G Funk crowned Dr. Dre. Crunk made a household name out of Lil’ Jon. The hardcore Hip-Hop movement resurrected DJ Premier.
Whenever a subgenre blows up, there’s usually one producer that gets pointed to the most. While Rick Rock and Lil’ Jon are responsible in helping the Hyphy sound get recognized, the Bay Area native bidding for his own recognition is San Jose’s Traxamillion. Since producing the underground smash “Super Hyphy” for Keak Da Sneak, Trax has lined up work with Too Short, Hoodstarz, and Mistah F.A.B., all searching for that sonic boom.
Those that associate Hyphy’s newness with inexperience may be surprised to check Trax’ resume. The beat-maker began as a rapper sharing mics with Aceyalone’s Project Blowed as well as the “Pistol Grip Pump”-slanger himself, Volume 10. Great artists can easily reinvent themselves, so see what Traxamillion is up to in his super-hyphy smash.
AllHipHop.com: So what’s goin’ on with you?
Traxamillion: Just trying to take over the world one day at a time, trying to stay in the public’s eye, get people familiar with Traxamillion.
AllHipHop.com: Your introduction to the mainstream has been through Keak Da Sneak’s “Super Hyphy.” I heard it out here on KDAY in L.A. tonight…
Traxamillion: Really? Yeah, they play that song nationally; it’s being played on MTV.
AllHipHop.com: How did you get that beat over to Keak Da Sneak?
Traxamillion: A guy by the name of Al Kizzle owns Rah Records. That was one of the beats I sold him. I went to a local mom-and-pop store out here called Rasputin, and I went and bought the CD Dope Game 2, and looked at it. [On] it was a song called “What You Want” and it was my beat, I was like, “Hell yeah.” I flipped over the CD, looked up the contact information, called them and they called me back in like 15 minutes, like “Yo, where you been?” I went over there couple of days afterwards to meet with Al, he said, “We signed Keak, and are working on his album.” I asked if the album was done yet, and he said no. I was like, “Put me on,” he asked, “What you got?” I had my beat CD on me and he liked it. He took one of my beats. We did a few more songs after that. About a month passes, and I came up with this beat and drove to Keak’s show in Santa Cruz. I gave him a CD and told him listen to track number three. He checked it out and loved it. Next thing I know I got a call.
AllHipHop.com: So it was like an overnight thing with that thing.
Traxamillion: Well, actually, I’ve been on the radio before as a rapper.
AllHipHop.com: Really? Go back to when you first started with Hip-Hop in the ‘90s…
Traxamillion: I f**ked with a lot of underground on the L.A. scene: the Aceyalones, the Abstract Rudes, Volume 10. I was in a group called Lackadaisical, our whole gimmick was on some lazy, laid-back s**t. We was doing shows, in magazines. I was young, I was in high school. Then I kind of fell off, did some other stuff. After a while, the underground sound … I f**ked with it … as far for me, the whole underground scene was just getting tired, so I just wanted to do something different. I wanted to get on the radio, to get on TV.
AllHipHop.com: Were people surprised when you resurfaced as a Hyphy producer?
Traxamillion: Really, that’s the funny thing, people just call my s**t Hyphy, but I’ve been doing beats like this for years. I think the artists being called “Hyphy” artists, when they get over my [beats], they get that “Hyphy” element. The song “Super Hyphy” is getting so big, Traxamillion is becoming synonymous with Hyphy.
AllHipHop.com: That explains a lot. You’re getting discovered all over again. What goes into making the sound?
Traxamillion: I use a Triton Studio LE. I use a few other instruments, but I can do everything I need to do on Triton LE. I like to keep everything upbeat, keep it all in the club. I like to pay attention to the youngsters. Those are the cats that shakin’ the dreads, jumping on top of the lows. The way “Super Hyphy” beat came about, my little cousins came through and were doing what they do, I was just inspired by that. I always try to keep that in the music.
AllHipHop.com: What’s the hip-hop scene in your hometown of San Jose like, is it different from other parts of the Bay?
Traxamillion: Everybody in the Bay is working together. We’ve all been out here doing our music. Now the magnifying glass is on us. My whole angle is the only way we are going to get up out of this is if we stay together. That’s why I got so many artists on the Slapp Addict [album].
AllHipHop.com: I have already heard a bold comparison to The Chronic. Can you explain that?
Traxamillion: The Chronic 2001 was a classic album. All the artists came together with Dre and he just kicked back and played the engineering boards, jumped in here and there on verses. It was the talent around him, and that’s how I do it. All the Bay area’s finest came through and laced your boy. It’s a big project for cats outside the Bay that don’t know about the Bay. If they want to know about the Hyphy movement, then this is the project to get. Cats wanted to know about the West Coast, that was The Chronic. You want to know about the Bay, then this is it.
AllHipHop.com: Are lyrics all that important in Hyphy?
Traxamillion: From what I noticed, it’s a love of Bay love, we talking about what we do. Just like Atlanta, with the whole Crunk sound, they reiterate and reinforce it every time with the “snap with it” and the “rock with it.” We talk about how we goin’ dumb, shakin’ the dreads … we reiterate it, reinject it, reinvent it. The big part of the movement is the dancing.
AllHipHop.com: How different is it working with Too Short and San Quinn and newcomers like Hoodstarz and the Team?
Traxamillion: Too Short is a vet. He comes through and he is a natural. Hoodstarz and Mistah F.A.B. come through and F.A.B. writes a song in damn near 15 minutes. The Hoodstarz bounce off each other, they vibe with each other a lot. Everybody comes in, everybody’s pretty diligent about getting the work done.
AllHipHop.com: Don’t you also have your own studio and it’s open for business?
Traxamillion: Yeah, Official Entertainment. You can go to www.myspace.com/officialentertainment. It’s like a damn reality show in there, you drop in there and you never know who’s going to be in there.
AllHipHop.com: I saw a clip of your appearance on a local TV station, in the studio sitting across a woman in her fifties asking you about Hyphy…
Traxamillion: I was neverous as hell too. You can watch it on YouTube, I almost knocked the table over. I am just happy that people like my music.
