From right here in Los Angeles, California, BuzzMusic presents the funky new hip-hop stylings of Honor Flow Productions. The three piece hip-hop collective is comprised of DJ Chuck “thE oLd SouL” (Producer/Vocals), ELIMN8 (Vocals), and DJisLORD (DJ). Currently touring their newest album The B.L.A.C.K. Odyssey (“Beyond Light Years Away Carrying Knowledge), H.F.P. has their foot on the gas pedal and shows no signs of slowing down. Known for their attention commanding live shows and relatable songwriting, Honor Flow Productions’ musical passion breeds beauty for your ears, food for your soul, and exercise for your feet.
We checked out Honor Flow Productions explosive track “Elevation” (feat. Noreik Thascool) and we can’t stop bumping this track. Boasting a melodic, yet thunderous soundscape of hip-hop and marinated with an eclectic musical pot of soul, funk, house, jazz, and rock, H.F.P. knows what their fans what to hear. No stranger to success Honor Flow Productions’ track “Elevation” is all about rising to the top. “The only question is how high we can go? That’s higher higher higher ELEVATION” repeated throughout the catchy hook, I love the confidence and elements of old school hip-hop vibes I get from this line. Honor Flow Productions weaves through verse full of knowledge and lessons on working hard to gain success. We love this brand new addition to contemporary hip-hop and can;t wait to see what H.F.P. delivers next!
Check out “Elevation” (Feat. Noreik Thascool) here and check out the high energy music video and our exclusive interview below!
Hey H.F.P. Welcome to BuzzMusic! Can you start by telling us a little bit about yourselves and how you got started as a collective?
DJ Chuck “thE oLd SouL”: Wud up, wud up world!? I’m DJ Chuck “thE oLd SouL,” 1/3 of the
mighty, mighty Honor Flow Productions based out of Los Angeles, CA and I’m a
Producer/MC/DJ. Honor Flow Productions as a group has been putting in work and paying dues
since 2006.
During my senior year of high school, I started teach myself how to record and produce. This led
to the initial free for all of inviting my homies over to my make shift bedroom studio to lay down
tracks. This is how H.F.P. began to form as a group. As I graduated from high school, I started to
realize that music was what I wanted to do with my life and as fate would have it, I would meet
many people during my collegiate years that would share that same passion. Two of those
people would be ELIMN8 during my two years at Marymount College and DJisLORD as I
transferred to Loyola Marymount University.
ELIMN8: I am emcee ELIMN8 of Honor Flow Productions; 1/3 of our trio. I got started with
H.F.P. in the formative years at Marymount college, back in 2006. Initially, H.F.P. was kind of a
loose collection of people before we became what we are today. I like to think I proved myself
by being the person you couldn’t get rid of, and who just liked being around [laughs]. I always
did Hip-Hop, but took it much more seriously once I met DJ Chuck “thE oLd SouL”. Funny
enough, he was the first friend I made in our freshman orientation group. It’s natural to gravitate
towards the other Black people when they're not aren’t that many of you [laughs]. The rest is
history.
DJisLORD: I am DJisLORD, 1/3 of H.F.P. and the sonic backbone of the group as the DJ. I met
DJ Chuck “thE oLd SouL” when we both transferred Loyola Marymount University the fall of
2008. A year after we became friends, I was approached by the Chuck to join H.F.P. as they
were competing in a Battle of The Bands competition on campus. Their drummer was
unavailable, so I stepped in as their DJ and we won! I’ve been part of group ever since. I ended
up meeting ELIMN8 a couple months later when H.F.P. had our first show at The Roxy on
Sunset Blvd.
DJ Chuck “thE oLd SouL”: I remember at that time, ELIMN8 was finishing up college in the
Bay Area and flew down just for that show. That was an important moment for this group
because one, it was our first real show at historic venue with legit sound, a legit stage, and we
made some money off it [laughs]. And two, that was the first time members of all the “eras” of
H.F.P. has been in the same room and performed; from my high school years through my
college years. It was family reunion/introduction [laughs]. It is mind blogging to me that this
show took place a decade ago this coming December and set in motion the next decade of our
elevation.
