Certified Banger: Mr. Loop! How goes it?
Mr. Loop: I’m good, nothing to complain about!
CB: First of all tell us, if it’s not obvious, how did you get your name?
Mr. Loop: Well, two reason really – my surname is Lupin, and I’ve always been called Loop as a nickname my whole life, and I make crusty Hip Hop using sample loops…
CB: And now please tell us how you named your album ‘The Bury All’:
Mr. Loop: That’s just another play on words – I’m originally from Canterbury and featured a lot of east Kent artists on the album, and also its kind of ironically arrogant cos I’m kind of a humble dude, haha!
CB: It’s your first album isn’t it, debut as they say. Might we have heard you on anything else previous to this?
Mr. Loop: There are a couple of mixtapes knocking around that I’ve done beats for, there’s a Kojack Brothers mixtape called ‘A Fork & Other Cutlery’. Quite a few people have my beats, but I’m not sure what they’ve done with them to be honest! I did some other stuff before my album that hasn’t actually come out yet, for example I have a beat on the Rapskallions album ‘Slicker Than a Bucket of Snot’, which should be out shortly on the Sweatbox Sounds imprint.
CB: You make the beats on which many MCs spit. Let’s break that down a bit: Why do you make Hip Hop?
Mr. Loop: I’ve always loved Hip Hop since I was a kid, that and funk and soul, and I cant really play any instruments, haha! On the real though I grew up listening to The Pharcyde, Tribe, Gangstarr – all that good American s**t, then got into my uk stuff like Blade, and the UK scene seemed to go from strength to strength with the likes of Low Life Records etc starting up… I just always wanted to either rap or make beats. I tried emceeing – even did it live once, but I don’t really have the right skill set for that… I’d also like to graff, but my painting skills really are s**t!
CB: Are your productions sample based? What do you go for when digging? How often do you find a useable break or loop?
Mr. Loop: I always sample s**t. I love taking something from a different era and flipping it into something completely different that a completely different type of person will feel.
When I’m digging I go for anything that looks interesting. I mean, you got all your classic breaks and stuff, but I like weird s**t as well, like Yodelling records and all that kind of stuff – I’ve got a pretty ‘sample anything’ mentality. I’m of the Lewis Parker school of thought – there’s at least one thing on any record, be it a kick drum, a horn stab, anything that you can sample.
CB: Do you just loop stuff or do you chop it up and switch stuff round? Explain how you dos it:
Mr. Loop: A bit of everything. Sometimes you find something that sounds dope just as a loop and all it needs is a sprinkling of some other melody, a big fat drum pattern and a bass line, but sometimes you need more than that – I loop, I chop, I EQ the s**t out of stuff, whatever sounds good to my ears.
CB: What do you aim for, aside from perfection, when creating the perfect beat?
Mr. Loop: Something that sounds good! Depends really – if it’s a mellow introspective number I want something mellow and introspective to complement the emcee, and if it’s a rowdy jump up joint I want the beat to reflect that and kick you in the balls! I wouldn’t know about creating the perfect beat, don’t think I’ve ever done that, but you just kind of aim for something that sits well sonically. Having said that, Yosh was talking to me the other day about doing a really happy fun beat and getting him to get all Necro on it and chat bout shanking and murking, would be truly jokes!
CB: Which, if there is one, is your favourite track off the album? Which one would you put in a time capsule if there was only digital space for one song?
Mr. Loop: From an emceeing point of view I’d probably say ‘The Middle Path’, I think it’s seriously dope, but from an overall song point of view it would have to be ‘Out on the Razz’ – Lyrics are funny, tune gets people head nodding, it goes down well at live shows, and we had a right laugh recording it in the studio.
CB: Fun is important I think! Which other tune would you put with it? It can be any song in the world ever.
Mr. Loop: That’s a hard question! It would probably have to be ‘If you want me to stay’ by Sly and the Family Stone. Love that tune too much!
CB: MCs: you got loads on your album. How does one go about orchestrating these large manoeuvres?
