Roc Marciano: “If I’m Not Rhyming On It, Then It’s A Waste”

Earlier this week, XXL debuted the first part of its interview with Roc Marciano, in which he discusses his role as Vice President and Director of A&R at Man Bites Dog Records. Now, Roc discusses his upcoming debut album with the label, Marci Beaucoup.

The veteran MC and producer explained that Marci Beaucoup will be his first producer album, and will boast features from Freeway, Boldy James, Ka and Knowledge the Pirate. He explained that he feels the album will offer fans a chance to hear other artists rap over his original productions.

"It's really not different - my approach to making music is pretty much the same no matter where I'm putting the project out at," he said. "I think it's just going to be exciting for the people just to hear other artists rapping over my beats because I don't do feature-heavy projects as far as concerning my own projects. This is going to be actually an opportunity for a lot of people to get a chance to hear that. I'll give a few guys up [on Marci Beaucoup]: Freeway, Boldy James, Knowledge the Pirate, Ka."

Roc also discussed his approach to sample-based production as a veteran MC. Although he doesn't really pay attention to what other producers use the same samples as him, he feels confident it saying that he "might get you on that."

"Honestly, not to sound arrogant, I just feel like if I'm not rhyming on [a certain sample], then it's a waste," he said. "If you've got a fly track and I'm not rhyming on it, then good luck with that. Or if it ain't one of my peoples...I really don't feel competitive like that. If a sample's fly, if I rap on it and you rap on it, I think I might get you on that. I don't really trip on the samples.

He added, "I never owned a drum machine until making Marcberg is when I bought a drum machine. I bought the [Akai] 2500 to actually make that project. Until then, I had just used other peoples' MPCs. I would just have a record here or a record there, and I would have a loop in mind - I would already have the track in my mind how I wanted it to go."

Check out the full interview at the top, and make sure to check out part one of XXL's interview with Roc Marciano.

Previously: Roc Marciano On Role At Man Bites Dog Records: “It Was Just Natural”