Pat Gallo isn't made for radio.
That may be a tough concept to grasp in a hip-hop arena that panders to AutoTune hooks and gimmicky dance tunes. Then again, the Westchester, N.Y., product has never been one to roll with the in crowd. "I'm not really worried about fitting in. I wouldn't even try to," says Pat. "If I'm riding and I want to listen to something, it's probably not gonna be the radio [laughs]. They're looking for a certain type of record. They want something happy. Life ain't always a big party."
Party and bullshit aside, that doesn't mean the producer/rapper wouldn't embrace a hit. "If it ends up on the radio, then great—that's a lot of people's goals. But I'm not going to change what I do to try to match what they're playing on the radio. I'm not the type of person to jump on the bandwagon."
That rebellious spirit shows on songs like the Bathgate-assisted "Leavin'" and "It Ain't Easy" featuring Styles P and Robb G. But it wasn't born yesterday.
As a kid whose headphones stayed ringing with vinyls and tapes from the likes of Dr. Dre, Notorious B.I.G. and Wu-Tang Clan, Pat routinely left home to stir trouble with friends. At 15, he got his first tattoo—his initials—which gradually evolved into a sea of tats. He dropped out of Walter Panas High School, went back, and then dropped out again. And he constantly butted heads with his father. Mom was quiet, the good cop with an ear for Motown grooves, Michael Jackson and a little bit of country. Dad wanted things his way. "He wasn't home a lot, so I would do whatever I wanted and deal with it later. He and I really didn't get along until way later," says Pat. "I wasn't hearing that he was just looking out for my interest."
Westchester may not seem like prime stomping grounds for a rebel, but that only made it easier for Pat to make noise. Being mediocre was never an option. "I just knew I didn't want to stay there. It's a small town, with the same people and their parents lived there and their parents," he says. "I didn't want to be stagnant. I wanted more for myself. I was always pushing people, like, 'Don't settle for that job.'" Amidst just messing around with music, the production bug bit after he linked up with a beat-making friend and learned the ropes, taking on the production alias Divine Bars. "It was kinda like, I know I got an ear for this thing. Let me try it. Then, it was all just helping people put songs together. I always knew how I wanted it to sound."
One plus: Living across the street from producer Dame Grease, who crafted the bulk of DMX's 1998 debut, It's Dark And Hell Is Hot. But Pat wasn't looking to emulate any popular producers and kept his production style very "New York." "It definitely don't sound like anybody else. It's usually hard drums and sometimes soulful samples. I don't read music but I can come up with melodies," he says. "I'll take some of the weirdest shit and turn it into hip-hop. I did a song on X's album, The Year of the Dog…Again. It's called 'Blown Away' and that sample came from an Irish record. My mother had gone to Ireland and brought it back."
That X friendship came about when Pat linked with the spiritually intense MC around 2003 through a friend and ended up cranking out gritty beats—"Already," "Let Me Be Your Angel"—while building his resume with tracks like French Montana's "Lay Down."
"I was at the car wash one day, had some beats and played one beat for X. It was the one I knew he would get. He was like, 'Come fuck with me,'" remembers Pat. "Me and X spent so much time together that I would see how he did it. He kinda pushed me. I didn't tell him I was rapping. I fell in love with it and learned that writing is just part of it. There's also cadence. I don't have a lot of commercial success. But there's a die-hard X fanbase who really know who I am."
Despite his anti-formula status, don't mistake Pat for an artist who intentionally tries to go against the grain. For him, that comes naturally.
"Some of my music is mellow, some of it is experimenting with different things. I'm not a real energetic jump-out-the-window type of person. My music is a direct reflection of my personality," he says. "I'm not the type of person to settle for less, so it's not even a question for me. I want change-the-world type of shit."
