There’s no hotter up and coming producer in the game than Black Milk. It’s a bold statement but a true statement. For about a year now, it’s been impossible to open up a magazine without seeing his face or seeing a review, praising him as the next best thing in hip-hop.

Talented as both a producer and an MC, Milk prides himself on not only on making hot music but continuing to keep Detroit in its position, as a hip-hop powerhouse. Often compared to the late, great J Dilla, Black Milk has a sound that captures the essence of hip-hop. His beats are soulful and his verses are insightful.

It’s also no wonder he’s been seen everywhere as he’s worked with some of Detroit’s finest including Phat Kat, Guilty Simpson, and Fat Ray, not to mention his combination of coasts for the wildly popular street album Caltroit with West coast native and Dr. Dre’s right hand man, Bishop Lamont.

With major projects in the works, Sixshot.Com caught up with Black Milk to discuss everything from the comparisons to J Dilla, Detroit hip-hop, and his plans to take over the rap game.

Let’s start with your most recent project which was the album you did with Fat Ray, it’s a hot album.

Thank you man. We actually had the release party just a couple of days ago and it was a pretty good turnout. Me and Fat Ray go back, we been working together since like 2003 and we’ve worked on projects together before, things he was involved in. He’s one of the dopest MC’s in Detroit so we decided to do this. It was a quick, little project, you know, just something to get Fat Ray’s name out there. It turned out hot and we’re getting a real good response.

You work with a lot of the underground cats from Detroit, dudes like Phat Kat. Would you say you’re trying to revive the hip-hop scene in Detroit?

Well, I wouldn’t say revive because we’ve been putting out at least one or two hot projects a year over here. I would say I’m just tryna help to continue putting good music out there so we can continue that. Like you said, dudes like Phat Kat and them, they’re fam so I’m gonna always work with dudes like that no matter what. If I blow before the blow or they blow before me, I expect them to reach back for me so I do the same thing.

That’s really the reason why I’m doing this. I’m not trying to be the next big MC. I feel like Detroit hasn’t had a producer to have that nationwide attention. We got Denaun Porter from D12 who does his thing but I don’t think he wants that spotlight like Dr.Dre in the West or Timbaland and  The Neptunes in VA or Kanye in Chicago. Every region has that producer who can put on whoever they want and I wanna be that producer for Detroit. We had Dilla but he didn’t want that spotlight, he liked to play the background a lot. If I had to take that position, I think it would be a good look for Detroit.

Would you say you’re the biggest producer out of Detroit since Dilla?

Probably, name wise, if you’re talking about popularity then yeah I would say so, there’s always Denaun and Dilla. This year, the next couple of years really, I’m trying to get some major placements. I mean, everything is good, I make money with tours and everything I do but I’d love to get some major label placement with those major label artists. I know that’ll look real good on the resume so I’m still on the grind. I’m working with a couple of major label artists right now so hopefully I get those placements by next year, which is my thing right now.

Was the hip-hop scene in Detroit different after Eminem blew up?

Yeah I would say so. I was kinda young at the time of the hip-hop shop when every hot artist around was gracing the hip-hop shop. I was maybe 14 or 15 at the time so I didn’t hit up the shop yet, only a couple of times. It was more local back then and it was cats just rhyming because they love to do it. It wasn’t about the money, well it was about money, everybody wanna get on but nowadays it’s more about business. People got older and some got families and kids so whether you’re going the major label route or you’re gonna kill them on the underground it’s a lot about getting that money up. You don’t really see too many battles and ciphers anymore.

Do you think you’ll ever have the opportunity to work with him?

With Eminem? Shit, hopefully. I mean, I kinda know, I hear how things work over there and that would be a big if especially with Em doing a lot of his own production. They got a certain sound but I would love to do something with Em, that would be crazy.

Now you rap and produce, given the opportunity, would you take a position in the game like say, Kanye West?

