August Fanon on Diggin’ Samples and Shaping Underground Elegance.

Peace August. It’s a pleasure to connect with one of the dopest producers in the underground scene in our opinion. Your beats and the soul, R&B and jazz samples you chop are incredible. But where and when did your passion for beat making and music in general begin? What’s your musical background and did you have any musicians in the family?

I don’t know where it began, I just always loved music since a lil kid. I remember my first music lessons were in Kindergarten. I went to a catholic school in East Oakland and I remember we actually had two music instructors. One was a brother who would come in with us and teach us songs while he played the piano and the other was this white old hippie woman who would make us take off our shoes and get in a circle around her while she played songs on the acoustic guitar. 

I was born in 1980 and my earliest rap recollection is RUN DMC’s “you talk to much.” I believe that came out in 85′. I’ve been locked into Hip-Hop since then. I had older cousins and a God brother who kinda showed me some things when I was younger about Hip-Hop culture and I just been running from then.

As far as beat making I guess it all happened around 2003/2004. One of my good friends from high school. named Peter had got linked into this app/website that was like some proto-spotify. I think it was called Streamload . For like $9 a month you had access to this digital record pool and man I was getting everything, Lil Brother, DOOM, Blueprint, Count Bass D, Madlib, People Under The Stairs, Dilla + I had access to all the Hip-Hop albums that I always wanted to hear but never had the money to buy, plus, rock, soul and jazz. As a music lover it was the greatest gift in the world. Gotta give Pete a big shout out for that.

But yea so I was in grad school getting acclimated to the 2000s underground and also feeling like I wasn’t feeling the idea of doing a ph.d. I was just in a bad situation as far as that was concerned in terms of pursuing what I really wanted to do.

So I always been into music and now I got access to all this shit, and the cherry on top is the advances in technology, because now I could get a free copy of fruity loops (as a teenager there’s no way I could see my parents dropping for an mpc and I wasn’t poor, not rich at all, but not poor. The shit was just not happening).

I think I got a dj app in like the spring of ‘06 and started making mixes and blends and then I was at a party that fall around the time of my birthday in September and a friend of a friend that I hadn’t met before got in a convo with me about Hip-Hop and somehow this dude was just convinced that I made beats. I tried to tell him I don’t but he was like naw, come over and bring some beats lol. So like a week or two later I did just that and I been rollin ever since…  

Oh yea, the only musician in my family that I know about is a second cousin in d.c. who was a producer. I think I met him once at a family reunion and I remember he had a website where he was offering music servics back in the early 2000s, but we never linked on any musical level.

You’re originally from Oakland, but now you live in New York after moving through various cities. Can you tell us about your roots and how the different cities you’ve lived in—starting with Oakland, which has a unique and distinctive musical and Hip-Hop scene—have influenced you artistically?

This is a good question. I mean being in Oakland in the 80s I was getting some local flava, but it was really the hey day of the Golden Era. I still remember watching Eric B. & Rakim’s “I Ain’t No Joke” video in 87′ and being mesmerised. I loved Krs-One. I remember MC Hammer having shows at Foot Hill Square which was like a shopping center in East Oakland.

We moved to the Phoenix area in the early 90s to a suburb called Scottsdale. Very much influenced by Southern Cali; skateboards, gangbangers, and all that shit. It was like a westcoast KIDS but when Dre and Snoop hit in 92 that had a huge influence on my ear. I was really into g-funk and westcoast production, but just as I was going into high school and moving to Texas Wu-Tang and Biggie just opened me up to some East coast shit. Been locked in ever since with Mobb Deep, Smif N Wesson, M.O.P. etc.

Landing in Texas in 94 I’ll never forget hearing “Front Back & Side to Side” from U.G.K. on the radio for the first time. This was a whole nother wave ya know. I actually had heard about U.G.K. first from the Menace II Society soundtrack and I loved that song “Pocket Full of Stones,” but I think I just assumed they were some new west coast cats. But when I got to Texas the high school and HBCU bands at halftime were playing shit like 8Ball & MJG “lay em down.” Also I remember just getting hip to Master P around that time too. So I got an education in southern rap beyond Gangsta nip, Geto boys Magic Mike & Luke which is essentially all I knew until 94.

