Producer Spotlight: Small Professor

It’s been a minute since we’ve done a showcase on an up and coming producer. And since Small Pro recently dropped two great remix albums, I thought it would be a good idea to fill you all in on the man behind the beats. I’ve personally been a fan of the Small Professor since I heard his American Gangster remix album, Crooklyn Gangster. So I got my man Beads to sit down and chat it up with Pro. Here’s what went down… and if you’re just now hearing of SP, we got links to all his work at the end of the interview!

Beads: Before we start with the interview, do you mind introducing yourself to us, for those who aren’t familiar with you or your production?

Small Pro: My name is Small Professor, Small Pro for short, Pro for shorter, and if you want to get atom-sized like the Fantastic Four, you can call me SP….like the legendary SP1200, get it? Cuz, I’m like, old-school. Okay, scratch that. Anyways, I am a maker of hip-hop music, the music you hear when somebody’s rapping. Producer, beat-maker, arranger. I be that. Keeper Of That Ol Boom Bap, even.

Beads: Alright SP, for those who are unaware, you come from a very musical background. Can you let us know a little bit about that, so people see that this musical gift isn’t a fluke?

Small Pro: Well, first of all, I want to mention my aunt Eileen, Eileen Folson, God bless her soul…she passed away 2 years ago as of February, but she was part of a string quartet called the Uptown String Quartet…she played the cello. I have an aunt that sang backup for Stevie Wonder, also. My mother’s a music teacher, my father was in bands growing up, and my little brother is a jazz drummer here in Philly, and all of them get busy on multiple instruments. And it goes farther on both sides of my fam.

Beads: So it goes without saying, music runs in your family! Last fall you released, Slowbus, and I can imagine you are garnering a lot of interest from that album but I know you said you were involved with a few projects prior to that. Can you tell us about those, for the people who may want to check those out?

Small Pro: Slowbus was originally meant to be nothing but a free download. I slid a copy to my music business teacher at my college (Paul J. Geissinger, also known as Starkey, one of the leading figures in the streetbass/grime scene) and he was like, dude, I need to put this out on my label (Seclusiasis). And so it was.

Beads: Speaking of Slowbus, I had the pleasure of reviewing that album for Kevin [read review], can you explain the process behind this project? What was your vision for this one and what equipment did you use while producing this one, if you don’t mind me asking.

Small Pro: Slowbus is half rejected rapper beats, and half experimental, what I like to call, “Post-Dilla” hip-hop, but different than the more popular kind of “Post-Dilla” music, also known as ‘wonky’ (Flying Lotus, Samiyam). Dilla did more on Donuts than sloppy chops; there were a couple of reoccurring themes on the album, but the one I latched onto was time. He slowed it down, sped it up, changed the time signatures of samples; the latter is what I focused most on, and Slowbus contains some of my first excursions into this concept – taking hip-hop out of its comfortable, familiar 4/4 time-signature. I like it when somebody says “Yo, man, this beat is dope, but I can’t figure out how to bob my head to it.”

Beads: What has the response been like so far? I can honestly admit that before I reviewed the album, I hadn’t heard of you but I’m now a fan.

Small Pro: I’m pretty sure my sales numbers look bleak, but all I really cared about when it came to Slowbus was the respect of my peers. I wanted the guys I feel like I am in competition with to listen and be like “Yo, SP is on some other stuff”, and I got that. So I’m happy with it. I’d have liked for it to reach a wider audience, but I’m starting not to care anymore. I like new music. I like listening to it, and I like making it. This doesn’t leave too much time to focus on what I put out last year. I want you to hear what I’m working on now.

Beads: Which leads to my next question… what can we expect next from Small Professor?

Small Pro: I’ve been talking this album up so much that I suppose I should finish it. It’s called Hancock, and it’s based on the music of Herbie Hancock. It also delves a lot deeper into the concepts and ideas I started on Slowbus. I think you guys will hate it now, and if you revisit it in a couple years, you’ll love it, like Electric Circus. Also, I am doing some music with some rapper named Has-Lo; that, you guys will like. Sounds like some 90’s shit with that Small Pro twist. Hopefully my hard drive doesn’t crash before we finish…I dropped it this morning and had a heart attack. It was a mild one, tho.

Beads: [laughs] Be careful with them hard drives! Let’s take it back for a minute. I recall hearing that you actually started off rapping and then made the transition to producing. What was the cause for that?

Small Pro: The cause was my voice sucking. My writing was off the chain, I was doing multiple internal rhymes and triple entendre like Lupe on the advance for Food And Liquor, but my voice sucked. So I said eff it.

Beads: I feel you.. you wouldn’t want to hear me rap either. Who inspires you in music? Do your influence range between genre’s or are you mainly influenced by hip-hop and R&B?

Small Pro: No R&B over here, holmes. Strictly raw hip-hop, and its components….jazz (especially when it comes to the weird time signature stuff, Dave Brubeck), soul music, some rock (the progressive stuff). That sort of thing.

Beads: Well we appreciate you taking the time to sit down with us. Are there any shout outs or info you’d like to leave us with?

Small Pro: I want to shout out Kevin Nottingham, first of all, because anytime I need to promote some stuff, it’s up in a couple hours. Trav from Wake Your Daughter up, same thing. Matter of fact, any bloggers that support me, or any sites that have featured my music, I wouldn’t be where I am without you…much love. And most importantly, anybody who actually knows who I am and likes what I’m doing, thank you. I do this for you. Peace.

• Small Pro on MySpace

Check out Small Pro’s work:

• Large Pro’s Main Source [Breaking Atoms Edition]
• Resurrected The Remix
• Slowbus
• Has-Lo: Fuck Has Day (Remixed But Still Fucked)
• Crooklyn Gangster
• Homie, I Remixed The Classics!

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