“I like that style, the melodies behind it, it’s just beautiful music,” the producer says. “And then a little hit of pop as well in some of them. Afrobeats to me is kind of me. I’ve been searching for that core genre I was going to be doing, and this is it for me. I don’t have to mix it in.”
Known previously as Husse Papito, he’s produced for known North Texas artists Shaquan Bivins, Uno Loso, MuddyManTony, Jhonnie DamnD, Godking Preach, Smoke$tkz, Ghost Cloak, DRTY WRLD and others.
His new artist name is his real name, but capitalized:
“No gimmicks, I did my real government name, because pretty much that’s what my music has always been about," he says. "It’s kind of me and my story. I try to make it where it’s other people’s stories through my story, but it’s always been about me.”
His most recent project, Don’t F**k With Texas, is an EP filled with boogie and dance songs for Texas — for Dallas, specifically. To the artist, boogie music in Dallas is a combination of dance crazes and national dances that have been influenced by hip-hop and other musical styles. This year, his goal is to take it further than Texas.
“How I do it on my EPs, I kind of corner in on the genre and shoot for that,” says the artist. “Really when it comes to mixing, I just don’t put too much compression on it. I like to let the music live — dynamics, I like where you can hear the lows and highs of the music.”
As a musician, CLEOMcLAIN remembers the first instrument he got and how it changed his life.
“When I was 8 years old I asked my mom for a keyboard for Christmas,” he says. “She told me, ‘Now, that’s the only thing you’re gonna’ get.’ You know, can’t afford anything else. But she managed to get it for me and I’ve been on fire ever since. I’ve just been learning, teaching myself. It was a cheap Casio, too, and it was the best thing I ever had.”
A lover of instrumentation, CLEOMcLAIN found the path to becoming a producer after he experienced the struggle of being an artist. In the music game where the producer controls the show, it was the most efficient move monetarily and creatively to make the switch to creating his own beats.
“I started with the guitar, it was my first craft, just writing songs on the guitar, kind of playing around at first, and I just became in love with it,” he says. “I started producing really just because I was an artist and you don’t want to wait on producers. Production can cost a lot of money, so I just started playing instruments. I play guitar, I play piano, and I kind of just learn each instrument as I go. With today’s time you can’t just be a music artist, you have to be a content creator, a video editor, a marketer, so I do all of the above,”
McLAIN stays active online, posting inspiring videos and updates of his production process. He utilizes his self-taught instrumentation skills in his music creation, layering in sounds either created or sampled, and morphs them into his own style.
“At first I was honing in,” he says, “even though I was playing guitar I was just kind of rapping, I’d play some riffs, rap to it, it was kind of folk type of music, folk guitar, then I’d rap over it. Then it kind of just grew from there.”
The Beat Goes On
After years of experimenting with different sound types, producing for as many artists as possible with varying styles, and practicing instruments that he could mesh into his unique vocal style, the artist wanted more. Like any true creative, CLEOMcLAIN’s sound has changed over the years in search of the sound that describes his soul.“I try to keep it different because as a human being I’m just growing as the years go,” he says. “The older I’m getting I’m starting to get into more singing, less rapping, I’m trying to hone in on the R&B and Afrobeats. That’s pretty much all I’m going to be dropping for the next coming years.”
His Afrobeats meet R&B to create a subgenre that combines African rhythms and sounds with traditional R&B melodies and lyrics. This unique union meshes distinct drum rhythms found in Afrobeats with melodies, soulful vocals and deep lyrics — the things we love most about R&B.
“The values that I have in my music is pretty much love, trying to create a better future, because the past has been crazy,” he says. “I come from Oak Cliff, so I’ve been wrapped in some pretty crazy things, however I can say I have grown past the things I used to do.”
More than the lyricism and subject content of his music, CLEOMcLAIN’s interest in creating keeps him engaged and wanting more. His Instagram account keeps followers hooked as well, with visuals of his latest tracks. His most recent drop, called “Mama I’m on Drugs,” is inspired by Kanye and uses hints of Afrobeat and gospel, and some R&B.
The video matches the tone of the song, with an ethereal filter showing the artist running in slow motion in an orange jumpsuit across a grassy plain. He’s currently working on a rap project titled “Men Cry in Cars,” along with a winter R&B-Afrobeat mixtape.
“Music for me, the creation of it, I was taught that it’s supposed to be fun,” he says. “Making R&B and making Afrobeats, it’s not only harder to me, because rap to me can be kind of easy; I just kind of rap my thoughts — but you make an Afrobeat, it’s just more fun, it makes you think a little more. The process of it is kind of why I fell in love with it.”
