• 27
    Apr
    2012
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Drew32 Interview with CutOutSounds

Andrew Parks, AKA Drew32 is a twenty-year-old rapper and producer from Detroit, Michigan, and ahead of  the release of his latest mixtape Label Me, he’s taken the time to answer some questions for us here at Cut Out Sounds.
You first set foot into a recording studio at the age of 9, but how did your love of music start?
I think my love of music started when I was probably like 2 years old, crawling around in my kitchen at my house banging on pots and pans – I guess you could say I was making beats back then, lol. After that, you know, I heard music playing at my house and in the car a lot, particularly riding around with my dad – he played a lot of interesting music in the car. Everything from Bob Marley, to Coltrane, to Taj Mahal, to Sade, to Greek music, and the list goes on. He even was playing Capoeira music, which is music from a martial art/dance from Brazil. I got exposed to a lot of different music as a kid. My love for hip-hop started when I was about 5 or 6 years old. As funny and weird as it sounds, it was originally from listening to the Space Jam movie soundtrack. One of the songs on there, “Hit Em High” had LL Cool J, Method Man, BReal, Busta Rhymes, and Coolio on it. That was my favorite song at the time.
With being from Detroit, and a fan of Rap music, has Eminem been an influence on your music? Are there any other musical influences that have shaped your style?
Oh yes. When I was young and just getting into hip-hop was right when Eminem was exploding into the game. I got my hands on some of his music, and then got The Eminem Show, and that’s one of my favorite albums even to this day. Of course afterwards I went back and got his other albums too, but yeah. Eminem has definitely been a huge influence on me and my music. The stress that he puts on his flow, delivery, and just the technical aspect of rap, like, internal-rhyming and rhyming syllables. He puts his words together incredibly. That’s what I like so much about Eminem. Other than him though, I also was influenced by other Detroit and metro-Detroit artists too. I listed to a lot of D12, Obie Trice, Royce Da 5’9″, and my friend and local rapper Jay Hussle. Listening to them really had an impact on my music.
Do you think that your background (being Greek-American) has made it any more difficult for you to be accepted into the whole hip-hop world or do you think that it’s helped you stand out?
I definitely don’t think its made it any more difficult for me to be accepted. I think now hip-hop is in an era where that kind of stuff is less important. I think now it’s more about if you can actually flow, if you can make good songs, and if you can connect with an audience. I don’t care who you are or where you’re from, if you can do those three things, that’s what is really important. That being said though, of course I am proud of being Greek!
You make your own beats, and you write and produce your own tracks, but is there a part of the whole process that you like doing more than others?
I think producing the music is the easiest and most fun. Writing the lyrics takes longer for me – I’m very picky with what I say on record; I’ll re-write lyrics 3 or 4 times before I finally reach a point where I’m satisfied. I like them both equally though, because even though writing the lyrics is more demanding, I get more satisfaction from the finished product afterwards.