HARLEM LEGEND | Six Figga Digga

HARLEM, NEW YORK | SIX FIGGA DIGGA

INTERVIEW TERRELL “REALIFE” BLACK PHOTOGRAPH Six Figga Digga

Six Figga Digga discusses new album “Person of Interest” & producing classics.

Harlem breeds a different kind of sound, a different kind of emcee. With forefathers like DJ Hollywood, Kurtis Blow, Spoonie Gee, Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock and Kool Moe Dee what else would you expect? Fast forward and the lineage continued with Big L, Herb McGruff, Smoke DZA, Murda Mase, Killa Cam and The Diplomats. And let’s not forget the music producers like The Heatmakerz, Large Professor, Dame Grease, Ron Browz and the producer behind one of my top 3 Hip Hop albums of all time… Cam’ron’s sophomore album “S.D.E.”. Harlem's own and The Diplomats co-founder Six Figga Digga. He’s the producer behind a slew of hit songs including “Many Men” by 50 Cent, “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop” by Young Gunz, “Dopeman” by Jay-Z, “Open Off My Love” by Jennifer Lopez and Cam’ron’s debut album “Confessions Of Fire”. Validated recently sat down with the Harlem legend to discuss how he got his start, Hip Hop recently celebrating its 50th Anniversary, the upcoming “Harlem Hit Tour” with Ron Browz and Dame Grease and his recent album “Person of Interest”.

Validated: For those that aren’t familiar with you can you give us a brief background on who you are and what it is that you do?

Six Figga Digga: Alright, my name is Six Figga Digga, from Harlem, New York City. And I started actually, in a group called… my first professional, or my first initial start in the game was with a group called “Children of the Corn”, which consist of Killa Cam, that is, Cam’ron and Ma$e, Herb McGruff and Big L. And we were like a Harlem collective that came together.

So, we initially started out that, we all grew up pretty much around the same neighborhood, same block. Big L was the first one that actually get a major record deal from our neighborhoods. So he was the one that kind of stepped out and did it. And he gave us the inspiration. So over the course of the first few years, we worked together, we did tracks together. And I like to say that we were kind of like, a collective like Wu Tang, but in Harlem. So, I was the music producer, and I produced all the tracks, as well. Fast forward, I, Cam and Bloodshed, collectively became “Children of the Corn” after McGruff and Big L split up.

And Cam’ron went on to become a solo artist, and I ended up working closely with him. I mean, pretty much we’ve worked together, since we were like six or seven years old. I ended up producing his first album, “Confessions of Fire” and the second album, “S.D.E.”, as well. I did nine songs on “Confessions of Fire”, 11 songs on “S.D.E.” Him and I went on to be the first founders of The Diplomats and Dipset movement. And we got together and we pulled along Juelz Santana and Jim Jones, and started that whole collective. And that’s pretty much how I started in Harlem, until me and Cam went our separate ways. But that’s pretty much the initial foundation of my production career.

Validated: A native of Harlem, New York, what’s your earliest memory of Hip Hop culture?

Six Figga Digga: Oh, well, Hip Hop culture. I was fortunate enough to really grow up in it. My uncle, his name was Al-B at the time, he was a DJ for a rap group called the Disco Four. This was in the early 70s. This was one of the first rap groups that was coming up, especially in Harlem. His rap group was signed to Enjoy Records, which was owned by Bobby Robinson that put out the Treacherous Three, Furious Five, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five records as well.

So, I was able to watch him when he was coming up DJing in the park and going to do different shows and stuff like that. And he actually taught me about DJing. And he passed on his record collection to me as well, and that’s my first introduction to Hip Hop. He taught me about listening to different genres of music, break beats, doing pause tapes, all of the initial elements of Hip Hop, that’s kind of where it started. So I did firsthand.

Validated: I was actually going to mention that you DJ, rap and make beats. But what was the turning point where you begin to focus more on making beats and producing?

