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HAMi Shares Top 5 Crazy Celebrity Encounters & New Track [TMN Premiere]

Posted by Tyler Trew - September 28, 2017

HAMi
MOLLY WATER

Soundcloud

We just can’t keep HAMi out of the dojo, which is totally fine, because we love having him here. The professional skater turned producer HAMi already stopped by for a chat once, and now he’s back with some crazy celebrity stories alongside a brand new single. You heard it here first!

“Molly Water” comes out tomorrow in full, but we’ve got you covered in the dojo with an exclusive premiere listen. Furthermore, HAMi has come as to share some wild run-ins that he’ll never forget. Enjoy “Molly Water” and read through HAMi’s top 5 crazy celebrity encounters including ones with Dave Chappelle, Ozzy Osbourne and two individuals who can’t even be named.

Lil Wayne

So around this time Wayne was really getting into skating heavy and was in LA all the time skating with all the homies. I never had the opportunity to do so though. Note that I am a huge supporter of his music so naturally I really wanted to meet him. Long story short I’m at the “Transworld” skateboarding video premiere, everyone’s is there, Wayne chilling. Super chill vibe, and my OG BFF Braydon Szafranski (pro skater) walks up to Wayne daps him up and says “I want you meet my friend Erik Hamamoto” and Wayne’s like” pssshh! HAMAMOTO!! I Fucks with HAMAMOTO!” And from there on he introduced me to his fam like “This is Hamamoto!” That’s one thing I never thought would come from skateboarding, so that taught me to just do what your heart tells you! Everything you’ve ever wanted is waiting for you.

Dave Chappelle

So after a long weekend of throwing our selves down rails and stair sets, Braydon and I would often frequent a spot called “Hyde” that’s right next door to the “Laugh factory”. So one night we leave Hyde around 1am, and as we walk out the door man says to us “Dave Chapelle is next door, and has basically crashed the show and is doing an impromptu set.” So we’re like fuck yeah and run in. We sit and the only 2 chairs available, dead center, and the second we sit down, Dave pauses and looks and Braydon and says “Holly shit! Billy idol just walk in!!” (And for those who don’t know Braydon, look him up. IG: @braydonsza). At the time Braydon looked surprisingly just like a Billy Idol look alike, so everyone just erupted with uncontrollable laughter! So Dave carries on for another 30 minutes, kills it, and everyone gave him a standing ovation! He walks through the crowd and gives everyone a hug and hand shake what ever. I proceed to slip him a medical marijuana tube, he looks at it and says “There’s no way I’m getting this on the plane!” Looks at me, gives me a wink 😉, and puts it in his pocket. Daps me up and disappeared. I was like This dude is so G!”

Big Boi (of Outkast)

So one evening I was talked into going to a “party” with my homie and this female he was just starting to see. She invited us to a GHB kick back, but at that time the only thing I had heard of GHB was on the news, so in my mind I hear “date rape party”. I was very hesitant to go, but my homie was like ” don’t trip! It’s gonna be all girls, trust me!” So out of curiosity I decided to at least check it out. So I get my self ready and we hop in a cab. We arrive to the destination which is located on the sunset strip. We cruise up stairs, walk in and there literally 5 people in total, the one female that invited us, one massive body builder looking guy, three other males, two of which were clearly already feeling the effects of the GHB, and her “best friend” who was this male model looking fella. I take one look and immediately say “I’m gonna grab some cigs from the store” and B-line for the door. So I start walking home, half way there I hear someone yelling “Axl Rose!! Yo Axl! What’s good Axl rose!!” And I approach Black Escalade with the back window cracked like half way and he’s still laughing and yelling “What’s up Axl Rose!” So I’m kinda ticked off at this point, he’s being very condescending so I approach the vehicle and the window comes down and low and behold it’s “BIG BOI” from Outkast! Who at the time was my favorite rapper calling me Axl Rose, my favorite rockstars of all time! I learned that no matter what you have to go for it! You’ll always end up with something amazing happening that had nothing to with why you’re actually there!

Ozzy Osbourne

I was acquaintances with Kelly Osbourne; we became friends through a few mutual friends. I was invited to watch her performance for “Dancing With The Stars”. Her dad was there as well. I remember him chilling cracking jokes and giggling the whole time, except for when Kelly danced. He sat silent and all I saw was a proud father. So after the performance we all chilled in the green room and Ozzy’s hyped for Kelly and we’re all chillin’ and Ozzy looks to me and says “What kind of shades are those?” I proceed to tell him “happy hour” shades and we chatted about them a bit. What I later realized is no matter how much money you have, no matter how famous you are, none of it matters with out friends and family. Also it’s way cooler to be nice to people than to stuck up and a dick.

Thee Who Shall Not Be Named

This one I can’t name names, but it was a pair of very famous siblings one of which at the time was going hard in the paint! Public getting smashed and new papers and tabloids spoke about it so on and so forth. Long story short: We’re chilling downtown NYC and I hear a knock on the door and a delivery guy is at the door with like 100 cans of whip cream. At the time I was baffled. I had no idea what the cans of whip cream were for. Once the delivery guy left the madness ensued. They started popping these cans of whip cream like it was the 4th of July!! Obviously they were doing rich people’s version of a whip it’s. They proceed to take dozens of Polaroid pictures of them huffing whip cream cans with whip cream all over their faces and clothes. I feel like I have never lived after partying with America royalty. But what I did take away was that life is too short to always be serious. Live life and it will work out its self out.

