The Hood Internet

As The Hood Internet, Chicago DJs STV SLV (Steve Reidell) and ABX (Aaron Brink) dismantle and reconstruct indie songs and combine them with rap tracks to create fully formed and wholly inventive mash-ups for free download on their blog. In nine months since the site’s debut, the duo has engineered over 100 nuggets of musical irreverence (like a mash-up of R. Kelly and Broken Social Scene), released two best-of mix-tapes, gone “Internet platinum” by recording more than a million downloads, remixed new music with Northern California’s hip-hop outfit The Pack and played Metromix’s New York CMJ Showcase with Flosstradamus. Shortly after posting its new mix-tape, The Hood Internet spoke with The A.V. Club about the success of the mash-up, A.C Newman’s feedback, and what this experience has taught them about music. (Hint: not much.)

The A.V. Club: The Hood Internet was a character in a Cam’ron movie, right?
Steve Reidell: Yeah. It was the name of a character in Killa Season.  It’s a funny story how we got the website though: We were in New York and, well, we were pretty high when we thought of the name. We bought the domain before we figured out what to do with the site.
AVC: Is there a reason you haven’t been sued yet?
SR: [Laughs.] I don’t think anyone cares. The Internet’s just gotten so big. And since we’re not stealing anything and not selling the music, I don’t think anyone in the business cares to pay attention to us.
Aaron Brink: I think more than anything we’re promoting other people’s music. It’s not like we’re ripping something off of someone’s new record and trying to sell it as our own.
AVC: When you find a song you like, what’s your attack plan?
SR: I usually start by trying to find an a cappella section of a rap song that I really like. Then I find a tempo line from an indie song that I feel will really work in the context of the other track and try to connect the bridge and bend the pitches to match the two songs up.
AB: I start in my iTunes where I have a folder of songs that all have parts I think I can work with. I find a cappellas from rap songs and try to find the similar tempo in a pop song, but sometimes I have to add drums and other changes to even it out or match the songs up just right.
AVC: Some say your mash-ups make the original songs un-listenable. Are you ruining normal music?
AB: If we’re ruining a crappy song by making a mash-up, then I’m fine with that.
SR: It would be awesome if someone said we’re ruining music. I mean, I don’t think we’re ruining music, but we’re not moving forward with art. I mean, are we necessary? I don’t know. This was just an idea we were talking about.
AVC: What’s the motivation behind the mash-up?
AB: I like hip-hop. I like indie rock. And I’m all for people getting into both forms. But most people pick a genre of music and stick with it, so we’re not into getting people to switch what they like. I just want people to stay up on current music, to stay aware of what’s being released and what’s out there. If someone’s in a club and Soulja Boy comes on, even though they may not listen to it, I want them to know about it. I hope we can help people know more about music.
AVC: If you were R. Kelly or A.C. Newman and a couple of guys were mashing up your music, what would you think of The Hood Internet?
SR: Wait a minute, if I was R. Kelly? Let’s stop right there. No, it depends on how it was mixed. I think I’d see it as pretty funny. Metromix actually interviewed Carl Newman and they asked him about the “My Rights Versus Yours” mash-up and he said it was pretty flattering. I think if I was Carl Newman, I’d just think, “What the fuck is this?”
AVC: Do you feel your success is vindicated? People are obviously paying attention.
SR: I think it’s pretty hilarious. We never envisioned having any sort of fan base—if you could even say we have a fan base. I think the best way to look at it is, “Our number of MySpace friends is pretty average.” But something like 3,000 people come to the site every day, so that’s pretty cool.
AB: I’m definitely into people coming to the site and getting into this. If I wasn’t one of us, I’d listen to this stuff. Or, maybe, I’d listen to it and like it, but I wouldn’t tell my friends that I listened to it.
AVC: So do you see The Hood Internet as a guilty pleasure?
AB: The guilty-pleasure factor is definitely there, but I think enough of the music is mainstream enough that it could never fully be a guilty pleasure.
AVC: What have you learned about music by doing this?
SR: The most amazing thing I’ve noticed so far is how it seems like the tracks we use fit so easily together. There are a lot of similarities out there between rap and indie music’s harmonies. In breaking down the songs and remixing them, I’ve found that the structures from one song to the next are fundamentally similar.
AB: I haven’t really learned anything.
AVC: What kind of projects do you want to do in the future?
AB: I’d like to do more mix-tapes. If we could do more compilations like we did with The Pack, that’d be great.
SR: Blitzen Trapper actually just contacted us about maybe working together. Rosebud also, who I really like, they contacted us about playing around with some of their stuff. It’d be pretty cool to work with artists we really like. I’m actually starting to work with music exclusively from Chicago rappers right now for a new mix-tape. Mostly, I want to keep doing these mash-ups until they get old, which may be relatively soon.