Six Figga Digga: Well, yeah, like I said, the first thing I did was starting out as a DJ. My uncle influenced me to be a DJ. But my grandfather, which was his father, Alan Vaughn, he actually was a music producer as well. And he worked with different groups like Black Ivory, and Otis Redding and all of that stuff. And he had his own record label. So, he actually influenced both of us in the music business.

And he always used to tell me, you don’t have to be in front of the camera. You can be behind the scenes as a producer and you can still make the money, you can still put your music out and you can control the scene. And so I got an interest in that. But also, once I started DJing, that kind of elevated, or evolved to the next level of okay, so now I’m a DJ, now I want to make this rap music I’m now hearing, so how can I do that? I wanted to start rapping at first, but of course I have no beats. So you’re rapping and you have no beats. The next thing was to try to figure out how can I make my own beats? And that’s what kind of got me into production as well.

Validated: You mentioned, you were the main producer for Cam’ron’s debut album, “Confessions of Fire” and the sophomore album, “S.D.E.” Can you describe the experience, from your point of view with the success of those two albums?

Six Figga Digga: Yeah, definitely man. For me, music was my love. Like, most people can relate, like, when you’re growing up, you doing music, but you also have a love for sports too. So, I love basketball, me and Cam, we pretty much grew up together, we started early on, like I said, we knew each other since we were like six or seven years old. So we always kind of gradually did the same thing. We used to play ball together. And eventually, music was more of my love than the actual basketball thing.

But as you know, when you’re doing the music, and then you become a professional, when you get your first check from doing what you love to do, which is music, it’s a crazy experience. I remember when we first got on, and Cam got his record deal and he introduced me to UN Rivera Entertainment. He brought me down there and it was kind of the rest was history. And I just started doing work and that debut album went gold. At that time we’re just putting out singles and it was just crazy in the nightclubs. We had a record “357” and “Pull It” that was crazy in the clubs, especially in Philadelphia, and all those different areas as well. So, I definitely remember that feeling of becoming a novice to a professional.

Validated: For the record, “S.D.E.” is one of my all-time favorite Hip Hop albums—I can play it from beginning to end. But what happened when you and Cam got in the studio to make the album? Because from the lyrics to the beats, the album was a different mood than “Confessions of Fire”.

Six Figga Digga: Right. I would say when we approached that album, we were coming off of doing “Confessions of Fire”. And honestly, when we did “Confessions of Fire”, we had a lot of constraints, because we were on Epic Records, Rivera was the executive producer. And this was at the time where rap was changing… well not changing, but we had groups, Bad Boy Entertainment was rocking at that time, and Ma$e was one of the biggest stars at that time, and he was making music and he was making a lot of pop-sounding Hip Hop songs.

So when we did “Confessions of Fire”, we were trying to still navigate ourselves and trying to find ourselves, how can we make an even balance between not going totally pop or rap, but trying to make a mix? Going back to S.D.E., that was the total opposite. We had full rein to do what we wanted to do. So, what I and Cam was wanting to do, particularly me, I wanted to showcase my production skills, my versatility as well, because I produced 11 songs on the album.

So, I did songs on there, like “Violence”, where, Old Dirty Bastard, those samples, in our original type of crazy sound on to me doing “Losing Weight”, which is a soul sample that I did with Prodigy and Cam as well. So, I wanted to show my versatility, to make it a real rounded album.

Validated: So, you also produced the record for 50 Cent – “Many Men” – off of the “Get Rich or Die Trying” album. But I read somewhere that the beat was initially given to Nas and The Diplomats. Can you elaborate on that a little bit?

Six Figga Digga: Definitely. Well, like I said, when we first started to form Dipset and The Diplomats, I had a home studio. And yeah, it was just kind of one of those regular things where I was working on beats—I had a bunch of beats, we trying to form a movement, come to the crib, let’s record some songs. So, initially, that was one of the first Dipset songs that we recorded. So, we recorded that song. And again, obviously, when you are recording a lot of stuff, you don’t know what you’re going to keep or throw away. So, that was one of the songs that we recorded and just kind of had sat there.

