Dope Ass Conversation #7: MUGEN! The Human
Standing outside in single-digit weather in late January, I find myself having a conversation about anime and music with my guy MUGEN! The Human. He just finished sound check ahead of his performance at Chicago’s Golden Dagger venue. We’ve known each other for quite some time, with a friendship that started because of our mutual appreciation for anime. An appreciation that he wears on his sleeve at every performance by rocking Ichigo’s famous Hollow mask from the Bleach series like a weeb MF DOOM.
Hailing from Maryland as a rapper and producer, he’s already made a name for himself in the Chicago’s DIY scene for making all of his songs from his iPhone. His latest EP, For Her Consideration, is perhaps his most experimental project yet, abbling in hyperpop and Jersey Club adjacent sounds far more different than the dusty boom-bap beats and bars that I heard when I first began following his music. It seems he’s always doing something different with each release though, and that’s what makes him so interesting to me, aside from the fact that he’s just a nice dude.
I firmly believe that 2023 will be MUGEN’s breakout year as an artist in Chicago. So I took the initiative to pull up on him in the cold weather and chop it with him before his performance because when he starts to blow up, people can be directed to this Q&A and learn more about one of Chicago’s most eclectic hip-hop artists below:
Who is the MUGEN! The Human?
I'm a PG baby, and I just want to show the world that it doesn't matter how you create something. It just matters that you do create something, you know what I mean? You don't really know if what you make is gonna be ass or not until you put it out into the world. So, I'm just a n—a that just wants to put what I got into the world and see what comes with it.
You’ve become known for making all your songs through your iPhone. What’s the deal with that? Why not just download FL Studios on your laptop?
I didn't actually get a laptop until I moved here for college. So by that point, I was already making beats on my phone because that's just what I had for real. I started playing guitar at six and I've been doing music ever since, but I didn't create my own stuff until I started producing in my junior year of high school. So just pulled out the phone, got the DJ app, and just started making these terrible mashups and using the few drum sounds they had on there to make loops and beats. And you know, shit was ass of course, but it wasn't ass enough for me to give up. Eventually, I branched into GarageBand. And just over the years, they updated the app. As I grew as a producer, the app also grew, but it's really just been a trial-and-error thing. Just kind of like getting to the point where I just made so much stuff on my phone and people enjoyed it to the point where I couldn't stop. I feel like there's still so much untapped potential on the phone that it'd be a disservice to myself to just completely get rid of it. And I’m definitely in the studio for sure. I've definitely made stuff in with studio equipment, but I think I've made something for myself with his iPhone, so I’m trying to see how long I can ride the wave.
You do make a lot of different styles of music, and I would even say your most recent project is your most out-of-left-field shit. How important is it for you to not box yourself into one thing?
It’s hella important because, and I'm not even trying to sound pretentious, but it's like second nature to me. Even growing up, my favorite artists weren't even hip-hop artists. So no matter what, my sensibilities are going to be a little bit more eclectic than simply just hip-hop. So feeling the need to branch out from time to time is hella important to me. With ‘For Her Consideration,’ I kind of just wanted to show people that I can have my fun while still being able to say something with a little bit of substance. When you compare it to the other stuff that I dropped last year, yeah, my range of versatility is definitely on whole display there. I do the rap thing and I do it well, but, you know, there's more to me as a rapper. And I'm not the type of n—a that's gonna say, “Yeah, I'm not a rapper. I'm an artist.” I'm a rapper through and through. I'm just a rapper that has a lot of things in my hat that I can pull out. I just like surprising people because you never know what you're gonna get from me.
And who were some of those artists that influenced you growing up?
My two favorite artists of all time are The Gorillaz and John Mayer. Sorry to all the Swifties out there, but growing up playing guitar, of course John Mayer would be my idol, especially at the age I was when he came out. The sound he’s cultivated for himself, taking blues and R&B, now recently more getting into pop and even being able to dip in Bluegrass and country, he’s just an individual that’s very eclectic and able to showcase range. Same thing for The Gorillaz, they were the ones that introduced me to DOOM and a lot of hip-hop artists. I’ve always gravitated toward artists that don’t fit into a specific genre. I'm not gonna lie, if I ever meet Damon Albarn or John in person, those are the only two grown men that could make me cry. I wouldn't even cry if I met Jesus. Maybe DOOM and J Dilla, but they're dead.
Aside from music, I know anime is another big influence on you. You’re literally rocking the Bleach Hollow mask right now, and your stage name comes from a character in Samurai Champloo, so let’s talk about that.
Samurai Champloo is literally how I started rapping. The Nujabes soundtrack changed my production for the better. I’m definitely a lo-fi, boom-bap producer, but it was the samples and the chops that inspired me heavily. And my people are from Detroit, so I grew up heavily on Dilla, and in my opinion, Dilla and Nujabes just go hand in hand. So when I started producing and rapping, there had be some way to pay homage to my upbringing and also the fact that I’m a huge nerd, so I figured I might as well go by Mugen. I only added “ The Human” because there’s like 50,000 other Mugens out there rapping, so I had to differentiate myself. Everything I do is inspired by and stems from those days when I was watching Samurai Champloo in my room. And even though I do other styles, at the end of the day, I'm definitely a boom-bap, lofi ass n—a at my core.
What does it mean for you to come from and represent PG County and the DMV?
It means everything to me and I'm very proud of where I come from. It made me who I am. And being able to bring that energy to a new environment like Chicago and have that be embraced is a privilege. It's not something that I don’t take for granted and it's just something that I want to build upon. I'm not the type of n—a to come from out of town and use Chicago as like a trampoline to bounce to wherever the fuck. I believe in creating something here because it's embraced me and I just want to continue to do that.
You also rep local music crew, Mp3dotcom. How did y’all link up?
School was what started it. A couple of us met at school and started doing the open mic circuit. Then started branching into the DIY shows and just continued to get introduced to people whether it was in school or outside, I just really meshed with the people that I've added to my circle. We really are like a family, you know what I mean? I know a lot of people say that but like, we really is just like a band of brothers for real because we just be stupid as fuck. Yeah, we do the music shit, we're out here, we them n—s. But like, we are just a bunch of fucking dumbasses and that's why we work so well because we just enjoy each other's company and I think that's why we're gonna win. We just enjoy each other's company and we make this shit together. Shout out to them. I could not be where I am right now without having them have my back.
Any final words you want to share?
Like I said at the beginning it doesn't matter how you make your shit. As long as you make it and put it out. You aren't going to know if ass if nobody listens to it and tells you so. So just do shit and fuck whatever anybody says. Just do you because that's gonna take you a lot further than doing what anybody else tells you to do, for real.
