Black Noi$e

Robert Mansel, known professionally as Black Noi$e or Black Noise, is an American record producer, songwriter, and DJ from Detroit, Michigan.

He is best known for his work as a tour DJ for M.I.A. and Earl Sweatshirt as well as producing and writing tracks for other artists such as Armand Hammer, Danny Brown, Fly Anakin, Lucki, MIKE, Pink Siifu, Wiki, and Zelooperz.

Black Noi$e was born in Shelburne, Nova Scotia, Canada on July 30, 1990, and moved to Detroit, Michigan with his family four years later.

As a child, he was interested by a wide array of music genres, from punk to techno and hip-hop.

Growing up in the Westland suburbs of Detroit, Black Noi$e was introduced to the hardcore and grime music of the popular skateboarding culture there.

He was influenced by skateboarding videos as well as the soundtracks of the PlayStation video games Thrasher Presents Skate and Destroy and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.

When he was 15, he began playing guitar in various hardcore bands across Detroit and seeing shows by bands like Terror, Death Threat, Bury Your Dead, and Colin of Arabia.

Black Noi$e accredits Detroit's distinct radio culture and skateboarding scene as his biggest source of musical inspiration.

While in high school, a friend introduced Black Noi$e to the digital audio workstation, Reason, in which he began producing downtempo rap beats, consisting of soul samples and aggressive techno.

His early production was heavily inspired by the "raw" style of rap beats frequently used by rappers like The Notorious B.I.G. and E-40, and labels like No Limit Records and Cash Money Records that were popular on Detroit radio stations.

Black Noi$e produced and wrote several tracks for Earl Sweatshirt's fourth studio album Sick!, including "2010", "Vision" (feat. Zelooperz), "Titanic", and "Fire in the Hole."

The track "2010" had previously been released as a single for the album on November 18, 2021 accompanied by a music video.

Sick! debuted on January 29, 2022, receiving a Metacritic score of 85/100 from 17 critic reviews, and peaking at #80 on the Billboard 200™.

As of 2023, the track "2010" is the most streamed track on Sick! and was labeled one of the "Best New Tracks of 2021" by Pitchfork.

Black Noi$e hosts a radio show for NTS Radio, where several of his tracks are in rotation.

Black Noi$e was a DJ on Earl Sweatshirt's Voir Dire tour with The Alchemist in 2023.

Black Noi$e began his music career in 2012, being credited as a producer for the track They Don't Understand on American rapper Aaron Cohen's mixtape Murk.

He met Earl Sweatshirt in New York through his friend Remy Banks, who had been on tour with Sweatshirt around 2016.

On October 30, 2017 Black Noi$e released his first solo EP Time Crisis under Portage Garage Sounds.

He produced the track "The Mint" (feat. Navy Blue) that was released on November 20, 2018 as a single for Earl Sweatshirt's third studio album Some Rap Songs that was promptly released ten days later.

In the same month, Black Noi$e released his first solo LP Illusions under Vanity Press Records on November 26.

Black Noi$e co-hosted radio show "The Deep End" with SKYWLKR on Red Bull Radio in 2019.

Black Noi$e was the first signee of Earl Sweatshirt's imprint label of Warner Records, Tan Cressida, in 2020.

Tan Cressida announced Black Noi$e's signing to the label on June 19, 2020, with several welcome messages on the label's official instagram page, as well as Earl Sweatshirt's. As of 2023, he is the only other official artist signed to Tan Cressida.

Black Noi$e released his LP project Oblivion on August 14, 2020 under Tan Cressida, making it the first "non-Sweatshirt" title to be released under the label.

Oblivion received critical acclaim for its sample-heavy production and prominent feature artists, like Earl Sweatshirt, Danny Brown, MIKE, Pink Siifu, Duendita, Liv.e, and Zelooperz.