Also known as the artist “Capotal”, Instagram’s official @LofiHipHop page is a feature we’ve been only hoping to have!

Instagram Followers: 9.5k

Loficulture’s Favorites

Lets get started!

INTERVIEW

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What is your full name? Do you have a picture you’d like to share?
[*] My name is Rocco “Capotal” Vitolo, and here’s a picture of yours truly (this is promo for my latest music video, Don’t Work).

Could you explain all of your identities on soundcloud and instagram briefly?
[*] So besides my personal music pages, I run The Lofi Hip-Hop Blog (@lofihiphop on Instagram, @lofihiphop on SoundCloud, and The Lofi Hip-Hop Blog on BandCamp), a group of social media pages centered around music curation (specifically Lofi Hip-Hop) and, in the case of my SoundCloud and BandCamp, featuring of compilations that I hold twice a year!

You seem to have multiple talents you are able to tap into such as making lo-fi beats,, being a social media handler, and being an all around producer. What advice do you have for individuals who want to pursue multiple creative paths just like you?
[*]Thank you, and while this may seem like back pedaling, I’d say the most important thing is start small and don’t spread yourself too thin. I’ve been a producer and musician for over 10 years so that all comes naturally to me now, allowing me time to be able to handle other projects and endeavors. That being said, even at this level I still wouldn’t be able to do it without careful planning and strict organization, my next word of advice. It’s always important to keep a disciplined mind and focus your time. Half of the work I do on the blog is studying the trends of my audience (through detailed analytics) and of the industry. If Instagram drops a new feature tomorrow I need to know how to use it by yesterday or else I won’t be prepared for it! Tl;dr create schedules and do your studies!

Out of all your talents as a creative mind/producer, which one of your personalities do you like to indulge in the most? Why?
[*] That’s a hard one, but I’d say the avenue I put the most work and time into is myself as an artist. I’m a trained singer (and still train) and a rapper, so I’m pretty much studying two (almost whole) days a week with my teacher and practicing on every other day. I also spend the most time developing myself and my sound. My ultimate goal is to be a well known artist, but even a solid following that I could make a living off of would be great. Otherwise, I usually do freelance producer work (making instrumentals or as a traditional producer) for side money and I work as a recording engineer at a studio in NYC, so I’d say those two come second and third, but are still very close to my heart.

Since this is mainly a lofi-themed blog i’ll ask about your current tracks that are “Lo-Fi Hiphop”. Who do you give credit to for giving you inspiration to create these tracks?
[*] That’s a tough one as well! So the easy answers are the Lofi cats; bsd.u, [slr], chuckee., motion. (the skate tape is my favorite lofi project of all time), the homie Kriracha, the guys over at Cozy Collective, Sabata, Yxng Cxmo, etc etc. There are a lot of names to drop, but those are some of the few Lofi cats off of the top of my head. Non-Lofi acts would definitely be Tribe, De La Soul, pretty much anything Motown, Brother Ali, Big L, Takako Mamiya, Junko Ohashi, and a lot more!

As Lofihiphop on IG, how do you decide on what artists and what label gets featured? Do you have a process?
[*]So my choice of features have been quite controversial at times! I do two things; I study my analytics to see what my audience likes the most and what attracts the most new followers and then choose based on those results and what I feel is up to par with my audience’s tastes. As a side note, I, along with many in the community, have been getting a bit worn down by the tropes that have been starting to develop in the community, and have been trying to feature more experimental or at least more artistically interesting Lofi, so I’d say my bar is definitely being raised. I sometimes may really enjoy an artist’s music, but if I feel it’s not what my audience would enjoy/isn’t necessarily great for the community I probably won’t feature it. I will bump it heavy, though.

Why did you start Lofihiphop on IG?
[*] So this is a complicated one. When I joined the community we were just seeing the dust fall from the Late Night Bumps era. It was right before the current boom, but it was starting to build in popularity. Oddly enough, the community was beginning to become stale, though. Not long after I decided to host the first r/LofiHipHop Presents: tape, “Rainy Night Blues”, to get people involved and discussing in the hopes of creating a cycle that could help build up more artists (a community that is connected can help make artists known, and those known artists in turn help the community become known). The second part of the plan was to start introducing the world to the community to build it up and make it more accessible. Granted, I had high hopes and didn’t expect Chilled Cow to do it for me not long after, but alas I created the Instagram to handle that front. Funny enough, my goal wasn’t quite met, but a lot of people daily tell me I’m how they found the sound!

What is your typical schedule like on any given day?
[*]So besides the madness that is being an engineer, a freelancer, and trying to build my brand as an artist, I tend to end every day by going through my submissions and listening to a lot of Lofi. I always make my videos when I get home (usually about 10-11pm every night) as to be able to check as many submissions as possible. As you can probably imagine, I have little to no social life outside of the music world anymore!

How many and what type of people message you on Instagram and Soundcloud? How do you deal with these different types of viewers?
[*] Oh man, a lot. On average I get at least 15-20 Instagram DMs a day. That’s not counting emails and SoundCloud messages. Usually everyone is really awesome and enthusiastic about the page, but every once and a while someone gets out of line. Overall I’d say my followers are the best! It’s also very important to me to interact and get to know my followers, I’ve even made a lot of friends!

In regards to your Lo-fi tracks, what kind of instruments, equipments, and software did you use in making your sounds?
[*] When making my Lofi tracks I try to tow the line between experimenting and making accessible enough music for new listeners to enjoy. I intend on being the artist that people get into before jumping down the rabbit hole. That being said, I’ve molded my set up around that. I sample off of vinyls and have various instruments, all are implemented to varying degrees when making tracks. When it comes to software I mainly use Logic Pro 9 to make the beats and Pro Tools to mix/master. I also use Pro Tools to record vocals and such over them, but y’all haven’t really heard any of my Lofi tunes with vocals yet, as I’ve either not released them at the moment or have been slyly dropping them here and there for you to find!

Would you consider doing another interview with Loficulture again? :^)
[*] Of course!

I’ve had a great time answering these, it was a lot of fun and I really appreciate what you’re doing for the community!” -Lofihiphop

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END OF INTERVIEW

Thank you for that LofiHipHop! I’m glad you had as much fun as we did while interviewing you. These interviews have been nothing short of great so I’d also like to thank all those people who’ve been checking it out lately! Loficulture will always welcome all Lo-Fi heads.

*Note* 1.5% of all sales provided by the amazon links above will be donated to a Renewable Energy Charity. I believe that the sun can be the source for music someday. Lets get technology for it!

That’s it for this short interview! Thanks for taking a minute to find out more about your favorite musician. Email me @loficulturenow@gmail.com and let me know what you thought about it.

IF YOU LIKED OUR INTERVIEW WITH IG’S LOFIHIPHOP THEN BE SURE TO FIND HIM ON HIS OTHER PLATFORMS!

Lofihiphop
Ig: lofihiphop
Soundcloud: lofihiphop
Bandcamp: lofihiphopblog

Capotal
Soundcloud: Capotal
Youtube: Catopal
Instagram: Capotal
Facebook: Capotal