Exclusive Interview: HonorFlowProductions Delves on Their Creative Tastes, Their Inspirations & Their New Single “Cruise Control”

We are happy to have you today. Tell us about your 2021 so far! What have you guys been up to?

DJisLORD: 2021 has been a good year so far. I am fully vaccinated and open to work. Being the DJ of the group, I have been blessed with the ability to do what I love and that is “DEEJAY” to a live crowd nowadays. It’s an amazing feeling to able to DJ and perform to a live crowd, not just through a live stream audience. During my sets, I incorporate Honor Flow’s music into my DJ sets and introducing our music to new potential fans.

ELIMN8: It’s been a lot of “wait & see” with this once in a lifetime pandemic. Musicians have really been impacted. We, just like many, are waiting to see what happens with our industry as a whole, in light of many venues being hurt by regulations. Outside of that, doing a lot of writing.

DJ Chuck “thE Old SouL”: 2021 has consisted of a lot of “reflecting, reprioritizing, and building” for us. Honestly, that how it’s been for many people during this pandemic. You tend to be reminded and re-discover what truly holds weight in your life during times of turmoil. And that has been Honor Flow Productions both professionally as bandmates and personally as long-time friends. Since we could not tour or perform to live audience in the past year, there has been a focus of extending our band’s multimedia opportunities such as in filmmaking and radio production; including helping re-launch the college radio station at the university ELIMN8 and I first met at.  You combined that with the release of new music such as the “Live From Drake’s Den” instrumental album and our latest single, “Cruise Control,” it has extended the era our sophomore album “The B.L.A.C.K. Odyssey.” Honor Flow Productions has always been about independence and ownership. Professionally, I believe that 15 years into this journey, we’re about to plateau into our long-term career goals and fully establish longevity. Personally, it’s about finding joy and making magic amongst the madness.

Can you share more with our readers about your latest release “Cruise Control”? What inspired the single?

DJ Chuck “thE oLd SouL”: “Cruise Control” was the very last song written and recorded for “The B.L.A.C.K. Odyssey” in 2017. It was inspired after attending a Black Star show with ELIMN8’s brother at the very last minute. The Black Star album has been deeply influential and embed in the blueprint of H.F.P.’s music this entire time; so hearing Yasiin Bey and Talib Kweli perform their catalog that night made me sit down and compose the beat for “Cruise Control” the next day after. Any artist will tell you that when you’re at the very end of recording an album, you’re artistically almost spent. So when searching for a concept we had yet to attempt, ELIMN8 and I realized we had yet to write a “Storytelling” type of record for the album. That’s when the creative juices started to flow and “Cruise Control” was born. We loved the song and so did others that heard earlier drafts of T.B.O, but the only reason why we left it on the cutting room floor was that the album getting too long. But we knew at one point, the song was going to see the light of day.

ELIMN8: “Cruise Control” was a song that was dope, but didn’t make T.B.O. We really wanted a storytelling song and this was the result. With all of our music, we draw on our experiences. So for me, that deals with some of my crappy jobs, my love of video games, and things that are in my neighborhood.

DJisLORD: “Cruise Control” as a song is this: A late-night, early morning before the crack of dawn in the city of Los Angeles, cruising in your whip track. You could be riding with your homies, your significant other, or yourself after a long day of work or school. The song provides the soundtrack to your search for something to eat, drink, or simply getting into some late-night shenanigans. It’s a car tune. The city of Los Angeles is deeply rooted in car culture inspired by the lowrider scene in East LA, the import tuner scene in the San Gabriel Valley, the Euro modified sports cars of Glendale and Beverly Hills, to the lifted trucks in the OC!

How did the group first get started?

ELIMN8: Chuck started it way back when. After a few line-up changes, we eventually landed on what we have now: A trio of two emcees and a DJ, that represents a more traditional Hip-Hop set up.

DJ Chuck “thE oLd SouL”: Honor Flow Productions is actually celebrating 15 years as a group this year! Still doesn’t seem real to say that because time has flow by so quickly. But to give the long story short, as ELIMN8 mentioned, I started the group during my senior year at Loyola High School. When we met at Marymount California University during orientation, ELIMN8 and I started to record tracks in my dorm on my makeshift set up with some of our classmates and we would perform at the student Coffee House/Open Mic shows. With certain members from both my high school days and ELIMN8 and I’s time at M.C.U, the band grew and meeting Lord was the final piece of the puzzle.

