Kon Artis article in Detroit Free Press

[Ove kr.]

It`s a very good read!

THE BASEMENT TAPES: D12 rapper Kon Artis is becoming one of the hottest producers in hip-hop, thanks to his musical skills and stylish beats


The soundproof panels on the walls in the basement recording studio block the beats and keep them from spilling outside of Denaun Porter's understated Farmington Hills quad-level home, where a Cub Scout is going door-to-door collecting aluminum cans for his troop, a neighbor is walking her two muzzled dogs and two high school kids are shoveling snow in a nearby driveway.

Here, in the middle of suburban Detroit, is where hip-hop mastery happens.

Porter, better known as Kon Artis of the rap outfit D12, is making music for some of the best in the business in his basement studio.

The 30-year-old rapper is becoming one of the hottest producers in the hip-hop game -- outside of Eminem, easily the most in-demand member of D12. That designation was sealed when he produced two of New York rapper 50 Cent's biggest singles: "P.I.M.P" and "Stunt 101," the latter recorded with '50s group G-Unit.


In hip-hop, producers are as big as the people in front of the mike. They get shout-outs in records, are featured in music videos and make the same big money that the artists do. Maybe more.


And if the fact that Janet Jackson, Lil' Kim, Rakim, Young Buck and Mya are targeting Porter to create new sounds for them isn't evidence enough, how about this: He recently was signed alongside four stellar hip-hop producers to work with the first wireless record company, BlingTones, to create original music for cell phones. Porter may be a relative newbie, but his work has had a far reach.


"Denaun's beats have such personality. I was just blown away. The beats are so charming and unique," says Jonathan Dworkin, VP of A&R for BlingTones. Dworkin isn't from Detroit, but has managed area hip-hop acts, including Detroit's Jay Dee from Slum Village. "Denaun's stuff just has such flavor to it. Nothing sounds like it. It's kooky and street. It's great. I love the stuff he makes. For me, Denaun was an easy decision. I can tell you cold, if you play his beats. He's just got style."


Porter's production style combines live instruments like keyboards and bass guitars with tripped-up, computer-generated sounds. On "P.I.M.P," Porter's beat was heavy on the steel drum sound -- giving the single an island-party vibe.


"I was always a music fan. Period," he says. "My dad is into music. He's in the Christianaires and he used to be in the Blind Boys of Alabama. He used to put me and my brother and sister in a room and make us sing. I would listen to Stevie Wonder but then I would listen to NWA. I always looked at hip-hop as real music. But when I heard that song 'Bonita Applebaum' by A Tribe Called Quest, that did it for me. Then, I wanted to get into everything."


Every Saturday for a little over a month, Porter has been taking piano lessons.


Porter, who also will be heard singing hip-hop hooks in the coming year, is trying to up his game, and learn new skills to "expand my horizons and diversify."


On this day, he and his instructor, Darryl Roenicke, are tucked in the second room of his two-room, purple-and-black basement recording studio.


Porter, dressed in a black Enyce T-shirt, jeans, Timberland boots and some pretty impressive bling hanging from the neck, nods at his teacher and continues working on the Fender Rhodes Seventy Three, an electric keyboard that once belonged to Wonder. Porter bought it on eBay.


"If you want to take any sound and build with it, it all starts there," Roenicke says, telling Porter about an e-flat chord.


Porter takes this lesson seriously. Last week, they worked on playing the blues, which he says he ended up incorporating into a new hip-hop track he's working on.


The rapper, who is determined to become a better keyboardist, is rarely taken off track.


"I'm still working on my transition, man," Porter says, his hands all over the keyboard as he spends the next hour working to perfect a single chord.


Porter was always the kid brother of the group.


Before he dropped out of Detroit's Osborn High School, Porter was talented in both basketball and football, but after he was shot in the leg while trying to jack a car, the dreams he had of playing either sport professionally were gone.


After he recovered and word spread in the streets, some folks didn't think Porter could still play -- he could, just not as well -- so he and his buddies, including Kuniva of D12, would hustle folks playing street ball for extra cash.


Porter's older brother went away to serve in the Army, so he was always looking for someone older to look up to. He got two good stand-ins when he met Proof and Eminem.


"I've known Proof all my life. He lived around the corner on Hoover with his brother Wayne. So we would always see each other. But we didn't start hanging out until I was like 19 or 20," Porter says. "After that I met Eminem. Eminem told me he knew Proof, and it was crazy because we all knew each other and I didn't even know that at first. After a while I moved in with Eminem."


All three were interested in hip-hop and found it a legitimate way to live the luxurious lives they desired.


Porter says Eminem gave him the bedroom while he slept on the couch, a payment of sorts for the beats that Porter made for him.


Porter started paying rent after Eminem helped him get a job at Gilbert's Lodge in St. Clair Shores, where Kuniva also worked.


"That's how I ended up buying my first car legitimately," Porter says. "My daddy would always say 'You get a job and you keep it for three weeks, then you quit.' That's because I knew I wanted to do something else."


Porter was also hanging out with some others who would go on to become members of Detroit's hip-hop elite. He and Jay Dee, formerly of Slum Village, would hang out at Detroit's Hip Hop Shop. And even though Porter talks about making his first beats around 1991, he says it wasn't until 1996 when he got serious about making music for a living.


That's when he saw Jay Dee come to the shop in a money green Jaguar.