Mr. Loop: The first emcees I hooked up with were the Rapskallions (Slippa & Zoo Mark). I linked them through Vee-Kay whose studio I was using at the time for a project I was doing. Through them I linked loads more people down in East Kent – Yosh, Humble Pious, J-Soles, Doc Cerberus, Remi etcetra. Also going out and about at shows down there helped me link with people. I managed to get Wordsmith on there ‘cause Vee was mixing the ‘Pursuit of Harmony’ LP at the Sweatbox, and he has Words down there all the time, dude is absolutely sick – that album is gonna be absolute fire when it drops.As for the others – Mudmowth, 777, Beit Nun, Super Dertie, B’tol & Eva – I liked what they did so I did some cyber stalking and asked if they wanted to get involved, and they liked my beats so they said yes.
CB: So the internet’s a useful tool for you. But do you like people stealing your music on the day it’s released? Can you summarise your much debated thoughts on that right here and now?
Mr. Loop: Haha, you’ve obviously seen my rant elsewhere! My thoughts were just that if you like something you should support it. If you want my full thoughts you can find it easy enough by googling!
CB: Yeah I saw all of it! So, what’s the future of music and the internet? I Hope at least CDs never go obsolete, what’s the outlook on physical product in your view?
Mr. Loop: I think they’ll always be a place for CDs (or some similar physical media). Some people like the aesthetics of a physical product, and they make a great promo tool as well. I think having a proper physical product may also increase the amount of value someone puts on something as well. Maybe not, I could be wrong, but I attach more value to something I can actually hold than a stream of data. Maybe I’m just a caveman and need to be dragged into the 21st century!
CB: Nah, I’m totally with you on that one! What shall we all do now that we’ve read this interview with your Hip Hop producin’ self?
Mr. Loop: Er, go buy my album from www.suspect-packages.com – it’s only £6 for the CD… also check out the other artists on Sweatbox Sounds and their projects: Vee-Kay – ‘The Audio Workout’, The Rapskallions – ‘Slicker Than a Bucket of Snot’ (coming soon) and the Yosh EP and Album (also coming soon). Plenty more stuff from myself in the pipeline including a new album which is a kind of collaboration. I’ll let you know more when we’ve finished recording. Apart from that, go out, have fun, enjoy life, and play nice!
Peace
Oh, can I give a shout to big Vee-Kay, The Rapskallions, Yosh, and everyone else I work with.
CB: Yes. Peace.
Mr. Loop: I’m good, nothing to complain about!
CB: First of all tell us, if it’s not obvious, how did you get your name?
Mr. Loop: Well, two reason really – my surname is Lupin, and I’ve always been called Loop as a nickname my whole life, and I make crusty Hip Hop using sample loops…
CB: And now please tell us how you named your album ‘The Bury All’:
Mr. Loop: That’s just another play on words – I’m originally from Canterbury and featured a lot of east Kent artists on the album, and also its kind of ironically arrogant cos I’m kind of a humble dude, haha!
CB: It’s your first album isn’t it, debut as they say. Might we have heard you on anything else previous to this?
Mr. Loop: There are a couple of mixtapes knocking around that I’ve done beats for, there’s a Kojack Brothers mixtape called ‘A Fork & Other Cutlery’. Quite a few people have my beats, but I’m not sure what they’ve done with them to be honest! I did some other stuff before my album that hasn’t actually come out yet, for example I have a beat on the Rapskallions album ‘Slicker Than a Bucket of Snot’, which should be out shortly on the Sweatbox Sounds imprint.
CB: You make the beats on which many MCs spit. Let’s break that down a bit: Why do you make Hip Hop?
Mr. Loop: I’ve always loved Hip Hop since I was a kid, that and funk and soul, and I cant really play any instruments, haha! On the real though I grew up listening to The Pharcyde, Tribe, Gangstarr – all that good American s**t, then got into my uk stuff like Blade, and the UK scene seemed to go from strength to strength with the likes of Low Life Records etc starting up… I just always wanted to either rap or make beats. I tried emceeing – even did it live once, but I don’t really have the right skill set for that… I’d also like to graff, but my painting skills really are s**t!
CB: Are your productions sample based? What do you go for when digging? How often do you find a useable break or loop?
Mr. Loop: I always sample s**t. I love taking something from a different era and flipping it into something completely different that a completely different type of person will feel.
When I’m digging I go for anything that looks interesting. I mean, you got all your classic breaks and stuff, but I like weird s**t as well, like Yodelling records and all that kind of stuff – I’ve got a pretty ‘sample anything’ mentality. I’m of the Lewis Parker school of thought – there’s at least one thing on any record, be it a kick drum, a horn stab, anything that you can sample.
