Posted by The Baron in interview | 0 Comments
Hannibal King Interview
We need more dudes like this in hip-hop. This interview felt more like shooting the shit with a friend. Thanks to Hannibal. Be sure cop dudes work and be sure to check out Visual High Life for more of the same caliber of dope-ness. Cop his tunes here.
The Baron (Mike Dupar): So what type of musical environment did you grow up in?
Hannibal King: I grew up listening to a lot of soul music from the the 70′s and late 60′s. My family didn’t really let me listen to a lot of hip-hop when I was young. So anything I did listen to I had to listen to outside, thats why a lot of our music has a real soul edge to it. I sample a lot, everything I do with vinyls and stuff. The soul music I grew up listening to really is the biggest influence on me.
M: For sure, I think that is really apparent in the music. One my favorite things about your beats is that they sound really organic. Do you strive for that or is that naturally how it comes out?
Hannibal: I don’t like my stuff sounding too choppy or too synthetic. I really dig the whole dirty vibe, like making tapes off the radio. When you sample straight from a vinyl or any music from back then you get a lot of beautifulness, it’s a beautiful sound, its heavy, it’s everywhere, it’s earthy.
M: Yeah I prefer that to the crap over-produced shit.
Hannibal: There’s a lot of shit out there. I mean it’s funny cause thats what sells, but I don’t like making that kind of shit.
M: You ever feel like you have to compromise yourself for what you want to do sometimes in order to appeal to certain demographics or to get a little more fame?
Hannibal: I’ve done it before, you know I can’t lie. I’ve worked with artists I normally wouldn’t work with, because I knew it would bring something to me. I had to change up my style/make a beat that sounded like something i’d never do. I’m sure if you look somewhere in my repertoire you’ll find some shit thats embarrassing but thats just how you gotta do it, you know sometimes you gotta sacrifice a few things, cause in the long run more people will hear the type of stuff i’d normally make and that’s what really matters.
M: I feel like right now you get pigeon-holed or categorized as a main-stream or a back-pack dude.
Hannibal: I get called a back-packer all the time.
M: I don’t even know what that really is.
Hannibal: Honestly I just like making music that I can feel. The type of shit I like, I’m not going to make something else to avoid someone calling me a name or some shit like that. It’s hip-hop. It’s dope shit you know what I mean it’s chill shit, it’s something I can smoke to, to be honest with you, thats one of the biggest intimates.
M: So growing up for like everyone there are a few monumental albums that helped define you musically and as a person. You got a few of those?
Hannibal: Yeah, Midnight Marauders by A Tribe Called Quest. As I got older stuff like Doomsday by MF Doom and I’m a huge Madlib beat-tape fan but a lot of Tribe. Lost Boyz were coming up too. I grew up on a lot of early G-Unit before they really sold out, it was a lot more raw back then, they didn’t care about how they should sound, they just went into the booth and talked shit for like 30 minutes. I mean its the idea of what they were doing, not really what they were saying but the idea of what they were doing. Coming up from the same neighborhood as those guys it really influenced me. Midnight Marauders is definitely one of the most influential albums and Blu. Blu is one of my biggest influences, I recently got to do some work with his camp, it was really nice working with them, they’re on the same wave-length that I guess you would say I’m on.
M: Yeah what he (Blu) did with Exile was pretty awesome.
Hannibal: Aw man “Show me the Good Life” and “Cold Hearted” those are some of my favorite songs of all time. Below the Heavens may be one of my favorite albums of all time.
M: It’s funny you brought up G-Unit too (laughs) Beg For Mercy is a classic in my book, a lot of people look at me funny but that album is the shit.
Hannibal: Yeah there old shit was really raw, you know thats what was dope about it. But then it got to a point where it was forced and contrived, it’s sad but 50 Cent years ago used to have some real talent. It’s funny cause people wouldn’t expect me to say I like Tribe, Madlib, MF Doom and 50 Cent but I mean thats what it is, its just raw shit. Mos Def is another big influence, I can’t believe I didn’t name him. Black on Both Sides and Black Star, those were dope ass albums too.
M: Did you like the New Danger?
Hannibal: Yeah I loved the New Danger actually! Most people don’t but at the time thats what I was into, you know?
M: Yeah that album’s beautiful.
Hannibal: Yeah he was on that before a lot of other people were. Kanye was producing for them back then it was dope shit.
M: so yeah I should get back to my notes.
(laughs)
M: So whats one of your favorite memories pertaining to music?