How did the name Honor Flow Productions come to fruition?
ELIMN8: That’s something I’ll default to Chuck on. He started everything in the long long ago.
DJ Chuck “thE oLd SouL”: The origins of the name Honor Flow Productions dates back to
2003, during my sophomore year at Loyola High School. This is when I received my first DJ rig
and started spinning house parties, family functions and any gig I could get. For this one house
party I was going throw with my friend DJ Kryp2nite, I felt like we needed a presenters name on
the flyer and not just our DJ names. That’s when I came up with the name Honor Flow, playing
off the high caliber honor roll student. Honor Flow represents the highest quality whatever we
put our hands on from us as a band, as DJs, as producers, and everything else in between.
DJisLORD: Henceforth being honorable, being the best and staying true to the art form.
Let’s talk about your track “Elevation”! What inspired this song and what was the writing process like together?
ELIMN8: To understand “Elevation,” one needs to know the theme of The B.L.A.C.K. Odyssey;
which is Freedom. At least on my bars for “Elevation,” I wanted to touch on the experience of
many Black people in this country. After all, with the high profile killings of unarmed people, the
media at least does a good job of constantly keeping it in focus. I’m disturbed by what I see
(reaction, commentary, response, etc). I remember initially hearing that Chuck made the beat for
someone else. After pushing back and saying that we needed to keep this beat, I heard the
phrase “All lives can’t matter unless the Black ones do too.” on TV. It was one of the moments
that clicked, and I knew the direction I wanted to go in for my part.
DJ Chuck “thE oLd SouL”: As ELIMN8 said, “Elevation” was originally not our record. I
originally made it for the guest MC on the track, Noreik Thascool. It was going to be for his then
upcoming album. Fun fact, the working title for the beat was “A Tribe Called West.” The large
breakbeat, baseline, and guitar riff reminded me of something A Tribe Called Quest would have
made during the “Midnight Marauders” sessions. The vocal chop reminded of something Kanye
West would have chopped up in his beats around 2007-2010. Producers tend to save beats by
inspiration, vibe, or something random so they can just save it and not lose beat if your
computer crashes [laughs]. The danger of being a producer in group is when you make a beat
to pitch to another artists, and then your group mates fall in love with the track, they will give you
hell for give it away [laughs]. I am not one to give something and then ask for it back, but
ELIMN8 was so adamant that we needed this beat for The B.L.A.C.K. Odyssey, that I decided to
broker an agreement with Noreik to see if we can have the song on both our albums. Ya know,
that common practice that happened a lot in 90s-early 2000s when a big collaborative song
would happen. He down with it and we recorded the record a couple months after that. Noreik
ended up not using for his album and it became fully ours. So in the end, it worked out [laughs].
Lyrically, not only does my verse coincide with the “freedom” concept of the album, but it is also
serves as me personal affirmation that the decisions I have made for my career and my life
since I was 18 were the right ones. At the end of the day, you never go wrong with listening to
your gut instinct. Every time I’ve done that, things have turned out well. So the record is about
trusting in yourself to “elevate” to that next level professional, personally, mentally, and
spiritually. The session with Noreik to record his verse was an excellent example of why working
in the same room verses working via file sharing always is the best. The content of his verse
was the result of a 3 hour conversation he, ELIMN8, and myself had before I even pressed
record. As matter of fact, the “Lemonade” line is a result of me giving him a cup a lemonade to
drink while writing and him accidentally spilling in my studio [laughs].
DJisLORD: I speak with my hands as a good DJ should [laughs]. On “Elevation,” as with
entirety of The B.L.A.C.K. Odyssey, my contribution were the DJ scratches, sample drops,
adlibs, and any additional vocals needed.
We love your authentic sound! Do you have any specific musical influences you pull inspiration from?
DJisLORD: I pull from so many different influences from different genres as a DJ. Anywhere
from Hip-Hop, R&B, Soul, Funk, Disco, 80s freestyle, Jazz, Reggae, Dancehall, Metal, Punk
Rock, and New Wave.
