For Doomtree, now in its 14th year, the past few months have been pivotal. The Minnesota alternative hip-hop collective, after their tenth annual (and final) Doomtree Blowout party in Minneapolis this past December, dropped their third studio album All Hands. A reunion of sorts for a group of producers and rappers with enterprising and divergent solo careers, the album finds all in top form, combining producers Lazerbeak and Paper Tiger’s most dizzying beats yet with pointed and intelligent rhymes from the MCs (Mike Mictlan, Dessa, Sims, Cecil Otter and P.O.S.) Recorded in a series of cabins with limited access to the outside world, this is also their most cohesive album to date, following a sonic and thematic through line that’s rare in collaborative hip-hop projects these days. As Doomtree sinks its teeth into a triumphant national tour, Allston Pudding had a chat with group member Mike Mictlan. An L.A. to Minneapolis transplant, whose excellent solo effort Hella F’real also dropped last year, Mictlan talked to us about Doomtree’s approach to collaborative hip-hop, cabin fever recording sessions and the group’s odd connection to brostep don Skrillex.
On recording in a cabin: We did the same sort of thing with [previous album] No Kings. We went out to a cabin for like 7 or 8 days and in the first 6 days we wrote all of the songs for that record. This time it was a year and a half of different cabins and outings. It was probably one of the hardest writing processes, but we were really collaborative more than anything on this one. On No Kings, whatever we wrote that day, whoever showed up to get on a song, that’s what we kept. With this one people would save a spot for the right person. So if somebody wanted, say, this 8-bar beat reworked with the music, then the producers would go back and rework it so they could still have their spot when we ended up recording.
On the necessity of cabin trips: We had to. We tried to meet up at home, but we don’t get to see each other all the time now because we’re getting older and have families. That means when we got together we ended up hanging out and just talking about music. We tried to make it at home, but we were just having too much fun hanging out. We had to be cut off from the outside world. We went to 3 or 4 different cabins for this one. Progressively it got harder, too. The last cabin was an unfinished cabin in the middle of the woods that a fan from Twitter let us use. It was full of mosquitos!
On being in a 12-year hip-hop group: It’s getting better and better. We’re able to vibe off of each other and trust each other and be confident in cutting shit and using shit when the time comes now. We all have our own tastes and we’re bringing everything to the table. Our first records were more compilations in that there were a lot of duo and trio songs, but it wasn’t really as much of a collaboration as it’s become now. Now we really sound like a band!
On his favorite verse in All Hands: “Generator” was awesome to do in the studio because it was really written for something that was maybe 5 BPM slower and I based the pattern off of UK Grime. Traditionally those dudes rap at like 140 bpm, and the track was at 75 so it was about 150 in double time. It was a little bit too fast, which made it a lot of fun trying to land it in the studio! It was a new thing for me. My solo record was a lot of slowed and choppy time patterns. Going into All Hands, it felt like I had proved that I could slow down and make cohesive shit. Now I’m going to rap my ass off all over this record! I’ve got to try out some new shit, and that’s what I’m going to do with the next record. I’m going to rap fast again- it’s going to be fun!
On solo vs. collaborative projects: Doomtree has always been this unspoken thing. To me, it’s this vibe that I get into. When I’m by myself I do whatever I want, and it’s a lot harder. It feels like just me in this blank room, looking at a blank canvas. When I step to the table with Doomtree, we already have a whole legacy of shit we’ve already made. We’re chipping away at something new together. It’s really self-referential and there’s a mode we all get into.
On releasing a single named “Bangarang” the same year as Skrillex: Of course people are going to say something when fucking a million people know that song! It was just kind of funny, because that’s always been our thing. We’ve always been very Peter Pan and the Lost Boys- Hookish! It was only a matter of time before someone else referenced that too. I feel like that was a pivotal thing for kids our age. It didn’t come as “aw man, that’s ours and now it’s not ours!” It’s always been something that was Doomtree, and it was funny that that happened at the same time. No critical thought about his song, though.
On the final Doomtree Blowout: It was awesome! It was the best one yet and of course it was gonna be like that. Usually they’re good because they’re emotional but this was definitely the most emotional of all of them. Everyone was backstage at the end of it and we had a moment; just cried like babies. It felt good being able to say that we did that, and now it feels good to be able to move on and challenge ourselves to do something crazier. That’s how it started- to see what our draw was like in Minneapolis. It was always a personal gig and a personal goal that we set out to accomplish. Ten years strong, and we did that!
On what’s to come: I’m working on a record right now which I want to turn in by the summer. I’m going to be spending about twice as much as the last one. The money I spend will be towards promotion and a campaign, not really recording, it’ll probably be the same recording budget. I have a lot of awesome ideas right now that I want to be able to elaborate on. I’m just looking forward to working harder and hopefully longer than I have been. When you start thinking about the time limits, everything’s going to end. I don’t see myself ever stopping rapping, but it’s been 12 years with Doomtree and you want to look at the next 12 years and what those look like. I’m in for the long haul. Hopefully it’s another 12, 15 years making music and feeding my family from it!
All Hands is available now on Doomtree Records. Doomtree will be stopping by the Sinclair tonight, February 16th. The show is sold out.