The voice of a man explaining something about minerals can be heard. Sounds almost like from an old film and from another time when he says: “Minerals are familiar to all of you” – then the beat sets in and at the latest now you realize that you are not somewhere in the fifties, but in the year 2020. So begins the track “Wavellite” on the album “Minerals” by IROCC, real name Leon List. He not only tinkers beats with the MPC, but also performs live with his Munich crew Greenery Force or is active as a DJ and producer. “Minerals”, which came out in October, is his first album.
Leon List, 27, has long been rooted in Munich’s DJ and hip-hop culture – and he has also been known in Brazil since 2014. During a stay in South America, Leon got to know the local hip-hop community and made contacts with Brazilian artists, with whom he continues to work creatively. This was also the case in the summer when he had repeatedly uploaded videos of online sessions to his Instagram profile in which he merged his beats with the singing or instruments of other artists across borders. For two years he worked on “Minerals”, which consists of self-produced beats. Each of the 24 instrumental tracks is named after a mineral. “Minerals fascinated me as a child, my father always took me to the mineral days at the exhibition center in Munich-Riem,” says Leon. So this is what minerals sound like to the 27-year-old: A mix of boombap, lofi and funk, as well as old recordings and samplers
Leon came to music through dancing. “At the breakdance events I went to, there were of course always DJs. They already fascinated me back then. At some point I thought to myself: I want to do that too,” says Leon. Today he switched sides – he’s behind the desk instead of on the dance floor. Don’t practice breakdance moves anymore, but make beats. He was influenced musically by J Dilla, Pete Rock, DJ Premier and the Canadian artist Elaquent – they all also work with MPC.
The MPC has been used not only, but mainly in hip-hop since the late 1980s – and is still used today by younger beat artists. Only recently you could Packed Rich at the “Sound Of Munich Now 2020” with MPC on stage. He is also one of several guests, along with Cap Kendricks, C-Ras and L One, that Leon has teamed up with for his album.
Rocks are formed through geological processes over thousands of years. “Minerals” combines both: old and new – and Leon grinds his own musical crystals with his beats. He works intuitively: “I play a lot, of course, and when I discover mistakes, I sometimes deliberately leave it there. It has a beauty all of its own,” he says. Minerals are not completely symmetrical, they have corners and edges.
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