SMALL HANDS BIG SLAPS
Samuel Troxel, the man behind Small Hands Big Slaps, is the nicest dude who throws some killers BBQs. He hides behind his humbleness but the boy has spent the summer working on huge projects. He just released a producer drum kit, has been working on secret sh-sh projects and God knows what else. We tracked him down one sunny day at Laurelhurst Park to play some bball and get the story.When did you know making music and beats was your thing?I figured it out at a very early age when I downloaded a copy of Fruity Loops 2 (all producers know that's a long time ago). I couldn't be kept off of that shit. Finally there was a way for me to channel my energy. Dr. Dre's 2001 LP made me wanna dabble in making music but I just didn't know where to start til two years after that joint came out. Before that I was taking drum lessons, learning about the pocket, time measures, all that shit. Went from that to studying cats like Dr. Dre, DJ Premier, J Dilla, Just Blaze, the big homie Jake One from Seattle and many others... What really solidified myself in this was my first beat battle when I played the first joint and people went crazy. That's when I knew this was God's gift to me. What projects have been the most exciting to work on?This year been crazy. I got a project with the homie Jon Belz coming out in October called Hip-Hop Junkies Vol. 1. Got some shit with the homie C Plus from Sacramento and the other homie Ty Farris from Detroit too. Other than my projects, I've just been sending material to major cats. Shout out to Ty Cannon, Tony G and J Hatch (along with the rest of the iStandard family). Tell us about working with 50 Cent. How did that all go down?The 50 thing happened hella randomly because I just decided one day to send records to Tony G (now the head A&R at G-Unit). He liked them and told me to send more as he CC'd Dre McKenzie (at the time the head A&R). I sent more, then like a year later Dre emails me asking if I have any new material. So, once again, I sent more records. Maybe like a few months later, I was soundchecking at the Roseland one day and Dre hits me on the DM saying I was on 50's mixtape coming out the day after. I'm like "Word? That's tight!" Six months later I have two more records with 50, one ended up being a video and another was the first single to that project. Dango! The summer has been busy, what all has been going on?This year I've worked on records with hella people. You can see who on my Soundcloud. But I also just put out a producer drum kit called Small Hands Big Drums. 98 sounds handcrafted by yours truly used on records I did with Ab-Soul, 50, Royce da 5'9", Mistah FAB and more...trox.myshopify.com [soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/162059128" params="auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%" height="450" iframe="true" /]Where did the name Small Hands Big Slaps come from?The homie Tope actually called me the guy with the small hands but the big beats one time at some random show, because I have hands the size of a little kid (the homies can vouch for that). I came up with the idea of SMALL HANDS BIG SLAPS and that ended up being my publishing company name. Favorite spot to kick it in Portland:
- Produce Row Cafe (Industrial SE) on Tuesdays for Super Club
- Tube (Old Town) my homie DJ Evil One owns it now and it became a dope spot.
- Crossroads Records (Hawthorne) to grab my vinyl. (RIP 360 Vinyl)
- Control Voltage (N. Mississippi) for equipment.
- Hella other spots too many to name, but those who know me know I don't really go out all that much.
Words by @eyesandedgeThis article was taken from our printed magazine E&E. Like whatcha read? Pick up a copy for youself!#PRINTEDEANDE