Quebec producer Roko Beats brings hosted-mixtape format to LEVELUP 4
The LEVELUP 4 cover art foregrounds the project’s mixtape concept, with DJ Zelus named as host.
Photo credit: Roko beats
Saint-Jérôme, Que., producer Roko Beats brings nine artists together on LEVELUP 4, the fourth project in a collaborative series he has used to track changes in his production and the artists he works with.
Ricardo “Roko Beats” Lebrun told SCENE 49 that he has been producing under the name for 10 years. His influences include Statik Selektah, Cookin Soul, The Alchemist, Harry Fraud, 808 Mafia, MexikoDro and Zaytoven, whose approaches to sampling, drums, melody and atmosphere have all contributed to the way he thinks about production.
“The LEVELUP projects are a reflection of my evolution as a producer,” Lebrun said by email. “Each installment represents another stage of my creative journey and gives me the opportunity to explore new sounds, work with different artists, and push myself creatively.”
The series itself is established. Earlier LEVELUP projects are publicly listed through music platforms, including LevelUp2 from 2023 and LevelUp3 from 2024. Lebrun said the fourth instalment expands the range of sounds he was working with compared with its predecessor.
“The biggest difference between LEVELUP 4 and LEVELUP 3 is the evolution in the sound,” he said. “With LEVELUP 4, I wanted to push the production further and create more contrast between the records. You can hear different moods, different energies, and different approaches to production throughout the project.”
He still wanted the series to retain the collaborative character of the earlier releases.
“There’s still that raw, collaborative energy at the core of it,” he said. “It’s familiar, but it doesn’t sound like I’m repeating myself.”
According to Lebrun, LEVELUP 4 features Yung Deco, Tremaari, JI Beats, Nutso Thugn, Gamibandz, 10kdunkin, 2008, Yung Simmie and Idontknowjeffery. Some were artists he had already worked with or knew personally, while others were musicians whose work he had been following.
“The collaborations came together organically,” he said. “Some of the artists were people I already knew or had relationships with, while others were artists whose music I had been following and genuinely wanted to work with.”
That gave Lebrun room to approach each collaboration differently. He said he built the production around what individual performers brought to their tracks and wanted each of them to retain their own identity within the project.
“I wanted each artist to bring their own identity and energy to the production,” he said. “I wanted the artists to be themselves and allow the production to adapt to their individual styles.”
DJ Zelus hosts LEVELUP 4, giving the project another link between its different artists and tracks. Lebrun said the choice came directly from his interest in hosted mixtapes and the role a DJ can play in giving a project its own voice.
“I wanted to bring back that classic hosted-mixtape feeling,” he said. “The host gives the project a voice and helps connect the different records together, almost like you’re being taken through the project rather than just listening to a collection of individual songs.”
Lebrun said Zelus adds personality and energy to the project while also serving as a nod to the mixtape culture that influenced him as both a producer and music fan. That format gives LEVELUP 4 a connecting element as it moves among nine performers and a wider range of production approaches.
Lebrun describes the individual songs as pieces of a larger record of where he is creatively now, with each collaboration tied to a different relationship or stage in his work.
“Every song represents a different connection, moment, collaboration, or part of my creative journey,” he said. “That’s really what LEVELUP 4 means to me: it isn’t just a collection of songs, but a collection of different pieces of my evolution as a producer.”
Lebrun told SCENE 49 ahead of the project’s planned launch that LEVELUP 4 was scheduled for Sept. 27. At publication time, SCENE 49 had not independently confirmed a public streaming release page for the project.
