This is the second part of our interview with experimental hip-hop producer, Harper Rush.
Looking for part one? Click Here
Salty Slug: “So what’s your goal with this project? What do you want the outcome to be from doing this?”
Harper Rush: “Well I mean obviously, like, world tour. A million views on every video, world tour. That’s Plan A. (laughing)”
S: “Would you be willing to take it in a live direction or would you rather stay behind the Mac & MIDI controller?”
H: “Honestly live has always been part of the goal for me. It’s just never really lined up, just because I’ve always lived in the middle of nowhere or just don’t have access to a scene. I’ve tried playing live a couple times at places that aren’t my scene. I’ve gone up on an open mic and between two guys with guitars with my sampler. And I’ve bombed because no one’s there for that. You know what I mean? [...] Every now and then on YouTube I’ll do a live mix or something. I think about that as my live shows right now because where else am I gonna play 30 minutes of music and have 100 people see it? That feels like the live show right now. ”
S: “Well even Travis Scott had to do a Fortnite concert to reach the kids.”
H: “Fuck, I’d do a Fortnite show.”
We divert here to have a 3 minute conversation about Roblox’s robust customization system and in-game DJ performances, which eventually comes back around to the next set of questions about Harper’s production techniques:
S: “So I’ve seen from your videos you mostly use stock Ableton plugins and Freakshow Industries plugins. What are your favorite tools that you use in every song or most of your work?”
H: “Ableton Simpler. The built-in sample player. I used to be really obsessed with only using Ableton plugins. I think it was this crabby, poor person mentality. Like ‘fuck your plugins!’ [...] I’m anti-plugin for awhile. But I’ve just recently realized there’s no point to that attitude and getting more into plugins. Pretty much every patch [I use] is a sample used in Simpler, though. [...] I pretty much only use free plugins because fuck that.”
S: “What’s your favorite hardware that you use?”
H: “Well right now, it’s the Medieval thing*. It’s pretty cool. For me, I love battery-powered stuff. That’s almost a necessity for being a part of my setup. This has used the same set of batteries since I got this. Not trying to knob slob on Teenage Engineering here but...”
S: “Nah, I get it. It’s cool, I have a Pocket Operator sitting right in front of me. It’s a fun toy.”
*By “the Medieval thing,” Harper is referring to his EP-1320 Medieval sampler by Teenage Engineering (shown below). I’ve also seen him using the Volca Nubass, an Akai MPC 500, a Korg Kaossilator KO-1, as well as an odd Radio Shack-esque ‘90s sound effects box.
S: “I know you have a couple collaborative songs with other artists. Are those your friends or people you meet online? I saw there’s a song with Sideshow, an EP with Best Girl, and a few others.”
H: “Yeah those are just either my friends or honestly if someone reaches out to me on Instagram and says, ‘hey you want to make music together?’ I’m probably just going to say yes. You know? I make music all the time. Like Best Girl, he’s actually my buddy’s friend. I’ve never met him in real life even though he lives like an hour away. So we collaborated that EP entirely over the Internet. Sideshow is my buddy that I know in real life who doesn’t have an Internet presence. He’s just not an Internet guy, you know what I mean?”
S: “I respect that 100%.”
H: “Yeah I do too, it’s crazy honestly.”
S: “Is there anybody you’re looking to collaborate with in the future? Do you have anything upcoming or a dream collab?”
H: “I do have something that I’m currently working on, but it’s kind of more the other guy’s thing so I don’t necessarily want to out it yet. I don’t know if he’d want that. But dream collaboration? I want to work with DJ Smokey. You know, I obviously got a lot of my swag with the tags from him, you know what I mean?”
S: “I assume you like the new Skrillex album then?”
H: “Oh, big time. Yeah, I listen to that all the time. I listened to that yesterday at work, like twice.”
S: “(Laughing) Yeah it’s pretty good. I like it.”
H: “But I would say like the lifetime dream collaboration is probably Damon Albarn. Because the Gorillaz have been pretty much at the top of my list as long as I’ve had opinions about music, you know?”
S: “Yeah I got you. [...]"
S: "As a sort of wrap-up, do you have a tagline or a ‘here’s my plug’ that you want people to know about you and your project?”
H: “I’m doing this because it’s fun. I feel like it’s an expression of my inner self. I’m trying to be real with it. You know? With the videos I try to keep it simple and barely edited because you’re just looking at it. The concept of my YouTube was that I’ve been doing this for years, I’m going to start filming it, you know? And I’ll just see what happens from that. It’s almost been a conscious effort to not do anything differently because I’m filming it. [...] I’m allergic to trying because I just want it to seem like you’re getting a window into my day.”
S: “I definitely admire that. As soon as there’s a camera I feel stressed out immediately. [...] I don’t like to be on camera.”
H: “Yeah, I’ve filmed a lot of videos I don’t end up using. Sometimes it just doesn’t work. Sometimes I just can’t do it because I feel like I’m being watched, you know?”
“I’m doing this because it’s fun. I feel like it’s an expression of my inner self. I’m trying to be real with it. You know?"
S: “Do you try to do it everyday? I know you put up a video every other day, pretty much. Do you make a conscious effort to sit down every evening and make a beat or is it just whenever you feel like it?”
H: “I mean, I try to have it be the first thing. It’s mostly just the second thing. But I’m trying to make it like a ritualistic part of every single day. I mean it’s hard because, you know, like yesterday my work shift was 12:00pm to 10:00pm which doesn’t leave a lot of time before or after for other day activities and stuff like that. So it’s really just kind of influenced by [that]. Like in my brain, this is kind of like how other people might see playing a video game or something. Like this is the thing that’s kind of always in the back of my mind, I want to go be doing. So basically, just as often as I can.”
S: “That’s a good way to wrap things up, honestly. Is there anything else you want to plug besides yourself like friends that make music or anything you got on rotation?”
H: “Um, shoutout my dad. He got me my Volca Nubass. Shoutout my dad, big time.”
Buy Harper’s physical merch NOW on Bandcamp – he’s got CDs, flash drives, tapes, and more sick merch for low, low prices. His new album, “Hobo Dinner 2” is one of my favorites of 2025, along with his other new (dungeon synth) record, “As the Crow Flies.”
If you’re a cheap ass, stream Harper’s music EVERYWHERE: Apple Music, Bandcamp, SoundCloud, Spotify, YouTube. While you’re doing that, check out Harper’s website and follow him on Instagram.
This interview was originally conducted on April 19th, 2025 and published on our old website.
