Name: Maleet
Claim to Fame: I’m a DJ /Producer who has worked with El Da Sensei of the Artifacts, Princess Superstar, Biz Markie, Kenny Dope, Diamond D and others. I also have a critically acclaimed break CD called Papi Chulo Breaks Vol.1.
Maleet In The Studio With The Biz
Representing: I’m from Hillside and currently residing in Elizabeth, NJ.
Years in the Game: 13
Best Digging City or Town: Haven't found it yet.
Most Prized Piece of Wax: Skip Jackson and The Natural Experience “Microwave Boogie” 12", which was given to me personally by Stan Krause, owner of Catamount Records.
Favorite Album Cover/s: Jimmy McGriff’s Groove Grease, Salsoul Orchestra’s Nice N' Nasty (you have to open the gatefold cover to display the whole picture), Iris Chacon’s Am I a Tease?, and Iris Chacon’s self titled album.
Dollar Bin Miracle: Too many to name but I guess I'll say my Lamont Dozier “Going Back to My Roots” Promo 12".
Total Records Owned: Approximately 5,000, maybe more.
Best Digging Story: My wildest digging story has to be this time I went digging in North Jersey. An old man owned the shop I was digging at and I had a decent relationship with the guy. He had a small store and too many records. You couldn’t even walk because there where records on the floor in stacks and shit. Usually I’d spend the whole day there and I noticed that he had a back room with more records. It was dark as a motherfucker back there and he had no electricity running to the back room.
One day he got distracted by some customers and I made my way back there. I couldn’t see shit, so I just grabbed a big ass stack and got out of there. He caught me and started scolding me like, "I said nobody can go back there!!!" I apologized and acted like I didn’t know. When I sifted through the stack I found an Incredible Bongo Band Bongo Rock sealed! The owner did all of his pricing visually at the last moment of purchase and when he rang me up; he only charged me two bucks. I felt like a champion that day man. I felt like I was meant to have that record. It was divine intervention.
One more thing…I want you to put this in your article. One day I got a call from Jared of Sound Library fame at Big City Records in Manhattan. He said, "Maleet, there are these producers trying to get in touch with you because they sampled a track off of your Papi Chulo Breaks CD. I was like, “What?! Who the fuck samples off other DJ's break CD's? That shit is against the rules.” He said, "These dudes have a name for themselves, so don't let them go easy".
It turns out that these fucking bastards are none other than Sean C and LV of Diddy's American Hitmen producer team. These pieces of shit are responsible for tracks on Jay Z's American Gangster album and Ghostface's new album. I said to myself, “Ok, I'm gonna charge these bitch ass niggaz.” About 3 months later Sean C calls me up like, “Yo, what’s up, I sampled something off of your CD and was wondering if I could get an ID on the name of record". I said, “Well, how much are you offering? Because the way I see it, if it wasn't for me going out and diggin’ for that record and then making my mix CD, you would’ve never made that beat. So I want my fucking cut." He stayed quiet for a second then asked what I wanted.
American Hitmen Production Team
From there on I took his math and had my lawyer call him and litigate with him. Dude thought I was some chump that he was gonna get over on. My lawyer told him that I wanted five grand. He started laughing and said that he could find someone else to ID the record for clearance. I know he can't find anyone to ID that fucking record. I'm known for the Latin shit, and that’s no ordinary Latin record. Good luck trying to place that beat with no sample clearance you fucking code breaking, funk faking, bitch ass motherfuckers. Jared called me later and told me that all the beats that got placed on Jay Z's American Gangster came from records that he had personally given them. He had also pointed out the samples on the records. They didn't even say thanks. Motherfuckers couldn't even break Jared off. I want this to be known so every time you hear their names or see them on credits, you remember those clowns ain't real producers. They are pieces of shit.
To find out more about Maleet and his music, check out his website and MySpace page.
