Loyola’s Hip Hop and R&B Program, the first of its kind in the country, now boasts not one, but two full-length albums of brand-spanking-new songs from the school’s own artists.
4 The Culture Vol. 1 is split into the Gold Edition with songs from students in the R&B Program, and the Maroon Edition for Hip Hop, staying true to Loyola’s colors.
The completely student-written and produced album was released on July 7, 2023, under Loyola University New Orleans Hip-Hop and R&B on music streaming platforms. The program is already at over 7000 monthly listeners, and the top song “Love it” by E.V. Soto and MSSNGR from the Gold Edition is already hiking up to nearly 11,500 streams.
Professor of Hip-Hop and R&B and Recording Studios Manager Lovell “U-P” Cooper said he came up with the idea for the albums with the help of Professor Raney Antoine Jr.
“[We] told the students about what we wanted to do. They agreed and it was off to the races,” he said. U-P said he made it his goal to make sure the student’s songs were recorded at top-notch quality. Loyola’s studios house state-of-the-art gear for students to record, mix, and master at professional levels, according to U-P.
Mixing and mastering are crucial steps to ensure the audio quality of a song. Hip-Hop and R&B production junior Ty Johnson explains it as “refining and leveling of individual elements in a song, trying to meld and make every element fit with each other.” Mastering, he said, is “the final step of the audio production process before releasing a song. It consists of general leveling and looking at the translation of the song through different speakers.”
Johnson produced track 5, “My Man,” on the Maroon Edition.
“The coolest part of the process was learning how Raney worked on the sound selection and writing with Mari, then how he helped on the back half instructing how to carve Mari’s vocals out of the mix to push the song to greater limits,” Johnson said.
While the songs were completely created by the students, U-P and Raney worked closely to ensure the songs sounded album-worthy.
“I personally checked the recordings, the mixes, and made sure that the musical and vocal arrangements on the songs were the best they could possibly be,” U-P said. “I also made sure that the mastering process was done correctly.”
Music industry senior Aniya Teno is featured twice on the Gold Edition, with “SABRINA!” at track No. 3 and “So What” at track 8 with CM Young.
“I thought it was cool that there would be an album compiling together music that was created by all of my talented peers and friends,” Teno said.
“It’s such an honor to have a song put out with such a talented roster of other artists,” added Hip-Hop and R&B junior Joey Fondriest, better known as Joey Vesco, whose song “Don’t Care” is track 7 on the Maroon Edition. “We all worked on it every single day, practiced and performed, and built this thing together. So to put all of that hard work into one incredible project was super exciting,” he said.
Reflecting on the albums, U-P said he loves how they feel. He prides the Gold Edition on its modernity in “rhythmic expression,” coupled with “songs about love, heartbreak, longing and wanting.”
He also appreciates the diversity of the Maroon Edition. It is “fast, slow, emotional, aggressive, representing friends, and where you’re from.” It’s music you want to dance to, he said. And it’s only getting better from here.
“The more creatives we have on campus, the more vibed out the projects will be. I can’t wait to get the freshman involved with the next project,” U-P said.
He and his students are eager to get the semester rolling with new projects and ideas.
“I’m very excited to see what other new things we decide to introduce and execute in the program,” Teno said.
“There’s so much opportunity for collaboration and growth,” Vesco said. “To be in an ecosystem full of unbelievable singers, songwriters, rappers, producers, engineers, there’s just unlimited opportunities and ideas.”