ELIMN8: Man! My influences are all over the place. I’ve always had a big connection to Hip-
Hop. When I was born, I had really bad hearing thank to inflammation. Thanks to my oldest
sister, one of the first songs I remember was LL Cool J’s “Mama Said Knock You Out.” She got
me started on all my favorites. Also, my cousin is Rakaa from Dilated Peoples. Just being a fan
of their music, put me onto a lot of other dope Hip-Hop acts. Punk also has a big place in my
heart when I go back to my skateboarding days. I wore out Misfits, Dead Kennedys, and
Rancid. I also love Jazz, and just anything that sounds good.
DJ Chuck “thE oLd SouL”: I’m the absolute worst at this question because it will become a list
the size of an essay [laugh]. But I’ll try my best to keep it short. Because of all 3 of us are music
heads and both Lord and I are DJs, we’re always digging and listening to everything. Some of
my favorite Hip-Hop artists past and present re A Tribe Called Quest, The Roots, De La Soul,
Common, Little Brother, Slum Village, Black Milk, Gang Starr, Big K.R.I.T, Kendrick Lamar, J.
Cole, DJ Jazzy Jeff, DJ Quik and Outkast. But as anyone who as rode in my car will tell you, the
mood can go from Hip-Hop to various eras of R&B/Soul (D’Angelo, Maxwell, Raphael Saadiq, Anderson. Paak,The Internet), Rock (Royal Blood, TV On The Radio, Gold Fields, Bloc Party, Phantogram, Foo Fighters, Phoenix, Linkin Park, Incubus, The Police), House (Disclosure,
Kaytranada, SG Lewis, Calvin Harris), Funk (George Clinton, Prince, Dam-Funk, Chromeo), to
Pop (Michael and Janet Jackson, Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake) just the name a few. Our
influences come from various genres and eras. With all those inspirations, a term we coined for
our approach to our music is “Progressive Nostalgia;” which is sampling what we love from the
past, mixing it with the contemporary, and flipping it for the future. We are proud offsprings of
our influences, but we understand we have to carve our lane as well.
What’s next for Honor Flow Productions?
ELIMN8: Global domination [Laughs]! No joke! But seriously, I am happy to say we’re going to
be touring in Japan at the end of July! I lived in Joso Ibaraki a few years ago, and it’s a big deal
that we’re getting our first international start there. We’re getting things setup for after Japan, but
Japan is the focus right now!
DJisLORD: It's a 3 city, 5 show tour. First we start in Kobe, then Osaka, then we finish strong in
Tokyo.
DJ Chuck “thE oLd SouL”: The tour in Japan is one my proudestmoments since the inception of H.F.P; and we had some amazing moments in the 13 year history of this group. The legendary artists and prestigious venues we have honor of playing at/with as a group and as DJs at such as The Greek Theater, The El Rey, The Troubadour, and The Roxy. Then the release of The B.L.A.C.K. Odyssey, becoming an in-progress breakthrough album for us are two that come to mind immediately. But it was ALWAYS a goal for us to travel all over the world and perform. Hip-Hop is a global phenomenon and I wanted to experience theculture and the world in general as an ambassador for it. This music changed my life and myhometown of Los Angeles gave me life. So with that, I want to share our music and culture tothe world in a foreign exchange student scenario. I want the world to experience Honor Flow Productions.
We’re homegrown L.A. to the bone but for us to expand, we have to get out, go get
something, and bring it back. We plan on building bridges with this tour that will take us to other
continents. I recently traveled out the country for the first time to France last month as part of
the Mix With The Masters seminar program; with a pitstop in London. And being out there only
solidified what we’ve talking about doing as a group for years, and that’s breaking through the
international market. This “Summer of Elevation” is only step one of this. Annnddd… stay tuned
for some other secret stuff. Because while we move in silence and don’t broadcast all our
moves, do know we are always up to something.
Stay updated on Honor Flow Productions latest releases & upcoming shows via their socials:
Instagram: www.instagram.com/honorflowproductions Twiter: www.twitter.com/HFPmusic