DJisLORD: When Chuck and I both transferred to Loyola Marymount University, that’s how we first met. Honor Flow Productions have undergone several various inceptions; first as a group mirroring collectives such as Wu-Tang Clan, to a full-on eight-piece band like The Roots; with a horn section away from Earth, Wind, and Fire at one point. In the present day, H.F.P. is a blessed holy trinity, a three-man band now; the individuals you are interviewing today.

How did you all decide on the name Honor Flow Productions?

ELIMN8: That would also come from Chuck. He had that and the logo, established from back in the day.

DJ Chuck “thE oLd SouL”: When I started DJing in high school, I wanted start using a crew name to present the parties I spinning at and the mixtapes I giving out to my homies. I wanted a name that would represent what I was about, and since I was a dedicated student in and outside the classroom, the concept of making the “Honor Roll” popped in my mind. But to I flipped to “Honor Flow” to give it that Hip-Hop feel. So just as making the Honor Roll in school represents the highest achievement in academics, Honor Flow Productions is about producing and presenting the highest quality in whatever venture we dive head first in; especially our music.

DJisLORD: Therefore H.F.P., creates and produced a product at a 10x optimum level that is and forever will be the best of the best.  “Flow” for fluidity, rhymes, and dope lyrics. Productions because we are multi-talented and multi-faceted group that creates all sorts of content in addition to music.

How would you describe your sound to someone who just listened to your music for the first time?

ELIMN8: Uniquely us! We’re not trying to do anything but be ourselves in our music and during our performances. To this day, the best compliment that I’ve ever gotten was that a listener felt like they met us from listening to T.B.O. I think a first time listener will hear that we aren’t trying to follow the current template of what a Hip-Hop artist is.

DJisLORD: It’s something you’ve heard before but it is something completely new.  We draw influences from A Tribe Called Quest to J. Dilla to Nujabes to MF DOOM to DJ Quik To Dr. Dre to P Funk to Freestyle Hi-NRG and The Roots.

DJ Chuck “thE oLd SouL”: To sum up what ELIMN8 and Lord said, it’s a term we call “Progressive Nostalgia.” We clearly wear are influences on our sleeves, however it is a necessity we carve are own path with our inspirations as are foundation. It’s a sound that breathes authenticity, created with attention to detail, that is designed to make you feel multiple ranges of emotion. We create from our hearts, so what comes from the heart, reaches the heart.

How do you get pumped up before a big event?

DJisLORD: Absolute silence along with meditation. A triple-check inventory ritual I do: constant preparation, a good meal, a bottle of Jameson whiskey, aggressive warlike music with a high cardio Hiit workout, and prayer before we hit the stage; thanking The Big Man upstairs for everything he has bestowed upon us.

ELIMN8: Three AMF (*Audios Mutha Fuckas), and watching some MF DOOM live performances before a set.

DJ Chuck “thE oLd SouL”:  Because we’re a D.I.Y. group that wears various different hats, my pre-show ritual consist of running like a chicken with it’s head cut off haha! I am always focused about the small things: Did we fully sound check? Is all business with the venue handled? Do we need more tickets at will call? Is our photography and videography team all good and ready to go? Is our merchandise booth set up? Once that is all taken care of, I’ll have a small meal, then our traditional group prayer as a band, and then I’ll let the adrenaline of the upcoming show set in. That rush when the lights drop, the music starts, and you and your bandmates assemble on stage is always one best moments as a performer. That’s when I fully get in my zone. Amazingly, the least hectic part of a show day is the show itself. Once we are on that stage, I am 100% at peace and having the time of my life with my brothers in beats, partners in rhyme.

Are you currently working on any special projects?

ELIMN8: We can neither confirm nor deny. You’ll know when you hear it.

Thank you for speaking with us! For our final question, is there anything else you would like to add?

DJisLORD: Due to COVID restrictions, we are waiting and itching to cook up some beats and lay down some dope lyrics for you. In the meantime in-between time, those ideas are all being marinated as we speak. It will be out sooner than you think. So be on the lookout for any updates at www.honorflowproductions.com. I’m @DJISLORDHFP on all social media platforms.

DJ Chuck “thE oLd SouL”: Much love to African Hype for having us, follow us on all social media platforms as Lord mentioned (IG: @HonorFlowProductions, @thEoLdSouLHFP, @ELIMN8HFP, @DJisLORDHFP), bookmark www.HonorFlowProductions.com in your favorites, be good to yourself and one another and…

ELIMN8: Buy our music.

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