CB: Do you just loop stuff or do you chop it up and switch stuff round? Explain how you dos it:
Mr. Loop: A bit of everything. Sometimes you find something that sounds dope just as a loop and all it needs is a sprinkling of some other melody, a big fat drum pattern and a bass line, but sometimes you need more than that – I loop, I chop, I EQ the s**t out of stuff, whatever sounds good to my ears.
CB: What do you aim for, aside from perfection, when creating the perfect beat?
Mr. Loop: Something that sounds good! Depends really – if it’s a mellow introspective number I want something mellow and introspective to complement the emcee, and if it’s a rowdy jump up joint I want the beat to reflect that and kick you in the balls! I wouldn’t know about creating the perfect beat, don’t think I’ve ever done that, but you just kind of aim for something that sits well sonically. Having said that, Yosh was talking to me the other day about doing a really happy fun beat and getting him to get all Necro on it and chat bout shanking and murking, would be truly jokes!
CB: Which, if there is one, is your favourite track off the album? Which one would you put in a time capsule if there was only digital space for one song?
Mr. Loop: From an emceeing point of view I’d probably say ‘The Middle Path’, I think it’s seriously dope, but from an overall song point of view it would have to be ‘Out on the Razz’ – Lyrics are funny, tune gets people head nodding, it goes down well at live shows, and we had a right laugh recording it in the studio.
CB: Fun is important I think! Which other tune would you put with it? It can be any song in the world ever.
Mr. Loop: That’s a hard question! It would probably have to be ‘If you want me to stay’ by Sly and the Family Stone. Love that tune too much!
CB: MCs: you got loads on your album. How does one go about orchestrating these large manoeuvres?
Mr. Loop: The first emcees I hooked up with were the Rapskallions (Slippa & Zoo Mark). I linked them through Vee-Kay whose studio I was using at the time for a project I was doing. Through them I linked loads more people down in East Kent – Yosh, Humble Pious, J-Soles, Doc Cerberus, Remi etcetra. Also going out and about at shows down there helped me link with people. I managed to get Wordsmith on there ‘cause Vee was mixing the ‘Pursuit of Harmony’ LP at the Sweatbox, and he has Words down there all the time, dude is absolutely sick – that album is gonna be absolute fire when it drops.As for the others – Mudmowth, 777, Beit Nun, Super Dertie, B’tol & Eva – I liked what they did so I did some cyber stalking and asked if they wanted to get involved, and they liked my beats so they said yes.
CB: So the internet’s a useful tool for you. But do you like people stealing your music on the day it’s released? Can you summarise your much debated thoughts on that right here and now?
Mr. Loop: Haha, you’ve obviously seen my rant elsewhere! My thoughts were just that if you like something you should support it. If you want my full thoughts you can find it easy enough by googling!
CB: Yeah I saw all of it! So, what’s the future of music and the internet? I Hope at least CDs never go obsolete, what’s the outlook on physical product in your view?
Mr. Loop: I think they’ll always be a place for CDs (or some similar physical media). Some people like the aesthetics of a physical product, and they make a great promo tool as well. I think having a proper physical product may also increase the amount of value someone puts on something as well. Maybe not, I could be wrong, but I attach more value to something I can actually hold than a stream of data. Maybe I’m just a caveman and need to be dragged into the 21st century!
CB: Nah, I’m totally with you on that one! What shall we all do now that we’ve read this interview with your Hip Hop producin’ self?
Mr. Loop: Er, go buy my album from www.suspect-packages.com – it’s only £6 for the CD… also check out the other artists on Sweatbox Sounds and their projects: Vee-Kay – ‘The Audio Workout’, The Rapskallions – ‘Slicker Than a Bucket of Snot’ (coming soon) and the Yosh EP and Album (also coming soon). Plenty more stuff from myself in the pipeline including a new album which is a kind of collaboration. I’ll let you know more when we’ve finished recording. Apart from that, go out, have fun, enjoy life, and play nice!
Peace
Oh, can I give a shout to big Vee-Kay, The Rapskallions, Yosh, and everyone else I work with.
CB: Yes. Peace.
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