Tone Glow 159: AraabMuzik

An interview with the Rhode Island-based producer about making the 'AGGRO DR1FT' soundtrack, competing in drum-offs as a kid, and the importance of ambition

AraabMuzik

Photo courtesy of the artist

Abraham Orellana aka AraabMuzik (b. 1989) is an American producer whose breakthrough 2011 album Electronic Dream effortlessly married trance and hip-hop beats. Born in Rhode Island, AraabMuzik originally became well known for the live beats he made while finger drumming on his MPC. He soon became affiliated with the Dipset label, serving as one of the main producers on Cam’ron’s 2009 album Crime Pays. He would continue to release music throughout the course of the 2010s, including Instrumental University (2012), For Professional Use Only (2013), and Dream World (2016). Earlier this year, he dropped the soundtrack for Harmony Korine’s bizarro thermal-lens shot AGGRO DR1FT (2023), eschewing his typical style for short ambient soundscapes befitting the movie’s deliriously hypnotic mood. Joshua Minsoo Kim spoke with AraabMuzik on August 22nd, 2024 via Zoom to discuss the people who inspired him and put him on, his earliest experiments with making beats, and working on the AGGRO DR1FT soundtrack.

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Joshua Minsoo Kim: How’s your day been?

AraabMuzik: It’s been cool. I’ve been working on the instrumental version of the AGGRO DR1FT soundtrack. It’s already something that people have been wanting, so they’ll have the soundtrack version but also these instrumentals.

Does that mean the songs are gonna be extended?

I’m basically putting beats to the melodies. I just finished it up so I’m gonna hand it in and see what we can schedule as a release.

Awesome. I wanted to start by asking about your upbringing. I know that you had a musical family—your mother was a singer. What’s the earliest memory you have of playing music? What comes to mind?

I’ve been surrounded by music my whole life—it was just something I was born into. I’m a drummer and I started off doing that, and then I applied my skills to the MPC. I just kept at it for years and years; it’s the only thing I wanted to do. Now it’s something I’m able to do professionally, but I don’t consider it a job because it’s something I love. And now I’m making soundtracks! It’s only getting better, it’s only the beginning. I have so much that I wanna accomplish, and I always wanted to score films, so now I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next.

Do you feel like you always had that mentality as a kid, where if you wanted to do something you went all in?

As a child I wasn’t sure, I was just experimenting. I knew that it was music that I wanted to do, but I had no idea I was gonna be where I am now, especially doing live shows. I was just playing around as a hobby. I was sharpening my skills but also displaying them. I was doing talent shows and beat battles, these local showcases. I was building my name and establishing myself as a professional producer. I knew at that point that I was gonna be recognized in the music industry. I never stopped, I never thought of anything else—I didn’t even have a second thing I could fall back on.

I’m a high school teacher for my main job and it’s funny because I had a student around seven years who always made beats. He produced something for Lil Baby, and I know he was meeting up with Juice WRLD at the time too. He told me, “Mr. Kim, I don’t care about this class anymore.” And I was like, “Yeah, I get it. I just need you to do what you can so you can pass the class. I don’t want you to leave without a high school diploma.”

That’s exactly how I was in high school! I just needed to do what I needed to do so I could graduate. I can relate to that for sure. School was just something I had to get out the way. It was hard to juggle the two: I was traveling back and forth to New York and I was also in these studio sessions, and to do that on top of school… I was failing. I had to take a program to finish up my credits. There were things like that to boost me up so I could finish. I always had music first and school second and my mom was like, “It can’t be that way!” (laughter). A lot of times she was just taking my equipment away—I had no choice but to focus and pass my classes! (laughter).

I had eight periods at the school I was in. You had four classes, and then on another day you’d rotate between them and have a different four. Music was one of my first periods of the day. I was so advanced that I didn’t even have to do anything, I was just there. Even the teacher knew. He was like, “Yeah, he’s just way too advanced, I’m just gonna let him sleep.” (laughter). That was the only subject I aced. I failed gym (laughter). And because that was the other first period I had in the other rotation, I was like, “I’m not doin’ all of that!” You have to get dressed and… just nah. I just took the zero. It was whatever, y’know? School was just… (sighs). It was fun but I had to do what I had to do to graduate. I graduated in ’08.

I got recognized in ’06. I was about a 10th grader at the time. Rhode Island is small, and being from there and getting recognized at that level, it was just automatic that I became the talk of the town. Everything was different back then—there wasn’t social media like that. It was on MySpace and YouTube that people got recognition, and when I uploaded those videos to YouTube, it was something that nobody had seen. It was unique.

