Boston-bred Benjamin Roc (“B-Roc” for short) has been riling up hip-hop for some time now. The 22-year-old spins at Santo’s Party House, produces under the moniker The Knocks for the likes of Dr. Dre, and breaks new artists left and right. With the help of party rocker Andrew W.K., he’s recently released a boisterous mixtape, eloquently titled “DAMN! The Mixtape, Vol. 1,” on his label Heavy Roc Music. Read the Q&A after the jump to hear his take on production, his sonic roots, and upcoming projects.
How long have you been producing?
The 8th grade. I had already been DJing and started making beats with drum machines, samplers, tape decks and whatever else I could get my hands on.
I want to know about the Dre Detox beat you did. How did that happen?
BR I used to help engineer at a recording studio on Spring Street run by Hi-Tek’s management. Tek was in town for a G-Unit session with Lloyd Banks and needed some samples. I played him a bunch of my beats. He liked them and ended up co-producing one with me. He later said Dr. Dre wanted to use the track, which I never believed until two years passed and I heard the track with T.I. spitting Dre’s verse. It’s cool and all, but I’m assuming the song will be cut from Detox now that it’s been leaked. No matter what, though, it’s a total trip.
Tell me about the new mixtape with Andrew W.K
BR We teamed up to put together a mixtape that included a bunch of new material from The Knocks as well as our artists, Julia and Samuel, along with Andrew W.K.’s artists, Bad Brilliance & Aleister X. It’s got some crazy features: Lee “Scratch” Perry and porn star Sasha Grey. It’s a dance LP, only laid out in the form of a classic street mixtape. Instead of some rapper shouting all over it, it’s Andrew W.K. being the amazing, hilarious guy he’s known to be. It’s something that’s never been done before and is worth checking out.
Who are you working with currently and what’s coming up for Heavy Roc in the next year?
BR Right now we’re focused on our artist Samuel’s album (http://myspace.com/samuelmusicnyc). We’ve been developing and producing tracks for his winter Columbia Records debut for about 2 years now. We’re also working on Julia’s EP (http://myspace.com/iamjuliasmusic) which should be rad. Her song “Cocaine” has been getting great feedback and has already been picked up by a few random Canadian stations. Other than that, we have a new secret project. Can’t say much besides her name: Baby Vampire. She’ll knock your socks off.

“DAMN! The Mixtape, Vol. 1” is available for digital download at damnthemixtape.com