Exclusive Interview
Produced by: Rudy Manager
Edited by: Rudy Manager & Andrej Aroch
A$AP P On The Boards – A$AP Mob Producer on Building Beyond Music
Studio Talks linked with A$AP P On The Boards in LA on April 21 at Volume Studios for our second conversation with him. Over a year after our first interview, P had a lot to share, from his upcoming electronic project PEEONTHEFLR to his recent production on Zara Larsson’s “Girl’s Girl.” He also spoke about building Patricio’s, his growing food venture, his move into the cannabis space, and the mindset that keeps him pushing forward across every lane. As a member of the legendary A$AP Mob, A$AP P has been a trusted creative force in the game for years, producing for artists like A$AP Rocky, A$AP Ferg, Ab-Soul, A$AP Twelvyy, and many more. In this interview, he opens up about confidence, creative freedom, building beyond music, and why he wants to show producers that they can do it all.
“I don’t really do genres. I just like making music. That’s my genre.”
- A$AP P On The Boards
It’s been over a year since our first interview. What has changed for you during that time, and what new ventures have you been working on?
Since then, truthfully, the biggest venture has been confidence. That’s the biggest thing you can gain as a producer. We get confident, but we don’t always get confidence. It might come across as cocky, but really, the smirk just isn’t leaving my face right now. So it’s confidence in everything I’m doing.
Music is music, and A$AP P On The Boards is exactly what that means. Patricio’s, so make sure you go get that. That’s the food we’re doing. We’re trying to get that restaurant going by Christmas, so VCs, tap in. I got all that. Then there’s my move into cannabis. Shout out to Blue River. That’s going well, Pioca is going well. We’re in a couple of states now. We’re on Weedmaps now. Things are going amazing. I’m not going to lie, things are going amazing.
You recently produced Zara Larsson’s “Girl’s Girl.” How did that song come together from your perspective?
Of course. First and foremost, shout out to Boss Lady KABBA. She’s legendary. A legendary human being. I don’t even think she’s human. Boss Lady is probably what her gender identifies as. Shout out to Tyler Christian, MNEK too, another legend. And most importantly, shout out to my guy Saul, because he put me on and made that call happen. That’s how I linked up with KABBA.
It was me and KABBA, and she invited Tyler Christian. I wish I could sing like bro. His runs are crazy, they’re insane. We had a session and we were working on two joints. We knocked out one joint, and then KABBA was like, “Play some other joints.” That’s why I call her Boss KABBA. I don’t even know how to put it, but it was just the most boss, feminist, feminine, dominant energy. Like, oh my God. I don't know, Beyoncé does that. I’m not trying to disrespect Beyoncé, but KABBA was rolling up with pink paper and smoking a joint rolled in pink paper.
Then she heard the idea for “Girl’s Girl,” and that record came together. Big homie MNEK walked in there like a mythical entity, and after that, it was done. Then bro added the extra sauce. Someone would be like, “What do you think about this?” Then they’d be like, “Wait a minute, it needs this.” Then they didn’t even tell you, they just added it. It got even crazier after that. Yeah, that’s what it turned into. So shout out to everybody who was a part of that. That was beautiful.
What’s your creative process like when you first open your DAW?
I start with melody first. Whether I’m playing something or sampling something, I’m going to spend about ten minutes looking for sounds. I’ve started favoriting sounds so I don’t have to look for them in front of the artist, but I still go through sounds because I have to find that perfect color to paint with. I’m trying to find the sound that matches what I’m hearing in my head. Even if I’m sampling something, I’m trying to get the process going right away. I don’t want to deal with that later, so I do it now.
So yeah, it’s usually melody first and then drums. The drums can come after. I might do the melody first, add the drums, listen back to it, then mute the drums, put the whole thing in a different key, and do completely different drums. That part comes later. I kind of feel like drums are the easiest part once you get in the groove and get your balance right. There are only so many drum patterns and rhythms that the world accepts, unless somebody knows something I don’t.
Do you have any creative routines when you work on music, whether that’s listening to certain songs before you start or working at a specific time of day?