Releasing Electronic Dream (2011) took me to the next level. I didn’t think it was gonna be that big but it resonated with people. It was an experiment I did—taking those old-school trance and techno songs and mixing them with rap-style tracks. I released that and it went crazy. I got a booking agent and from there, I was traveling and touring and doing all the big shows. I was getting my name in the festival world, and I was doing both hip-hop and EDM fests. I was overseas when I was 19, 20 years old. I was in Europe!

How did that feel? What do you remember about that time?

It was exhausting because of the time change. It was my first time ever going overseas and I did seven cities back to back. But the experience… that’s what we’re in it for. And I was always in front of large crowds—I was in a college band since I was a kid. I was a drummer for the band.

Like a marching band? What was the music that you guys played?

No, not a marching band. It was an ensemble of people, so it was your typical band songs and we’d play for different events. I did that for a while, and then after that I just wanted to produce music. The drumming phase died out. I started producing when I was 10 or 11 years old. A lot of my friends were producers and they knew how to make beats, so I was just the young kid who was transitioning from playing drums to producing.

I’m trying to get a sense of the timeline. How old were you when you were in the band?

I was 8 or 9. I was playing in churches, stuff like that. But I was also in this college band. And from there, I just made up my mind to switch and get into playing piano and learning melodies and stuff like that. I was self-taught. I didn’t really take classes. I learned how to read music when I was drumming, so I knew how to read and write the rhythms. I did that for a short period of time. I wanted to enhance my skills and, after a while, it was like… I don’t know if I wanna continue doing this. I just didn’t see a career in it—I never got paid for drumming! 

You said you played in churches?

Yeah, I played in all types of churches. I was making the church sound good. I was a kid that just had fresh ideas and I was showing them a little something that they weren’t used to hearing—I was a nontypical drummer.

So you were playing Christian worship music?

Yes! I was born into church. My family is Christian, so of course I was gonna play.

I played drums in my church band growing up, too.

A lot of kids can definitely relate. When they played an instrument, they were involved in the youth band or whatever.

When I think back on it, I always remember how much control you had over the congregation as a drummer. You’re really controlling the atmosphere.

Yeah, you are. You’re the one who’s carrying the band for sure and you’re in control of where everything goes. I definitely enhanced the sound of the songs, man. And I was doing that for a little while and I just wanted to produce my own beats. I was going to Guitar Center nonstop. And at first, I was just going for the drums. I won a couple drum-offs that Guitar Center had. I won two of them back in ’03 or ’04. But later on I went to the piano and keyboard section. They had the Triton keyboards and the big Rolands. There were all these big, expensive pianos that I couldn’t have, and I was able to meet some people who invested in me. They’d seen the potential I had. They knew I was going to be something. I just needed the equipment to elevate the music, y’know? They got me everything in one shot, bro. They got me the whole setup: the MPC, the speakers, the headphones, the keyboard, everything. They were like, “Go take off. If that’s what is gonna take you to the next level, here it is.”

Wait, who bought this for you?

It was my people out in Boston. Shout out to my guys who really looked out for me and saw the vision early. They invested in my talents. These were artist friends who I knew through a cousin-in-law. They heard beats that I was making on the computer. It was simple stuff, but they knew that this kid was good. And to this day I use the same MPC, the 2500. That came out in ’05.

It’s so sick that you had these friends who were willing to support you.

For sure. Things could’ve been different if it wasn’t for them. My parents couldn’t afford all of that! (laughter). The keyboard alone was three grand, never mind the MPC! That’s a big investment, so luckily I knew some people. They saw the vision and believed in me. “Whatever you need, let’s go.”

Earlier you said your mom wanted you to focus on your studies. Did your parents also support you in your musical pursuits?

Definitely. There was never any complaints—I had my room and my drum set up there, and I’d just go crazy. I was like Animal from Sesame Street (laughter). I wasn’t really into video games and sports; I was literally designed to make music. God literally made me to do music. I don’t really do anything else; music is my calling.

So you had these talent shows and drum-offs. Were you not nervous at all as a kid?

