90’s boombap feels and laid back lyricism? Check. Mister Litty grew up in the Macedone Ranges and recently moving to the Kingsville area. With the vast distraction-free emptiness of the country-side helping to develop his music, he’s now in the thick of Burn city. Self described as a sometimes beatmaker rapper, sometimes rapper who makes beats, when Mister Litty lets his Mind Wander it’s sure to be cool.
What’s your Hip Hop background so far?
Hip Hop was something I was into when I was quite young, though it never really demanded my attention until later on. I started messing around with rhyming when I was about 17, so I decided to make some beats to rap over. It wasn’t until a year or two later, I was introduced to an MPC 2500. I’d never been able to make beats so organically before. There’s something about hitting pads and chopping samples that just soothes the soul!
I released my debut self-produced EP Mind Wander in August 2015. Since then I have been lucky enough to not only play shows in my hometown, but I was brought over to Perth to play some shows and a beat-battle.
What are your influences?
In terms of beatmaking, I’m definitely inspired by cats like Lord Finesse and People Under The Stairs. Lyrically I just like to get whatever is on my mind out – but I hear rap as a rhythmic instrument. I like to play around with words that sound good bouncing off one-another. This is definitely something I’ve been doing lately more than ever. Rhymers like Das Efx play a role in that, though I like to stick to riggidy real words most of the tiggidy time.
Tell us about your EP and what else you’ve got happening.
I’ve always got something on the go – or in the horizon. My latest complete project is my EP Mind Wander. It’s a collection of tunes I’ve made over the past few years. It’s 8 tracks filled with jazzy riffs, boom-bap drums and expressive lyrics.
Lately I’ve been working on a UK Rapper, RomZee‘s debut release. He features in one of the tracks on my EP. After his is out we’re teeing up a split. I’m also currently working on some film clips for a few tracks off Mind Wander. And I’m planning to release a beat-tape next. Busy busy busy!
How did you link with RomZee?
The project I’m doing with RomZee started when I met him during his travels in Melbourne. He liked my beats and I liked his rhymes. I produced and recorded his tunes. Now he’s in New Zealand so it’s put a bit of a halt to the momentum, but we got plans!
What’s your process for making music?
I make my own beats, but music is always on my mind. I’ll always be listening out for samples or thinking of concepts for tunes. I have so many two-four-eight bar raps in my phone that I’ve never used. I also work in music so it’s lucky I enjoy it so much. I think because I work across a variety of genres, Hip Hop is always something for me to “come home to”. Though I never tire of working on Hip Hop stuff.
And more specifically what’s the break down for your beat making?
I do. I start out pretty organic. Turntable hooked up to my MPC. I’ll sip on a coffee while I go through random records until I hear something I like. Record it into the MPC and splice it up as desired. Sometimes I’ll lay down some drums and work the samples around it – other times I’ll go straight to the samples and build the drums after. Once I’m happy with that I record it into my DAW (used to be Pro Tools – now I run Logic) and clean it up a little bit. Then I’ll record the bass over the top.
Thanks for the chat mate!
You can check out Mister Litty’s Mind Wander EP over at Bandcamp and follow the homie over on Facebook.