Lloyd Banks chats to I Like Music

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ILM: Definitely man; that formula is working! And, of all the tracks on your new album, Rotten Apple, which one did you have the most fun laying down?

BANKS: It's a record called Cake, which was actually the first street release off the album. It's me featuring 50 Cent, produced by Sha Money XL. He's really like a new artist to the industry, but he's got a good ear for music man, and I had a lot of fun recording that record mainly because it has a sample in it, with words being said, and I don't really use heavy beats, so I wrote that record in about 15 minutes. Whenever it comes out fast like that, you just know it was meant to be and, consequently, that's my favourite record on the album.

ILM: The album features collaborations with Alicia Keys, Mobb Deep, Musiq Soulchild, plus 50, Tony and Young Buck, among others. How did the Alicia Keys collaboration come about?

BANKS: Actually I did a record for her project a while back. It was nothing, it was just a phone call and I was on tour at the time and I just flew into New York City, recorded the record and flew back out. I don't really do that. That's the first time I flew up to record with somebody. I don't do a lot of feats. I don't want to sell myself too short and be out there on everybody else's records. This is only my second project, so I feel like I just have to focus on what I bring to the table and limit how much I do outside of what I do.

ILM: The album features production credits from: Eminem, Timbaland, and Sha Money XL, plus Havoc (of Mobb Deep) and JR Rotem. You must learn so much from having all these different people producing. Is there one lesson you've learned that stands out?

BANKS: There's a couple. The first time I worked with Dr Dre… I'm always prepared and always have my verses ready, but they hear things that you don't really hear. He had me stacking my vocals more than I usually stack 'em, and at the end of it you understand what he's actually hearing, and you add that into what you do from time to time…as well as Eminem. They have a programme which actually opens your vocals and it can take it a lot of ways to a lot of different places. He did that with Hands Up my first single. It didn't actually sound like that when I gave to him, it just came back that way, because producers hear things that artists don't hear.

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