Swamp Dogg: Auto-Tune Is "Better Than Pussy"
NPR was gracious enough to introduce the world to Swamp Dogg's "I'll Pretend" last week. In preparation for the premiere, NPR did an interview that may have informed their response to the content but--in terms of its specifics--seems to have been abandoned on the cutting room floor. So we're publishing the entire exchange below, along with a Spotify playlist of Swamp Dogg classics. Enjoy!
HELLO RYAN, HECTOR AND EVERYBODY ELSE....
While listening to the radio, watching videos and going to an occasional rap concert; I knew their agenda. it's impossible to interpret their dissertations as anything other than soul/blues. How many songs have you heard on the radio that was sampled from Caucasian music? None! Very few songs are created from “pop “/alternative. “Diddy”, who has balls the size of watermelons, did it with Sting’s masterpiece.
Lady Gaga with her ham-hock hair-do and pork belly suit. (It often seems to be a racial layer to that perception too—like when white fans and emulators cling to the notion of black musical forms as primal or primitive.) I’ve always been looking for new ways to make my shit have difference.
Question 1: How do see your first foray into Auto-Tune continuing that thread?
I’m not interested in making it continue. I ‘m interested in developing more ways to what we have today and expounding on it, so that Drake don’t sound like Rihanna. Overall, I love auto tune. It’s better than pussy.
I don’t want it to go away mainly because of the monetary factor. A motherfucker can be broke on Monday and a millionaire on Tuesday. I’m talking about people who were destined to live below minimum wage and the poverty line. Yes, there is a God. From the recording side I can compete with the competition until I’m a hundred and one.
Question 2: How did using Auto-Tune change the way you use your voice, and hear it?
I love sounding like the entire Vienna Boys choir with Prince as the soloist.
I pretend I’m Tony Bennett and take vocal baby steps. While recording or listening back.
Question 3: How different was the version of "I'll Pretend" that you sent to your collaborators from the finished version that we hear on the album?
On a scale of one to ten, I'll call it an eight. It was almost like going back to school.