You may not recognize his name, but music producer Brandon Chase Korn, or Bkorn, has been making waves in the industry for years. His work can be heard from recordings made by artists such as DJ Khaled, Chris Brown, and Travis Scott. He recently visited UHart, where he received an Associates in Contemporary Arts degree from Hillyer College in 2011, to accept the college’s “2019 Outstanding Young Alumnus Award.”
Bkorn said that even though he was surprised to receive the award, he felt highly hon-ored. “I know I’ve done pretty cool stuff, but this is cooler to me than going to the Grammys. And I’m not trying to sound selfish or anything, but this is something for me. It means something that was more than going to something like the Grammys because this is a ceremony that my col-lege is putting on for me. It means a lot to me.”
Despite not studying music during his time at Hillyer, Bkorn said that he learned “how to become an adult, make new friends, and become the person that I am today.” He also commented that he benefited from the smaller classroom sizes that Hillyer offers. “It was a positive part of my experience of learning at Hillyer.”
“I love looking back and seeing the person that I wanted to become and I realize that if I stayed home and went to a community college, I wouldn’t be as mature and look back at all the accomplishments that I’ve made in life.”
From the moment he received an invitation to intern at Puff Daddy’s studio during his time at Ramapo College in New Jersey, Bkorn says that every step of the way has been just as exciting. “Experience is just as rewarding and I celebrate all wins, big and small. It’s positive.”
When asked about how we would want others to know his message, he responded with, “I want people that are starting out to that I’m just a normal person and I looked at others and
thought ‘if he can do it then I can do it.’ I saw other people do it and I thought ‘why can’t I do it?’
Bkorn also advised aspiring producers/musicians to learn the business of music and he reasoned that “everybody gets so wrapped up in being creative and making beats” and that “you want to be prepared for anything in this industry to avoid those that will take advantage.”
Bkorn, who also produced material on Travis Scott’s 2018 album Astroworld, worked on the first song that appears on the album. He went on to say that he got involved in the production in the later phases of it but that “it’s always better to get involved on an album at the end because, by the time the album comes out, you’re still satisfied with how it sounded because in your head it’s still recent. And he [Scott] ended taking what I did and it became the first song on the album!”