Interview With The Hood Internet

Story by Jacob Fricke 

| Published Feb 23, 2010

Underground hip-hop phenomenon The Hood Internet returns to Lincoln on February 27th, playing the Bourbon Theatre. Their unique style of music promises to melt even the most jaded and frozen soul just in time for Spring.

Hailing from Chicago, the Hood Internet is composed of Steve Reidell and Aaron Brink, known by their stage names of STV SLV and ABX, respectively.

The group writes no original music of their own, yet are highly respected in several music circles for their signature musical “mash-ups.” The group mixes together two or more songs to create a unique new sound. Traditionally, the group mixes hip-hop with indie rock.

Formed in 2007, the group is considered to be at the forefront of the recently revived genre, which had previously followed the success and failure of peer-to-peer music site Napster.

Since formation, the Hood Internet has released over one hundred mash-ups, and each is available for free on their website.

The members of the Hood Internet were kind enough to answer a few questions for the Dailyer Nebraskan between their rigorous touring schedule.

Dailyer Nebraskan: Who is in the Hood Internet, and what kind of music do you play?

STV SLV: The Hood Internet is me (STV SLV, pronounced STV SLV) and ABX (pronounced like three letters). We produce mashups and remixes.

DerN: Have you ever had any problems with licensing? Do you need to obtain permission for the songs you use in your mashups?

STV SLV: We haven't really "released" any of the tracks we've made to be available for purchase, so we haven't really run into any problems with licensing. The Real Internet is flooded with many things of this nature that were likely done without the appropriate permissions.

DerN: How have the original artists reacted to your mashups?

ABX: It's all been pretty positive when we hear from artists we've mashed up. Sometimes it surprises me when someone has listened to one of our tracks really closely. We ran into Kevin Drew from Broken Social Scene and he was asking us about a flute sound that I had added in this one part of a mashup of one of his songs, and at the time I thought he had imagined it. When I went back and listened, it turned out he was right and I had forgotten I added that part, and still have no idea where it came from.

DerN: What is the process of constructing a mashup?

ABX: Find two songs you think would sound good mixed together. Find an "acapella" version that just has the vocals for one song and isolate instrumental parts of the other song. Mix them together and hopefully you have something that sounds good. If not, try some other songs.

DerN: What do you live shows consist of?

STV SLV: When we do Hood live sets, they function like DJ sets: the DJ plays tracks, the people get down. We travel with a video artist from time to time to further augment The Hood Internet Experience (that's a proper noun).

DerN: Do you enjoy playing in Nebraska? How is it different?

STV SLV: We've only played here once (in Lincoln) and it was really fun. It's also the only state we've played in that ends in "-SKA."

DerN: What do you think is your most popular song?

ABX: I think R. Kelly vs Broken Social Scene "I'm A Flirt (Shoreline)" is probably the classic Hood Internet jam.

DerN: What is next for the Hood Internet?

ABX: In the future we've got more live shows, more mashups, a variety of remixes in various stages, collaborations with some good people on original tracks, filming a music video, and Hood Internet: The Album. Further along in the future, we'd like to own hovercars.