Yeah, I mean the way I see it is I’m tryna get these major placements and get into the spotlight like that. I’m just gonna keep killin’ them like how I’m doing and eventually the majors will have to come to me. Those are my two options really and if it works out like a Kanye type of thing then I’m definitely cool with that. I wanna be a star basically, I wanna be on that level and I feel I’m ready.

The attention you’re getting right now is crazy. You’ve been in every magazine, you’re buzz is off the hook, when did it really start to pop off to this extent?

I would say last year man, when I put out Popular Demand. Before then, there were cats that were checking for my work but it was definitely a little slower. Fat Beats did a real good job of putting it out there and promoting it for an underground label. It just kinda caught on. It was a national thing and I guess you could call it like a breath of fresh air.

Plus, there was a lot of hype around it because when Dilla past, I feel like people were really looking for that next dude. I felt like a lot of people looked to me and it’s definitely a compliment but at the same time I’m just tryna do me. It’s cool that cats compare me to Dilla but I’m about my individuality and making my own sound.

Is it a lot of pressure getting compared to someone who was as dope and loved as Dilla?

Nah not really because the production part is the easy part, making the beat, making the song. I feel the pressure from myself because I always try to do better than the last thing I did so I really feel most of the pressure from myself and not the fans. You’re gonna hear my sound change a little bit in my upcoming projects and even with the Fat Ray projects, different loops and stuff like that. I’m tryna be everybody’s favorite producer, I wanna be in everybody’s top five. Its definitely more pressure on myself just trying to stay on top of my game. I could chop soul samples up all day and I know people would love that but the pressure comes from me trying to reinvent my sound.

I was talking to Bishop Lamont a few days ago and he was telling me about how Caltroit sold more than a lot of major projects. How did you guys pull that off?

Oh yeah, yeah, there was a lot of buzz around that project. It took us about a year to get that done and it had a lot of buzz because Bishop is over there on the major and I’m here doing my thing on the underground. I think a lot of people didn’t think it was going to happen so when it finally dropped it definitely made some noise.

Bishop, that’s fam right there. I appreciate Bishop for doing that because he put me in a whole other light, the commercial level or whatever. We had some big name artists on my beats and it was crazy. We had Dr. Dre shouting my name on there and to have Dre shouting my name is just hot. The fact that he knows who I am is crazy. We had Busta Rhymes on there. It really separated me from that, I don’t wanna say backpack but just that certain sound. People got to see what I could do on another level, which is dope.

You’re a fan of a lot of music besides hip-hop; do you feel like that influences your production?

Oh yeah, of course. To tell you the truth man, I’m really bored with hip-hop. I just wanna go somewhere else with the music and really go in another direction and make an interesting sound, man.

Right now, I’m listening to Radiohead and Stereohead so you’re gonna hear some vocals on there, still hard hitting but melodic. My solo album is definitely going to be different and I’m trying to make it perfect, every track. I don’t know when it’s gonna drop because I’m gonna make sure everything about it is perfect and definitely expect to hear some different sounds on it.

I actually just worked with this cat named Colin Monroe, he’s like an indie, pop, rock artist and he did a remix to Kanye’s “Flashing Lights” and I just thought it was amazing so I hit him up and asked him if he wanted to do something and he sent me a beat a couple days later and it was just crazy. My next album is gonna be different man but you’ll also get that sound, that real hip-hop sound.

Besides your solo album, what can fans look forward to hearing from you?

Oh man, we got the Guilty Simpson album coming out, I got like three tracks on there. The Fat Ray project is out. I’m also working with some major artist but I’m not tryna let any names out yet. Right now I’m just tryna flood the game right now man. It’s gonna be a busy year. I know a lot of people say that but I’m not just tryna flood the game I’m gonna give you good music every time.

Alright man, anything you’d like to say to the fans at Sixshot.Com?

Yeah man, go cop Popular Demand, go cop Caltroit. Look out for Phat Kat; we got a lot of great music coming out of the D man.