Tell us who you are and what you do?
I am Stevey P. a.k.a. Rhythum, I'm from the 250 (Victoria, Canada), I make and listen to beats, and really that's about it. I've tried rapping too, but for the most part, everything I'd write had too complex of a rhyme pattern that my stoner brain couldn't remember. After I gave up on that. I realized how that extra little bit of time out of your day can increase your overall work flow and motivate you to make beats just about every opportunity you get.

 

How did you come up with your name?
I don't exactly remember how this name came to me, but I had a few times where I'd sit down for hours trying to think of a dope name, and when I came up with this one I was surprised that no one else went by the same alias...so surprised that I just had to change it up a tiny bit just in case. But now, every time I think about what Rhythum is to me, I start seeing why I chose that and how it portrays me; the deeper I think about it, the more it makes sense. Perhaps the "out-of-place" u in Rhythum is the listener, I know I can relate to just about any beat so maybe other people can too.

Tell us about your studio set-up/space.
Well, I got a laptop and my amazing wireless mouse and that's about it, haha. I make the most from this though, whenever it comes down to recording back-up instruments, I try to stay away from playing riffs, or anything more than one note really. Instead I try to find a sample riff and make it fit in there. I rely on samples a lot, but maybe that's because I will tweak and twist and bend a sample till it fits with my beat and then I record a LOT of random sounds that I will manipulate to sound just right, this is why you hear a lot of SFX in most of my beats. I don't have a fancy mic or anything, actually I use the built-in mic on my laptop to do all my recording.

 

How did you become a music producer?
Well, it actually all started when me and my buddy Bryan, who rapped a lot at the time, needed someone to make original beats for him and that moment I realized that nobody in Victoria made beats (of course I was wrong about this I was an idiot). I actually tried making a beat once before this, but I gave up because I didn't have the patience nor the interest really at the time. Since this time I am far more interested, and I've tried it before, it came pretty easy, until I had to make something creative. After endless quantized drums breaks with a loop or a 3 chop-sample over top, I started getting the hang of it and around this time I joined Soundcloud and started putting my work on there just so I could send the links to Bryan, but when I realized that I got so much positive feedback on Soundcloud and no feedback from Bryan, I realized that I was simply trying to impress the wrong crowd! I decided to focus on Soundcloud and it was the best thing I've done with my life. Every day I go on here and all this feedback just straight up puts a smile on my face in any situation, this is more then anyone could ask for.

 

Who are your biggest influences?
Dilla and Nujabes. It's really hard to say tho because I've listened to so many producers, evolved my beat-making style so much, and I just constantly listen to different types of beats. Nonetheless, Dilla and Nujabes have ALWAYS been my favorite producers and by far my biggest inspirations. But I mean the list goes on really, Kev Brown, Madlib, Pete Rock, Premo, Damu the Fudgemonk and Apollo Brown. Also some soundcloud producers like Ta-Ku, ChromadaData, Prof.logic, Jay Lotus, Daisy Cutta, Knx., etc. have been huge influences to me.

 

What encourages you to carry on with music?
100% the listeners on Soundcloud & my beatmaking bro's!

​

What do you think about the music industry and independent hip hop at the moment? Where do you think things are going in the next few years?
Hey I'm not complaining at all, but I also haven't turned the radio on in years. I mean anyone that's complaining about the current state of hip hop just needs to shut up and go on Soundcloud, I find a copious amount of rad beats and dope flows on there daily, so someone who's looking for "good hip hop" could find it here, regardless of what they consider "good hip hop" and how much of it they want to find. As far as where things are going, I believe that the future of music is going to be based on experimental work. Either that or people simply won't realize what today's music is doing to people.

​

What have you been listening to recently?
Basically just stuff on Soundcloud, why listen to music with ads when you can listen to music without ads while promoting yourself at the same time, not to mention the selection of music on here is simply phenomenal, genres upon genres, skills upon skills, and the creativity you find on here just isn't the same anywhere else. Specifically I've been listening to the 50 Days For Dilla collection non-stop, checking out Rounded Rec.s daily because they release the dopest works, just about everything from ChromadaData, and a lot of UK rap.

 

Biggest personal music achievement?
I haven't had anything like a record deal type of achievement, but I mean every comment, finished collab., complimentary message and touch of a fav' button is a personal music achievement to me. Working with Otis Roycroft was probably the biggest achievement for me. Either that or having a radio set, which I am going to upload on Sept.9th.

 

What is your next big project, any big plans coming up?
Nothing too serious but I'm working on a beat tape with DuqueNuquem which should be out in a month or so, an EP with Otis Roycroft, Crimeson, LaFranceForever and TheAlsace, and of course working on my solo projects (all of the projects I am working on are listed on my Soundcloud page).

​

Any last words?
Thank you Conflict and thank you Soundcloud!