20-Year-Old Classick Studios Has Produced Some Of Rap’s Biggest Hits — And It’s Just Getting Started

WEST TOWN — Classick Studios’ three-story black brick building easily blends into the landscape on Chicago Avenue. 

But behind the unassuming wooden front door of the building, 2510 W. Chicago Ave., lies a studio that’s responsible for producing, mixing, managing and recording some of the industry’s biggest rap, hip-hop and R&B tracks in the past two decades.

With two massive recording studios and space for artists to create and hang out, Chris “Classick” Inumerable has spent 20 years curating the studio and audio engineers that have brought listeners tracks from albums like “Ctrl” by Sza, “Acid Rap” by Chatham native Chance the Rapper and “Telefone” by Englewood-born Noname. 

Inumerable’s first rendition of the studio was at his family’s house in Belmont Cragin while he was a student at Lane Tech, grieving after the death of his mother from breast cancer in 2005.

Inumerable bought his first $100 microphone and started telling his network of friends from rap battles, slam poetry nights and “every event that happened in the music scene” that he had a recording studio in his bedroom, he said.

Growing up in the era that saw the rise and ultimate success of Chicago-based rappers like Kanye West and Lupe Fiasco, combined with a childhood full of piano lessons and music, Inumerable said he was inspired to start producing and creating himself.

“It was the Kanye era. It was the Lupe era. ‘College Dropout’ changed everything for me,” Inumerable said. “These were the people I was striving to be next to.” 

Inumerable’s dad eventually got tired of a makeshift recording studio being right below his bedroom — and Inumerable decided it was time to move to a house down the street dedicated to all things music-making. 

“It was a creative house. We had videographers in there, producers, songwriters,” Inumerable said. “Smino was living there on the couch. Chance was staying there recording his first few songs.” 

Working closely with other local producers, such as Stefan Ponce and Monte Booker, Inumerable has been able to spend the past 20 years building a close network of Chicago creatives rooted in friendship and a likemindedness for the “genuine and honest” music being made in the city.

“This was not intentional. These were just my friends, and I was just working with people who happened to be producers and engineers at the time, and that’s when all the artists started coming,” Inumerable said. 

Inumerable said there’s only one city where this was possible: Chicago.

“I was always in awe of Chicago,” he said. “Chicago builds the best creatives. We’re just so authentically ourselves. We care so much about where we are from and our culture.

“I’m a firm believer if you can make it in Chicago, you can make it anywhere.”

At his Chicago Avenue studio in Ukrainian Village since 2012, Inumerable has expanded beyond producing and audio engineering. He formed Classicks Never Die, a creative agency that combines his love for Chicago, music and having a close relationship with the musicians he produces for.

Classicks Never Die, along with Inumerable’s continued work in producing, is pushing a new generation of Chicago-based talent to the mainstream, especially as Lollapalooza weekend kicks off.

Rapper and West Side native Kaicrewsade has been working with Classicks Never Die and Inumerable for four years, producing projects — including an album slated to drop this fall — and bringing a new sound that combines jazz with rap.

Kaicrewsade will also open for rapper Freddie Gibbs’ Lollapalooza aftershow Saturday at the Ramova Theatre after joining Gibbs’ on his “Last Rabbit” tour this year. Kaicrewsade made his Lolla debut last summer.

“Kai was the kid who grew up on all the stuff we made,” Inumerable said. “To hear everything that connected with him made it worthwhile. I tell Kai how much he inspires me.”

Indie rock artist J.Y.N. has also been coming up in the Chicago music scene and will open for alternative pop musician Bixby’s Lolla aftershow Wednesday at Lincoln Hall. J.Y.N. got his start at Classick Studios as an intern before a colleague pulled Inumerable over to tell him, “J.Y.N.’s crazy; he’s a crazy producer.”

This has long been the way Inumerable works with the artists who come through his studio.

“That’s usually what happens when you work or record here,” Inumerable said. “Whatever you need, I got you. That’s what happened with Ravyn Lenae. I heard her record here and I said, ‘Yup, whatever you need, you can record here, I got you.’”

Inumerable and his growing team at Classick Studios and Classicks Never Die continue to host events to draw talent to the studio. The “Slide to the Stu” series encourages current or aspiring musicians, songwriters, producers and more to come to the studio for a collaborative listening session. Inumerable has been able to bring the music meetup to cities nationwide.

The next rendition of Slide to the Stu is Saturday. Along with the usual open aux sessions and collaboration opportunities, unsigned artists will have the chance to compete to open for rapper Lil Yachty in October at Radius, 640 W. Cermak Road, as part of the Red Bull Setlist hip-hop music festival.

Events like these are key to Imnumerable’s mission to keep discovering Chicago musicians and give them the space to create — even as he tries to be home by 5 p.m. daily to spend time with his family, he said.

“I love the underdogs. The ones that are a little weird,” Inumerable said. “It’s that pride in Chicago. You’re getting it straight from the workers, the people.

“You’re getting music right from the neighborhoods.”

Classick’s Indie artist J.Y.N. is taking the stage Wednesday at Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln Ave, in Lincoln Park, opening for Bixby’s Lolla aftershow. Tickets are available here for $34.58. You can check out Classick rapper Kaicrewsade as he opens at Freddie Gibbs’ Lolla aftershow Saturday night at Ramova Theatre, 3520 S. Halsted St. in Bridgeport. Tickets are available here from $67.97.