So, that beat and the backup on my mixtape, because we didn’t really confirm if we were going to use it at the time. So, when I put that back on my beat CD, then it ended up in the hands of Nas, as well. So, in the hands of Nas, he chose again to use it. At the time he was working on an album, I believe it was for his group project as well. I think he was working on his album and also the Brave Hearts album collectively at that same time. So, he recorded a verse to it, yet again, it was still another song that was left on the cutting room floor of those projects.

Luckily for me, 50 Cent, happened to be in one of Nas’ sessions, and heard the beat at that time. So he had this song, which ended up being “Many Men”. He had the lyrics written and the concept, but he didn’t have a beat to it. So, he heard the beat and thought that that would be a good beat for that song. He got a copy of the beat from Lenny Nicholson which was the handle at Columbia at that time. He gave him the beat and then 50 got shot.

And then after he got shot, he went to Pennsylvania, and was healing up and he actually called me from Pennsylvania while he was recovering from the gun shots and pretty much told me like, “I got this beat man and I got the song. When I get my deal. I want to use this beat for my album”. And of course, when you thinking that this guy got shot nine times, there’s no record deal. So, he’s saying, “I want to use this beat for my album”. It’s like, yeah, whatever. So, fast forward, he killed the mixtapes, he got his deal with Dre and Eminem, and the rest is history.

Validated: So, you’ve also produced for Jay Z, Jennifer Lopez, and Busta Rhymes, to name a few. I know it is a long list. But is there anyone left on your bucket list that you haven’t had a chance to work with?

Six Figga Digga: Outside of some of maybe the new guys, I call them new guys. For me, like the Drake’s of the world, the J. Cole’s. But the only group that I haven’t really worked with directly is probably Jada Kiss and the Lox. And I’ve work with pretty much everybody from New York City. I mean from Wu Tang Clan, to of course Dipset, to some of the Ruff Ryders with DMX, but not the Lox and Jada Kiss. A big shout out to Jada Kiss as well.

Validated: So, you recently dropped “A Person of Interest” album. What’s been the response so far?

Six Figga Digga: The response has been overwhelming and great, man. I appreciate it. Like, to be honest, I didn’t really expect the response, not that I didn’t want the response and I think it warranted the response. But from my eyes as the creative, I was just really just wanting to create this project, and genuinely do something that I liked. I wanted to make something that I liked. And I wanted to just put it out. And from the response, it’s amazing, I appreciate that everybody is enjoying it.

I kind of wanted to mix the old with the new, especially it’s 2023. So I have some new people in there, like, not new but as far as the wide range of artists that are on it. I have people like Benny the Butcher, Dave East, and Lloyd Banks. But then I have to go all the way back to people like Camp Lo, and my boy Snaggapuss, from the mixtape era that everybody know that he was classic and probably forgot about him, and he still delivered that classic sound. I just really appreciate that.

Validated: So, how did you come up with the concept for the album, and then secondly, how did you go about selecting artists to fit that vision?

Six Figga Digga: Well, I came up with the concept of the album, it was really a concept that I had for a long time, because, during my career, I always get… when I tell people about some of the artists that I work with and some of the songs that I have done, most people are not familiar with my name, till I tell them about the music and the songs that I’ve actually done. And they’re like, “Oh, well, I didn’t know you did that or you work with this artist. I don’t know.”

So, that’s kind of where it came from. It was like, I’ve always been that dude that people kind of knew, but didn’t know. I came up with the “Person of Interest”, because I’m that person of interest. You may think of some of these other guys that you may know, but I’m still a person of interest still making that hit that you need to know. So, that’s where I came up with the title, and the concept just kind of fit into everything else. If you listen to the album, the concept was just built on that. I gave a brief history of why I am important to the game and gave you hit music, and it reflects that.

