Interview: Hoodie Allen

Hoodie Allen is a New York based hiphop duo made up of Steve Witz & Obey City. I had the honor of being able to ask them a few questions – check them out after the cut.

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How did Hoodie Allen as a duo come about? We had both been making music for a while- I was doing solo stuff and Obey always had a bunch of projects and we basically met through a mutual friend, started sending beats and demos back and forth. I was really feeling his stuff so originally, Obey was just going to exclusively produce my solo project but somewhere down the line it made more sense for us to form the super group that is HOODIE ALLEN.

Where does the name Hoodie Allen come from? We wanted to come up with something that would represent who we are, so we tried to think of who was the best representation of how the world sees the Jewish New Yorker stereotype, and we came up with Woody Allen. So Hoodie Allen is basically our hip hop version of that. I mean I live for bagels and schmear; it’s just what it is I’m not ashamed.

What artist are you currently listening to right now?
Obey: Animal Collective, Addiquit, Black Milk, Q-Tip, Eliot Lipp, 88 Keys
Witz: Right now, a bunch of different stuff. Wale, Colin Munroe, Lykke Li, MGMT. Oh cool, now we sound trendy.

What genre best describes your sound? Whip Hop- we sound good in your ’96 Mustang

Explain the creative process. Since we both go to college, myself in Philly and Obey in Boston, we can’t always work on songs together so there have been many times when were sending beats and demos back and forth until we just perfect the right sound and other times we will just sit down for hours in a room and cook up a whole song from scratch based on whatever is inspiring us musically at the time.

What is one thing you enjoy the most about being an artist?
Obey: Freedom of expression, playing live…groupies
Witz: getting noticed at the mall

Who / What are your influences?
Obey: 1986-2009, with an emphasis on 90s culture
Witz: The Beastie Boys, James Dean and Home Alone 2

Where do you see yourselves within the next few years?
Obey: Hopefully making records as a living, but probably slumming it in some shady apartment working on beats at night and flipping burgers by day, the American way.
Witz: I’m not sure but it will probably involve paying child support

What are some of your future / dream collaborations?
Obey: As a producer I’d love to make beats for some of the MCs I look up to like Q-Tip, Andre 3k, Pharaohe Monch. I’d also love to collab with Todd Rundgren or Burt Bacharach, two song-writers I really respect.
Witz: I’d love to work with some new talented singers like Adele or an MC like Black Thought. Producers…are there even any out there other than Obey?

Who is your target audience?
Obey: Apparently from our MySpace, 14 year old girls. But I’d say our music is pretty ageless, I could see toddlers and grandmas rocking out to it.
Witz: My mother’s friends all love us. Real talk.

What sort of obstacles do you face as a group?
Witz: Sometimes it’s hard for people to talk us seriously because we are so handsome.
Obey: Getting noticed with all the other up and coming hip-hop groups, also.

If you weren’t pursuing music what else would you be doing right now? Well we are both in the middle of pursuing a college degree so the academic hustle is alive and well.

What advice would you give other upcoming artist? DON’T SLEEP ON HOODIE ALLEN!!

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