Lil B's 'I'm God' was the one that got the biggest reaction, so I started doing more shit like that. Soon after that, I was in a beat battle and I made another beat like that, and it turned out really good. Pitchfork: When and how did you come up with the hazy production style featured on your mixtape?Ĭlams Casino: The first thing I remember doing like that was a remix of Mobb Deep's 'Got It Twisted' in 2006. Some of those will end up on another beat tape he plans to release in the coming months.Ĭlick on to read our Q&A with Volpe and listen to more of his music:

'I just do it for a hobby,' he told me in a recent phone interview.Įven so, his self-titled tape is now being released on vinyl by experimental label Type (Grouper, Jóhann Jóhannsson), and he's got more than 200 in-progress instrumentals taking up space on his hard drive. After making beats in his spare time in high school, he started messaging MCs on MySpace in 2007 and simply 'sent beats to whomever answered.' He's currently interning at a hospital full-time and doesn't have any big rap-producer dreams. It's an intoxicating sound that recalls singer-producer How to Dress Well's Xanex'd approach to R&B (though Volpe has never heard HTDW's music).Ĭurrently residing in Nutley, New Jersey, Volpe is the son of a musician father and started playing drums at six. The recent mixtape highlights his signature style, which combines thick, East Coast snare and bass hits with blurry, almost-new-age-y samples. But he's been chopping drums for about 10 years, first for fun and then for an increasingly high-profile group of rappers including web sensation Lil B and Soulja Boy. Hip-hop producer Clams Casino- aka 23-year-old physical therapy student Mike Volpe- just released his first beats tape for free online.

Making a clams casino style beat