In 98 I went to college at Tuskegee. Tuskegee is about an hour and 20min west of Atlanta. I was in the heart of the burgeoning southern rap scene. T.I. used to come to our school. Me and Rich Boy were actually friends freshman year. Rich was a cool dude, he was from Mobile. There are so many acts that came from that area and era that didn’t emerge but we all know the ones that did. I remember there was a cat from Orlando who came with the Trick Daddy cd. NOBODY had heard that shit!

This was like a good 6-9 months before “NA Nigga” with Trina went national. I remember we were jammin Juvenille’s “Back That Ass Up” a good year before that went national. Good times. Then of course the Rocafella wave on the mainstream, Nelly, Eminem, G-Unit, Cash Money Records, Dip Set, etc

But once I left undergrad and came back to TX for grad I started getting into the underground scene. Up until that point I really didn’t know much at all, I mean I ‘ve always been a Hip-Hop head and tried to keep abreast of all the goings on, but I didn’t dig into underground rap until 2003. I do think I did buy the first Sound Bombing album from Rawkus whenever that came out.

I came to Philly during the Blog Era and a lot of cats I was kickin it were mad young or older and not into rap or didn’t know rap that deeply (we were making r&b and soul music mostly). I got a hipster roommate in 2007 who was a film student at Temple. He was from western PA. He was heavily into a lot of white shit lol for lack of a better term that I wasn’t into and he helped open me up a lot: Joanna Newsome, Dirty Projectors, Animal Collective, Boredoms, Fuck Buttons, etc . Now mind you by this time I had started diggin records cause I was making beats so that is its own journey. I also got into jazz my last year of undergrad in 2003 so I had been taking in jazz albums since then.

The samples you flip so masterfully show an incredible level of musical knowledge and culture. What are your biggest musical influences?

I think my biggest musical influences are cats like Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Albert Ayler, Fela Kuti, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Eric Dolphy, Roscoe Mitchell, Curtis Mayfield, Bob Marley & The Wailers, Charles Mingus, The Stooges, Pink Floyd, Bad Brains, RZA, Warren G, Sade, Sly Stone and probably a lot more I’m sure, but that’s who’s coming to mind right right now.

How would you describe your digging process? What are the first things that catch your attention when you hear a loop, rhythm, or drum break you want to sample?

I’ve been digging for almost  20 years and have had the opportunity to explore a lot of music man. I like soothing grooves when I hear it, I like dissonant striking sounds, shit that has rhythm to it once it’s looped ya know. I love catching bits of sound from maybe a horn flutter, or the front end of a vocal sample and how it all makes sense once looped up. It’s a magical process every single time. It’s like the same trick in some sense, but I’m still mesmerized by it.

I’m not a drummer and have had little no tutelage in the instrument so it’s hard for me to put into words what I hear in a drumbreak that I like, but I like odd shit now a lot, or really just something different from the classic breaks.

When and how did you start producing seriously and get your name buzzing in the scene? What are some of the first beats or collaborations with emcees that you think helped put you on the map?

I started producing seriously in 2007. I think the first collaboration I did that got me on the map at least was when I produced about half of Mach Hommy’s HBO album. My first collab was with Mach back in 2013 of the F.Y.I. album and my second was with The God Fahim of his Dreams of Medina release in 2015. The buzz from HBO really put me in the door strong.

You’ve produced beats for Mach-Hommy, and Westside Gunn picked one of your beats (“GONDEK”). Can you tell us how these collaborations came about and what you think drew these two artists—both known for their refined taste in beats—to your production? Any anecdotes? What did they say when they first heard your beats?

Mach Hommy initially got in contact with me through Soundcloud back in 2012. I think I still have the message. But if I can recall , he said something to the effect of “you got a real colorful sound, we should do something,” paraphrasing. I went to check out his page and it was dope and I was like bet and we been rolling since then.

Mach and Wes (Westside Gunn n.d.r)  were pretty close at the time and I think I remember Mach telling me he played something for Wes or something like that, I can’t recall. Memory is fuzzy. But Westside Gunn actually just reached out to me on his own through IG and was just like I been hearing your shit, lets work and that was that. It’s really cool to have gotten to work with these cats, both phenomenal artists in their own respect.

