"Midi Mafia get’s Digital" Exclusive Interview with Queen Princess

Posted on Tuesday, June 26, 2007

W e'd like to check out this interview to Midi Mafia who we introduced to you a while back. They are a group that is described as a deadly combination of DJ/producer Dirty Swift (pictured, left), and MC/producer Bruce Waynne (pictured, right), who grouped up in 2002. Bruce Waynne represents the East New York section of Brooklyn while Dirty is a turntablist extraordinaire from Canada. Queen Princess sat down with them on June 19th in a great interview to discuss up-coming projects, a little about themselves and all other juicy tidbits she thought she would devise. Peep the interview....

Queen Princess: Hey guys what’s up, how’s everything going?

Dirty Swift: What’s up?

Queen Princess: Nothin’ much man, I know this is a Loud.com interview, but I just want to get a short introduction on Midi Mafia.

Bruce Waynne: Cool, yo, this is Bruce Waynne, one half of Midi Mafiyaaahhh!

Dirty Swift: Yo this is Dirty Swift, the other half of Midi Mafia.

Queen Princess: Okay, so what does the name Midi Mafia represent?

Dirty Swift: Well Midi the first part of the name is basically an acronym for Musical Instrument Digital Interface which is basically how different pieces of equipment talk to each other in a digital form. Then mafia is pretty self explanatory, it means we run this shit (Laughs). Put together, it’s a great name for producers, we run the studio and we run the music.

Queen Princess: Right, so how did you guys get together?

Dirty Swift: We met in a recording studio in Brooklyn and we were both working on the same thing. We kind of figured out that we both hear the same things but we do it differently. He does hooks and writes songs and I engineer and DJ and we both make beats so when we put it together it was kind of an unstoppable combination you know what I mean?

Queen Princess: You guys are also CEO’s of your own label right?

Dirty Swift: Yeah, we have a label called Family Ties ENT and with that we have two artists signed, they’re both female R&B. We did one deal with Atlantic with an artist Deemi, her album’s coming out this summer it’s called Soundtrack of my life. We have another artist that we signed with SRC Universal and her name is Shire from Baltimore, so we have two female acts signed to Family Ties ENT.

Queen Princess: Alright, who’s the first big artist that you were able to work with as Midi Mafia?

Dirty Swift: The first credited Midi Mafia song was “21 Questions” by 50 Cent. That was the first official Midi Mafia record.

Queen Princess: Who’s the most recent artist that you were able to work with?

Bruce Waynne: The most recent one would have to be Fantasia; we have a single out called “When I see you.”

Queen Princess: Oh Okay……

Dirty Swift: We just finished some stuff up with Jennifer Lopez as well. Then there are a few up and coming artists, like a rapper from the west coast, who did a deal with Cash Money, we did a song for him.

Queen Princess: So you got a bunch of stuff in the works?

Both: Yep

Queen Princess: So what is Midi Mafia’s connection to Loud.com?

Bruce Waynne: With Loud.com we got hooked up. We’ve known Steve for a long time and we’ve always wanted to do business with them. So when we brought over our artist named Shire (Sha-Ray), he told us what they were doing with Loud.com, so we checked it out and saw what it was and looked at it as a great opportunity. So immediately we gave them a bunch of beats, put them up and set up our own profiles. Then that first week, the winner had actually chosen a Midi Mafia track.

Queen Princess: That’s what’s up. What would you say is the most positive aspect of Loud.com?

Dirty Swift: I would say the immediate feedback you get. You get to see what beats people are feelin’ and what kind of stuff they’re downloading from you. I mean you could put up ten or twelve beats, but then you can go through people’s profiles and see that everybody’s kind of feeling this one track. It kind of helps you connect with people. Because we have a schedule, we don’t have time to sit down and record with all of these artists. It’s kind of an opportunity to hear what other people are doing with our music.

Bruce Waynne: Another good thing is it’s a way for artists to express themselves. It’s always fresh you know, he’s the king of grassroots and I’m from the bottom just grinding it out.

Queen Princess: Do you listen to all or the majority of the artists who pick your beats?

