The Lonely Island’s Jorma Taccone attends the Fiji Water and SVEDKA Vodka hosted premiere of “This is The End.”
The Source Magazine caught up with one third of the comedic hip-hop trio “The Lonely Island” this week on the red carpet at the New York premiere of “This is the End.”
Tell us about all of the collaborations on your new album?
Jorma Taccone: We have so many different people; an incredible list. Pharrell Williams on a track called “Hugs,” Billy Joe Armstrong from Green Day, T-pain (again), Too $hort, Kendrick Lamar, Adam Levine, Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, Robyn. Robyn’s great on it. There’s a new video, actually coming out for “Go Kindergarten” that has two very cool, special guests.
Where did your love for hip-hop come from?
Jorma Taccone: We grew up listening to hip-hop and then rap music in the Bay area. All three of us were born and raised in Berkeley, California. So we grew up listening to a lot of Too $hort, Hieroglyphics, Pep love, Casual, and all that sort of stuff…down to Freestyle Fellowship and a lot of B-side stuff. We would go to Amoeba Music in Berkeley all the time and buy stuff on vinyl every Tuesday when it came out. So there is a lot of love for all the underground hip-hop of the Bay, but all the East Coast stuff too, obviously.
Who is on your list of rappers you would love to collaborate with?
Jorma Taccone: I would like to work with Scarface, more than anybody, honestly. I also like Killer Mic a lot, I’m trying to do something with El-P at some point, anybody from Wu-Tang. That would be incredible. I’d love to work with O.C., Lord Finesse. There’s a lot of people I’d like to work with.
One song that is getting a lot of buzz is on “The Wack Album” is “Hugs,” which features Pharrell Williams. We spoke with the song’s producer Tommy Hittz today. Check out what he had to say about the record.
Tommy Hittz produced The Lonely Island track “Hugs,” which features Pharrell Williams. The track can be found on “The Wack Album,” which hit stores this week.
Congrats on your new song “Hugs.” What inspired the track?
Tommy Hittz: I made that track on Thanksgiving Day in 2011, what happened was a friend of mine was telling me, “Spend time with your family, put your music aside for one day.” I was like “I can’t do that, I got to focus on getting some music turned in.” I was kind of behind with my publishing company at the time and I was like, “You know what? I just got to make something, I’m going to make something.” So If I had listened to him, the song would have never existed. Having Pharrell being apart of it was such a big deal because I always looked up to him and then The Lonely Island, I always thought they were a funny group in general, so to me it was super dope.
When did you find out Pharrell was on the track?
Tommy Hittz: About a month and a half ago. We got the call from the President of Capitol Records and he was telling us that Pharrell was all over the song and I was like “Get out of here.”
What do you admire about Pharrell?
Tommy Hittz: He’s just a big inspiration all over between him, Kayne West, Timbaland and those guys. And from him being from my hometown, Virginia, it was just perfect because ever since I started making music, I’ve always looked up to Pharrell, The Neptunes and Timbaland…He was eclectic in his own right. They always did something that was unique and fresh, so seeing one of my inspirations aligned with what I’m doing, it was just super dope.
Have you met Pharrell? If not, do you have a message for him?
Tommy Hittz: No, I haven’t. I’m really good friends with Chad Hugo. Me and Chad Hugo have been cool! My message to Pharrell is: Let’s work on something else, lets do it together, lets see how it turns out!
Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer’s “The Wack Album” is now available worldwide. Track list below:
1. Dramatic Intro
2. Go Kindergarten (feat. Robyn)
3. Hugs (feat. Pharrell Williams)
4. Diaper Money
5. YOLO (feat. Adam Levine & Kendrick Lamar)
6. Spell It Out
7. Semicolon (feat. Solange)
8. Where Brooklyn At? (Interlude)
9. You’ve Got The Look (feat. Hugh Jackman & Kristen Wiig)
10. I’m A Hustler (Song?)
11. Spring Break Anthem
12. I Run NY (feat. Billie Joe Armstrong)
13. I Don’t Give A Honk
14. 3-Way (The Golden Rule) (feat. Justin Timberlake & Lady Gaga
15. Meet The Crew
16. I F****d My Aunt (feat. T-Pain)
17. We Are A Crowd
18. The Compliments (feat. Too $hort)
19. We Need Love
20. Perfect Saturday
