One Time @ Bandcamp With... Proh Mic

 

There is something to be said about the artist who withholds his art, curating what the world hears from him so as to keep us wanting, guessing, imagining what might come next and when. Selfishly, I always want dope artists to give us more and in today's music industry of constant content that wish is oft granted. And yet when an artist does make a conscious choice to be selective it adds some special significance to what we get to hear. Enter Proh Mic.

With only a handful of releases available on the big streaming services, and another handful exclusively on Bandcamp, a lesser artist may be forgotten. However there is something special inside the tunes of the Seattle born, Caribbean residing artist that will lure you in and keep you checking in periodically to see what’s new. 

In October of last year Proh Mic delivered a bright and summer ready pair of tracks on 7 inch to us via the Portland label Liquid Beat. Fitting for a Pacific NW outlet to give us something sun drenched and party orientated on the cusp of winter. Any way to escape the grey we will take.

Upon digging into the rest of his catalog you will find an amalgamation of electronic, funk, hiphop, house, r&b, all with a strong undercurrent of soulful emotion conveyed for your mind and body to absorb and break out in dance to. It’s exciting music that is free from the constraints of now and best enjoyed in the present with good company and loud speakers.

Having known the founder of Liquid Beat for a while I reached out to him and asked if he could connect me with Proh for a chat. He happily obliged and here we are.

What is your first memory of music?

My first memory of music was probably Clarence Carter's "Patches" 45. That was one of the records my Grandpa would play and I loved that song so much I'd ask him to play it over and over. Something about those chords matched with the pain in his voice got me open as a little kid. 

When did you know you wanted to be involved in its creation?

I knew I wanted to be involved in music when I started breakdancing in 82. I had to make my own beats to dance to so I was making pause tapes because I could just make my own instrumental of my favorite jams taped from the radio. I kept doing that for years, moving up to looping breaks on records, then eventually having access to a drum machine years later. I didn't get my own drum machine until 94-95.

I've read online that you are from St. Louis, but also saw something that mentioned you were in Seattle? Where do you reside today?

Yeah a lot of people think I'm from St. Louis because Blackspade & I-Ced, who I had a group with are from there, I grew up in Seattle originally. I lived in LA for 10 years then moved to Chicago for 3 years. Right now I live in Roatan, an island in the West Caribbean owned by Honduras. It's paradise man, like a never ending vacation. But it's in my blood, my family's from the islands.

What influence did Seattle have on your interest in making music? 

I've always been involved in music or Arts at some point I used to play the saxophone and the violin growing up. My influence was not necessarily Seattle but more so my father who was a guitarist for the Funk Rock group the Dan Reed Network. When I started getting into break dancing I had close ties to the West Seattle Breakers and my cousin was a DJ and that's kind of where it all jumped off that I wanted to make music or be a part of it somehow.

Were you aware of the Tribal comps? Conmen?

I'm very aware of the tribal compilation and the con men they're all friends of mine, we hung out and all came up in the same Seattle hiphop community from the same era.

Did you listen to Nasty Ness radio show back in the day?

Yeah I used to tape Nasty Ness show and every show in the 80s. KNHC, 1250 KFOX "Fresh Trax" was my shit. We always seen him around too.

Do you follow or have working relationships/friendships with any of the hiphop that has been happening out of Seattle in more recent years? Not so much Macklemore, but Shabazz, OC Notes, The Physics, Chokolate, Amos Miller, Vitamin, Jake, Supreme, the list could go on forever. Are you connected to the city much these days?

Yeah I'm friends with and worked with pretty much everybody you listed. I've never said this but if you ask the younger guys I'm kind of one of the OG's of Seattle hiphop along with Supreme LaRock, Vitamin D, Jake One.  I know Macklemore (Ben) he's a little younger than me but he came up in the same era going to our shows and paying his dues. The same with The Physics and Amos Miller, I know them very well but they are from the generation after us. Ish and Tendai AKA Shabazz Palaces are really good friends of mine and me and OC Notes used to have a DJ night at the world-famous Rebar. Choklate is the homie and we've done cuts together as well as Tiffany Wilson. Me and Vitamin D are really good friends. He's mixed my projects and we've made many jams and still are now. I used to record at Supreme LaRock’s studio, we still hang to this day. Jake One is the homie I just was with him when I visited Seattle recently, I watched him turn into the beast he is. My crew was TBC, The True Believers Crew, and my first real group was with Bean One we were called Footprints. We made albums and did shows with the likes of Sinsemilla, Phat Mobb, Silent Lambs Project, Ghetto Children and Source Of Labor. Two people you need to mention and are true OGs of Seattle hiphop culture is Specs Wizard, he's also part of TBC, and Jonathon Moore aka "Wordsayer the Mayor" RIP. John was the most pivotal figure in our hiphop community known for bringing attention to the talent we had in Seattle as well as being the connection between a lot of Seattle artists and musicians. He was also a dope MC, an all-around great guy. As far as being connected to the city still I am but mostly to the people from my era. I love all the new young hiphop artists and eclectic musicians but since I've moved away I haven't kept up on them too tough.