I wasn’t. It was something I was hyped to do. Being in front of crowds hyped you up to go hard. If anyone had a big skill that they wanted to showcase, they would love to draw the crowd and wow the people. I came in during a time when talent really mattered. Nowadays, skills don’t even matter (laughter). Being a young kid who was good at drumming and good at performing, it was just something that the people recognized. They knew that I was gonna go somewhere. No way I was gonna be this good and not take it to those levels. And I’m confident, determined, and ambitious. I was also networking, taking trips because I wanted to further my career. You can’t stay still and expect opportunities to come. I was emailing A&Rs and whoever. And now here I am.

Looking back, I’ve been producing for over 20 years. I still have my cassette tapes from 2001 (laughter). A lot of people don’t have their old work from when they first started, but I still have them. I got my beats from keyboards—I didn’t use a computer! I had a keyboard connected to a cassette recorder, so when I played stuff, I’d press record and then press stop and go on to the next one. I was making beat tapes like how people were doing mixtapes. And then I got into software. I never used FruityLoops; I was using some old program that was literally for drums, it was called Drum Station DT and there were eight channels. I learned how to load samples, and the way I was manipulating stuff at the time was crazy.

You have these early tapes from when you were really young. Were there specific drummers and producers you were inspired by at the start?

Of course! Every producer has people they look up to. At the time I was listening to a lot of Dr. Dre, Alchemist, Swizz Beatz, 9th Wonder, DJ Premier. The first album I ever bought was the Jay-Z Hard Knock Life (1998) album. Then there was the The Marshall Mathers LP (2000). Then there was Dr. Dre’s 2001 (1999). I was listening to a lot of Mobb Deep and Wu-Tang. All the classics. I was studying the records and wanted to be that good. It was like, “Damn! This production!” And now I’m really close friends with the people I looked up to! I’m producing records with Swizz and all these people. I’m going to their houses and studios. It’s surreal bro. I was a kid looking up to these people and now we all look up to each other! That’s crazy! That’s why it’s important to get yourself out there. If it wasn’t for me being ambitious, I wouldn’t be here right now.

What was it like working with Cam’ron on his Crime Pays (2009) album? What do you remember about that?

I first met him in ’07. Right after I graduated I went straight to Jersey, where he was living. I went out there for two years and he was working on the album. I was in the studio room in the house and going through a bunch of beats. The first big song with him was “Get It in Ohio.” That was the one that set off, man. Of course I had other records on there. Those years, I was making ten to fifteen tracks a day. I was just going nonstop, one beat after another. I released Electronic Dream after that and was working with all these other artists too.

My thing was always going to the studio with my MPC and wowing them. I was that kid who was impressin’ the people who didn’t know or see that stuff. And that’s how I established the relationship with the artist. I kept going at it that way. That was just my little formula. I was never the person who wanted to email tracks; I wanted to be in the room and play for the artists. It’s just a better way of going about working with them, knowing what they really want.

This is just like the talent shows and drum-offs.

Exactly. And now years later, I’m still dealing with everyone direct, and they know I’m that secret weapon. “Pull up! I need you!” It’s like they put out the Bat-Signal (laughter). I did everything hands-on, and that’s very important. You wanna be involved. And of course if I’m not able to, I’ll send them the tracks.

On the Cam’ron album you’ve got “Spend the Night,” which has the sample of Kay Cee’s “Escape.”

I can say that he was the first person to rap over the trance stuff I was doing. At that time, I was already doing all those beats and he was the first one to really get on that and have a likin’ to ’em. It’s ’cause techno music was weirdo music to people. Even right now, if you’re listening to rock or country, it’s like nah, what is this? But if someone was to take something and make it cool, we’ll like it. So that was a genre of music that people thought was weird. Like, “Ew, you like techno?” So I did that, made it sound cool and likable, and it was different. I was just whipping up a lot of music like that.

I know that you were also on the Dipset Trance Party mixtape. You had “South Beach,” which sampled Alice Deejay’s “Better Off Alone.” There’s also the “Spend the Night” instrumental and “Go 2 Hell.” Do you remember anything about that mixtape?

Nah, I didn’t even know about it. These were just fans who put these things together. There were people who wanted to be like me, and when you’re new to that, it’s like… there’s all these biters. But this was flattery. Something I had to learn at the time was that I had to accept it—it’s a good thing. People bootlegging my sound and trying to mimic what I was doing, I wasn’t so accepting of it. But now it’s like, okay well I started the whole finger drumming thing! I’m the OG! I was born in ’89.