You’ve also created full collaborative projects with Armand Hammer, Ankhlejohn, Vic Spencer, Blu, and others. What makes you decide to collaborate with one rapper over another? What creative and artistic traits do you look for in an emcee to inspire your production?

I look for originality. I have options, but at the same time it’s not like I’m turning down a bunch of dope rappers. Like I said tho, originality is big with me, I like rappers that pick different beats from me. I make so many tracks of a wide variety. I like rappers who can come in and find their own lil shade of the August Fanon sound.

And what do you enjoy most about crafting a full project from start to finish?

That’s an interesting question. I think my favorite part is perhaps taking a beat to a demo to a mix, those 3 steps. One I made this beat and I think it’s dope on its own, and then to have an emcee take it and create a whole new piece of art with it and lastly to get it back and put all the fixings on it and then have the finished thing is really cool.

“Forty” with Blu is hands down one of our favorite albums of 2025. Incredible work. How did that album come together? How did you connect with Blu, and what was the creative process like? Was it smooth and fast, or did you revisit it multiple times? Any backstories you can share?

Thanks! Both me and Blu are really proud of Forty. Well I’m a fan of Blu’s work and have been tapped in for the last 15 years and a mutual friend and emcee named Stik Figa was sharing a track of his that he had a feature from Blu on and so I asked him, like “man you know Blu? Can you connect me?” Stik Figa did me the solid and Blu was very open from the jump from checking out some beats from me.

I think I initially sent him over like 200 beats and he said within hearing the first 50 he heard the album which became Forty. I remember Blu telling me really quickly after I sent him the beats that he wanted to do an album. I was hyped when he told me that, I was like wow, that was so quick, easy and smooth like you said. Within that first month of me sending the beats and him telling me he wanted to do an album he informed me that we’d have to wait a bit because he had some projects ahead to complete, but I wasn’t trippin at all about that. Ya know? Within the next month Blu sent me all his verses for 40.

The whole album -features was pretty much done within 3 months of our initial connection. I could be off a lil bit but it was smooth and quick as hell.

Out of all the projects and beats you’ve produced, are there any that stand out to you personally or ones you feel are truly different or that hit a special emotional note when you listen back?

Great question. I think this is always changing with wherever I’m at in life. Right now I’m really feeling this track with Kendall Spencer called “GOD.” I really like a track off the Blackchai project called “War Rations.” A track off HBO (the Mach Hommy’s album) called “Plenty.” There are a bunch of others that are circling in my head that I can’t remember the names of off top. That might sound crazy, but I’ve in someways given up keeping track of song titles and even albums to some extent because I do so much digging and listening on my own it all just blends in, that’s where my digital age life gets the better of my analog life. I’ve had to make a conscious effort to buy more physical media like old magazines and I have started my tape collection back and bought a walkman, but yea those are a few songs.

Is there a beat, more than others, that you didn’t produce but wish you had?

Nothing in particular that sticks. I might be really into something while I’m listening to it and envision myself producing it. On the real half of all the good music, or at least music I consider good, I’ve had some hand in making at some point in my imagination.

Out of all the emcees you’ve worked with, who do you think is the most slept-on and has an incredible talent that people will recognize sooner or later?

I think perhaps the most slept-on right now that I’m working with is Anwar HighSign. Anwar used to go by Has-Lo, but changed his name a lil before the pandemic I believe. Anwar HighSign is crazy.

For example, we know you’ve worked a lot with Obijuan—he’s definitely one of our favorites in the underground. What is it about his style or energy that keeps you coming back to collaborate?

Obijuan is incredible too. There is something about his syntax that just makes me feel what he is doing is authentic and I have really enjoyed getting to know him on a personal level as we have been making music together.

If you could choose just one rapper to make a full collaborative album with, who would it be and why?

I think that would have to be Yasiin Bey (a.k.a Mos Def ed’s note). I think he is a traditionalist that hasn’t stopped growing, reading and learning, thinking, wishing, living, etc (wish I could say the same for a lot of his peers). But the brotha is always sharp and I can only imagine what he would do over my production.

You’re an incredibly prolific producer so do you have any upcoming projects you can tease to us?

More Lungs, More Mach.