The Hood Internet Puts Things Together
For the Chicago-based duo, mash-ups are just the start.
What do hip hop-indie mash-ups, bounce, and tacos have in common? Three words: The Hood Internet. Shortly after releasing their seventh mixtape and an original album, the Chicago-based mash-up kings are now preparing for their seventh nationwide tour. They will play an early show Thursday at One Eyed Jacks.
The mash-up game started as a side project for Aaron Brink and Steve Reidell, who met after joining the indie band, May Or May Not. Soon, however, their flair for fusing indie rock anthems and hip-hop verses started getting buzz outside of the Windy City. “It was really exciting," Reidell says, laughing. "We were like, ‘Hey, it’s not just our friends coming to these shows.’” The latest mixtape, which will make up most of the setlist for the upcoming tour, features an eclectic union of the year’s hottest artists, including Trinidad James, Jay-Z, Frank Ocean, Daft Punk, and Purity Ring. But Reidell says that his favorite track on the album is the combination of Juicy J and the psychedelia-electronica band, Black Moth Super Rainbow, who will accompany The Hood Internet on the latest tour. “I don’t think I’ve ever listened to a record as much as the new Black Moth Super Rainbow,” says Reidell. “It’s going to be awesome to be on tour with them and to hear those songs every night.”
What sets The Hood Internet apart from other mash-up artists? For starters, they have their own website dedicated to superimposing tacos on famous album covers. Like some of their other projects, it’s half art, half comedy. The group has also produced an original album, titled FEAT, which mixes local Chicago rappers and vocalists with self-produced beats and synth melodies. “Our big idea was to collaborate with artists who have their own voice,” says Reidell. “We wanted it to be a diverse collaboration and have people contribute their own form of art.”
But as mash-up artists predominantly, Reidell believes that it is their motley catalogue that sets them apart. “I think your calling card is the kind of stuff you go for. A lot of people hear this type of music and say, ‘Well, that’s just one of one thing and another of another thing.’ And when people talk about The Hood Internet they might say, ‘Oh, those are the guys that mix indie rock with hip hop,’ which is true to a certain degree, but I always thought that we have drawn from all over the spectrum.”
Reidell and Brink keep the process fun, experimenting with songs that they personally enjoy. “It’s the shit we’re listening to already,” Reidell says, “things that are in our music collection, songs that we’ve heard and we like, and sometimes old stuff that we’ve heard for the first time or have been waiting to put on.” And as far as the process goes, Reidell reveals that, “It’s fifty percent inspiration and fifty percent trial and error, so we usually just try it. It might be awesome, or it might be a colossal failure.”
The duo aren’t strangers to New Orleans, having played a handful of shows at The Maison on Frenchmen, once with New Orleans legend, Mannie Fresh. “It was an honor working with that guy,” spills Reidell. They even party like locals, Reidell admitting that, “I usually end up at the Saint [Bar and Lounge] and don’t remember anything afterward.” Be prepared to hear some New Orleans tunes infused into their upcoming show. According to Reidell, “You get to a city like New Orleans and you have to play a Cash Money record. There’s no choice. We have never played a show in New Orleans and not thrown in some of that bounce in there.”