HAMi Stops By The Dojo To Talk Bass Music, Skateboarding & 40oz Cult [TMN Interview]

Posted by Tyler Trew - June 27, 2017

HAMi
"Go Hard" UZZI X HAMI [BASSRUSH PREMIERE!]

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Most producers were something before they were making money as a music producer. Most weren’t professional skateboarders, but for HAMi that was the case. Before heading up 40oz Cult with Dack Janiels and Wenzday and making bass-heavy hits, HAMi was shredding along as an official member of Emerica. Now instead of traveling the world with a board, he’s taken up traveling with some new equipment.

HAMi stopped by the dojo just before the release of his new song, a collaboration with UZZI called “Go Hard” that lives up to its name. We got to talking about his past as a skateboarder, the parallels between the skating and dance music scenes, as well as how he made the switch from one to the other. Enjoy listening to “Go Hard” while you read through HAMi’s in-depth responses. When you’re done, grab “Go Hard” for free!

TMN: How did you end up making the move from professional skating to making music?

Let’s start by saying I grew up in Las Vegas, my skater friends and I would spin vinyl when it was too hot to skate outside. I also had a few friends who were older and they would go to these warehouse parties, sadly at the time I was too young to go but still tagged along. I remember sneaking into these parties by hopping barbed wire fences, so that was the beginning. Fast forward to 2009, I was on a “Emerica” Skate tour called “The Wild Ride”, we rode motorcycles across the states, camping, skating, etc, long story short, I crashed my bike going 50mph and broke my clavicle and shattered my scapula along with a head injury and a tons of other random scrapes and bruises. I was now bedridden for 2 months. During that time, the pain and discomfort were unbearable, so I decided to buy some cannabis at a thca flower dispensary for relief.

After that, I had to go through physical therapy for an additional 8 weeks. Around this time I pick up my first laptop, I always knew skating wouldn’t last forever so at this point I came to realize I needed a new passion. Music has always been a major part of my life, even before skating, so with that being said I knew music would keep me the happiest and passionate overall for the rest of my life. I didn’t know that at the time, so I just continued to pursue skateboarding. During that time I also was trying to develop a sound as a musician on the side, playing guitar writing hooks and verses. Once I had that down I needed a way to record it, so I started using “garageband” to record my song, and out of necessity I learned how to build a drum beat.

It wasn’t until 2011-12 when I was gifted an All-Access pass to Coachella, and I witnessed Caspa and Skrillex, mind you I had no idea what dubstep was at this time but all I kept thinking was these people are killing their sets, and that was when my life changed. I became obsessed with all forms of Dance Music diving as deep as I couple possibly go, primarily drawn to the raw energy that Dubstep carried naturally. From there all I did was funnel my passion for skating into my music.

TMN: Can you tell us a little about 40oz Cult and who else is involved?

So 40oz Cult issa CULT! Dack Janiels, Wenzday, and myself are the forces behind the scene. Its an open format Collective/ Label/ Clothing brand (comprised of professional skaters, artist, graphic designers, filmers, photographers), with a background in skateboarding. We go about treating the CULT like a traditional skate company, we are a in-house family and friends operated organization. Honestly it’s for all the people out there that choose to be the oddball, people that choose to make moves when people say it’s a bad idea, for the individual that follows their gut.

TMN: Your collab with UZZI just dropped, how did that come to fruition?

So, we both just had releases on the Buygore Fresh Blood Vol. 2 and during the anticipation to the release we had a super thread that we would all coordinate post and what not. I just reached out to everyone involved and passed around my music, and the UZZI boys (Melo and Geoff) were equally as enthused as I was to get a collab going, and from there on out it flowed easy. S/O UZZI! Go check them out they’re definitely a force to be reconned with!

TMN: Who are some other artists you would want to collaborate with?

This is a tricky question only because there are so many amazing artists I would love to collab with! Skrillex, Datsik, Excision, Borgore, Getter, Flux Pavillion, CASPA, RUSKO, 12th planet, Ghastly, NGHTMRE, Funtcase, Protohype, The Frim, Barely Alive, Virtual Riot, Dubloadz, Trollphace, P0gman, Bloodthinnerz, Yakz, Svdden Death, Half Empty, Uber, Subtronics just to name a few.

TMN: Are there any parallels between dance music culture and skating culture?

Yes, most definitely they are both a pool of talented Individuals that chose to do something out of the norm. They have taken a chance to pursue their passion, and by doing so pushing the craft into places no one could ever foresee. I speak for everyone, not just the artists, but the promoters, managers, agents, TM‘S, pyro guys, sound guys, any and everyone involved.

TMN: What do you see coming in the near future for dance music?

So in my opinion dance music is just really getting started, I’m really proud and excited to see what come out in the next 5 years, now that there’s an influx of really intelligent and creative people that have access to unlimited amount of information. History has a tendency to repeats itself, but in this case, the sky’s the limit!

TMN: What’s to come from HAMi this Summer and Fall?

So currently I’ve been in the studio non-stop! I have 6 unreleased bangers that I plan to release this year… Not including collabs with Yakz, Cosma, Goldplate, Swage and Dack Janiels!!

First up is my latest single “Draco” which is dropping on July 11th, 2017 via Bigtooth Records. Keep your eyes and ears open for that one! Catch me in LA as well! I will be playing in July, date is TBD but I promise you it’s going to be LIT! Stay tune for upcoming tour dates in your area!