I Think That What Happens Is That

I Really Love Rap Music. I Grew Up In The '80s And '90s With Public Enemy, N.w.a., Ll Cool J - I'm A Hip-hop Encyclopedia. But I Got Kind Of Frustrated With The Chauvinistic Side Of Rap Music, The One That Makes It Hard To Write Songs About Love And Relationships.

Hip-hop Was My First Real Love, One That Was My Own And Wasn't My Parents' Music. Initially, I Was Inspired By Hip-hop Fashion. Over The Years, I Kept The Hip-hop Sensibility, But Make It My Own.

I Grew Up In The '80s And '90s Listening To Public Enemy And Mobb Deep And The Smashing Pumpkins. I Don't Even Know What It Was Like In The '60s - I Wasn't Alive Then - So The Mayer Hawthorne Sound Is Taking What I Can Learn From The Classics, And Blending It With My Hip-hop Dj And Producer Background And Punk-rock Bands That I Played In As A Kid.

My Grandma Ricky - That's Where I Got Classic Look From. She Was The Most Stylish Person Ever. She Had Her Own Clothing Store And Even Her Furniture Was Stylish. I Got My "flashy, But Classy" Motto From Her, Too. Whenever She Walked In The Room, She Was Always The Most Stylish Person In The Room.

I Didn't Appreciate Mick Jagger Until I Got Older, And Mainly Because Of The Mick Jagger Swagger. He Defined That For The World. He Was Bold And Adventurous With It, Too - Just The Ultimate Rock Star.