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AllHipHop caught up with August08 in downtown Los Angeles to discuss his roots, selling Kendrick beats back in the day, the moment he fell in love with hip-hop, finding his voice, his new projects, studio essentials, goals, and more!

Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window) Los Angeles has always left their mark on the music scene, home to some of the greatest musicians across all genres. And while most will think of rap or hip-hop when they hear South Los Angeles, August08 is here to bring a breath of fresh air, boasting a euphonious voice that translates into his unique sound and lane. A rare find overall, August08 was adopted into the 88Rising family, a story which blows his mind to this day. During a session with Pharrell and Rich Brian, August08 found himself playing music for 88Rising founder Sean Miyashiro, who immediately signed him on the spot after hearing his music. The tradeoff? Being able to be his own recording artist while songwriting for all the greats on the label. Fast forward to today, August08 is excited as ever to be releasing his new project titled Towards The Sun, with the second installment Towards The Moon arriving shortly after via Def Jam. The former features an all-star guest appearance from TDEs own ScHoolboy Q. AllHipHop caught up with August08 in downtown Los Angeles to discuss his roots, selling Kendrick beats back in the day, the moment he fell in love with hip-hop, finding his voice, his new projects, studio essentials, goals, and more! AllHipHop: Being from South LA, could you paint that picture of the household growing up? August08: The household growing up was my mom, my two sisters and my dad when I was super super young. We lived in Compton with my grandmother for a while before my dad started getting some bread. It was a normal black family, in the hood. AllHipHop: You mentioned Compton, how does it see someone like Kendrick get mainstream attention? August08: I always say Im from LA because it makes it hard for people to understand. I dont want to keep having to break it down. But seeing Kendrick, I used to make beats for Kendrick when I was 15 or 16 years old. He used to buy beats from me back in the day. AllHipHop: So you started as a producer? August08: I started as a producer. That happened because of this kid named Get It, I dont know how he was connected to Kendrick at the time. But Kendrick wasnt hot yet, so that s### dont count. Its because I was a jerk producer. I used to make jerk beats. AllHipHop: That s### was poppin! August08: Yes it was. I never worked with Kedrick in the studio, we literally used to send beats and he used to give us $50. AllHipHop: When did you fall in love with hip-hop? Do you remember that moment? August08: I fell in love with hip hop because of Kid Cudi. Kid Cudi is still one of my favorite rappers of all time, one of my favorite introverts of all time. The first song I fell in love with is Open Your Eyes, by Dwele and Common. That was my first song that I actually looked up on my own as a person. As a kid, that was the first song I ever looked up. Channel Tres is my best friend growing up, thats my family. He sent that to me on MySpace. That was my favorite song, the first artist I ever looked up and looked into. AllHipHop: When did you decide you wanted to start producing? August08: That happened a little after that. My cousins and them had a studio at the crib. They were making beats, so I started making beats with them. Reako who I still work with to this day, he was making beats at the crib. I said f### it, Ima do it too. I stayed the summer with him because my mom thought I wasnt tough enough, so she sent me over there. Even though he was from the hood. I dont understand the double down of being from the hood and sending me to even more hooder than the hood. Its the hood! AllHipHop: Were you getting in trouble as a kid? Were you in the streets at all? August08: My street activity didnt start until I was 17, but I didnt even care about the streets. AllHipHop: Do you like sports? Video games? August08: I like football and baseball. I never was a video game fan, but I be playing video games as of late. Id be playing this farming game thats on Xbox Game Pass. I got an Xbox X now because Im bougie. A n*gga got some money now, so Ill be playing the most childish game we could find on that m###########. Farming. AllHipHop: I was just interviewing someone about growing up in the hood, they said sports was the only way you think you can make it out. August08: Hell yeah. Yes! Then I realized I wasnt that tall like I thought I was. Ive always been somebody who had confidence. Ive always been a confident person naturally, so I always thought I was the one of the biggest n*ggas in the room all my life. So playing sports, I was out there killing. I was on the defensive line getting two sacks a game. But then when we play the better schools, I realized oh s###, n*gga you small. Im 511, Im not that tall. Im not that big of a guy. I quit 11th grade, because I wanted to make music. Thats the reason I quit. I told my coach, he saw me from across the campus like n*gga where you been at?! Because our coach, Coach Mark, was a known gang member. He was a r Read more