Yesterday was April Fool’s Day, and atop the sea of torrid attempts at pranks—bad fake tour announcements, hoax album drops, the list goes on—stood one golden troll: a Hamburger Helper mixtape. The brand’s Twitter account, noted in our track-by-track review yesterday as the literal only brand Twitter account that matters, tweeted out the unassuming Soundcloud playlist randomly Friday and blew the internet to smithereens. It wasn’t so much the absurdity of the idea that attracted people as the fact that this thing was actually pretty damn good.
I looked over the tracklist and credits trying to understand who was responsible and picked out some names I knew. Mixtape opener “Feed the Streets,” a trap banger you think is about whipping up a batch of work until you realize what’s being cooked is Helper, was written and produced by Minnesota indie rap upstarts Bobby Raps and Tiiiiiiiiiip. They’re associates of the Midwest hip-hop/R&B collective the St4nd4d, which you’ve probably heard if you pay much attention to R&B whiz kid Corbin (who used to go by Spooky Black). I hit Tiiiiiiiiiip up about burgers, raps, and raps about burgers, and hilarity ensued.
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NOISEY: How did this track come together? Were you hit up by Helper?
Tiiiiiiiiiip: Robb McNeill from Hamburger Helper hit me up and asked if we were interested, and we were both down right away just because its a Minnesota company and we thought it would be fun, which it was. We made about three songs total, and this one fit what they wanted the best.
Who is the rapper on “Feed the Streets” and how did he pull off that amazing full song double entendre where you think he’s talking about crack but it’s actually about dinner?
The rapper is Bobby Raps. He’s a very skilled man. He put out an EP with Corbin (FKA Spooky Black) last year and has production on Father’s latest project I’m a Piece of Shit. PS crack?! You must be mistaken. This is a food song only food. No drugs. Get your mind out the gutter, Craig!
What is the best flavor of Hamburger Helper?
Gotta be that cheeseburger but I’m trying to get them to make us our own custom flavor once the physical copies of the tape come out.
Is Helper pasta or casserole? What ancient magic holds it together?
I would say its more of a pastacal type dish than anything.
If you could cook up a whole tape for any brand on the planet, which one would it be and why?
Monster Energy! I would die without it.
How did you acquire so many i’s in your name?
My nickname has been Tip my whole life. I just figured that “Tip” is a kinda weak name, and I thought I deserved more in life. So I added bout nine of them to my shit, and that’s that. I really like it. I think it matches my personality pretty well. I was gonna be “Just the Tip,” but it was kinda creepy so I decided against it.
I know you’ve done a bunch of shows with with Allan Kingdom recently. What’s next on the horizon for you?
I’m on tour with Allan Kingdom and Denzel Curry right now. Me and Allan are touring all through Europe in May, and I’m doing a set at Soundset in Minnesota this year with Future, A$AP Rocky, the Roots, etc. Overall, I’m just looking forward to watching Bobby and Allan and all us do our thing, and making music and doing shows.
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