Dirty Swift: When we have time for ourselves, we go to Loud.com and see people who are recording randomly. We kind of narrow it down because there are so many people rapping, but we do as best as we can.

Queen Princess: Have you ever heard an artist that do a track in a complete different direction with your beats that you really liked?

Dirty Swift: Definitely, that’s one of the things that goes through you. Sometimes it’s like, wow they went left on that. You like it sometimes, but as producers it gives you a perspective on how people hear your beats and what’s possible. People will try anything on there.

Queen Princess: What’s a normal day like preparing tracks for Loud.com, how many do you do and how long does it usually take?

Bruce Waynne: Well me and swift have like a stash of beats that we made for people before and it didn’t work out and we just have a huge catalog of music. Actually, when we make tracks we’re adding on at Loud.com. Usually we submit them early and get some feedback but we just have a catalog.

Queen Princess: How often do you update the Midi Mafia tracks?

Dirty Swift: We put up like 12 tracks and then they stay fresh for a couple of weeks and people continue to get them.

Queen Princess: What would you say is the most difficult part of being a Loud.com producer?

Bruce Waynne: It’s not difficult at all, it’s actually easy which is why I think we embrace it. The fact that we don’t get to listen to everything is the hardest part.

Queen Princess: Is it possible to collaborate with other producers on Loud.com?

Dirty Swift: We’ve done some cool stuff……………Cool and Dre are on there, but I think it would be more on the level of us bringing an artist in and cornering them for a track.

Bruce Waynne: A lot of us know each other from the business outside of Loud.com.

Dirty Swift: They’re like you’re on Loud.com too, that’s cool.

Bruce Waynne: Yeah, ShaMoney XL, he used to buy beats from us so we’ve done business with him before. We’re all friends from before so we could definitely do some collaborations.

Queen Princess: What do want to stand for as producers at Loud.com?

Dirty Swift: I think the integrity of being on roll, which is a great branding tool for us. I’m kind of hoping that we can find the next superstar rapper off of Loud.com and be able to give them a record deal on our label. You never know because sky’s the limit; there’s so many great people on there you never know what could come out of it. The possibilities are limitless and we’re hoping that it blows up.

Queen Princess: Do you separate beats for Loud.com and your label Family Ties ENT?

Bruce Waynne: I think we always pick the best song for the best situation. If I have an artist coming out, we always want to give them the best song that we have at that time.

Dirty Swift: At Loud.com we just try to put up a wide variety of tracks and as many styles as possible to see what sticks. We just want to show what Midi Mafia does and we try to get that to Loud.com so people can see all sides of Midi Mafia.

Queen Princess: Okay, what do you think it takes from an artist to be the next hip-hop superstar?

Dirty Swift: We’re looking for someone who stands for something, someone who has a stone concept, big hooks, strong sound, structure and delivery. Pretty much all of that has to come together. At Loud.com you have an opportunity to display all of that. We’re looking for the total package, the same thing that they’re looking for other major labels or as an A&R getting demos, it’s the same qualities at Loud.com.

Queen Princess: Do you have anything else that you want to say to people at Loud.com or hip-hop ruckus?

Dirty Swift: Get to Loud.com, download Midi Mafia tracks, and rap over them. Last week’s winner chose a Midi Mafia track so I guess that’s working out. Just look out for Deemi, Soundtrack of my life off of Atlantic, Look out for Shire, Family Ties SRC. Just keep supporting Midi Mafia, we love everybody.

Bruce Waynne: Download that Midi Mafia beat and upload that heat.

Queen Princess: Definitely, I’ll be checking for all of the upcoming projects and everything.

Dirty Swift: We have a website Midimafiaonline.com and also the myspace.com/midimafia, so for all the latest stuff you can just come there.

Queen Princess: Okay, well thank you guys for taking out the time to do this interview with hiphopruckus.com

Dirty Swift: Thanks a lot

Bruce Waynne: No problem

So there you have it. We just want to say bigups to Midi Mafia massive and good luck on your future endeavours.

Got questions or comments for the Queen Princess, email her at this link.