Mr. Hanky has provided the soundtrack for Atlanta for decades, and now he has a pack of original tracks for the Atlanta Hawks to play this season.
The super producer spoke to rolling out about the partnership and his career.
How did this partnership with the Atlanta Hawks come about?
I met [Hawks chief marketing officer] Melissa Proctor. She was telling me about some of the challenges they were having playing popular music during the game. She was like, “I wish we could have our own soundtrack.” And I was like, “What do you mean?” And she was like, “We just need our own beats to play during the game.” I was like, “OK, cool.” We talked about it for a day or two. I sent over 30 to 40 tracks [for] her team. We went through each one of them – and here we are.
What did that work structure look like? Did you have that many beats sitting around?
They weren’t really sitting, honestly. Out of all of them, I sent maybe two or three, which were already sitting around. A lot of these were made straight from scratch. [It was a matter] of really just digging in, seeing what Atlanta wanted and what they wanted from it. So, I literally did it from scratch.
What was the creation process like with the City Girls and Usher single “Good Love?”
Being a native Atlantan, man, it was second nature. Shout out to Coach K [who] came in. We had the “Twerkulator” record that was going very well, and he just called me out of the blue.
I thought he was going to be talking about “Twerkulator.” He was like, “No, we need to do this one next.” And I was like, “OK.” I literally dropped everything I was doing, sent it back to him and a couple of months later, here we are.
What are your three favorite beats you’ve ever made?
Definitely “Good Love.” Man, this is so hard. This is like asking a parent who their favorite child is … I guess “Twerkulator” and “Livin’ My Best Life” by Lil Duval.
What advice do you have for aspiring producers?
Think outside the box. Like with this project, it’s not the typical thing that most producers would do or agree to. But I like to think outside the box man because the game is forever changing. It’s always innovating, and who knows? With a city like Atlanta, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t have our own soundtrack authorities, dope artists, dope producers of all genres, not just hip-hop. A lot of dope country. It just fits.
What are you looking forward to most this NBA season?
Man, just a great season. A lot of energy from the city. This is a lot of energy, that Atlanta hometown energy, and you see it’s sold out tonight. So we just got to keep that energy going.
