So, does that make you half awkward? (Laughs)
Nah, I’m not! Producers, anywhere, they create an atmosphere where there’s no rules, and everybody is on the same wavelength and in a zone where they can be totally creative. And awkward people can’t do that. If you’re feeling awkward, you’re not being creative. Like you’re thinking about the awkwardness. (Laugh)
What’s next for Mike Posner? You got the deal now, I’m assuming you’re gonna be working on the album.
Yea, I was already working on the album before the deal. That’s the cool thing about writing and producing your own shit. I don’t need like twenty bagillion dollars to pay Timbaland to do my shit, know what I’m saying? But, I made ‘em give me all of August off, no shows, just to record man. There’s gonna be a new mixtape for me that’s gonna be doper than my first mixtape that’s gonna come out in September or October. In the fall…like a back to school present. It’s gonna be nuts! I gotta go back to school. I’ll be sneaking in shows, sneaking into class, sneaking out of class early, and just keep making hot shit.
So, you’re life is about to get crazy?
Yea man, it’s gonna be intense. But, I can’t envision my senior year going any better than the way it’s about to go.
What’s campus life like now that you have a little bit of fame? Is it still normal?
Um, Duke is home base. Annnnd it’s summer right now, so I can’t really answer that question as accurate as you might want. (Laugh) I’ll answer it like this. I’m living in a house off of east campus. Anybody that wants to come party and visit Mike Posner and go through the Mike Posner experience is more than invited to come. (Laugh) You know?
Now, you’re living the college life right now. Part of that includes wild parties and lots of drinking. When I interviewed Ash (Roth) we were talking about beer pong and he was claiming how he was the beer pong champ. I told him when he touches down in Orlando I’d have to challenge him. But he breezed through town and we didn’t get the chance to. So do you get down with beer pong?
I totally am man! I’ll be totally honest though, I’ve been working really hard so I’m a bit rusty. I don’t know if you saw after my show in Orlando, I went to another room and beat this kid’s ass. In Chicago I had two shows, so I had a day off in between. So, I went to Northwestern and played. And I got my ass beat by Northwestern. Actually I’m friends with Ash and I met him before things really started getting crazy for him. It’s a blessing for me, like I really value his friendship. But, I had the same conversation with him man, and I was talking shit to him about how I was gonna whip his ass in beer pong. I was tired of school one weekend, so I went to Atlanta and spent Halloween weekend with him. It was a ball and got really fucked up, but we didn’t play. I think we should do a beer pong tournament for charity or something.
We can coordinate that…
I’ll play him in Pennsylvania somewhere, and he can come play me at Duke.
Might have to do it around March Madness time or something…
Who else could be in on that? Who else can we get?
I don’t know man, we can get some other artist’s involved though. We’ll definitely arrange it.
Well, I’m down man! You know where to find me.
So, it seems like you and (Big) Sean have a pretty close relationship. How did you guys meet? I know ya’ll from the same area…doesn’t mean ya’ll gonna run into each other up there though.
Yea, Sean’s from the city and like I said before I’m from the suburbs right outside of Detroit. Before and after he got signed to Kanye he would be up at the radio on the air every Friday with these DJs, Qi Jones and Sean Anthony, freestyling. Me and Pat Piff, we were both interning at the radio station. Pat, who is one of Sean’s good friends, told Sean that I was dope producer – he should check me out. When I got done folding t-shirts one day…(laughs)
(Laughs) Uh-oh, the Promo Department intern?
…ah dude I was in the prize closet man which is the worst, the worst! Every day the (radio) cars would go out and they would just give away shit, like t-shirts and whatnot. So everyday there’d be like this huge mess in this closet and they’d be like, “yo, organize these 25,000 shirts. Fold them, and label them by size, then put ‘em on the shelf.” (Laughs) Sorry, getting off topic…So Sean ends up coming to the crib one day and I played him beats, and I ended up producing a song for him way back in the day that you’ll probably never hear. And the rest is history… We’ve just grown as artists and people over the last four years that we’ve known each other and become like best friends. And as artists there’s shit that we can talk about with each other that other people really don’t understand. So it’s become a really valuable relationship for both of us.
So are you doing some production on his debut album?
Yea, yea! That’s probably why he was just calling me; we have to finish up this song. We wrote this dope ass song together, so we gotta put it down.
Cool, well we’re looking forward to what you and Sean got coming up. I appreciate the sit down…
…anytime man!
No doubt! I like what Dan has going with Elitaste, with you and Wale and whoever else he adds to the roster. So, I’m always down. I like dealing with real people who make real music – which is kinda where it’s going back to. This recession, and not just in music, it’s flushing out the system; flushing out the garbage. And I’m excited about that…
Definitely…you know the only other person I’ve heard say that is Jay-Z…flushing out the system. He said nothing better could’ve happened to music. He’s like, “all the bullshit is gonna go away.”
That’s dope! I missed hearing him say that.
Yea…nah, he said it in a room with me in it. That’s probably why! (Laughs)