A lot of the new kids from this new generation won’t know who I am, and there are other finger drummers doing their thing, and people will think they’re the ones who created that. Nah, bro (laughter). Those finger drummers know they got that from me. They studied me and they kept at it and now they’re doing their own thing. I’m the real sensei. Shit, I’m the Miyagi of this. This is something I can say I started—who’s performing all over the world with an MPC, you know what I’m sayin’?

I’ve been doing talent shows and pep rallies and beat battles. I was the only person in a beat battle with the MPC doing the beats live! Everyone had their CDs with their beats on ’em, like alright, the first person plays their beat, the second person comes on, and then I’m the only one on there with an MPC doing it live. So what do you think was gonna happen? I won every round! I was the cheat code! Fast forward to today and now I’m the face of the MPC. I made it become an instrument people really want to use. And obviously a lot of people have it because of me. People tell me all the time that they bought it or started producing because of me.

I’m not gonna finger drum myself to death—I’ve been doing it my whole life—so now it’s about the product. I need to make music. I did the Boiler Room for AGGRO DR1FT, and that was my first real performance in a while because I’ve been focusing on making music. I was starting off producing at the time, but once I started touring, I was touring for five or six years straight. I neglected the production of albums. I had to release music in order to get booked, and I didn’t have product out. I was basically DJing and playing other people’s music. Other DJs were playing stuff they made; I had it the other way around. I had to focus on releasing my own projects.

One of my biggest moments was when I was performing on Jimmy Fallon with Alicia Keys, Kendrick Lamar, and Hans Zimmer. That was one of the craziest, most insane things I’d done. The fact that Hans Zimmer knew who I was without me even telling him… for him to walk up to me and say, “I love what you do on that machine.” Yooo. That’s Hans Zimmer! You wouldn’t expect people like that to know someone like me. That was the ultimate confirmation, like, “I’m doin’ somethin’ over here. I got people like Hans Zimmer watchin’ me!”

This is a bit random but obviously you’ve worked with a lot of big rappers, but there was a song from 2012 called “Riding Out” by YH. Do you remember that at all?

I don’t remember that. Damn.

Or maybe they just took your beat?

That too! In that era people were just takin’ my beats. Mmhmm. That was probably the case.

I wanna ask about the AGGRO DR1FT soundtrack. How did you get in contact with Harmony Korine and EDGLRD?

That came about through an email. My manager was like, “We got an email. Harmony Korine says he’s a fan of your music and loves Electronic Dream. He wants to see if you could score a big project he has.” That’s basically how it came about. I jumped on a FaceTime call to chop it up with him. We got started on that right away. There was nothing really to it, he was like, “Just do you!” (laughter).

Everything I submitted, they loved. I was texting him little clips of what I was working on to see what he thought—everything was a homerun. He always said, “Yup, love it, keep sending!” I didn’t even know this was gonna be released as a soundtrack. They thought it was so good that they decided to release it. The film is already crazy, but the music really elevated it. And now I’m putting the beats to the soundtrack. I’m gonna give them a version that has my interpretation of the stuff I did. Imagine how crazy it’s gonna go.

The movie itself gives off a video game vibe at times.

And I believe they wanna make a video game too. This AGGRO DR1FT is gonna turn into a bunch of things.

You said you didn’t play video games growing up so I wanted to ask—

Well, I did: Street Figher, Mortal Kombat, Need for Speed. But I wasn’t a hardcore video game kid, y’know what i’m sayin’? I wasn’t into Sega but I was into all the classic Super Nintendo games. I believe the Super Nintendo was my first console. But we can’t forget the N64. A lot of kids these days have no idea what we’re talking about (laughter). There’s only like two games that kids are playing now! It’s Fortnite and Call of Duty. Everyone’s just waiting for Grand Theft Auto to come out, but that’s not til next year.

I love how the soundtrack for AGGRO DR1FT has you dipping your toes into different genres. Obviously “Wild West Bill” has you aiming for a Western vibe, then you have the tracks with the choir, and then there’s “Medieval.”

Right, “Medieval” is like the main theme of the film. When I made it, I didn’t even think it was gonna be that, but they told me it was gonna be the theme. This is still a thing that people are getting hip too, it’s a secret thing. They’re wondering where to watch it. Obviously if you’re a big fan of Harmony you’ll know, but the average person won’t know where to find it. If they know me they’ll find it, and it’s cool for people to see that I’m stepping into a new space. It’s keeping my name out there for people who don’t think I’m doing anything.

Do you have any favorites on the soundtrack? I love “The Beloved.” Was there anything that you felt was really important for you in terms of branching out in sound?

