Music draws inspiration from every corner of culture, but few influences are as unexpected as a 1988 Western film fueling a modern Native American hip-hop track. When Tradius, the lead lyricist behind “Hackin’ On Me,” reached out with the backstory of the song and introduced his creative team, it opened a distinct window into their work. Here is an inside look at how Young Guns shaped their latest single and what drives these unique artists.
Here’s Tradious, and the inspiration for the song:
“I made a pack of 15 beats to send around to a few artists that I admire. I had a few favorites, and it was the 5th beat that had an intro that sounded like a movie score. I kept yelling “William” in a Mel Gibson voice on the intro from Braveheart. For some reason, my brain skipped to the movie Boyz N the Hood, the scene where Ricky gets shot running down the alley, so naturally I started yelling “Ricky”. I started to freestyle, and the line “Got the beat from Ricky, had to gun him down for it” came out dope! It made me stop and jot it down in my notes and record a quick voice note to remember the flow. I didn’t need to write it down because it stayed stuck in my head. I then changed the name from Ricky to Migity, which is my nickname, but it added a syllable and didn’t quite fit. I was in Old Downtown Galveston around noon, and it started raining hard. I turned the beat on, started to head out of town, and rapped the line “Got the beat from Migity had to gun him down for it, downtown high noon rain down pouring”. That was the exact moment when the western movie scenery popped in my head and took over! I immediately recalled the Young Guns storyline out of memory and changed the name to “Billy”.
“I freestyled the next line: “Bunch of Pat Garetts staring don’t support a kid, they was Hackin’ on me, no foul called I had to pack one on em”. Jotted that down and recorded the voice note again. When I got home, I looked up the Hackin’ on me scene and, to my surprise, it starts out with Billy being asked if he ever worked beats before! I was flabbergasted and tried to play it off as luck because my freestyle matched perfectly. Off of memory and excitement, I recorded the 1st lines of the freestyle, but in the moment I kept going until I was out of gas. The freestyle ended up being 4 bars, so I wrote it to fit puzzle pieces that led back into the hook portion of the beat. I used the 1st lines from the freestyle as the hook, and it fit nicely. I put the rough draft aside and started working on another song called Southside Sunshine. A couple of weeks later, I went on a small road trip halfway to New Mexico to meet my mother. We drove through this small town called Hico, TX. This town’s claim to fame is a Billy the Kid museum where a man called “Brushy Bill Roberts” died and claimed he was the real Billy the Kid. I remembered a similar story from my hometown. I recalled reading of a man named John Miller who lived in Candy Kitchen, New Mexico, which is a “backyard” to the Pine Hill, New Mexico community on the Ramah Navajo Reservation. I grew up there, so I felt a close connection to the legend of the infamous outlaw! After passing through this town (Hico, TX), my song idea became absolutely solidified by pure coincidence! In search of some “Regulators”, I wanted to enlist a couple heavy hitters from the southwest.
Recording Artist/Lyricist/Performer: Def-i
Producer/Engineer, Recording Artist/Lyricist/Performer: Tradious
“I reached out to the most prolific writer I know, New Mexico’s very own Diné rapper Def-i. I sent him the rough draft with an open verse and waited for a response. In the meantime, I sent the track to several New Mexico artists, but they were unavailable. I then sent the track to my friend Roman Sotam, who is one of my favorite artists. He had just released a song called Bonnie and Clyde with his wife, so I knew it would be a perfect fit for him! A few days went by, and then Def-i called me and said he loved the song idea and wanted to do it! He rapped a few line ideas over the phone and got me hyped! The next day, Roman replied and was also down to do the verse; however, the beat only had one verse available at the time. I told him I would add another verse to the beat for him and send it back with Def-i’s verse on it so he could get a wider picture of the song idea. One of the best producer decisions I’ve made because he helped turn the song into the creative ode to Young Guns idea that I had living in my head. Adding samples and sound effects to bring some live action vibes to the song was the cherry on top! While putting the final touches on the song, Def-i called and pitched the idea of making the cover art in homage to the Young Guns II movie cover! I agreed and asked my lady, Monica Barahona, to bring the idea to life. After a few edits, the vision became a reality that provides a preview of the song’s aesthetic. “
These artists represent a new wave in independent music emerging from changes in both pop culture and technology.
And for more rip-snortin’ shenanigans with “Young Guns”, Fan Expo Dallas will be hosting the Regulators September 11th through the 13th at The Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center.
WHEN: FAN EXPO Dallas runs Friday, September 11, through Sunday, September 13, 2026
Friday, September 11, from 4:00 P.M. to 9:00 P.M.
Saturday, September 12, from 10:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M.
Sunday, September 13, from 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
WHERE:
Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center located at 650 S. Griffin St., Dallas, TX 75202