"I never knew anybody that wasn't a drug dealer drive a car like that," Porter says. "I liked that life a little more. I knew something was different with me and my friends."


He was right. By the time 1999 rolled around, his buddy and roommate Eminem had a record deal with Interscope and a bona fide mentor in Dr. Dre, who is often touted as the best hip-hop producer of all time. That was the year that the highly lauded "The Slim Shady LP" came out.


"We thought living in Detroit meant we had to leave. But Proof thought: 'What if we were the first ones that didn't have to?' ," Porter says. "I got a whiff of the beats Dre was doing. It was like the stuff we were already doing to the 10th power. It was like a learning experience being able to hear the stuff before it came out.


"Most of the people that were doing beats in Detroit were trying to sound like Jay Dee. But I was trying to do my own stuff," he says. "I wanted to develop my style and learn my own stuff. Then Dre took me under his wing."


Porter ghost-produced a couple of beats on what became "T Slim Shady LP" and when he and the guys were out celebrating Eminem's success at a party that P. Diddy threw for the rapper in New York, he met Dre for the first time, an encounter that would eventually lead to a six-figure deal for beat production and a student-mentor relationship with Dre.


At the same time he was tightening up his production skills, he was teaching himself how to be a better rapper.


He only rapped for fun. In the old days, he had a group called Krazy Tunes, and they rapped about cartoons and all kinds of funny stuff. He was comfortable hanging in the background, making beats for the people who wanted to be on stage.


"People have an opportunity in front of them and don't jump at it right away. I had an opportunity to just jump in and rap. And I took it," Porter says. "All this recognition D12 was getting in the city, I was like naw, I want to be apart of it instead of just doing beats. Doing beats, you can be hot one day and not hot the next. So I started rapping and took my opportunity and became an important part of the group.


"Proof was always giving me a hard time with the beats. It didn't make me weak; it made me better. After a while, he wasn't saying none of that stuff anymore. Then it was like, 'Yo, let me use this. I want to use this beat.' "


That's when Porter became an official rapping member of D12, whose most recent album, "D12 World," shipped more than 2 million copies.


These days, it seems everyone wants to grab one of Porter's beats.


But Porter, who has almost finished his basement studio -- he still has to put up his 30 or so keyboards on the walls -- is still a little taken aback by the folks who call his cell wanting to work with him.


Entertainers like Bilal and Method Man and Big Mike and Yayo want to get music from him. Even Jay-Z, who is working in the corporate side of hip-hop, called on Porter recently to create some music for one of his acts.


And now that he'll be spending less time at his Los Angeles-area home, the entertainers that work with him will fly out to metro Detroit, make music in his basement all night and then sleep in one of his guest rooms. "They get to come here and then stay at the crib. Most of the people I work with, I'm cool with," he says.


And if they're not here in the studio, they're sending MP3's back and forth.


This summer he and the D12 boys will be back on tour (two stops are planned for Detroit) but the details are still being worked out. Bizarre of D12 will release his solo album in March and Proof is expected to release his later this year.


In August all of them will go back in the studio to work on the third D12 album, he says. And later in the year, the gang will play themselves in a video game that he's creating the soundtrack for.


For now, he's working on music for his own artists, a 15-year-old Detroit rapper named T-Baby and getting music by himself and Kuniva -- together the two best friends are Da Brigade -- out on two albums. One will be an indie release, the other a major label effort.


"Everybody that has a run, they have a run for two to four years," Porter says. "One thing that I've learned from Dre is that he's taught me to have longevity. I don't care about publicity. 50 wants me to promote myself a lot more. But I don't really want to go that route. I just want to bang the beats out. I feel like winning awards are great. But what gets me is when you get in contact with the fans. I want to live comfortably. But I don't need a Grammy. I have enough tapes and DVDs to show my kids now to last my lifetime. I don't want my run to be short."

[yoshi]

what more can i say... good article..
it's funny, that they lived so long in neighbourhood, but didn't know each other very good, until they were 19-20.. and then this meeting with eminem.. it seems, everything is his fault

[Ove kr.]

what more can i say... good article..
it's funny, that they lived so long in neighbourhood, but didn't know each other very good, until they were 19-20.. and then this meeting with eminem.. it seems, everything is his fault

Yeah, it`s so fuckin awesome:
Bizarre in March.
Then Proof around June i think.
A D12 tour this summer (probably not europe )
In August they will hit the studio to work on new D12 album.
Also they will play themeselves in a video game!

WOW, its almost tomuch.

[yoshi]

A D12 tour this summer (probably not europe )

even if there were small chances, they'd probably go to uk or germany.. :? but i'm patiently waiting.. i wonder, how much we'd have to pay for tickets.. ?

according to albums/mixtapes, i've never seen any of their cds in shops.. :/ it annoys me..

[Ove kr.]

I don`t care how much i would have to pay ive never seen any D12/Em live and i really want to!

[yoshi]

i've never seen them too.. maybe one day i'll be on their performance.. wow, it must be fuckin incredible feeling..

[Infinite96]

What tracks did he ghostproduce on SSLP?

[Infinite96]

And what's the point of ghostproduction if it's so openly talked about? You'd think it'd be a secret.

[B.A.D.]

He's a good producer.... but Still I think Timbaland is much better as well as Dr.dre & J.D.