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I Grew Up In The '80s And '90s Listening To Public Enemy And Mobb Deep And The Smashing Pumpkins. I Don't Even Know What It Was Like In The '60s - I Wasn't Alive Then - So The Mayer Hawthorne Sound Is Taking What I Can Learn From The Classics, And Blending It With My Hip-hop Dj And Producer Background And Punk-rock Bands That I Played In As A Kid.

-Mayer Hawthorne

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I Grew Up In

Mayer Hawthorne

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I Grew Up In The '80s And '90s Listening To Public Enemy And Mobb Deep And The Smashing Pumpkins. I Don't Even Know What It Was Like In The '60s - I Wasn't Alive Then - So The Mayer Hawthorne Sound Is Taking What I Can Learn From The Classics, And Blending It With My Hip-hop Dj And Producer Background And Punk-rock Bands That I Played In As A Kid.

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Hip-hop Was My First Real Love, One That Was My Own And Wasn't My Parents' Music. Initially, I Was Inspired By Hip-hop Fashion. Over The Years, I Kept The Hip-hop Sensibility, But Make It My Own.

My Grandma Ricky - That's Where I Got Classic Look From. She Was The Most Stylish Person Ever. She Had Her Own Clothing Store And Even Her Furniture Was Stylish. I Got My "flashy, But Classy" Motto From Her, Too. Whenever She Walked In The Room, She Was Always The Most Stylish Person In The Room.

I Think That Detroiters Are Some Of The Most Resilient People In The World.

Nowhere On Earth Has More Soul Than Detroit.

I Shopped At J. Crew In High School, I Studied Computer Science. I Was A Nerd-nerd, Now I'm A Music-nerd.

I Consider Myself To Have A Decent Sense Of Humor. What's Life Without A Sense Of Humor?

I Love Doing Things That People Don't Expect.

I Don't Want Kids Listening To My Music Thinking It's For Their Parents. I Want Them To Feel It's Theirs.

I Just Want To Have Fun And Party With Everyone Around The World. That's The Only Rule, To Have Fun.

A Lot Of People Think I Live In A Soul Bubble.

I'm Trying To Just Drop So Much Music That People Cannot Ignore It.

I Grew Up In The '80s And '90s Listening To Public Enemy And Mobb Deep And The Smashing Pumpkins. I Don't Even Know What It Was Like In The '60s - I Wasn't Alive Then - So The Mayer Hawthorne Sound Is Taking What I Can Learn From The Classics, And Blending It With My Hip-hop Dj And Producer Background And Punk-rock Bands That I Played In As A Kid.

Marvin Gaye Was The Ultimate Ladies' Man And A Big Part Of That Was The Way He Dressed. If You're Having Trouble Getting Ladies, Step Your Suit Game Up And See The Difference. Walk Into A Bar In A Tailored Suit And I Guarantee Every Girl Will Check You Out.

My Dad Calls Me 'mac' A Lot, From 'mike Tyson's Punch Out' - Little Mac Is The Main Character. I Was Obsessed. I Can Still Beat Mike Tyson On 'punch Out.'

I Really Love Rap Music. I Grew Up In The '80s And '90s With Public Enemy, N.w.a., Ll Cool J - I'm A Hip-hop Encyclopedia. But I Got Kind Of Frustrated With The Chauvinistic Side Of Rap Music, The One That Makes It Hard To Write Songs About Love And Relationships.

Drums, Bass, Guitar, Keys, I Play A Little Of Each Of Those.

I Was A Hip-hop Head. When I Really Found My Own Lane In Music, It Was Hip-hop. I Wanted To Make Hip-hop Music. And I Did, I Made A Lot Of Hip-hop Music.

I Don't Think I've Ever Had More Fun Doing Anything In My Life Than Trading Verses With Daryl Hall On 'private Eyes.' That's As Fun As It Gets.

I Think That What Happens Is That All Of My Modern Influences Blend Together With The Older Soul Influences And You Get Mayer Hawthorne.

I Never Have, But I Would Love To Pick R. Kelly's Brain.

I Try To Make Sure That I Make Music That Can Stand The Test Of Time.

My Intentions With Any Of My Music Is To Keep It Futuristic And Updated And Be Experimental And Try New Things.

I've Always Made Sure That I Tour With Bands That People Aren't Expecting Me To Tour With.

Breakfast Is The Most Important Meal Of The Day And I Definitely Have A Hearty Breakfast Before I Do Anything.

I Was Really Fortunate Growing Up To Have A Broad Musical Education. My Parents Listened To All Kinds Of Music, Rock, Soul, Motown, Jazz, Frank Sinatra, Everything.

Even When I Was A Hip-hop Dj I Always Kept It Classy. The Motto Is Always 'flashy But Classy.' You've Got To Be Original And Stand Out From The Crowd And Take Some Chances. But You've Always Got To Keep It Classy.

I Grew Up In Ann Arbor, About 25 Miles West Of Detroit. And When You Grow Up In That Area, You Get A Healthy Dose Of Motown Automatically.

I Just Want To Make Music As Long As I Can And Reach As Many People As I Can.

I Dj All The Time, As Much As I Possibly Can. I'll Never Stop. That's My Security Blanket, That's What I'm Good At. I Still Consider Myself A Better Dj Than A Singer. I Can Dj In My Sleep.

Gary Numan Had A Huge Influence On Both My Music And My Style. He Had His Own Unique Fashion Sense - That Futuristic Space Style. It Was Out There.

James Brown Is The Perfect Example Of Flashy But Classy. Classy Doesn't Have To Mean Boring. His Gear Was Flamboyant But Without Being So Over The Top. The Cape Was Probably The Biggest Part Of His Persona. He Looked Like Superman.

A Big Part Of The Motown Formula Was, They Took Music And Turned It Into This Sort Of Automotive Assembly Line. They Were Cranking Out 10 Songs A Day In That Studio, Or More.

Barry White Is My Musical Hero. He Was The Guy Who You Danced To In The Club And Then When You Took Your Lady Home To The Bedroom, You Listened To Him There, Too! That's Who I Always Wanted To Be - The Guy Who Was Always There.

I Didn't Appreciate Mick Jagger Until I Got Older, And Mainly Because Of The Mick Jagger Swagger. He Defined That For The World. He Was Bold And Adventurous With It, Too - Just The Ultimate Rock Star.

I Make Soul Music For Hip-hop Heads. It's Music I'd Want To Sample If I Were A Rapper.

That's One Of The Most Important Things To Me Is That Detroit And Ann Arbor Got My Back. If You Don't Have Hometown Love, Then What's The Point?

My Dad Taught Me To Play Bass. He's A Bass Player; He Still Plays In A Band In Michigan To This Day. He Taught Me To Play Bass When I Was About 6. I Used To Just Go To Band Practice With Him, And Whoever Didn't Show Up For Rehearsal That Day, I Would Take Their Spot.

Having Stuff That Fits You Perfectly Makes The Craziest Difference. I Remember The First Times That I Was Introduced To That - Having A Shirt That's Actually Tailored To Your Body And Not Just Made For Your Average American. It Just Changes Your Life.

Changing Your Life

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