Cookin Soul

Cookin Soul has been making beats since he was 16. He’s developed a keen ear, always listening for the prime sample to flip. He’s heavily inspired by old-school hip-hop culture, which is rife with soulful samples and aesthetics laid down by previous generations. “I’m a very visual artist,” he says. “A lot of the time, when I make beats, I have movies on in the background. That’s why I have so much stuff. I just get inspiration from those kinds of things.”

Look around his Amsterdam-based studio and you’ll see a diverse collection of music gear, retro video games and consoles, action figures and decor. Look to his many albums and their artwork, and a pattern emerges. His Whatever series features cartoon album covers inspired by Crash Bandicoot, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Madlib’s Quasimoto. “It’s all about my life; the things that I like and that represent me or that have inspired me through the years.”