With sounds ranging from high-energy beats to mellow harmonic tracks, Chris Hanai-Wills, aka “Undermind,” has been re-inventing hip-hop culture in Eugene for seven years.
Undermind is perhaps best known in Eugene for beatboxing into a flute at Saturday Market and other local venues, but his talent also extends to break dancing, computer music production, lyric writing, MC-ing and rapping. “I like to try to keep myself involved in all elements of hip-hop so that I can continuously understand the local culture,” Hanai-Wills said.
Hanai-Wills recalls buying a plastic recorder because he eventually wanted to learn how to play the flute. Two years ago, while standing outside of a venue selling CDs and beat-boxing, Hanai-Wills had his recorder in hand and someone suggested he incorporate the recorder into his beats. It wasn’t long before beatboxing into a recorder created a well-known hype on the streets of Eugene. People now call it “flute boxing,” although the instrument used is really a recorder. “I use a large recorder to make a melody while beatboxing. People think I’m playing a flute, but really its one of those grade school style recorders,” Hanai-Wills said.
Beatboxing on the street is only a small aspect of Undermind’s enthusiasm for making music. He transitions from the streets to the studio where he writes lyrics and produces songs. “Life music” is how he describes his songs. “Most of the lyrics I come up with are situations I have been through. I actually carry around a notebook every day to document life; that’s how I come up with my music.”
Eugene hip-hop artist Marshall Glasscock, known as “Incite,” has a tremendous amount of respect for Hanai-Wills and his dedication to the local hip-hop scene. “When I think of hip-hop in Eugene, the first thing I think of is Undermind. Chris and I have worked on a lot of cuts before and I have never heard a sound like Chris’. He has a very unique pattern and rhythm; his music is really innovative,” Glasscock said. “I have made music with a lot of people but when I sit down and work on music with Chris, it’s all very natural.”
Glasscock and friend Brendan Lynch are a part of a Eugene hip-hop group called “Collective Influence” and have enjoyed working with Undermind since they met him last year. Lynch says Hanai-Wills serves as the common ground for hip-hop among all the artists in Eugene.
“He is a pioneer artist in Eugene. He has been doing it the longest and has put in a lot of groundwork,” Lynch said. “He has really exposed Eugene to hip-hop and also helps out local artists; he has really helped Marshall and I get on our feet.”
In Undermind’s latest album, “Reality Hurts,” his music tells insightful relationship-based stories. The lyrics reflect his own life, but in a way most can relate to. “I write songs that have huge general concepts. I like to keep it broad and open to interpretation.”
“He is not just rhyming words,” Glasscock said. “He definitely has something to say.”
“Reality Hurts” was produced mostly digitally on the computer with a lot of beeping noises and heavy base lines. Hanai-Wills describes the album as “spacey.” Undermind is working on a new CD that creates a completely new sound, involving all live instruments and no digitally produced music. He says the album is basically a blend of indie-pop and hip-hop that creates a unique sound involving the guitar, simple drums and beats from the recorder.
“Every CD that I do, there is usually a pretty radical change in sound. My feelings and outlook on music change so often that the albums come out depending on how I feel that year.”
Undermind has performed for diverse audiences, but Lynch says he is always very confident and his performances are unlike any other.
“His live performances are always so entertaining. He’s a little dude always jumping all over the place, on top of speakers and all over the stage,” Lynch said. “When he’s performing, you’ve got a lot of animation and an all-around good presence.”
For Hanai-Wills, music is a long-term plan and his future plans will always involve hip-hop. As of now, his foundation is set firmly in Eugene, and he is ready to start his circuit tour of the U.S. Undermind plans to spend two years traveling off-and-on, but he will still perform regularly in Eugene.
“To sum things up, my music is my expression, self redemption, my reality and my dream,” Hanai-Wills said. “I make my music for others, but also for myself to make sense of my own life. It is what I’m living, but also what I’m dreaming, hip-hop is just how I live.”
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