Of course, you’ve got to start your sessions with some Pioca or some Ampersand from the guys at Blue River. That’s really what it is. I wish I could be that intentional as far as listening to something and then going to cook up, but usually, I already have a preconceived action or emotion that I feel. So it’s like, all right, how can I translate that into the beat? That’s literally it.
Sometimes it’ll hit, and I’ll feel like my beats have nostalgia in them while still having certain attributes, like the knock and the melody. My nostalgia level is really high, so I feel like it’s always going to remind me of something. But I’m not going to A/B test something just because I’m like, well, that’s already been created very well. I’ll try to do something else.
I know you’ve been working on your own project, PEEONTHEFLR. What’s the vision behind it, and when can fans expect to hear it?
I mean, chronologically, if the universe continues to work with me, hopefully by the time this interview drops, we’re already there. If not, it’s still upcoming. PEEONTHEFLR is my love letter to electronic music. It’s amazing. I feel like it touches every electronic genre and subgenre you could think of. Shout out to Bipolar Sunshine, shout out to A$AP Twelvyy, everybody involved, everybody on the outside, and all my collaborators on there, because it’s a great project. I can’t wait to share it with the world.
I’m not going to lie, I’ve been secretly working on part two too. It’s not just one of those projects where it’s like, insert artist, insert musician, insert genre, and then they do that type of project. Nah, bro. I’ve got a couple of these in me, so I can really hit y’all with them. We’re taking it real serious. I’m not trying to make it feel like, “Oh, this is just a rap or hip-hop producer doing an electronic project,” or whatever label they try to put on me. People throw labels around like crazy. Nah, let me stop.
I do all genres, but whatever they try to label me as, I want this electronic project to be respected in that world too. So I’m just trying to get everything right because it’s pretty fire. What can you expect? Amazing music. I think I clocked it at 35 minutes, so it’s about 35 minutes of pure adrenaline, infectious energy, and all those cool adjectives I used to use back in the day. But yeah, it’s something special. I’m not going to lie. Personally, if I heard it and I didn’t make it, I’d be like, “Yo, this is fire.” That’s all I’ve got to say. I’m not trying to toot my own horn, but come on.
You work across a lot of different genres, but do you have a personal preference, or do you like to keep things broad?
I mean, I’m A$AP P On The Boards, aka PopStar P. I’ve got to do my thing everywhere. I love music too much. I tell everybody that if I had one style, I feel like the level of success in my life probably would’ve been a little better, especially with how things are now. But truthfully, I just like making good music. That’s my genre.
I don’t really do genres. If you want to do a ballad, we can do that. We can do an electronic record. We can do an R&B record. We could do some singing outside, throwing rocks at a girl’s window type of R&B. I’ll do it. I don’t play. I just like making music. That’s my genre.
When you’re not working on your own music, what kind of music do you like to listen to in your free time?
I listen to everything. My son is on a crazy Wu-Tang Clan trip right now. He literally knows Raekwon, he knows Ghostface Killah, he knows his stuff. So I’ll go to Wu-Tang, then I’ll go to Sienna Spiro. I’ll listen to Olivia Dean, then I’ll go to Mobb Deep’s The Infamous. Shout out to Sampha. I’ll dive into my collaborators’ music too, because I make music, but I feel like I’m just a fan who happens to make beats.
That’s how I feel about all the people I’m blessed to work with. I’ll sit there and dive into their music like, “Damn.” Some of them will be around me and I’ll be like, “Yo, play that record.” I’m going to be honest, I listen to old pop music and new pop music. I don’t really like rap like that unless it’s something interesting. But the whole UK scene, I love that. That’s a different story. I’m playing Jim Legxacy. I’m listening to a lot of music, and I love some of his stuff.
My son listens to everything too. We might be listening to Frank Sinatra. We might be listening to Busta Rhymes. A lot of the time, though, I’m listening to my collaborators because I’m a fan of the homies. As weird as that sounds, that’s really what it is. Granted, I’m blessed to work with the people I work with. They’re such cool people. Some of them are just different. I don’t know if they’ve got angels or superpowers, but I call them friends. So I listen to a lot of them because I want to see what they’re capable of and what they’ve done. I’m trying to top that. I need all the best records in all my friends’ catalogs. All of them.
