Interview with eu-IV (producer & beat-maker)

I firstly stumbled upon eu-IV back in 2014 when I was slowly making my way into the instrumental hip hop world (yeah, late bloomer, I know). I still vividly remember when "India's Interlude" firstly took over my mind. The vocals were soothing, but the beat - that was the truly impeccable part.

In addition, he's also part of Flow Fi - home of artists like Fortune, kuma, aywy, rvdical the kid and a label a lot of us here at Stereofox love and respect. Below is the mini mix he created  for us (more info and tracklist can be found here).

Hey Travon! Nice to have you on the mini mix series. Before anything, tell us a few words about yourself?

Um, I'm basically a creative lol.

What was the inspiration behind the mini mix? How would you describe it in a sentence.

Just a collection of songs I always find myself coming back to. Some chill vibes for a cold rainy night.

Your first SoundCloud upload is that glitchy / experimental hip hop beat "▲▼O" 4 years ago. How were things back then when you first started releasing stuff? Were you more nerveous about puttiny your stuff out / did it take you longer to "finalize" beats etc?

Things were pretty slow before I uploaded "▲▼O". I think that was the song that got the ball rolling for me. First track for me that was filled with comments (a goal of mine). Soundcloud at the time was pretty cool, might've been before the repost feature was added. It was so many gems on there that I still love to this day.

I don't think I was nervous. My follower count was pretty low. I just wanted to be mentioned with the talented producers on my timeline. Things back then, I've been making music here and there since 04-06.

What has been the music-related moment which has fueled you the most to move forward? I can recall one FlyLo thingie.

Yeah it was super crazy that he listened to my beat and liked it. The beat was for someone who took me to my first Flylo show, which is trippy.

Is music a full time thing right now and how does an average day of eu-iv looks like?

I wish music was a full time thing but nah I'm doing that 9-5 life. Bills gotta get paid. I work, create maybe, sleep....then repeat. Boring but i'm looking to change that soon.

A photo posted by eu-IV (@euivphotos) on Dec 29, 2016 at 6:02pm PST

You're part of FlowFi - a label I really love full of talented artists. Tell us about more about being part of it, how did you join them and so on?

Its always great to be linked with talented musicians chasing the dream. I would definitely say they motivated me to step my game up. My boy Rvdical basically got me down with Flow. He asked me if I wanted to join at BeetTrip (local show where beatmakers play music and rappers freestyle organized by Llamadon). It was a great honor because I didn't think I would get that far.

Who were the most influential artists on your music style while you were growing up?

It was Kanye West when I first started making music. My biggest influences are J Dilla and Flying Lotus. Others would be Knx, Tuamie, Mndsgn, Ahwlee, Tek.Lun, Poptartpete, Ohbliv, Iman Omari, Elaquent...basically the Soundcloud OGs.

If you can pick one person to collaborate with who would that be?

If I had a time machine, 90's Mary J Blige lol. In real life, Andre 3000 and Jay Electronica.

What's the hardest thing you had to sacrifice in the name of music?

My sanity. Things can get super frustrating far as the business side of things. In a perfect world I wouldn't have to work a 9-5 to live comfortably. I'm still working towards that tho so hopefully soon.

What's on your playlist right now? Any artists we should be checking out?

Right now I've been listening to mostly r&b from the 90s and early 2000s. Mary J Blige, D'Angelo, Amerie, Groove Theory, Musiq Soulchild, Erykah Badu, Bilal etc. Also all the 70's soul music.

Your favourite show so far?

Probably the one I did with PVSH in Brooklyn. Ohbliv, DJ Harrison, Foisey etc all were on the bill. Some great vibes!

What's ahead of eu-iv in 2017?

Working on a project right now. Looking to do more shows in NY, hopefully get a first in Cali.

Thanks for the interview and mini mix! Any last words of wisdom?

No problem man, thanks for the opportunity. Setbacks are apart of your story. Soak in all the game you can and strive to be a better yo.

Hope you enjoyed this and if you dig the mix, free download could be found here.