Proppa‘s journey through the EDM scene has seen his sound evolve, but his unwavering passion has remained a constant force in his evolution. He has made a name for himself in the underground house scene with his extensive catalog of banging “Proppa Treatments” remixes on his SoundCloud. With two releases already making waves under his current label EXCEED, a division of Vicious Records, Proppa celebrated a milestone as one of his coveted remixes broke through to major streaming platforms. Last Friday, November 3, he unleashed “Always On Time.”
In this tune, he reimagines the classic Ja Rule and Ashanti hit with a tech-house twist that’s pure Proppa featuring irresistibly groovy, mood-setting guitar riffs and an iconic vocal above a relentless bassline. With the spotlight on, let’s delve deeper into Proppa’s world in our exclusive interview.
Brodie Kime: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Proppa: I’m Proppa! I’m a 28-year-old DJ and producer from Chicago.
BK: How long have you been making music? Do you play any instruments? What is your hardware/software setup like? How do you feel technology has evolved your music?
P: I’ve been making music for nearly 12 years. I play pretty much anything you put in my hands if I have a few minutes to figure it out. But I mainly play guitar and drums. I have a studio at home that I take a lot of pride in. It’s acoustically treated and the perfect creative rocket ship to work in every day. I use Logic Pro!
BK: How has starting your own Patreon and being involved with Dropgun evolved your knowledge of producing? Do you have any other thoughts on how Patreon has helped your career since starting it?
P: Both of my endeavors with Patreon and Dropgun have been way more beneficial than I initially imagined. Working in both capacities has forced me to double down on the basic knowledge that we often ignore. Doing Patreon work has forced me to become an expert sound designer, and I have a constant flow of new sounds for myself as a bonus. Working with Dropgun has opened many doors for me in the broader URL production community. It has also taught me how to be consistent with social media content creation.
BK: What inspires your sound, particularly in this new release?
P: “Always On Time” was just a small pawn in the broader field of my remixes. I remix songs that bring back fond memories of my childhood and teenage years. I always try to preserve the most important elements of the original and make them dancier without sounding cheesy or phoned in. I really just thought this guitar groove was asking for a groovy beat and bassline underneath.
BK: This song was originally just a Proppa Treatment. What was the process like finally getting a Proppa Treatment to the main streaming platforms?
P: It’s been tough to be honest. This was maybe the 4th attempt at getting a Proppa Treatment onto all platforms. During my first attempt, I was met with a cease and desist [order] for the song before I could finish the covered vocals and instruments. My next two attempts brought on creative challenges on their own. It’s been hard to adjust to hearing some of these remixes as covers without the original vocals and sounds. Receiving the covered vocals for “Always On Time” brought me a huge sigh of relief when I knew they could be worked with to match the original.
BK: You’ve had other Proppa Treatments go viral and do really well, can you speak on how that has helped your career? Any additional thoughts on the Missy edit?
P: In the grand scheme of things, the Proppa Treatments have done well overall. However, I don’t think I could attribute my success to the individual virality of each remix as much as it is the body of work as a whole. I was consistent for almost a whole year with releasing two and sometimes three remixes per month. I built a really good rapport with DJs in the house scene who knew that when they were downloading my remix, they were getting a crowd-pleaser. When you build out a library of songs like that, more DJs are willing to trust and support your future releases.
If I did have to reference any remix as the breadwinner, it definitely was the Missy Elliott remix. The cease and desist [order] slowed down my growth significantly. An artist with a smaller library of releases would probably be crushed, but I think I padded that fall with enough quality remixes around it to keep going. It’s a thing of the past at this point, and I’ve realized the sooner I let go of it and move on, the quicker my brand will grow.
BK: How much do you plan to keep releasing remixes and bootlegs?
P: I’m currently unsure on the state of that. Things are complicated because of my various commitments, and I’ve also been exploring new sounds and styles. I think I’m in a development period of Proppa2.0.
BK: Do you have any more projects in the works? Or, any releases with anyone else in the works you’d like to share or tease?
P: I have so many projects in the works that I forget how excited I am about them. I have so much finished music at the moment. I’m exploring some faster speeds of house and different sound design. Of what I can talk about, I have a hot remix collab cooked up with DJ Susan, a dirty original tech house track with Diskull, and an epic classic dance remix wrapping up with my Ancient.exe. I have a lot more collabs in the works that I’m keeping hush on. Also, if you scroll to my most popular remix on my SoundCloud, you might notice that downloads are turned off. Hmm, I wonder why?
BK: What’s a message that you always try to portray to your fans?
P: Being authentic is the most powerful trait you could have. Being authentic can take you further in life than any shortcuts you’re presented with. In the electronic music world, that means being honest about who’s working on your music, being honest and grateful for the reasons behind your success, and consistently growing to be a better artist, brand, and role model in the scene. In the everything world, this same authenticity will take you to the top, and keep you protected while you’re up there.
Q: Lastly, at Moon Lvnding we always try to practice gratitude. What is something that you’re grateful for right now? It can be in your personal life or career.
A: There’s too many things and I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently. I have such an amazing studio at home, one that I have only ever dreamed of till this year. I have an amazing apartment to be creative in and I can’t believe it. I currently keep four active production students and I can’t thank them enough for being them. They all inspire me to keep learning, and their recent success makes me feel like I’m making a difference. I’m also very thankful for my sister. She inspires the hell out of me. She works so hard, and when she finds something she wants to do and be successful in she just… does it. Just like that. She lives down the street from me and I don’t know where I’d be without her. I’m thankful for my family and all of my music friends, I’m just a lucky guy.
Thanks again to Proppa for joining us on Moon Lvnding. His fans will have a chance to catch him in action in Chicago this month, November 18. He will be part of ONE BIG PARTY: dB Stereo’s 1 Year Celebration at 2247 North Lincoln. To keep up with all the latest news and releases from Proppa, connect through his social links below.
