You mentioned you did something with Big Hit and Hit-Boy.
Trevor, the gun salesman.
And that was a last-minute thing, too.
But acting is something that I would love to try my hand at a little more.
In anotherinterview, you said, The fun is in danger in a creative sense.
I want to get more into the melody side.
I want to make an album like Isaac Hayes, likeBlack Moseskind of shit.
Just fun stuff like that.
Experimenting, even though I know they want to box us in with samples and stuff like that.
But Im going to start fucking with some live instrumentation, as well.
Just start expanding in every way possible.
Whatever they saying we shouldnt be doing, we going to try our hand at it.
Alchemist, I saw that some of your music is not on DSPs anymore.
I think people will be surprised, but everything will be back.
Yeah, its going to come back.
Man, remember when Taylor Swift put her music back out?
Yeah, re-recorded.Alchemist: Right.
So theres something there that I got that Im toying with.
Alchemist: You know what Im saying?
Roc: See, thats the danger we talking about.
Youre not supposed to do that.
Ka passed away recently.
Ka was the only feature on my first album.
Its cemented: Ka is one of the best lyricists to ever walk the planet.
And Im not saying that because he passed because I was saying that while he was living.
And thats just what it is.
And hes going to be forever missed.
Alchemist: Ka was one of my biggest inspirations, and I still maintain that even more now.
But I never let him think for a minute that I didnt know that he was something special.
I felt like he was a true artist, and there was no filter between him.
Sometimes you got to explain your shit to an engineer.
You got to explain your shit to a video director.
There was none of that.
He bypassed all that.
His art was exactly from the visual.
You could smell, taste, and touch what was his pure thought.
And that, to this day, still motivates me, especially on the video side of things.
Man this is something that will make him proud.
We all have a limited time on this earth, so every day matters.
And Ka proved that.
Look at how great his discography is in a short period of time.
Like, Damn, he did his thing.
But we never know when were going to check out.
Thats what Im looking forward to.
Alchemist: Thats it.
Roc be checking in on me every now and then like, Yo, you good?
Because he knows I might work to the point where Im not even paying attention to that shit.
[Laughs] But as we get older, these are the true things.
Because the hard work is starting to pay off and its only making us work harder.
