:::The making of “Hip Hop” with Hocus Pocus::::
Produced by 20syl for Hocus Pocus
Almost 3 million views later we have the first collaboration between my old group The Procussions and French Hip Hop group Hocus Pocus.
I met Hocus Pocus in ‘04 on tour in Europe. Our tour manager, Francois, had been telling us about an independent Hip Hop group he knew from Nantes, France that had a similar vibe, goal, and hustle as us and that he wanted to introduce us.
By that time we had already toured quite a bit of Europe receiving CD’s from fans, had some after and pre-show freestyle sessions, and a lot of European radio. It was a bit of a culture shock. It wasn’t till we met with Hocus Pocus that we felt “at home”.
We met with 20Syl at his home studio. One of the first things I saw was a “Gold” record he had earned from producing for another French artist- which seemed to sit casually amongst his records, live instruments, egg crate sound proofing, and various other art projects he was working on.
SIDE NOTE: I think Hocus Pocus’s “Place 54” went “Gold” too, which means…I think I’m on a “Gold” record…awesome.
20Syl is a lot better at speaking English now, ha- but back then there were times we needed hand signals and a little help from Francois. Which is to say, we “The Procussions”, were obviously horrible at speaking French- and we still are!
20Syl played some instrumentals for us and we were all pretty blown away. We started rapping and producing as a group in 1998, we already met a lot of people by ‘04, and I can tell you it is very rare when you run into someone who takes their craft as serious as you do in the same ways that you do. It reminds you that caring about the art in your craft matters.
He got to the “Hip Hop” beat, explained the songs premise, and asked us if we wanted to write to it, of course we said yes. At the time, I don’t think any of The Procussions had any “same day” writing under our belts, which means: getting a beat, writing and recording to it the same day- so this was a first for all of us. It helped that it was a beautiful day in Nantes, in a beautiful home, and with a quick trip to the “boulangerie” we were ready to go.
“Your remarkably designed your equal is hard to find, if your unsatisfied take it up with the Divine”
The video shoot happened on one of our other tours to Europe, I think almost a year later. Guess who directed this one? Arthur King…the same guy who did “Holding On”, can you see his talent?
SIDE NOTE: Maybe It’s a “grass is greener” situation, but I’ve always felt like in France, the way their social system is set up, and with their views on art/culture- you have a greater chance of running into someone who takes their work seriously, and does so because they love what it “means”, outside of it’s “monetization”. <— which is a word yes?
Two independent groups, two different languages, and one culture= over 2 million views.
I’m grateful!
You can pick up Hocus Pocus’s music on iTunes, this song might be a little hard to find in the US version though, have a look. http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/16-pieces/id479111834
Like?
as you can imagine, shit is just fkd up right now. but i wanna say thank you to all our
friends and family (which are kinda one in the same) for all the love and support.
i’m glad to know that all the love that Yauch has put out into the world is coming right back at him.
thank you.
Over 1,000 plays in a couple days! Thanks for listening peoples! Artists, hit me for production. stroelliot@gmail.com
The procussions live by ownerzAhahahaha, I can barely watch this. Excuse my language, over abundant energy, self-indulgents, and over all goofy dancing. Ahahahaha. I don’t know if I would be any different now, but it doesn’t make it easy to watch.
Something about the music I…
:::The making of “Little People” off The Procussions “5 Sparrows for 2 Cents” album:::
Produced by Stro
If I remember correctly, Stro knocked on my door and said he had a new beat.
SIDE NOTE: At the time, we all lived two people, sometimes three, in one bedroom apartments. Basically, living rooms become rooms and you respect the invisible lines. It wasn’t bad though, it was cozy in a way haha.
I walked two doors down to where he and Rez’s apartment was. Stro played the beat and I was like…”whoa”. When he shows me his work I almost always think “wow”, but sometimes I think “whoa”. There’s a small difference but it matters.
Based on the general emotion and the pitch of the sample and me being as depressing as I am, I thought hey, let’s make this song about “Child Abuse” . Stro came up with the hook and we recorded this track down in Silver Lake at one of the coolest home studio’s I had ever seen at the time.
Lyrically I was working on a new rhyme pattern, which I haven’t really been able to duplicate since then- mostly because I haven’t had a beat that shares the same drive/pocket as this one.
“Invision the prison of age, where thee apparent disposition is that of a parrot commissioned to live in a cage. Who hits the parents when decisions are made, to not listen- and they got their fist in opposition to fair play”
Listening back, I really do sound dfferen’t, maybe it’s age? experience? ha. Do you want to know were the sample is from? Absolutely not. Haha.
The cool thing about this song is it has been in a couple movies, commercials, and T.V. shows. Most recently it was featured in “Blue Mountain State”. I put this song up on youtube 5 years after the group split up and in less then a year it had almost half a million views. Which is crazy because it only had 10k views when we were a group. Do views really matter that much? Who knows…
If you have any questions hit me or just hit the “like”.
and of course this song is on iTunes.
Lookin for Stro Elliot production? Here!
