Hard. Hir-O prepared a mix for MTVHive with his beats and some of his inspirations. His joints stack up nicely.
Creating this mix was an enlightening experience insofar as, when attempting to best capture my voice as an artist, only my most personal inspirations came to light. I was a sci-fi, anime, gaming buff as a child, before I was seriously into music. So when I stumbled upon the anime “Samurai Champloo” in HS, it should be no surprise that the soulful tones of the late Jun Seba, (Nujabes) caught my ear, and inspired me to take music seriously. In college, I finally put a name to that one producer whose soulful chops, syncopated drums, and subtle baselines had caught my ear growing up. His name was Jay Dee, J-Dilla, and he was from my hometown, Detroit. Unfortunately, he had just died a few years before I would come to know him through his music. That sound, that Detroit sound, that organic sense of timing and rhythm, that eclectic taste for finely aged strings and brass, that feeling is at the root of my sound. It’s Detroit’s sound. And Detroit wept for Dilla, paying homage to his legacy through keeping the sound that he pioneered alive. Although, it is my personal opinion that as a truly complete artist, Dilla worked through many phases. Furthermore, if he were alive today I believe he would have pushed that sound to the next phase. To my ears, Flying Lotus has done this, and thusly has become one of my biggest inspirations to date. Thank you to all of these artists for sharing your creativity with me. — Hir-O
Tracklist:
01. Hir-O – “S.T.A.R. Bluebird”
02. Flying Lotus – “Getting There”
03. Hir-O – “Lee Jun Fan”
04. Flying Lotus – “Putty Boy Strut”
05. Hir-O – “Pi’s Whale”
06. Hir-O – “Champloo”
07. Daft Punk – “Aerodynamic (Slum Village Remix)”
08. Hir-O – ”Son of Sun Ra”
09. Jay Dee – “Cash Flow” (feat. Frank)
10. Hir-O – “Battousai The Manslayer”
11. Hir-O – “The North End”
12. Nujabes – “How You Feel”
13. Jay Dee – “Dreamy”
14. Hir-O – “Monday”
15. Nujabes – “Next View”
16. Flying Lotus – “Massage Situation”
17. Hir-O – “Voltron’s Heartbeat”
18. Clark – “Herzog”
19. Doss The Artist – “New Gundam”
20. Clark – “Future Daniel”
21. Hir-O – “Billy Clubs & Baking Soda”
22. Red Pill and Hir-O – “Waiting On A Train”
23. Hir-O – “Blackstar”
24. Hir-O – “Prad Bitts”
25. Hir-O – “Mega Planisher”
