<\/em>In 1999, I was approached by Deftones to work on White Pony, but I had just come off of Unkle\u2019s Psyence Fiction album. I was nursing a hip-hop image and reputation, so I was wary of working with anything that felt like it was too alternative or rock-oriented. So I missed out on being a part of a pretty seminal album. I wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s a regret, necessarily, because I feel like my rationale was sound, but it\u2019s kind of a missed opportunity.<\/p>\n
Was your move towards sample-free production on your recent albums driven by the headache and costliness of sample clearance, <\/strong>a desire to keep the creative process fresh, or<\/strong> a bit of both? <\/strong>EditorialJoe
<\/em>Definitely both. There have been times in my career where I\u2019ve wondered: at the end of the day, am I going to own only 15% of my catalogue because of all the samples? So that was part of it. But equally, I became known as somebody who was trying to be on the vanguard of making music with samples but I always knew I would want to make music in as many different ways as possible.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/cf9b202e56a56413445fd54504ae13827371d13b\/0_88_1921_1536\/master\/1921.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=a6d85e20665b2bee3af81e0ddcac30f2\" "\\"DJ")
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