Joining us today for our Artist Interview series is my childhood friend turned amazing brown rapper Vinayak Menon aka Skivinnie.
We talk about music, production, Pharrell Williams, Juicy J, Oscars, Grammy’s, life in quarantine and so much more.
“Pharrell actually had a large influence on me when it came to production. When I started off producing, I really wanted to experiment with his 808 kits, and if anyone knows pharrells production, then they’ll recognize what I mean by his 808 kits, they are legendary, you know, from Nerds, from back in the day, from the 90’s with Jay Z. His 808 kits have been around for a long time. Yeah, Pharrell is up there for me, one of the greatest producers of all time.
That’s amazing to hear. His birthday actually just passed two days ago on April 5th. I wanted to celebrate it on my show just because of how influential he’s been. He’s been nominated for the Oscars, too. For his song, Happy, and also a movie called Hidden Figures. He’s also famous businessman, producer, as you said, and an artist who also managed to not age.”
Now looking at Juicy J’s career in the film industry, with a specific movie that peaked Skivinnie’s interest as he leaves his take on his favorite scene from the movie Hustle & Flow:
“There’s a really good scene, if you guys haven’t actually watched it there’s a really good scene, and I think you, especially Manav will live for it, because it’s like a scene where they’re trying to dismount this rapper. So it’s a story about this kid who’s, like, shit what am I doing with my life? I need to rap and do something. I need to have a career in something, you know, great. Taraji P. Henson is in it, too, and she’s amazing. She plays a singer in it. She’s also amazing. So it’s like there’s a scene where they have to record in their home studio and there’s a fan running and they can’t have the clarity. I don’t know where they’re located, but it’s in the hot part of America, wherever that is, and they have to turn off the fan and they’re just sweating and they record the whole song and it’s really cool.” – Skivinnie
Enjoy this THREE PART podcast series on all streaming platforms.
Who inspires you?
Who is your favorite musician?
Who sits on top of the rap game?
Skivinnie and I also dive into some of our favorite artists in detail explaining what it is about them and what they’ve done, that has impacted us so profoundly. Some artists in the conversation are Kanye, Jay Z, Eminem, Drake. With Drake having a great team behind him, does it take away from what he has achieved?
Read Part 2 of this conversation here.
Don’t forget to comment your Top 5 rappers below for a chance to be featured on @thebrownrappersnetwork Instagram and Facebook profiles!
Creator: @manavion aka Manav Thakker
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