As far as picking the artists, it was really just reaching out to people that I genuinely like, you know, like as far as working with, and I felt like that would be interesting to actually blend it and it kind of worked out. I did a few songs with other artists I won’t mention, but they’re not on the album, but it was just my process of working with people that I felt will sound good. And after that, I kind of narrowed it down to the project that you hear today to make it sound like one piece of a sonically pleasing piece of music.

Validated: So, my favorite record of the album is “Respect the Jux” featuring, Vado, Lloyd Banks and Dave East. But which records are the fans gravitating towards mostly?

Six Figga Digga: Believe it or not, the fans like the “Respect the Jux” as well, but they are gravitating towards “C.O.C. Flow”, which is a song that I did with Stan Spit, Herb McGruff and Big L. And also “Kiss the Audemar”, featuring Raekwon and my boy, Fresco Kane. So, those are the songs that people are gravitating towards and it’s crazy, because it’s like, not only that, but I also see the different demographic of people that are choosing different songs. That’s the part that I like, because there’s certain songs that the younger generation like. And then I still have the older generation that’s more my age, that are gravitating towards some of the other songs and I think that’s dope. Because I think Hip Hop needs that. I mean, it’s just kind of like this age gap. And it really doesn’t have to be like that. If you like good music, and you know where it comes from, and you like the way it feels, that’s all that really matters. Instead of just, this kind of like, old head kind of overhead type of thing. Just listen to the music and keep it there.

Validated: Yeah, and I’ve been saying that for a while. Because I feel like Hip Hop at this point, is old enough, where you do have different age groups. Like the forefathers and then our age group, and then the younger crowd. So I feel like there’s an audience, for everybody at this point, artists-wise.

Six Figga Digga: Definitely. Yeah, I mean, that’s kind of another reason why I did this project as well, because I’m an advocate for education, music education as well. I wrote a book called “The Beat Game”. I’ve taught music in business classes at every level from sixth grade on up to college levels. I started music programs. So, I’m really serious about this. And I’m also serious about trying to create the avenue so that music, especially Hip Hop music can continue on and create that adult contemporary Hip Hop genre.

Because we’re all getting older. So when we get older, I might like some of the stuff that my kids like to listen to, but I shouldn’t have to listen to the stuff that my kids like to listen to. So it was like, with the stuff that I want to hear, I shouldn’t have to go back 20 or 30 years to a throwback song, either. Some of these artists, I think Nas kind of made the comment I heard as well, like, he wants older artists to continue to make new music. And I agree with them, because it’s like, the fans are getting older, and the artists are getting older, but you can still make the music for the older fans.

Validated: Because the audience is still there, I say that all the time. 

Six Figga Digga: Right. Definitely. I knew when I was making “Person of Interest”, I was genuinely trying to make something that I liked first, because I felt like if I liked it, then hopefully other fans will feel the same, because that’s all I can do. I have always done that my entire career. Even as a producer, I never made beats for the time, or the era or the cliché or what was going on. And I’ve been through a few eras. I started in the mid-90s – ‘95 and ‘96. I started when everything was straight, Boom Bap. So, everything going to straight Hip Hop/Pop type-records, to sounding down south, to drill. So everything, you know what I mean? So I could have easily kind of like, let me do these types of stuff because that’s what everybody wants. But I never follow the trends. 

Validated: So, what’s your favorite record off the album at the moment and why?

Six Figga Digga: Right now, I still like “Reallinaire”. It still is my favorite record, which is the first song or the second on the album outside of the intro. Because I think that beat just gives a certain amount of energy that I love and I think that is missing. As soon as it comes on, it’s a certain amount of energy that you feel and it takes you back. And that’s what I love about it.

Validated: So, you, Ron Browz and Dame Grease have the Harlem Hit Tour coming up in 2024. What can the fans expect?

