There are many talented producers in our area. We are lucky to have such true beat wizards to help us get through our dreary, rainy, grayness - and to help us celebrate when the sun shines on us. One of the notable hip-hop producers in our city is Todd Sykes. Sykes is one-half of City Hall, a group with EvergreenOne. Sykes is also a very accomplished solo-artist. His bandcamp is filled with prolific albums - some instrumental projects and some with Sykes spits bars with the best of them. To experience Todd's musical landscapes, visit City Hall's website.

Sykes gets a level of respect and admiration for his work that has almost catapulted him to mythical status in the city. There have been at least two instances where two different, talented hip-hop artists from Tacoma have asked me about Sykes. There is something about Sykes' music that has turned him into a producer's producer - meaning Sykes is liked by his peers, his fellow producers. This has to mean Sykes is doing something right. There is nothing that feels so rewarding than to get acknowledgement from your fellow artists.

I can't pinpoint why Sykes is so admired. Obviously it is his music, which people love. There is more to it though. Sykes carries himself with confidence, but not cockiness. He knows he can cook-up a nice mess on the boards, but he is not the type to enter a producer battle. Sykes puts a lot of music out there for us, but he is more on the quiet-side. If I had to put my finger on it I would say Sykes gets his overall vibe from the fact that he is a supreme digger.

Put simply, digging is going out and looking for records. It involves an almost detective like persistence. It is an addiction to put it mildly. True diggers, like Sykes, have to dig every day. Diggers have to live their lives like this. It is what feeds their creative fires.

I asked Sykes what feeds his digging fire.

WEEKLY VOLCANO: How does digging make you the man we see today?

TODD SYKES: For me, digging is where the music begins. It is the building blocks of ideas where my music comes from. Any track I make comes from a record. I am addicted to digging. I have to do it every day, even if it is just stopping by a store for 10 minutes. I have always been like this. All the hip-hop I ever listened to is sample-based.

VOLCANO: How does digging make you feel?

SYKES: Digging makes me feel like gambling. Walking into a record store, ya never know what you'll get. Ya might be looking for one particular record, but you probably won't find it. But ya might find something equally dope ya weren't even looking for. It's like playing scratch tickets or the slot machines. Ya never know what ya might get. There are highs and lows, slumps; sometimes you won't find anything, ups and downs.

VOLCANO: What is hip-hop's relationship to digging?

SYKES: Lots of people buy records outside of hip-hop. There are even hip-hop heads that collect records that don't sample. People still like to touch and feel records. I think records will never go away. People dig for rock records and electronica records. There are plenty of people who buy records and don't sample. When I'm digging, I actually don't see that many people digging for beats. I see 50-year-olds and older digging for rock records, or 20-something hipsters looking for records. Hip-hop is just one aspect of digging-culture.

VOLCANO: Is there any record you have been digging for forever and never been able to find?

SYKES: I've always been looking for a record by a group called Stark Reality. The album is named Hoagie Carmichael's Music Shop. It's a $1,000 record. It has like a cartoon-type cover. A fellow digger, Jason, found it in a store that I was just in. He found it like 10 minutes after I left. I'm always looking for any Blue Note record from the '60s.

VOLCANO: What are some tips to digging?

SYKES: Learn to look for labels. Get to know time periods. For example, a record from the '70s will have different instrumentation than a record from the '80s. Learn record labels. If there's a label I like, I'll buy anything.

VOLCANO: What's the best find you ever came across?

SYKES: I've had a lot of them. My favorite record is a Jimmy McGriff record called, Electric Funk. It's a Blue Note release from 1970. He is a jazz organist. The record is not worth a lot. I just love the music and artwork on it. The cover has a badass hot chick on it.

VOLCANO: Any final thoughts on digging?

SYKES: The other cool thing about digging is the relationships ya form with other diggers. It's like anything else you're passionate about in life, when two diggers get together, they can have deep meaningful conversations that someone who is not a collector would just not even understand. It's good to build relationships with the owners of the record-stores too. It takes a while, but if they like you, they'll hold stuff for ya that they think you'll like.

Sykes is nearing the finish of a new album he produced entirely for Ra Scion, formerly of Common Market fame. It will be a 13-track album with guest verses from John Crown, Tilson, Chevy, GMK and others. Sykes is also finishing another solo album - this one with lyrics. Look for a video from Michael Pierce soon.