Statik Selektah has come a long way from his days of carrying crates for legends like Chubb E. Chub, Clinton Sparks, G Spin, Kid Capri and Funkmaster Flex. Decades into the game, Statik has quietly become one of Hip-Hop's most prolific, accomplished, and respected producers.

Anchored by his limber sound that easily shapes itself around a diversity of styles, Statik's output has established him as a premiere talent, with a resume that speaks to the respect he's garnered throughout his years in the game. Statik, who also hosts Showoff Radio on Shade 45, worked with a variety of top-tier emcees, including Elzhi, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Bun B, and Black Thought.

Over the past few months he's already dropped two projects, including a collaboration with Bun B, TrillStatik 2 in late December, and a collab with Kota the Friend, To See A Sunset earlier this year. Now, he's released his tenth project, Round Trip, which he calls a "celebratory" release that honors his years in the game.

We caught up with Statik Selektah to discuss everything from his creative process, to that incredible feature from De La Soul's Posdnuos that honors Dave, who passed away earlier this year.

Talk about the creation of your new project. What was the inspiration behind it?

It's my 10th album, so I kind of wanted to take different vibes from all my different albums and put them all together and have something for everybody. So you know, there's a lot of jazz on there, but there's also a lot of grimy stuff, even a couple of down south vibes.

This is the first feature from Posdnuos dedicated to Dave since his passing? Is that right?

He literally did it a couple days after he passed.

How'd that come about?

I had the beat and I knew I wanted it to be the intro to the album. I was just looking for the right person and idea to make it work and I just think since the album's gonna be called Round Trip, I just thought Posdnuos was perfect to take that somewhere, and he went above and beyond with it. He made the "round trip" be about life in general, saying that Dave completed his trip. It's just bugged out, because I wasn't going that far with the "round trip" analogies. He brought it to another galaxy. It just made it so special for not just me, but I feel like for every Hip-Hop fan. It gives me goosebumps when I hear it.

When you sent the beat, did you know he was going to rap about Dave?

Honestly, I was like, do you even want to rap right now? He's like, man, I never stopped rapping, "Send that." And I sent it to him. I put the "Are You Listening" sample in there, like two seconds before I sent it to him. He kind of took it from there and just made it incredible. It couldn't have been better.

You're such a versatile producer, but your sound isn't all over the place. Can you talk a little bit about your creative process?

It starts with the sample, usually... And then I might add some scratches, and I go straight to the drums, and send it to the artist. I mean, I love the drums that are cooked up in the studio with the artist. But you know, in 2023, it always don't line up like that, so there are some emails.

Do you remember any of the songs that were created actually in studio?

The drums with Millyz were done in my studio. The joint with Nems, the joint with MARCO PLUS and Koda, the joint with G-Eazy. The joint with G-Eazy, he was fun because we were out late night, drinking playing pool. We went back to the studio at like four in the morning, and took some micro-dosed mushrooms. He was like, turn the beat down 20 bpms. Usually, I would be like, beat it, you're out of your mind. But since we were vibing, I was like, you know what? I'm gonna try it. And I tried it, and he did the whole double time flow, and it just worked. So even like the Statik Selektah tag is like chopped and screwed, and it just came out dope. So that's one of those instances where getting creative is fun at six in the morning.

What do you want people to take away from this project?

The style of Hip-Hop is still sounding fresh and fun. I feel like I got my own lane with it. I'm obviously paying homage to the cats I grew up off, like Q-Tip and Primo [DJ Premier], and Pete Rock. Every album I make, I'm celebrating the art form annd treating it like a modern day mixtape, but doing it bigger.

Will we get a TrillStatik 3?

Of course. We just dropped TrillStatik 2: The 420 Delxue. And yeah, we'll probably do three at the end of this year.

What's next up?

I got an album with Boldy James coming. I got an album with 2 Chainz that's been done for a while. I have a surprise album. There's a lot coming, lots on the way.