I was just making stuff (laughter). “Medieval” is definitely one of them. “17th Symphony” is another. I love piano tracks a lot. “Battle Ready” goes crazy. And “Just the Beginning.” I’m gonna release a 10-track album, it’ll be a “Part 1.” And then I’ll maybe do a “Part 2.” A lot of people were complaining about how short the tracks were but, the thing is… for them it’s always gonna be something (laughter). I’m gonna start teasing my socials with the audio clips of the tracks so they know something’s on the way.

You mentioned how you love the piano, and I know you played it growing up. Both it and the drums require using your whole body, and I like that you mentioned the importance of playing the MPC live. It sounds like you need to have these tactile and real-time aspects to making music. What’s it like for you to then be making music on a computer? Does it feel different?

I came up with playing instruments so that’s really all I know. I can’t relate to producing music on a computer. I was doing it a bit but as soon as the MPC came out, I done tossed that program (laughter). It was all hands-on; it’s just a better way for me to produce. It’s all a preference thing. You can still make good music either way, it’s just that for me I prefer being hands-on and playing keys and doing everything live. My setup is very simple, too. I don’t have a ton of equipment.

How was it playing at the strip club in LA for the AGGRO DR1FT screening?

It was fire, it was crazy. The LED screens were all over the place, on the ceilings… you know there was a budget in there! The sound system was incredible. I had never done anything like that, and it was very intimate. The show in Brooklyn, that one was crazy too.

Was there anything we didn’t talk about today that you wanted to talk about?

I think we covered a lot of the good things. I have a lot of my merch getting done, so look out for the website. Look out for dates. Look out for the AGGRO DR1FT instrumentals project. I’m more of a fourth quarter producer—everything I’m on comes out in the fall or winter. This is like the only project that came out in the summer. If it wasn’t for the summer, I wouldn’t have had anything out in the summer (laughter).

There’s a question I end all my interviews with and I wanted to ask it to you. Do you mind sharing one thing you love about yourself?

I’m passionate about everything, and you gotta love what you do. It can’t be something that you have to do. A lot of people get discouraged because the things they do ain’t working out for them, and they try to work something else out so they can pay the bills—we’re living in a time where it’s tough. We’re all going through everything together. You gotta turn everything into something you wanna do. You have to be about yourself that way. Even getting dressed, I’m passionate about that! (laughter).

I’ve never been an insecure person or someone who gets scared. I’ve always been 100% on something, I’ve never been 50%. There are a lot of people who are holding back because they’re afraid of rejection. Everything is “likes” now, how many views you’re gonna get. I’ve been caught up on that too, but at the end of the day, there’s fans for everything and you can’t please everybody. “I only got one like! I’m deleting Instagram!” Nah, you good bro. Just keep going, that’s all. My career wasn’t overnight.

Where do you live right now?

I’m still in Rhode Island, but I’m back and forth a lot to New York and Jersey. It’s not that far of a drive, like three hours tops. And that’s cool, it’s doable. A lot of people don’t have that. LA? I gotta fly five or six hours? Damn. I have my studio spot right here. For a musician, the environment is important. I feel like I do my best work at home. I have everything here—I can lock in.

I remember when Electronic Dream came out, you did interviews where you said you were gonna have a follow-up. You were calling it Electronic Reality.

I was probably just thinking of names (laughter). But I’m glad you brought that up. The whole world is waiting on Electronic Dream 2. Everyone just wants it to be out. If it were that easy, if that were the case, hundreds of albums would be out. GTA6 would be out, but things have to take their time. Sneakers sit in the factory for months and they have a release date! They’re not gonna just drop because people want them!

This is gonna be one of my biggest solo projects because it’s the follow-up. Everything else after that was bootlegs and no official nothing. This is Part 2, so I gotta do it right. I’ve gotta have the right PR, the right label, the right everything. And all that takes a while to do. For example: settlement checks. You think that comes overnight? Nah, those take a long time to hit. I’m not saying it’s gonna take years, but things gotta get done. What I’m gonna do is maybe release a single or two from the project so that the people have something. This is just the beginning of the big rollout. It feels good to be back.

AraabMuzik’s soundtrack for Harmony Korine’s AGGRO DR1FT is out now. You can watch AGGRO DR1FT online at the EDGLRD website.

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Thank you for reading the 159th issue of Tone Glow. You are now listening to AraabMuzik.

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