New Orleans band Stoop Kids has created a new genre of music called doo-hop — a fusion of doo-wop and hip-hop elements. While putting the finishing touches on its second album, The Daily Reveille sat down with Stoop Kids’ Griffin Dean and Joe Tontillo to talk about its origin and goal in the music industry.
The Daily Reveille: How did Stoop Kids begin?
Griffin Dean: Over two years ago, I started recording an EP in my dorm room. I knew once I started playing shows I’d need a live band, so I started looking for members. Everyone in Stoop Kids met on our intramural softball team. Three of us are actually pursuing degrees in music. A year after forming, we started working on a full length album, and that came out almost two years ago.
TDR: You’re working on the second album already?
GD: We’ve already finished it. It’s currently in its post-production phase—that’s why we made the Kickstarter. We’re ordering CDs, vinyl records and planning some heavy radio promotion. Come November, we’ll be doing a huge promotional bump. The album will be out in January. Hopefully it’ll be our next big push and our introduction to the world.
TDR: How did you decide on the name Stoop Kids?
GD: Have you ever watched the show “Hey Arnold!”? Well, Stoop Kid is a character from the show. It was just a way to call back to the ’90s.
TDR: According to your biography, Stoop Kids describes itself as doo-wop meets hip-hop. How did that idea come about?
GD: The Beach Boys were a huge influence on us, as well as A Tribe Called Quest and Outkast. The Four Freshmen were an inspirational doo-wop group for us too. There’s some soul, jazz, new wave and psychedelic rock in our music as well, and we wanted to create a sound that had never been done before. When I started writing, I wanted to combine what I knew well, which was making hip-hop beats and harmonizing. That’s how doo-hop started.
Joe Tontillo: We all love the old- school music of the ’60s, ’70s and even the ’40s. We all have a passion for hip-hop. The doo-hop feel came naturally.
TDR: What is the songwriting process like for Stoop Kids?
GD: I’ll be in my own space and create the foundation of the song, and I’ll bring it to the guys and see how they feel about it. Once I show them the song, we begin working on it as a live band. I’ll write the lyrics and we flesh out the rest as we go.
TDR: You’re all students right now, as well as artists. How are you juggling both?
GD: We’re all graduating in May, but we want to make this our livelihood.
JT: It’s a struggle to juggle music and school. I’m in class all the time. We all have very conflicting schedules, and it’s hard to find rehearsal and practice time. We have our priorities in order, so we make it work.
TDR: So what’s the big goal for Stoop Kids?
GD: We want to be sustainably touring in the future and possibly international. We want to be financially comfortable doing this. Part of us wants to be in the music world as a major band, but being able to make a living off of it is the dream.
You can reach Joshua Jackson on Twitter @Joshua_Jackson_.