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Written by Kirk Anthony
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 Kirk Anthony: Italy isn’t exactly known as a hotbed of hip-hop culture, how is the hip-hop scene in Italy?
Psike: In Italy there isn’t a real hip-hop scene, I mean, this culture is not so spread because it is not so known. Well there are hip-hop dance groups, hip-hop music groups, deejays and producers, but not enough. In the last 3 years things are changing thanks to the new American hip-hop scene, but we need to know it better and to introduce the hip-hop movement in Italian music culture.
KA: How did you get interested in hip-hop music and later become a hip-hop music producer?
P: When I was a child my parents and my brothers introduced me to music. My brother gave me his walkman when I was seven and I began listening to every kind of music. When I was twelve I found “Italian hip-hop music” and I fell in love with it, so, after two years, I wanted to know hip-hop music roots -- then I approached hip-hop music. When I was seventeen I began to write rap lyrics, but I hadn’t got any beats, so I started making beats just for fun, so since that moment I produced beats, played every instrument and sometimes wrote lyrics.
KA: The struggle of female hip-hop producers trying to make inroads in the hip-hop music industry has been well documented. What has it been like for you trying to make it in the hip-hop music scene in Italy, Europe, and the U.S?
P: Well, in 2006 I did a Christmas hip-hop beat for a friend, sampling a Frank Sinatra’s song and since that beat everything started. I’m still trying to get my name known especially over in the U.S.A.
KA: You are also an R&B, club and house music producer, what sparked your interest in becoming a producer of those genres of music?
P: At the beginning I loved underground hip-hop music, so I used to listen only to this. During the years I began listening to every kind of music, from hip-hop, to house, to rock, so I opened my mind and got influenced by all of these genres even in my production.
KA: What has it been like for you trying to make inroads as a producer in R&B, club and house music?
P: It’s been a natural process, due to the music I listen to, even because I like playing all instruments then I hadn’t any difficulty to introduce myself into these kind of productions.
KA: Which genre of music would you say has been the “easiest” for you to have a notable presence in?
P: I would say surely R&B because although I was born with rap music I love rhythm & blues especially the new school of this genre.
KA: How would you describe your production style for each of the music genres you produce in?
P: Hot style baby -- I’m joking, well, I can say that my style is unmistakable even though in every beat I try to put a new part of me in alot of projects. In this moment I’m working on an Italian mixtape, an Italian hip-hop artist’s album and I’m trying to make my own album with my production with Italian and foreign artists.
KA: What production equipment do you prefer to use when producing music?
P: I must say that if you can produce then you can do it with every kind of equipments. I like producing using workstations like Motif or Korg, then playing real instruments and everything sounds unusual!
KA: Have you had the opportunity to work with any American artists?
P: I’m looking for it because I love American artists, hip-hop ones and others.
KA: What advice would you give aspiring female producers on actually becoming a working producer in the music business? In “getting put on” in the industry?
P: Is not important if you are a man or a woman. What is fundamental is your art, soul and love for music. Often someone thought that I was a boy at first listening of my beats and they couldn’t believe that I am a girl. I laugh on that because music has no sex. The only thing I say is just to not think about what people say. Just play your music, do it for you and for what you really love. |
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