Six Figga Digga: Yeah, definitely a history lesson, for sure. Because like I said, we’re literally going a few decades back. We started from ‘96, going up. So, a lot of records that people know, they’re going to be shocked about who did it. Because like I said, I produced most of the Cam’s songs. I’ve done a lot of hit records out there, “Can’t stop. Won’t stop”, for the Young Gunz, which is one of the classic songs that you hear every time you watch the basketball games, you might hear it in the background. Of course, “Many Men”. Dame Grease got tons of records, “Get at Me Dog” with DMX, of course, Ron Browz has a lot of hits with Nas. So, we have some joints that collectively, like we’ve definitely put it down and we definitely represented Harlem to the fullest.

Validated: Hip Hop recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. How significant do you feel that is for the culture and the genre?

Six Figga Digga: I definitely think it was important to celebrate 50 years, and definitely to pay homage and give all of the founding fathers their just due. But I’m going to be honest, I feel like we kind of missed the mark a lot of times with celebrating it because, I felt like we didn’t celebrate the actual thing, the actual start date of what Hip Hop was and the four elements of Hip Hop, I think that was the most important part of the celebration to remind people where did this genre come from.

Like, DJing and beat boxing, rapping and emceeing and different things like that. I think that’s where the focus should have been. And corporations kind of got involved and grabbed on to it and people kind of made it a moneymaker. So now, it went from celebrating the actual date of Hip Hop and where it was, to everybody wanting to do a timeline to demonstrate how they fit into Hip Hop in the whole era. And I just felt like, you know, I mean, we got time for that, but…

Validated: Knowing what you know, now, what major piece of advice would you give your younger self pertaining to the music business?

Six Figga Digga: I mean, first and foremost, music business, I mean, it’s definitely looking at yourself as a talent and brand. What I mean by that is handling your business like that. So, you have to look at yourself as a product. If you look at yourself as a product, and you know how you have to monetize, and also protect your self-interest. So, a lot of stuff that over the course of my career, I didn’t really value some of the opportunities that I may have had, or I didn’t value how I needed to navigate through them.

So, I would definitely say if I could do things differently, or tell my old self something, it’s just looking at this as I’m a talent. Learn the business, learn how to monetize your production, imaging, doing your media, all those different things, you have to have the same amount of energy to make sure that you can push forward.

Validated: So, other than the upcoming tour and the recent album, is there anything we should be looking out for in 2024 that you can tell us about?

Six Figga Digga: Yeah, well, definitely, 2024 is looking bright. I have a lot of projects coming out, not only the tour, I’m definitely going to just be putting out a whole bunch of music, looking into doing a lot of film projects as well. Just more content. I haven’t really been active in the last couple of years as far as Six Figga Digga as the artist. But that’s what you should expect in the near future. Like I said, I definitely got some albums. My next album that’s coming out, is an R&B album called “Whisper”. I produced the whole thing, but now it’s just totally R&B tracks with some of my favorite artists. So, similar to “Person of Interest”, but now it’s just R&B artists. Just to show my versatility.

And you should look out for the video coming soon. Yeah man, I’m just cranking out some stuff. I actually have another album, which is called “The Black Couch”. And that’s going to feature a lot of up and coming and aspiring artists as well. So, if you’re interested, if you’re reading this as well, hit me up on my Instagram, @SixFigga_Digga, click the link in the bio, and you can submit your music as well. And we can probably collaborate because that project is coming soon as well.

Validated: Where can the fans find not only the album, but support you on social media?

Six Figga Digga: Definitely you could find me on all my social media accounts @Sixfigga_Digga, on Facebook, Thread, Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube is Six Figga TV. Sticking on that, I’m actually coming out with my own production series called, “I Know You’re Going to Dig This”, on YouTube as well. I just started filming that and that’s pretty much going to be my production series/podcast. Each episode is going to be going over one of the songs that I produced. And talking about the background. I may show you how I constructed the beat, then I’m going to tell you a fun fact that you’re going to dig.

Validated: Any last words for the people?

Six Figga Digga: I’m just glad to be here. And big shout out to y’all man. I definitely been checking y’all out. And thanks for supporting me, man. I’ve got my second wind and I’m about to do another 20 years in this.