Продюсер Paprob заключил музыкальное сотрудничество с Миком Дженкинсом после обмена редкими картами Pokémon

Audio By Carbonatix After graduating from high school in his hometown of Colorado Springs in 2019, Miles Harris wanted to start making music. The only problem? He wasn’t a musician. Despite dabbling in piano and trumpet as a kid, nothing really stuck. “I was, like, ‘How can I be a part of this?’ I’m not trained on an instrument to the point where I could really add value, so I figured, maybe, I can start checking out this producing thing,” he says. The pandemic gave Harris ample time to experiment with production software. A few years of studying and practicing later, he was producing under the name Paprob (pronounced “Pop-Rob”). Now based in Denver, his latest release, “Money2Me,” includes a collaboration with one of his favorite artists, Chicago indie rap darling Mick Jenkins — and it all started with some Pokémon cards. Music was a constant presence in Harris’s life long before he was making beats. His dad played guitar in a classic rock band, but also listened to more experimental and global sounds around the house. “My dad was super into tribal, chill music, like Thievery Corporation. There’s a lot of rhythm in that. And he also listened to a lot of reggae, and there’s a lot of rhythm in that,” Harris recalls. When he was a teenager, Harris’ older sister encouraged him to start developing his own tastes. “She was playing Arctic Monkeys, Cage the Elephant, and I was like, ‘Whoa, this is sick!,’” he remembers, before his sister nudged him and said, “You can listen to your own music that Mom and Dad don’t play.” “That got me searching,” he says. Childish Gambino was Harris’s gateway to hip-hop — he loved “that alternative vibe” — before he dove into artists like A$AP Rocky and Isaiah Rashad, as well as revered hip-hop producers like Monte Booker, The Alchemist and Knxwledge. With a growing passion for music and adulthood looming large, Harris was determined to find a way into the music industry. He wanted his music to bring comfort to people, the same way his favorite artists made him feel less alone. “The human condition is weird,” he continues. “I’m just trying to help people find an OK time of their day. I’m looking for that, too, and I find that in music, so if I can do that for someone else, that’s why I’m doing it.” As a producer, Harris sees himself as a launching pad for artists, setting the stage for them to create something meaningful. “I’m not a rapper or singer, so I have to make a beat that someone can really say something on, that can resonate with people,” he says. More comfortable in a supporting role, especially as a white guy working in the hip-hop realm, Harris has never tried being a vocalist. “I know my place. I know I can’t sing. I’m not going to try to be a white rapper,” he says. “You have to be respectful. You’re in someone else’s house at the end of the day, and I know that. I’m trying to help out, but I don’t want to step on toes.” Harris was drawn to the communal aspect of making music, but he struggled to find potential collaborators in his hometown. “I was going to these hip-hop shows out by the Colorado Springs airport, and I was like, ‘I don’t really feel comfortable here, this music is not very good, and everyone is staring at me,'” he says. So Harris turned to the internet to collaborate with people he met through Instagram. They were mostly other independent musicians, but he would also shoot his shot with well-established artists that he loved, like Mick Jenkins. “Mick Jenkins has always been a huge influence on my production, and I’ve always liked his sound,” he says, calling the Chicago rapper “Criminally slept-on.” Jenkins never responded to his initial messages, but last year, Harris noticed that Jenkins was posting Pokémon cards on his story. Thinking back to his own Pokémon card collection, which he had given to his younger cousin, Harris had an idea: What if he could get Jenkins’s attention by offering him a rare card? After confirming that his cousin still had the collection, Harris messaged Jenkins asking if he was seeking any specific cards. “He responded quick as hell,” Harris says with a laugh. “I was like, ‘Oh you’re a nerd like me, for real.’” Harris had one card Jenkins was missing, a shiny-green Jolteon, to be specific. Jenkins offered to buy or trade for the card. “I was, like, ‘You know what, that’s awesome, but I would love to get a song together,”’ recalls Harris. “I was kind of nervous, because I didn’t want to disrespect his art.” Jenkins agreed, after a little haggling. Harris agreed to throw in a couple more Pokémon cards, and sent Jenkins several beats, including one he had made in 2023 with Grim (another producer Harris met on Instagram). But there was one small issue: the Pokémon cards were still in Nebraska with Harris’s cousin, who agreed to ship them to Los Angeles, where Jenkins now lives. Although the golden opportunity was almost ruined by FedEx delays, the cards arrived in the nick of time. Harris eventually took a trip to L.A. and met up with Jenkins for an in-person recording session. Harris was initially apprehensive without a written guarantee, but Jenkins was true to his word. “I’ve had some contract things go south in the past,” he says. “He was, like, ‘No, trust me, there’s not going to be any issues.’” The distribution platform Distrokid told Harris they needed approval from Jenkins himself before it would list “Money2Me” as a collaborative track, but Jenkins came through for him. “People say don’t meet your idols, because there’s always the chance that they’re assholes, and I have met some people that were not as cool as I was hoping they would be,” he admits. “But Mick definitely was a genuine guy.” Finding the right people to work with is essential as a producer, but it takes some trial and error. Since moving to Denver a few years ago, Harris has worked with more local artists, for better or worse. “The politics of the music industry are kind of gnarly and cutthroat. Being here is interesting,” he says. “It feels like there’s a lot of, ‘I want to be the best out of Denver,’ and not a lot of ‘Let’s be friends.’” Harris was actually considering moving to L.A. after his trip last year, but decided to see what he could do in Denver first. He’s built relationships with several Colorado-based artists and producers, including SmokeyLonely, who mixed and mastered “Money2Me,” as well as BigPapiCarter, BeatsByMarker, Baris Destro, and Sympal. And while he’s always going to be interested in working with artists like Jenkins, he’s enjoying keeping it local for now. “I still want to be able to work with people outside, maybe do a bigger record with somebody,” he says, “but I want to focus on people I can work with in person.” “Money2Me” by Paprob, Grim, and Mick Jenkins is out now on all music platforms.