How did you connect with Liquid Beat?

I connected with Liquid Beat thru Matt Nelkin. He heard a snippet of a track I made titled "Sunshine" and kindly reached out expressing his interest in releasing music with me, specifically that track. I was humbled and after listening to the Liquid Beat catalog I was ready to work.

Are you a vinyl collector?

I started collecting vinyl in 85. UTFO's "Roxanne Roxanne" might've been the first 12 inch that I bought. Up until then all the records I had in my collection (Prince, Jacksons, Parliament, Stevie) I got from my mom and other family members. In the late 2000's I knew I was gonna be doing a lot of traveling and moving and couldn't bring all my records. I had them in Chicago, Seattle and LA and I just didn't want them sitting in storage so I started selling the collection. I was sad but having records in 85 degree weather all year round would be hard. I'm still liquidating as we speak.

Do you DJ as well as perform your own music?

Yeah I do DJ sets and beat sets as well as perform my music live. I had a tour I was doing in Germany before COVID hit.

Can you walk us through your creative process? What's your studio set up look like?

My creative process starts with inspiration I get from anywhere at any moment. It might be a word I see, a sound I hear outside, a chord I hear in a song etc. Then it goes to my studio which as of now consists of hardware gear like my MPC X which is what I make everything on, the Korg Microkorg which I use to layer and lots of percussion instruments that I groove with. I also have a bass, a guitar and Electric drum pads, but It's really about the vibe in my studio. I live on a beautiful island and the view from my studio looking out at the clear blue ocean creates an amazing feeling. I see why artists get away to an island to record their albums.

As a musician, what is your take on the COVID era?

COVID putting a halt to the arts for the moment is really unfortunate and I feel for those who depended on performing live for income, that's gotta be tough. I'm grateful for any money I receive from my music and production and I love performing but I don't really like doing a lot of shows so I never depended on shows for income. I have years worth of music but I'm in no hurry to release anything so I don't release it very often therefore I haven't really had a whole lot of interaction with fans or the industry. Eventually the powers that be will find a way to make it work for artists even if it's totally different. But in the meantime artists and creatives will find new ways to brand themselves in this down time with new streaming technology aimed at the stay at home/virtual experience.

No shows has to be rough but are you finding inspiration in being holed up at home and creating or is it tough to find inspiration when you can't interact with the world how we are used too?

As far as finding inspiration during all this, I can always find inspiration and living in such a beautiful place helps 100% Roatan is always inspiring to me.

Was Hawthorne Headhunters always intended to be a one off project or was it just how it played out?

Yeah Hawthorne Headhunters was a group I started with Blackspade. I met him at the Do-Over while I was living in LA maybe 2008? We started a group with me and him and we were gonna have 2 featured vocalists: Coultrain (STL) and JimiJames (LA). Veto (Blackspade) suggested we bring in another producer, his buddy Ced No (now I, Ced) so we did and started making cuts between my studio and Ced's studio in Hawthorne Ca. with no intention of releasing it. It was just gonna be one EP. A friend, Tyler Gibney from HVW8 art Gallery, heard the songs and named us the Hawthorne Headhunters because we were recording in Hawthorne. He was starting a label at the time and heard the songs and wanted to press it up and put it out so we did.

Your music is full of feel good, uplifting vibes, do you have any practices to keep yourself in a positive state of mind?

To keep myself positive I try to stay away from any negative people, behavior or thoughts, that includes social media. I'm also a very visual person so if my surroundings are aesthetically pleasing it puts me in a certain positive vibe and keeps me motivated.

Is music your only creative outlet?

For right now music is my main creative outlet. I've been working on some business ventures and video producing as well.

What's been on your 2020 playlist?

My 2020 playlist consists of a hodgepodge of music from the 70's, 80's and 90's. I can't say I listen to any of today's music, I just don't really relate to any of it. 

Best book you've read this year?

Best book I've read this year: On Time: A Princely Life In Funk by Morris Day.

Personally I'm not a fan of the box genre can put a musician in. It seems like more and more there are cats emerging who are crossing lines and styles, do you think about your sound at all or tend to just aim to make music you find pleasant and soulful to your ear?

I'm not a fan of putting an artists' sound in a box either but I get why it's done. I never think about my sound, I'm not even sure I have one. Growing up I was influenced by a lot of different music so my music knowledge and tastes are very wide, this is why I can't just make 1 style of music only. If I feel like producing a particular style I'm gonna do it. I grew up in the 70's & 80's so this is why you find me making music in the genres of New Wave, Soul, Hip Hop, Funk, House and Yacht Rock. If it feels good to me then I go with it, but it's gotta feel right. I'll never create anything forcefully or do anything to compromise my integrity.