After Portland’s Burn Money Studios burned down, iLoveMakonnen reflects on his Makoregon503 art, and how he continues creating despite setbacks.
A month ago, a popular Portland studio went quiet. Smoke took the walls, and years of songs, artwork, and hard drives turned to damage reports. For the artist community who built there, the loss cut deeper than the physical space. Burn Money had been a hub where voices came together and new sounds sparked.
After Portland’s Burn Money Studios burned down, iLoveMakonnen reflects on his Makoregon503 art, and how he continues creating despite setbacks.
A month ago, a popular Portland studio went quiet. Smoke took the walls, and years of songs, artwork, and hard drives turned to damage reports. For the artist community who built there, the loss cut deeper than the physical space. Burn Money had been a hub where voices came together and new sounds sparked.
iLoveMakonnen has called Portland home since 2016. He recorded in that space, mentored younger musicians, and collaborated to keep the door open for scenes that do not always get a stage. He spoke with us about the loss, but also caught up with KPTV Fox 12 in Portland to describe the ordeal as devastating.
This tragedy lands after a long run of reinvention. From a smash hit to an OVO chapter that complicated his trajectory, from mourning friends like Lil Peep and Juice WRLD to stepping away from drug talk in his music, and from speaking on queer visibility to building outside industry gatekeeping. The studio was part of that choice, a place to create on his terms and to give other artists room to grow.
“It was unbelievable, it was shocking, it was sad,” Makonnen told Fox 12. “It’s a tough loss, it is. We definitely made something special. In the community and in the area. We’d hate to have to see this go away.” The fire did not end that mission. It paused it. He has been fundraising, plotting a benefit show, and pulling together what can be salvaged. He is also rebuilding himself with Makoregon503, his visual work. We’re in a new phase that honors where he is now.
In this final part of our interview series with iLoveMakonnen, he talks about loss and repair. Further, the singer-rapper speaks on what it means to serve a city that has embraced him and how starting over can rebuild more than a studio.
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