Name: Ronald Seibt
Nationality: German
Occupation: HHV label
Current event: Berlin based music store and mail order HHV is celebrating its 20th year of existence in 2023. Festivities include special events, fresh releases by its in-house imprints and collaborations with some of HHV's favourite labels and artists. According to Ronald, “there will be several exclusive pressings by various labels and distributors which we'll gradually release and spread out over the year. There will be an LP from each year since 2002 until today which, to us, was a milestone at the time of its release. So far, we've already published LPs by Bonobo, Kaytranada, BadBadNotGood, Khruangbin and Charles Bradley. Several more nuggets will follow.”

[Read our Leland Whitty of BADBADNOTGOOD interview]

If you enjoyed this interview about HHV, and would like to know more about their selection of records and fashion, visit their official website. One of the latest releases as part of the HHV celebrations is a silver edition of the classic Flying Lotus album Cosmogramma: 



In the 90s, LPs had all but disappeared as a mainstream medium. How did you personally get into vinyl culture?

Many of us at HHV are children of the 90s. We experienced and lived the golen age: DJing, digging records, graffiti and basketball were omnipresent for us.

HHV was born from this lifestyle and our hope of being able to turn a hobby and passion into a profession. We wanted to become part of the culture you mentioned ourselves. Many of us had already been in touch through digging and HHV was a dream come true: Now we were able to immerse ourselves in the structures of the scene, and get records which were hard to get hold of.

The time when HHV was founded saw albums which pointed in a new direction for hip hop: Voodoo, Mama's Gun, Champion Sound and, of course, Donuts. How do you look back on that time?

One album I'd like to add to your list is Madvillainy by Madvillain and Madlib.



And yes, for us, as music fans, this was an extremely exciting time. Many of the albums from these years left a mark on us and their influence can still be felt 20 years later. Back then, we were always relieved whenever we were able to secure another shipment of these records for our warehouse.

And people are still buying them today!

How has the role of rap and hip hop changed in 2023?

Everyone has a different access point when it comes to hip hop. One of the significant aspects of the current times is that you should be able to find exactly the right niche for yourself, be it within the mainstream or for more underground music.

Of course, the genre has become more commercial since the 90s. But it has also diversified. We're celebrating hip hop's 50th birthday in 2023 and I am still as curious as ever to find out what's to come in the next years and decades.

The market for vinyl has gone through many cycles. Which changes have been most important for a store like HHV?

We are simply thrilled that people are cherishing records and that demand for the format has returned.

Obviously, this increase in demand has also exhausted capacity at pressing plants which has resulted in supply issues.

How will the market develop? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

I find it interesting that hip hop was originally one of the few genres who remained faithful to vinyl when almost the entire market converted to the CD. Today, meanwhile, most hip hop albums are only available as streams or downloads. How do you explain that?

I think it has to do with the idea that you can release your music so much more directly through digital channels these days.

It is also a far simpler way towards making money. Think about it, things are so much faster if you don't have to press up a record, it all require less investment and is much simpler.

Which is not to say the LP has disappeared. We frequently notice that labels will follow up a digital-only release with a physical album at a later date.

Talking about physical releases, HHV operates its own vinyl- and tape-imprints. Why?

To us, it's still magical to discover great new artists and to have the privilege of making their work available to a larger audience.

With our label 90s Tapes, the concept is different – it's geared towards re-issuing classic hip hop from the 90s. That said, some of those releases are also about unearthing unknown gems and putting them in the spotlight.

Some label owners I talk to have lost all joy in releasing on vinyl. It all seems too expensive, waiting times have significantly increased and quality control is lacking.

I agree the workload is considerable. But at the end of the day, there's that magical feeling of releases making their way to listeners' record shelves.

That's something we still get excited about every single time.