You’re also running Patricio’s, your cooking business, along with your other ventures. How do you balance everything, and what’s the bigger vision behind all these projects?
So Patricio’s is @peeonthewrld on Instagram. The vision is, I mean, I already do this every day. I’m cooking food every day. None of what I’m doing is something I had to add to my routine. This might sound very conceited or cocky, but I’ve got Crohn’s, and I’ve been dealing with that since around 2011 or 2012. I’ve already been consuming cannabis and concentrates, and now I’ve got my own collab with Blue River. So that part is organic to me.
With the food, I always wanted a restaurant. So with these projects, it’s like, why not? You know what Ye said, and granted, he might be controversial to some people, but you can’t take away what he did and what he’s still doing. Who are the kids going to listen to? I guess me, if it isn’t you. I really take that seriously because I’ve got a nine-year-old, and if it’s not cool to him, I don’t care who it’s cool to. He’s the coolest person in the world, and he thinks I’m the coolest person.
So on that note, I’m trying to have the restaurant. Actually, I will have the restaurant. Not trying. Excuse me. I’ve got to manifest it. I’d love to have the restaurant, and I want all the music to be received well. I want to show people what I think is cool and have them be like, “Oh, that’s fire.” That’s P On The Boards for a reason. It’s my interpretation of the world, whether it comes to food, music, cannabis, or all your senses, literally.
I’ve already got the music part. The same way y’all know me for this music stuff, y’all are going to know me for the food stuff too. I mean that literally. We can put rent money on it. I’ll battle all y’all. It’s only me. That’s it. And the cannabis too, we could battle that too. We could put your jar against my jar. This isn’t one of those cute one-off situations. This is organic. So the way I am in music, I’m trying to bring that same energy to cannabis and reflect that same thing with food. @peeonthewrld is everything. I might start designing shoe racks. I don’t even know. My boy Adam has a crazy design eye, so we might do that. I might do toothpaste. Literally, the world is mine, so I’ll do everything.
What advice would you give to new producers who want to build their brand within the music industry?
First and foremost, make sure you have a lawyer. Do that, okay? Because y’all be having Supreme, but you don’t be having lawyers. That’s backwards. Get your lawyer.
I’m not going to lie, reach out now. No disrespect to content creators, but sometimes I see people giving information about these DAWs, and I’m like, “I don’t even know where their music is.” You don’t really run into the music. Then there are producers who are just as successful, but they’re not getting the same spotlight. So it’s like, bro, reach out to these companies. My big homie Hack showed me there’s another world to this beyond being in front of the camera. You’ve got to be behind it too. He showed me that.
Everything you guys want to do, there’s no waiting. Don’t wait for the next placement. What if everything shuts down? It could be some server issue, or technology could shut down right at that perfect time you thought was going to come. You have to create that time. Don’t wait on anybody, because the only thing waiting on you is the bills. So do what you want to do. Do you want to be cool, or do you want to be paid? Think about that. Cool or paid. Because if the bills are paid, that’s cool. But if they aren’t paid, then there you go.
If you’re thinking about getting paid, don’t wait. Do it now. Whatever idea you have, do it. At some point, you might not be able to do it, or you’ll look back and realize there was a time when you had the means to do it. Whether that was time, energy, or money, you had the chance. I don’t want to live with regrets, because think about how much time we spend making music. If we worked for other companies, we’d be going to meetings in pajamas. But you’ve got to give and get. That’s the fee we pay for this beautiful thing called music.
So don’t wait. Do it. I’m trying to be an example of that. I feel like what Metro did with Spider-Man and all that was crazy. I just want to blaze a trail and show people that you can do more. Think about Tech N9ne as an independent rapper. Do producers have somebody like that? I just want to blaze a trail and show people that you can do genres. You can do it all. We make beats, bro. It’s already one of those things where your tough uncle might look at you crazy when you say you make beats, so just do it.
Follow A$AP P on the Boards on Instagram: @asvp_p
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