Hannibal: Ooh, I guess my first time actually making a placement, it was like 2 years ago, I did a track for this guy, JB. He showed me a lot of love before I really had gotten anywhere production wise. That was one of the most influential things in my career, back then I didn’t know what I was gonna do but he showed me a lot of love and kinda mentored me. JB is a dope artist out from Oklahoma and he really helped me get to where I am. Among other artists I mean my photographer here PDA, without him I wouldn’t be here, he was sort of a manager to me before other people were. Meeting him really helped me get to where I am today. Between the two of those, I can’t really decide between meeting the two of them but meeting one of them is definitely the most memorable thing.
M: So the beat-tape, I can’t remember the last time I was so stoked about one, let alone came across a full tape. What motivated you to do that and how you feel about beat-tapes in general?
Hannibal: I think producers should do more beat tapes. I hear a lot of producers doing compilations now and thats what I tried to follow when I first came out but I started listening to other cats like Madlib and Dilla. Donuts is one of my most influential albums and i’d listen to Madlib’s beat-tapes and Doom’s Herbs and Spices and I was like why am I sitting here trying to get artists on my stuff when I know I can make a style on it’s own just with my beats. Thats what led me to doing that, it turned out a lot better than I thought it would.
M: Naw man its great, I really dig it. Have you listened to Madlib’s Medicine Show series at all?
Hannibal: Yeah I love all his stuff, I wanna move out to LA and get a job with them (Stones Throw), Madlib does shit other people can’t, I can’t even see how he does some of his stuff sometimes, he’s on a whole nother level.
M: Is there anyone your really itching to work with, I feel like I could probably guess who that would be now but…
Hannibal: (laughs) I guess production wise Madlib, but rap wise probably Blu. Blu more than anyone I guess, maybe Mos Def or Doom. They’re just real influential. I’m also a big fan of Curren$y and the stuff he’s been doing is really dope. Better than his old stuff with (Lil’) Wayne and shit. I’m glad he got out of there and finally was able to do what he wanted to do, that whole camp is dope. Blu is definitely one of my favorite emcees, we were supposed to do work before but it fell through, so that was a heart-breaker, but hopefully sooner or later we’ll do something.
M: I think it’ll go down, I see y’all working well together, I mean i’d listen to it.
Hannibal: (laughs) Thank you man, I need to move out to LA. Search him down or something.
M: I’m trying to move to New York within the next couple years, whats the scene like there. I feel like now its west coast or east coast, I got a boy who’s doing his rap thing and I’m always telling him he needs to go to New York but your saying the opposite.
Hannibal: I love the game out in LA man, you got a lot of artists coming up like Blu, Pac Div, and U-N-I, there are a lot of dudes coming out of there doing alternative stuff. New York is lead by a lot cats who are stuck in 10 or 20 years ago and they don’t really experiment or do what they wanna do. It’s commercial without being commercial, know what I mean, it’s kind of sad but I mean there are always a couple new dope things that you find. New York is dope though, you can get shit done, there are definitely plenty of people to meet and get somewhere but I just think the music in LA is just a lot better right now. I’m probably gonna catch heat from some New York rappers for saying that but the music in LA is on another level right now.
M: Well thats interesting…So what are you working on right now?
Hannibal: I have an album coming out with Remy Banks of Children of the Night, that album should be coming out late fall probably around october/ early november and we have a compilation for Villains Gone Bad, I get a lot of remixes in, you know I’m not a huge fan of compilation albums but it’d be nice to showcase some underground artists who hit me up with free-styles who may never get played anywhere else. So if I have the capability to help them get heard somewhere I might as well do it.
M: Anything you’d like to add?
Hannibal: Check out that album with Remy Banks and make sure you go to seizurechicken.com to hear some dope music, your blog was pretty dope man, I saw that you guys had King Khan & BBQ Show, I love that band man.
M: Who else do you fuck with outside of rap?
Hannibal: I got into Girls lately, I know thats weird, I got into Harlem… I love Harlem, Harlem’s shit is dope. I don’t wanna be obvious and say bands like Grizzly Bear but a lot of that underground dirty sounding, 70′s punk rock but still relevant today, that shit is dope. Man, Harlem might be my favorite non hip-hop group out there. I missed them recently due to studio time conflicts. Definitely wanna see them though. They had a song called “South of France” and I thinks thats one of the first songs I heard from them and it just blew my mind to hear that. If I could ever make music outside of hip-hop it’d be something like that.
