Life & Work with Rock Samson of The Valley

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rock Samson.

Hi Rock, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
During quarantine after several months of video games I felt inspired to learn an instrument and decided on a beat machine I had lying around. Once quarantine ended I started playing at my friend Tommy’s booth (Threadquarterz) at swap meets to get comfortable playing in front of people and bring some extra attention to his booth. He eventually got brought onto the WDSTS podcast to be interviewed and without asking me signed me up to do a set to close out the episode. This turned into a regularly weekly gig for me and I eventually became a cohost. A couple of years after working on that show I caught the attention of Dom at B-Real Tv and was asked to perform weekly for the Dr. Greenthumb Mix Show with B-Real and several other notable hip hop legends. Since then over the last few years I’ve had the honor of playing live events like Lowkey Comedy and J Dilla Day with the likes of Psycho Les, B-Real, Xzibit, Matt Rife and Coyote.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s been ok. Nothing has felt too turbulent, I just keep saying yes to trying new things and seeing what works and what doesn’t. I’m very grateful to have a lot of great friends who consistently speak about me when I’m not around and help create new opportunities for me.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am host and a live beat maker/producer. Regarding music I use an mpc live 3 and am known for manually creating/triggering loops with samples and drumming over them at the same time. I am constantly moving which is great for my anxiety. There are other people that call themselves finger drummers and I believe that what sets me apart from them is a mix between me not just drumming over a premade 1-3min track and that I approach it like a dj with 20min – 1+hr long sets that include transitions and a flow that keeps people engaged. I also believe my personality as a host on multiple podcasts (WDSTS/Sound Bites with Rock Samson) gives me a voice and confidence I wouldn’t have if I was just making music. Overall I’m most proud of the fact that I’ve been able to get where I am because of my friends who lifted me up and put me on like Bizzair, Tommy, Una, WDSTS, Dom and B-Real.

Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I think the biggest risk I’ve taken was stepping away from WDSTS and The Dr. Greenthumb Mix Show for a while to focus on myself as an individual rather than as part of something that felt bigger than me. My friend Mike Chehade gave me a pep talk regarding not putting all my eggs in one basket and to make my own lane. With that advice he also provided some new avenues to make friends and collaborate with amazing artists like Coyote as well as encouraging me to say no to things I wasn’t as passionate about. It was scary and a little uncomfortable but I found new great communities like Beat Freak Geeks and I feel like my community at B-Real Tv really respected what I had accomplished on my own and strengthened my relationship with all of them. Ultimately I think with risks I take the good with the bad. One win is worth tons of failed attempts.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @rocksamsonatx
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@brealtv2
• Other: https://youtube.com/@soundbiteswithrocksamson

Image Credits
Daniel Rojas
Paolo Constantino
Bret Christiansen
Oje.
Intrikat
Rich Abagon
Noafx