Hyphen magazine - Asian American arts, culture, and politics

     Photo courtesy of AraabMUZIK's official Facebook page.

On February 15, AraabMUZIK -- the stage moniker of Sri Lankan hip hop producer Abraham Orellana -- went ballistic on his Music Production Center drum machine before a fist-pumping crowd of hipsters-gone-hip hop at San Francisco's Clift Hotel as part of the 2012 Clift Sessions series.

In his singular brand of instrumental electro hip hop, the self-proclaimed "MPV of the MPC" slices samples of chintzy dance music like Jan & Spoon's "Right in the Night (Fall in Love with Music)" while ferociously pounding out complex drum patterns with the touch of his fingertips. He is a skilled percussionist who has been compared to Blink 182's drumming virtuoso Travis Barker.

Several YouTube videos capture the Rhode Island native's MPC wizardry. In them, his dexterous digits hammer on those rubber pads with precision at a face-melting speed. His live performance is just more of the same.



When he took stage half an hour late, AraabMUZIK -- unassumingly clad in a white Adidas track jacket -- did not come off as "hard" as the gangsta rap beats he has produced for rappers like Hell Rell or Cam'ron.

AraabMUZIK made little eye contact with audience members, but he did not exude an air of arrogance. In fact, he shied away from the crowd somewhat. His face was obstructed by his black, stiff-billed White Sox baseball cap because he kept his head down even when his fans called out his name.

Before the first song was introduced, AraabMUZIK failed to acknowledge the audience because he was texting, which was disrespectful to the show-goers who traveled from all over the Bay Area on a Wednesday night to watch him perform. He put down his cell phone only moments before his cue.

After numerous beats into the introductory track, it was obvious that he put more of an investment into his performance. His body moved with the swagger of a rapper as he banged on his MPC and his hypnotic beats ignited little self-contained dance parties throughout the crowd.

AraabMUZIK's beats were undoubtedly fierce, but the monotomy of his undynamic MPC-playing grew tiresome as his one hour set bled into midnight. Truth be told, watching his YouTube videos with the volume turned up is just as satisfying as his live performance.

AraabMUZIK is part of the 2012 Coachella festival line-up.