Corry Banks
About a month ago I noticed my man J Rawls mentioning an up and coming producer on his label Polar Entertainment. The cat’s name is Hooligan. I went to Hooligan’s bandcamp page and though the kid was fresh so I figured we should feature him and let you all get to know him a bit better. Check the interview below.
BBOYTECH: Tell us a bit about yourself?
HOOLIGAN: That’s a pretty hard question haha. Im a 19 year old beat maker from Chicago IL. Kind of a rough city but I try not to let that get to me…I’m just focusing on the future really. I fell in love with hip hop at about age 8 and I’ve been making hip hop music for about 5 years. Im kind of a weird cat I guess I got a old soul. im from a city with a gangsta background and music scene but I listen to a lot of jazz and soul music and a lot of guys around here isn’t into all that so I bond with older folks pretty well haha
BBOYTECH: Are you a traditionally trained musician? If so what’s your instrument?
HOOLIGAN: Im not really “trained” at least not now I’m not. The instrument im planning on studying is the piano. I’m looking into some lessons to sharpen my skills so I can do less sampling in the future and study jazz music.
That’s actually what I want to do outside of producing is become a jazz musician in the future and possibly innovate a new sound.
BBOYTECH: What was you first piece of beloved gear?
HOOLIGAN: My first piece of gear was a Yamaha electric guitar I got for my 9th birthday haha I spent days and nights on it trying to perfect the lead guitar part in the classic Batman theme song haha
BBOYTECH: Are you into classic gear? if so, do you own any or dream of owning any classics?
HOOLIGAN: Im really trying to get my hands on a MPC3000 or a SP1200. I gotta have one of those two sitting in my future studio
BBOYTECH: Who are your influences?
HOOLIGAN: Pete Rock, Erick Sermon, RZA and J Dilla.
BBOYTECH: What’s your studio rig looking like these days? How’s that contrast with the live rig?
HOOLIGAN: I don’t have a studio. All I got is my MPC, a Casio keyboard and my laptop. That’s all I need. I think cats get too caught up on high priced studios and forget that the music is what actually matters.
BBOYTECH: Favorite piece of gear?
HOOLIGAN: MPC1000. That machine taught me a few things about myself as a beatmaker. I came from using FL Studio where most of the workflow is visual and not really hands on unless you use some sort of MIDI device but when I got the MPC, I learned to use my ears alot. Gives me sort of a caveman feeling due to the limitations it puts on my productions but I love it. I also found myself starting and finishing beats a lot quicker with it
BBOYTECH: Any artist or producer out there that you dream of working with?
HOOLIGAN: I would like to work with a slew of people haha but the main people I want to build with is Elzhi and Bishop Nehru. I feel like I can really make good music with them.
BBOYTECH: What’s your creative process like when you sit down to make a beat or create a song?
HOOLIGAN: I spend about a hour or two going through records looking for samples and taking note on the parts I want to chop at and then I turn on the MPC, pick a sample, chop it up, gather some drums and just zone out haha I try to make something out of whatever I got…just make myself do it
BBOYTECH: All-time favorite artist/producer and why?
HOOLIGAN: Pete Rock is my main influence. His music taught me not to be scared of being creative and soulful at the same time and just being raw with it
BBOYTECH: Top 3 plugins?
HOOLIGAN: Nexus, Gladiator, Hypersonic. Even though I don’t do trap beats as much as I used to I still use these plugins when im working with electronic hip hop
BBOYTECH: What advice could give to young aspiring artist/producer?
HOOLIGAN: To just work and never stop working. you never know what you can come up with. Im still an young & aspiring producer myself so I can’t offer much advice haha
BBOYTECH: What type projects are coming up for you?
HOOLIGAN: Mainly just beat tapes. Focusing on expanding my catalog. Im also about to start work on an producer mixtape that supposed to be out sometime this year so hopefully I can get some industry insiders on that and continue to build on my career.
BBOYTECH: How can folks keep up with you?
HOOLIGAN: They can follow me anytime on Instagram (@prodbyhooligan) and Twitter (@Prod_ByHooligan)