Today we’d like to introduce you to Rod Kirkpatrick, better known to some as KP.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
There was always music playing around the house (soul, blues, jazz, rock, pop, etc.), and being that my dad had been a blues guitarist/singer since before I was born, there was always this air organ/keyboard and a couple of guitars around the house to tinker with. By the time Hip Hop took off in ’79, I was already a music lover, but something about the raw funkyness of Hip Hop turned it into a lifelong labor of love for me. I started teaching myself how to DJ in the 5th grade with no internet (YouTube, etc.), started DJing a few house parties by the 7th grade and by the 9th grade I had a little setup of early model sampling equipment to produce with (2 keyboards: A Casio SK-1 and Casio SK-5, a Casio RZ-1 Drum Machine and lots of records).
I had an active social life and ran these D-town streets some, but my little music universe kept me at home a lot. I produced my first pressed and nationally released record (What You Gotta Gun For? by a Dallas group called U Know Who) when I was 19 yrs old, and when we were recording their next album in Atlanta back in ’92, I met Erick Sermon (of EPMD, Hit Squad, and Def Squad fame). He heard my music and was like “Yo, you from where?… Dallas?” lol It was hard for people in New York to understand that people from the South had skills at that time. NY and Cali had the game on lock back then.
In ’97, by the time I had produced several records for and with Erick Sermon and the Def Squad camp, the Puff Daddy era had taken over and changed the music scene. So by ’98, somewhere between trying to keep up with the new, shiny, more Pop sound that everybody in the industry had started demanding for the first time in Hip Hop’s history… and the gritty, funkier sound being almost completely replaced, I slipped through the cracks of big-time music producer fame and decided to move back to Dallas. It was a crazy time back then. Nobody really saw it coming, but the labor of love continues to this day. And I just want to add right here that there’s a whole lot of talent in DFW: Loose Cannons, Louis Gray, Rakim Al-Jabbaar, DQ Hampton, Que P, Saskwatch Ugly, Lyrikill, Teleoso, Alsace Carcione, Moka Soulfly, Neeky Devero, Wesley Warhol (he moved, but we’re still gonna claim him, lol), Fort Knox, Pikahsso… there’s plenty of people I’m forgetting to name right now, and I’m just naming emcees. There are dope musicians here… producers, singers… you name it. There’s really no good reason why DFW can’t be a bigger, stronger music hub right now.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Not really. The main struggles for a lot of people came from the fact that everything wasn’t connected online back then. No Instagram, no YouTube. So, if you wanted to really get something going, you had to hit the road and go where the action was, and with no social media, opportunities were harder to find, but possible. The experience put hairs on your chest and gave you a thick skin though, you really didn’t have any other choice. It was hustle or drown.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
KP Productions is a music production company that specializes in Hip Hop, but being that I’m a music lover with an eclectic and sort of eccentric ear, I dabble in all kinds of other little “musical experiments” as well. For example, I have Soul, Rock, Jazz and Electronic tracks that haven’t quite surfaced yet (maybe they will one day). But regardless of what kind of music it is, I like to keep the grooves raw… and not “too” shiny or lush. That’s more my lane.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I was pretty much a cool, laid back, down-to-earth, kind of rough around the edges, sort of tough.. nerd, if that makes any sense. Lol. When I say nerd, I mean I was attracted to science (as well as music) and learning how things worked. The science behind things. I also grew up having to fight from a young age (from 5 years old till around 9). So, by the time I was a young teen, I was tired of bs drama. I saw it for what it really was and started learning the importance of developing my confidence instead of ego. My family had just moved to South Oak Cliff from South Dallas a little before I was born, so I always stayed grounded.
Contact Info:
- Website: sounds.com/creator/28
- Email: rodkirkp@gmail.com
Image Credit:
Fu-Schnickens and Keith Murray photos: courtesy of Jive Records
Erick Sermon Album Covers (the small pic with all of the eyes on it): courtesy of Def Jam
Funklord Sound Kits 1-4: courtesy of Divided Souls Ent. and Native Instruments
ROD-KP Pic (with the gray hat on): courtesy of Marcellus Suber, owner of Timewarped Studios
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