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Music

Myth Syzer is Hip-Hop's Parisian Plug

The biggest beat-maker in Paris is getting ready to cross the pond and work with some of hip-hop’s biggest names—not that he cares about big names.

Photo By Laurent

“I’m not really famous, so I don’t give a fuck about having famous artists on my project,” explains Paris-based beatmaker Myth Syzer when asked about what he’s working on at the moment. “It’s really personal, I just want to make great music and create great feelings.” This may come as an odd statement from a producer who’s worked with artists like A$AP Ferg, Kaytranada, and most recently Vic Mensa, but for the French producer, building his career has been a very organic process. “I’m not born in Paris, I’m born in La Roche-sur-Yon in Vendée. It’s a really small city in France. I met Ikaz Boi about 10 years ago and we’ve been working with each other for a long time.” Together, Ikaz Boi and Myth Syzer produced Leather Corduroys and Vic Mensa’s recent banger “Have U Eva.” The track was originally going to be used on a joint project that the two were working on but made its way to the Save Money camp where it was quickly embraced. “I told Ikaz to send it to Kami De Chukwu who’s a member of Leather Corduroys… Kami said it was fire.” That’s all it took.

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Myth Syzer has gained additional recognition recently after he signed with the constantly evolving HW&W Label—another relationship which developed naturally. “First of all, I’ve known Kaytranada since 2008” he points out. The two met years ago through Stwo, who was the only other French producer in the Soulection collective besides Myth Syzer at the time. After becoming close with Stwo and Kaytranada, he met Bahwee, the co-founder of HW&W, and was eventually asked if he wanted to sign with the label. “Of course I said yes,” Myth asserted, “everyone there is good, we’re all friends, so it was dope.” Promptly after signing with HW&W, Myth released the Porcelain EP, his most recent project to date. “I made this project just to introduce myself on my new label.” The four track EP has a laid back vibe that the Paris-based producer says he made for driving. “I like driving at night on the highway,” he explained, “I made some chill tracks, smooth tracks to drive slow.” While Myth Syzer prefers driving slow, the video for EP standout “Cartier” features BMWs drifting recklessly through downtown traffic. “I’m not crazy like that,” he says laughing “I’m not a crazy driver.”

The next step for Myth Syzer will be the release of his debut album. “I’m working hard on it, I plan to release the LP on HW&W in October, I’m working on some video clips for it too.” The producer has been collaborating with several artists and aims for the majority of the tracks to feature vocalists. “I have Chuck Inglish, a couple Montreal-based emcees named Gabe Nandez and ST… just too many artists man. I like everything, everyone, I don’t have just one type of influence, there’s too many. I’m not inspired only by the music but just people and life in general.”

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About a year ago you did a Boiler Room set right?
Myth Syzer: Yeah it was a really raw set. I didn’t really like the set that I played but Boiler Room was still really fun. I’m a producer before a DJ, they asked me to do a Boiler Room and of course I said yeah but I’m not a DJ, I do my thing – I do some parties each week so now I’ve become a good DJ but at the time when I played for Boiler Room I wasn’t very good.

Are there some other sets that you’ve played that were really great for you?
Yeah man in Paris I played a set for Pigalle, the clothing brand. I’m friends with the Pigalle team and we’ve done some parties together, it was really huge man. I played a set with them in a great place in Paris, there were like eight thousand people in front of me when I was playing my shit, it was crazy. And the second one was in Times Square for the release of the Nike Air x Pigalle collab. I was mixing during a basketball game and it was insane.

I heard that you played the “Have U Eva” beat for Lunice?
Yeah Lunice is a cool guy. I was with him in his studio in Montreal and we were playing some stuff. I played the “Have U Eva” beat and he was like “Yo man, what the fuck! I want this shit right now!” I met him because my friend Ichon from Bon Gamin released a video clip for a track called Cyclique and Lunice saw the video and wanted to meet Ichon because he thought the video was so dope and wanted him to be on his album. Ichon and I came to Montreal and were in the studio with Lunice together.

Bon Gamin is your hip-hop group right?
Yeah, Bon Gamin is the family, man. It’s my big family in France, we’re a hip-hop group together. We have Loveni, he’s an MC, and Ichon who's an MC too and I’m the beatmaker, that’s my family man. It’s been 5 years now. I met Loveni 5 years ago and he was down to work with me on some songs. We made an EP called PUR together which was good in France. We grew up together over time and formed the Bon Gamin team.

Dean Rosen is a writer living in Toronto - @deanrosen