On this episode of The Almanac of Rap, Donwill sits down with legendary Brooklyn production duo and brothers Evil Dee and Mr. Walt, collectively known as Da Beatminerz, for a deep dive into the people, places, and production techniques that helped define East Coast hip-hop in the 1990s. From their earliest days DJing and digging for records in New York to crafting the unmistakable sound of Black Moon, Smif-N-Wessun, and the Boot Camp Clik, the brothers trace their journey through the creative ecosystem that shaped a generation. 0:00 – Intro 2:36 – The Ballistics / Legendary Recording Studios 5:54 – Okayshop 6:04 – How Da Beatminerz know each other 10:04 – How Da Beatminerz started 16:55 – Delegating work 19:18 – Samples 21:38 – Working together 24:36 – How Boot Camp Clik linked up 29:37 – Mobb Deep’s Connection with Da Beatminerz 35:05 – Working with groups vs. solo artists 37:03 – D&D Studios 44:32 – Lack of studio hubs 48:00 – Signing to Rawkus Records 57:04 – Making an instrumental album 1:00:30 – Quality of music today 1:03:25 – Argument with Donald Byrd 1:04:25 – Meeting the artists you’re sampling 1:06:07 – Greatest “What if” projects that never happened 1:09:30 – New album with John Brown 1:13:24 – The big playback 1:16:20 – The issue with digital/streaming 1:19:02 – Outro/Credits 1:20:14 – Bonus Content / Chung King Studios
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