I know I’m not the only one. You saw that Keyshia Cole video for “I Should Have Cheated.” There is that studio scene where she is in the booth and the camera pans to the left, where there is a familiar face sitting at the helm of the mixing board. “Damn, that looks like dude from 112! What’s he doing there?” I know you said it because I, just like countless others, said it as well. Well, that “dude” is Daron Jones. And he just so happens to be quite and accomplished producer in his own right, responsible for a few of your favorite songs of the past decade besides being a part of his mutli-platinum group, 112. Daron sat down with our own Gerald Alston to help awaken those of us who have been asleep for far too long.

HGO: Hey, how are you?

DJ: Everything’s good man. Nice to meet you. What’s poppin’?

HGO: It seems your foray into production is the focus of your career right now. How and when did you get into production?

DJ: Well, you know it started on the first album with 112. Just being in the group and being at the studio; I started just staying a little later, working around on the MP(C). And I ended up getting 4 songs on that album. One of those songs was “Cupid”, which is one of the defining records for the group. From there, I just started writing songs and continued to make tracks and do music. And I got the opportunity to be a part of a lot of different projects. But that’s kinda how it started, just being in the group.

HGO: I read in your bio that you had a mentor/protégé relationship with Stevie J of the Hittmen. How did that come about?

DJ: Oh yeah. It was good situation because he was an up-and-coming producer at Bad Boy, but one of the hottest producers in the building at the time. He had been on a lot of projects. I got a chance to work with him and I learned a lot from him. Because to me, he’s one of the producers I really respect a lot.

You know, when you read production credits, you don’t know who is doing what. It says it’s produced by “this person”, but who’s actually playing those instruments? Who’s actually making those beats? Who’s actually writing those songs? Nobody actually knows.

I know on our project, when you see something produced by Stevie J, anything on the musical side instrument-wise, he did it. From live guitars to piano to drums or whatever was needed on the song. And I really have a different level of respect for him musically for that.

HGO: Are there any tricks of the trade he taught you that you still find useful today?

DJ: One of the tricks, something that I always use when I’m approaching a songwriting situation, is I try to look at a song as a “moment.” And I try to look at it as if me and you; we were all at a dinner party. I feel like a hit song is a song that you could sing at a dinner party and it could kill, even if no one had ever heard it before in their life. Not even from a performing aspect of a song, but just from the lyrical aspect of it. You know, saying words that would make people’s jaws drop or make that person feel like they want to hear that song again. My whole approach to songwriting in a lot if ways is I think as if I was in a room in front of some people, and trying to sing something that would leave them going home and remembering that and wanting to hear it again.

HGO: That’s a great approach. Who are some of your favorite producers?

I like Dr. Dre. When I look at a lot of different producers, they get hot and they get popular off their hit singles. I feel like Dre is a producer that’s responsible for a lot of great albums. And I feel like that puts him on another level as a producer.

Timbaland is one of my favorite producers as well because he’s very innovative and a lot of his sounds are very original and it will be something you’ve never heard before. Like producers will listen to Timbaland and like “Where did he get that from?”

HGO: Coming from the artist side of the business, how did you get the word out that you are producing as well?

DJ: A lot of people were reading the credits. And for those that weren’t, honestly I can say that I’m doing a lot of that now. A lot of people weren’t aware of the things I had produced. Even people that I’m doing interviews with right now. They peep the resume and then they are like “Whoa, ok.”

HGO: That’s exactly what happened with me.

DJ: Yeah, so I’m really in the process of doing that now. Just putting the word out there and letting people know that I’ve been responsible for a lot of great records and a lot of classic music. And with me putting that out there, I am going to get even more opportunities to work with other people in music.

HGO: Yeah, the one surprised me the most, and is probably the one that suprises most people is the Biggie/R. Kelly joint, “F@#$ing You Tonight.”

DJ: Yeah, I know. I just had a long conversation with someone about that because they were asking me what were some of my favorite joints and why. And that song is one of my favorites because honestly, I feel like that song changed the dynamic of his (R. Kelly) whole approach to music. Before R. Kelly did “F@#$ing You Tonight”, he was known for great records about sex; a lot of sex ballads, a lot of love ballads…even inspirational songs like “I Believe I Can Fly.” But once he did “F@#$ing You Tonight”, he was an “R&B thug” from that point on. So I feel like that song right there changed the whole dynamic of his career. That song helped him to re-invent himself and blend in with what is hot in music right now.

HGO: That’s a very good point. Have you encountered any opposition as far as trying to get tracks out to artists because they may not know of your resume?

DJ: Yeah. A lot of times, my major problem is that people don’t really know. But once they find out and I tell them, then they are like “Oh.” It’s funny that you brought up that song (“F@#$ing You Tonight”), because when I bring up that song, that’s when rappers are like “Oh yeah, I need you to get on this joint!”

You know, being in a group, this is kinda like a stigma attached to you. Like I’m a member of a group and one of our most popular songs is about Cupid not lying to people. That whole stigma plays against me at times so I have to put it out there as to what I’m doing and let people know my style as an individual. Because me individually, I’m very diverse and versatile. Don’t put me in the “R&B Box.” That’s what I keep telling people. Don’t put me in that “R&B Box”, man.

