DJ Invasion presents Guilty Simpson & Pete Rock – A guilty soul (interview + album stream)

Last July, DJ Invasion published the mixtape A guilty soul, 13 blends of Guilty Simpson’s raps over Pete Rock beats, a very original idea since that duo has never really happened on a track and since we usually listen to the MC of Detroit on more aggressive or strident instrumentals.

From the first return of the SP1200 or the classic “The world is yours” (renamed “The world’s ashtray”), you realize how powerful the Guilty/Pete fusion could be instead of having the Chocolate Boy Wonda doing now futile albums with Smoke DZA or Skyzoo.

The maple syrup and extra bacon are the participations assembled by Invasion, some of them unexpected like the infamous with Meyhem Lauren on a verse and Pete Rock on the chorus of “The realness” or the SmooVth verse on “The future”, plus other perfect matches like Planet Asia, M.E.D., Ty Farris, and even one more track with the late Sean P on an uncharacteristic bellicose petestrumental.

And well, although it is not an official project, A guilty soul has the complete approval of Guilty Simpson, as you can hear with the shout outs he provided for the intro.

If you haven’t give you the opportunity to press play to this mixtape, do it now on the Bandcamp player below while you read the short interview I had with DJ Invasion where he give us some insight behind his work.

Here you can read the full version un spanish.

ASGARD: Can you introduce yourself to our readers?
DJ INVASION: I am DJ Invasion. I am from New Jersey and I have been doing blends for 15 years.

Tell us about the idea of blending Guilty’s raps with Pete Rock’s beats. Why and how it came together?
I am a huge fan of Detroit Hip Hop. I gravitate towards practically anyone and anything that comes out from that area. I heard Guilty in the late 2000s and really gravitated towards him when he, Black Milk, and the late Sean Price came together to form Random Axe. To me, Guilty gives you that feel where no matter what, he gives his all. He puts his soul in every track. Pete Rock is known as “The Soul Brother”. It seemed like a perfect match in my head.

What is the source of all of the material? Tell us about the process of putting it together. You even got a special intro from Guilty himself.
Everything single Guilty Simpson acapella or feature acapella you hear, was either purchased via Bandcamp and iTunes if the artist or producer released the material, or, completely made by me. It is all previously heard verses and beats. My job was basically to make them sound new to the general listener, or sound refreshing to the Guilty Simpson/Pete Rock fan. My saving grace was Pete Rock releasing Return of the SP1200 as I was able to take a fee beats from their and flip them. I am a perfectionist. So my process can take some time. Even after releasing a project, I critique it heavily. I started the project back in February, and around April, I sent Guilty a snippet of what it sounded like at the time. Personally, I don’t think he fucked with it as much at first. A couple months later, the project really started to take shape and direction. And once I was in the final stages, he took a liking to it and I got him to officially be apart of the project. The project from when he heard it the first time, sounded completely different from the second time he heard it. I have about 8 to 10 blends that were going to be on it at first, and now they will most likely never see the light of day. The blends the second time around were a lot cleaner and smoother.

The “Black John Gotti” beat, it’s not the classic Pete Rock sound…
Every producer has beats that don’t have their “signature” sound. When I created my Roc Marciano/The Alchemist blend tape, I heard a lot of beats that weren’t the typical Alchemist sound that we hear today. Alchemist found his pocket and sound that he is known for, and Pete Rock has that same sound he has became famous for. But all producers have some some beats that are not necessarily in their wheel house. “Black John Gotti” was actually a late addition, if not the last addition to the mixtape, and although it is a short blend, it worked itself perfectly into the blend tape.

What about the featurings?
With a blend tape, us DJs are given a lot of artistic liberties. To me, we are allowed to make the impossible, possible, as long as we can make it make sense to the listener. I have ability to put Guilty Simpson on a track with Nicki Minaj, but it’s up to me, to make that sound like it could actually happen in real life. If I can’t, then it sounds very very random and my rep gets put into question. So when I do blends, I try to use features that have already taken place, or look and sound believable. I think I did a phenomenal job in doing so with this blend tape. M.E.D., Sean Price, Black Milk, Planet Asia, among others are all artists that have previously worked with Guilty Simpson at some point. Cormega and Meyhem Lauren, to my knowledge have never worked with Guilty Simpson, but I feel they share that same level of talent and respect in the Hip Hop Community. SmooVth, Rozewood and others are new blood talent that I could see working with Guilty. Ty Farris, a fellow artist from Detroit who I have a somewhat of a personal relationship with, was a no brainer to put on this project. Him being on the project was a surprise to him, and personally hit me up for an exclusive listen to the track. So shout out to him for supporting.

What’s your favorite track or tracks of the final work and why? Mine are “Know the high”, the groove of the beat sound dope with Guilty’s pauses on the raps, as I said the Sean P featured “Black John Gotti” is a hard beat, “The future” or on “The realness”, the Mayhem Lauren feat is a great addition.
I feel like it is impossible to give you a definitive favorite track. It all depends on my mood when I go back and listen to it. I think for me, mixing wise, the one I am most proud of is “The World’s Ashtray”. It clicked organically and there were pieces in Guilty’s vocals, that to me, mixed great with the original hook. I hit up the producer of the original Guilty Simpson record, Reckonize Real, and from what I gathered, he was stunned by it.

What’s your next project?
My next project is unknown. I have all these project written down but it’s up to me on when they come out and it what order. What I can give you for now, I am working on a blend tape with Planet Asia vocals over another super producers beats. I am working on a Big Twins blend project with a fellow blend DJ, DJ Deals. I will be releasing a Sean Price project in August of 2020. All you can do is stay tuned!