Over the years, the New York City rap scene has been making noise with the help of a new generation of beatmakers. Frank Parra a.k.a. Frankie P is one of the most prominent producers in the city and has been at the forefront helping to cultivate New York’s sound with a modern mix.
An NYC native, Frankie P was inspired by the city’s well-known personality and culture to establish a name in hip-hop. P was no stranger to the music world as he recalls his dad collecting old records and finding out that several of his uncles were DJs.
Before hip-hop, he was a fan of music first as he remembers listening to Michael Jackson at such a young age and becoming a huge fan of the King of Pop. Frankie’s Dominican and Ecuadorian roots also played a vital role in his musical knowledge growing up, as he listened to a lot of Merengue, Bachata, Salsa, and Reggaeton that meshes up well together for him.
His love for music gradually builds on over the years and it was not until his sophomore year of high school when Frankie truly realized what he wanted to do in life. It was around that time when Frankie was first introduced to production software and made everything sparked for him to craft beats.
However, he will sometimes just craft beats that he thinks are dope and unorthodox and would usually get the attention of numerous artists because of its new and fresh sound. Washington Heights has a huge impact on how P crafts every beat thus far. He would often lend production to local artists in the area while getting recognition on the radio specifically, NYC’s very own HOT 97.
After years of putting in work and grinding behind the scenes, P would later cross paths with fellow NY native, A$AP Ferg. He would then provide his talent for beat making to the A$AP Mob member and even help create Ferg’s well-acclaimed album, ‘Trap Lord’.
Since then, Frankie P has continued to flourish as he has produced beats for several notable artists in the game including A$AP Rocky, Meek Mill, City Girls, J.I.D, Cam’ron, and more.
His most recent produced-single with A$AP Ferg’s “Move Ya Hips” featuring Nicki Minaj and MadeinTYO has transcended P on a whole other level as it positioned number one on the US iTunes Charts and debuted #19 on the Billboard Hot 100.
When asked about how the song came about, P mentioned that the record was originally going to be a part of Ferg’s ‘Floor Seats 1’ album but did not make it to the final cut. He gave credit to MadeinTYO as the rapper laid down the hook first and ultimately set up the whole flow and the whole style of the record.
He was thankful that he was able to work with the queen Nicki Minaj and
being able to learn a lot from her. Frankie P gets into more details regarding the recording session he had with Nicki as he realized how she really puts in the work and takes her craft very serious.
Recording sessions always feel like a dream to P and he recalls one of his most
memorable studio sessions was when he recorded “Coach Cartier” with A$AP Ferg. He vividly remembers being surrounded by the whole A$AP Mob in the studio and as soon as he lay down the beat the whole energy inside the room shifted as people started writing and brainstorming that resulted in a really great vibe during the whole night session.
As a producer, Frankie gets blown away when the music contains unique and unorthodox sounds that have not been showcased before. He believes when both the artist and producer take risks musically, it will ultimately pay off with a high-quality sound that people will surely love.
Frankie is gearing up for his own compilation project as he will take his time to work on high-quality tracks to make sure people will be able to hear a great body of work all-around. With many hits under his belt, Parra has positioned himself as one of the most currently sought after producers in the game.
WRITTEN BY: PAOLO LIM – IG: @whospaolo