Lex Luger Interview - Speaks on "See Me Now," Odd Future - RESPECT.

It’s 6:34 p.m. on a Thursday night and I’m sitting here in the basement of the condo, Purple Sprite in hand, trying not to be distracted by Juicy J &Lex Luger’s mixtape, Rubberband Business 2. I just downloaded it and the freakin’ beats are getting me in a rather sour mood for working. They are too damned loud, and good, and… hell, I can’t even think! But I suppose that’s the point, right? Lex Luger makes music that demands attention, your full attention, and that’s why he’s one of the hottest producers in the game right now.

According to the good people on the world wide web, Lex Luger was born Lexus Lewis, on March 6th, 1991, in Suffolk, Virginia. He started playing around with music and music production on a video game console, a Playstation game to be exact, and now he’s produced records likeB.M.F. by Rick Ross & Styles P, Hard In Da Paint by Waka Flocka Flame, and Kanye West & Jay-Z’s H.A.M.That’s a damned good story, I think, regardless of its verity or truth. Someone famous said the best truth is fiction, a valuable lesson for those who hate on the so-called ‘too fake’ rappers… But that’s a whole other heated topic, so let’s stay on point, Marrack, and round out this damned tired intro. Once and for all.

The full interview, after the jump.

Lex, I just saw on Complex.com that your mixtape with Juicy J was voted the 13th Best Album Of 2011…so far.

The first one we [Juicy J and I] did — we did two — Juicy contacted me on Twitter and said he wanted to work with me, basically, and I felt like he was the legend. I grew up listening to him. I’m inspired by him, so I felt like I had to do it. It came about and we got such a good response from the first one that he came to Virginia to work on the second one. It’s been going good. We’re working on a third one, but it’s not going to be a mixtape, it’s going to be an album.

That’s going to be exciting. You’ve got a lot of records coming out in 2011. What are you most excited about?

Probably the tracks on Ace Hood’s album, and DJ Khaled’s album. I can’t really talk about them. I don’t know anything about them. I just know they got the beats. I also talked to DJ Drama. We’re going to work on something. Man, a lot of people, a lot of artists.

You have that trademark ascending sound. Where’d it come from? Do you want to give it a name?

I ain’t got no name for it [laughs]. It’s just a sound that I got. I mean, programs have sounds, crazy sounds, sound effects. I just took it and put my own twist on it, really.

I didn’t hear it on See Me Now.

Yeah, I try to do it on some tracks, but sometimes I really don’t have time to put it in there, or I don’t feel like doing it [laughs]. A lot of beats don’t have tagging, and I don’t think I’m going to put it in there anymore. I think I’m going to keep it out.

Back to See Me Now. It was different from your other records, but you produce R&B tracks as well. Where do you look to take your sound?

Really wherever the money go. The sound right now is like a whole wave. I did See Me Now, which is, like you said, another type of sound. And I’ve done That Way for Wale & Rick Ross & Jeremih. It’s really in the artist, and in the fans, what they want. But I don’t just make B.M.F. and MC Hammer. So it’s really what the fans want.

How would you describe your creative process?

I really like to work. I wake up in the morning. I get to work. I do some everyday things. It’s like work, really. Bringing out stress.

Are you from Chuckatuck?

No, no, no. I’m from Suffolk, Virginia. I have a house out in Milford, Virginia.

What’s the city known for, other than you?

Pharrell, Timbaland, Missy Elliott, Allen Iverson [laughs], that’s about it. We don’t really have stuff like New York City, like the Time Square, shit like that, we don’t have that [laughs].

B.M.F. is a great record. So many rappers have their own version of it. What do you think of Curren$y & Trademark Sa Skydiver’s version?

Yeah, yeah, actually it’s funny you brought up Trademark. That’s my homie. We’ve been working and everything. That’s my dawg. I’ve been sending him some of the newer shit, the craziest shit I got.

Oh yeah, I’ll look forward to that. I’m a big fan of both you guys.

Yeah, man, I’ve been working with a lot of artists like him. A lot of artists like him, and I’m going to bring that sound, that other sound, so we can make another B.M.F. hopefully. Change the game like we did with B.M.F.

Curren$y & Trademark are some of the few rappers who keep their distinct style and smooth flow over your beats, which some others rappers don’t quite do.

Yeah, they get into character [laughs]. They get into character and rap. But it’s like you said, it’s artists like Curren$y that have their own aura, you know, on the beats. They don’t switch up their flows, and shit like that. I like working with people like that, really, that bring their shit. Like I didn’t want them to rap like Ross did onB.M.F., or how Waka did on his album. Curren$y brought his sound, which is what I wanted. That’s why I think it became so good.

Rick Ross goes so much differently on a track like Devil In A New Dress…

Yeah, he doing what it do. He’s a smart man [laughs]. Ross doing his thang, man.

Can you rap?

Naw, naw. Not a rapper.

I meant just for fun.

Naw, naw. A lot of people ask me that though. My friends started to get me into it. But I try to focus on my music. That’s the only thing I really focus on. I don’t really want to be focusing on music, rapping, and writing songs. Not right now with everything I got going on.

Yeah, you’ve already branded your own kind of sound, with the Waka Flocka album. Now people like Tyler the Creator are even referencing your sound. He’s got that track Bitch Suck Dick on his new album…

Yeah [laughs].

It’s kind of a take on your sound. I think they’re fans of your music.

Yeah, yeah, we talk. I’m cool with them. I’m cool with a lot of artists. I don’t even know what it is, man, they contact me, say, “What’s up?” I’m like, “It’s cool, bro.” I keep in contact with a lot of artists, they show respect, lots of love. I show lots of respect and love back.