Atlanta producer Popstar Benny makes beats that sound like he’s throwing an old Atari down the stairs to let all the ghosts out. Over the past half-decade, he’s established himself as one of the go-to beatsmiths for a new vanguard of rising ATL rappers, crafting instrumentals that blend elastic samples, chittering basslines, and blitzing drums to push the margins of various post-trap forms. These beats break and yield new styles unto themselves. “All the Girls,” from Benny’s January 2023 album University!, grafts skittering juke drums onto colorful chipmunk plugg as his close collaborator Tony Shhnow gamely raps like he’s hanging on for dear life. “L0ml <3,” from Bear1Boss’ 2021 tape American Sweetheart 2, smartly positions Bear as an ATLien with Benny’s pulsing synths sounding eerily close to the final seconds before a UFO abduction. When he steps into the mainstream to produce a song like Rod Wave’s “Take The Blame,” the result eschews Benny having to sand down his musical signatures to fit a wider audience. Instead, he’s asking listeners to enter into his own loopy dreamworld.
Benny’s jittery, sugar-rush beats are the byproduct of disparate tastes striking the same chord in his brain that once rang off to the tune of the “Pokemon music” he says he made in middle school. During a phone call on a chilly October afternoon, he explains this early perspective: “I listened to Passion Pit and Waka Flocka, and [the question] was, ‘How can I blend these two worlds?’” Alongside Shhnow and Bear1Boss, Benny has become one of the focal points of the latest iteration of new and weird Atlanta hip-hop, the pair of MCs serving as his musical foils during the years he spent developing his sound. Though his producer tag—“Popstar, worldwide”—might scan as cheeky, especially when preceding his off-kilter and maximalism, it’s also a challenge to rise up to as he pushes onwards and upwards without abandoning his allegiance to the underground.
Popstar Benny and I chatted about his influences, growing up on MTV music videos, the scope of the Atlanta underground scene, and wanting to emulate Pharrell in his music.
What was the first album or song you remember making a big impression on you artistically?
It was Gorillaz, and the Demon Days album. It came out when I was in elementary school. When I would get ready for school in the morning, MTV, VH1, they’d be playing all the music videos and I’d be getting extra exposed to all these genres and sounds. I got that CD and take it to school, with the CD player, and listen to it all the time. They got every single style. It was crazy to me that it was one guy doing everything. That was formative to my tastes—that was a very cool experience.
Were there any subcultures or scenes that you were into when you were younger?
I got into indie rock hella in middle school and high school. I started getting on the internet in sixth or seventh grade. Datpiff, and the mixtape sites, that exposed me to a lot of new people. Waka Flocka, Future, and then having the range and ability to download everything...
Are there any early influences that people might not expect? What were you listening to when you got your heart broken for the first time?
Awh, man! The heartbreak stuff was definitely James Blake. Being on the internet led to me checking him. When I was in high school, that was the entire blog era. So he was heartbreak. But my favorite indie rock influence is Passion Pit. That was hyperpop before hyperpop, so extreme and pushing music to the limits. It was so melodic and candy sweet.
When I started really listening to it, I was like, “These lyrics are actually super depressing.” But it sounds like the sweetest music possible. So that juxtaposition inspired me. I listened to Passion Pit and Waka Flocka, and [the question] was, “How can I blend these two worlds?”
Who is someone who helped you develop as an artist?
Finding my sound, it was two of my friends: Marcus Dominic and SenseiATL, part of this group, Larry League. We were all making similar beats and hanging out, and I feel like I had the idea of blending two worlds, but they taught me how to make good beats. They taught me the programming, the mixing, and the technical part. Hanging with them, I got that down.
Who was the first person in the music world who really put you on?
I linked with Larry League, and that was my introduction to a lot of people. Doing cover art for them, doing shows with them [as a DJ], that started catching industry attention. It gave me a look into how things go when it starts picking up. They were the first people in our friend group to get out the city. My first time DJing in New York was a show with them. They got on Rolling Loud in 2018—I DJ’d their set there. That opened my horizons.
