THE HOOD INTERNET

EVOLUTION OF THE MASHUP

Hood Internet (HI) lives in the musical spectrum we call genre. They are not only comfortable in their surrounding element, they seem to be perfectly adapted. Only masters at their craft can take two sonically distinct elements such as hip hop and indie rock, and intertwine them into tracks that work on the dancefloor and off. And according to them, genre, in all honesty, isn’t even all that important of an idea.

We sat down with Steve Reidell (known as STV SLV) to discuss their upcoming Rickshaw show as well as their working collaborations and his thoughts on genre and Internet culture.

Aaron Brink (known as ABX) met Reidell in a band in Chicago. At the time, they were already experimenting with loop-based software on their own and their passion for crafting beats brought them together. What started as a side project quickly became something more. In 2007, their music blog made waves within the first month and they jumped off into live sets later that year.

As to what one should expect from an HI show, “I think they should expect to dance,” Reidell chuckles politely. With a steady barrage of dance-friendly proven hits sprinkled with new tracks, fans will have ample opportunity to move throughout their set. Hearing Passion Pit intermingled with Ludacris & Big KRIT in “I’ll Be Country” will leave you wanting to hear more. It’s pretty remarkable how seamlessly Hood Internet can assemble Nicki Minaj with Atoms of Peace and make it actually work—and work really well. Not diametric enough? Try Ratatat and Michael Jackson “Billie ‘Wildcat’ Jean” and don’t fight the urge to nod your head to the syncopated genre-bending masterpiece.

However, are they out to change or affect genre in any way? “No, genre isn’t an important idea. It’s just a good way to classify sound, [but] it’s all music,” Reidell expands. “There are some crust punk kids who wear leather jackets and Mohawks—and that’s what people resign themselves to be interested in for the rest of their lives.” Growing up, if you were into grunge, you were into grunge and not into Biggie or Destiny’s Child. But who’s to say we had to be so monogamous to a classification? Nowadays in the age of instant gratification, even crust punks can dabble in smooth jazz.

“The way music has been produced has been cross-pollinating for well before we came onto the scene,” notes Reidell on the continually evolving landscape. “Mashups influence to a certain degree but I think more so it’s just the Internet opening everything up,” says Reidell. “[It allows] taking whatever you want and doing whatever you want with it, re-purposing it.

“Now there are no scenes of styles of music that are particular to a city. I mean there are but the second that people find out about them, they explode and it’s all over the place. When you think about, like in Chicago, Chief Keef and GBE and you know all their shit is produced by Young Chop and now you see all these producers going for the Young Chop sound. It was kind of a Chicago thing—but now it’s not,” he illustrates on the topic of the Internet disseminating pockets of culture.

Seven mixtapes, millions of downloads and a studio album later, HI is now an established presence in the music scene. Thanks, Internet.

Their knack for the mashup doesn’t only lie in the sonic realm. “Art and music have always gone so much hand in hand,” he says while discussing the now-defunct (yet timeless) archive of parody album artwork “remixed” with tacos. Having been an art director in his previous career, Reidell carries over his eye to much of the design and art. Yet HI continues to stay true to their nature and predominant themes of collaboration and iteration by constantly working with a lot of Midwest artists. People like Chuck Anderson, Joe Van Wetering and Steff Bomb all add their crafts to HI art and covers.

For the best moment as of yet: “Maybe our favorite moment happened last year in NYC when one of the actors from Breaking Bad came on stage,” recalls Reidell. It was Giancarlo Esposito (Gus) after HI swayed the crowd donning yellow hazmat suits. “Maybe not one of our greatest artistic moments, but [it was] something we were both really psyched about.”

Gus or no Gus, bring your good shoes and definitely expect to dance as Hood Internet takes the stage August 16th at the Rickshaw.

By Nicole Leung & Konstantin Rabinovich