HGO: Yeah, that kinda leads into my next question. In looking at the credits and listening to the various songs you’ve produced, I was trying to see if I could identify a “signature sound.” But I really don’t hear one particular thing. Your songs are very diverse.

DJ: I think that is something that sets me apart from other producers. And really, that’s my little secret to staying fresh. Like “Cupid” in itself is a “sound.” It’s an acoustic guitar sound with just a beat. Now if I make 3 other records like that, I’ll be pegged. It will be “Oh, that’s that Daron sound.” I don’t really want people to say I have a “sound.” I just want to be that producer that is constantly coming with something different and new and fresh and you’ll just never know what to expect.

HGO: That’s a very good goal to have. What about the early days of Bad Boy? What was that like when it was first at it’s peak, as you guys (112) were definitely a part of that whole movement?

DJ: It was incredible. I tell people all the time, it was like college for me. I went to the “School of Bad Boy.” Then I graduated, and went to the “School of Def Jam.” But in the “School of Bad Boy,” I learned a lot of different things. That whole movement catapulted into something that was, in my opinion, was one of the biggest movements in music. And it inspired and prompted other labels to do the same thing. Because the whole guerilla marketing tactics that Bad Boy used were crazy! In New York, Bad Boy was famous for that street teaming. They would walk around with those posters and a bullhorn, and now everybody’s doing it. I see elements of Bad Boy in G-Unit and Rocafella and all these different labels that are now movements. It feels good because I helped with that movement. I was a part of that. I helped to build that and establish that. And now that I’m moving on to the next phase of my career, I can take some of the things that I’ve learned to push me forward. Like at the time, I didn’t know what a publicist was or how important it was to have one to publicize and get the word out to let people know what it is that you’re doing. Especially as you are trying to define yourself as a talent or and artist. That is one of the things I learned. It was just incredible; that whole movement. To this day, I have never been on a tour that was bigger than the “Puff Daddy and the Family” tour. And I was on tour with Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson…but no tour I’ve ever been on was bigger than that.

HGO: Yeah, that tour was larger than life. That was one of the all-time great tours ever. So how about your thoughts on Biggie and having the real experience of actually working with him as opposed to a studio “put-together?”

DJ: Big was easy to work with. Me as a producer, sometimes when I do tracks, as a producer and a writer, sometimes a track will take me to a certain place. Like I may feel this track takes me to the club. Or this track takes me to the bedroom. But he was the type of artist that you didn’t really have to coach. You could leave a track in the studio with him and he was going to do what was necessary to make the track hot. He was like the player that didn’t really need coaching. Like I didn’t have to go in there and produce Biggie’s vocals and say, “Yo, do that one more time…subtract that.” He already knew what he wanted to do, how he wanted to be portrayed, what his persona was, and he was going to make sure his lyrics represented that as well as making sure it was a hot song.

HGO: How is the relationship with Puff? Is everybody cool?

DJ: Yeah, everybody’s cool. We’re still cool. Because Puff knows that at the end of the day, we made moves as businessmen. Our contract was crazy. We were signed to a production company. Now, I understand the aspect of being signed to a production deal. All of them are not bad if your production company is actually producing and doing the majority of your music and bringing that to the table. But if your production company is just the dude that knows Puffy…and he kinda just puts you on like “Yeah, I know Puffy so I’m going to make sure y’all get signed.” But then after the first album, he steps aside and is not as involved in the projects, and you are basically doing your own album and turning it in, you gotta get this guy up out of there. So it was at a point where Bad Boy didn’t buy it out, so we had to do what we had to do to get what we felt we deserved.

HGO: Ok. One more thing along those lines. Now forgive me for not knowing this, but I have not listened to the “Biggie Duets” album. I will probably never listen to it. But are you all (112) on it?

DJ: No, we’re not on it.

HGO: How do you feel about that because I was discussing this with someone, and we were talking about the first single (“Nasty Girl”), and the fact that Jagged Edge is on it. And it’s like how is Jagged Edge on it as opposed to 112? That just doesn’t make any sense. And even further, how Lil Cease isn’t on it or Lil Kim isn’t on the album. I was wondering how you felt about that?

DJ: I don’t really think that it’s a good look that we are not a part of that. Just know that with Biggie, if you listen to the “Life After Death” album, damn neat every other sentence, he was shouting out 112 in his own little way. Like “Room 112 where the players dwell” or “112, what’s shaking?” or telling the story about how those ganster’s got killed (“N!ggas Bleed”), there were in “Room 112.” He shouts us out through the majority of the album, so I don’t think it was a good look that we were not a part of that and I think he would have wanted that because that’s our peoples. So, I don’t know. I don’t think that was a good look just being completely honest with you. I get that call at least 2 or 3 times a week ever since that album dropped. I get a call about that…about “Yo, why were they on that instead of y’all?” I’m not saying they shouldn’t have been on the song, but that was an album that 112 should have been a part of because of our relationship with that man and the amount of respect he had for 112.

Continue to Part II of Our Exclusive Interview With Daron Jones