Ted Smooth on how he created the "two records-in-one" intro for 'Friday on Elm Street'
The producer/DJ knew he had to create something “eerie” for Fabolous and Jadakiss’ joint project.
Producer/DJ Ted Smooth has never seen A Nightmare on Elm Street or Friday the 13th, but he knew enough about the horror movies’ iconic lead characters—Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees—that when he got the call to participate on Fabolous and Jadakiss’ Freddy vs. Jason-themed LP Friday on Elm Street, he had to give the lyrical godfathers something “eerie” as an soundscape.
“They make the call, I deliver,” Smooth said while sitting in REVOLT TV’s New York office. “When [Fabolous] told me the ‘Freddy vs. Jason’ [theme], I said, ‘I gotta go for the intro and my job is to introduce the characters.’ It was a no-brainer for me and it worked out perfectly.”
Though vaguely familiar with the big screen killers through pop culture, Smooth admits he started researching them online.
“I knew what the task was,” he said. “When I started looking for Freddy Krueger, I originally had the ‘one, two, Freddy’s coming for you’ [on the song]. I had that. We had to change it. My thing was, I know this album had a responsibility to it. I gotta set the tone for this record. It’s New York. The climate is shifting. When you hear the intro, the whole vibe, I know these guys inside out. Jadakiss is more of [a] punchline [guy]. The drum I used had those pockets for the punchlines. Fab is more of [an] uptempo guy.”
So Smooth concocted a track that breaks up into two beats: a more fast-paced vibe for Fabolous’ verbal slashing and a more thumping back for Jada’s methodically brutal bar-bashing.
“That’s what people are noticing. Funny thing about that, I gave Fab that beat, like, last year. Early last year. We went back and forth. ‘Kiss just told me the other day [that] he ain’t like it at first. Fab convinced him to jump on it. After he did it, it was like, yo, it’s illmatic. So it’s crazy….I’m thankful I got the opportunity and the opportunity to deliver. It’s crazy in this game; if you don’t deliver, they call the next person. It’s two records in one.”