Rothbart-Hawthorne

Damn Arbor's most faithful reader in Texas, Chris Primeau just sent me this great Mayer Hawthorne interview by Davy Rothbart. The two friends from high school got together over the Thanksgiving holiday and talked sports, Andrew W. K., the old Ann Arbor hip-hop scene, and the origin of Mayer Hawthorne:

Rothbart: Tell me how "the big break" came about.

Hawthorne: I wanted to make my own samples so I wouldn't have to pay for song clearances. Really, that's how Mayer Hawthorne started. I recorded a couple of half-baked soul tunes in my bedroom that I could use for sampling purposes in our rap songs. They didn't even have a bridge or a last chorus. I never dreamed that stuff would be released on its own.

Check it out. It's definitely worth a read.

Via Grantland