University of Iowa Grad snags Grammy nomination

  Buy Photo

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Less than six years after graduating from University of Iowa, 27-year-old Cole Gaffney has added “Grammy-nominated sound engineer” to his resume.

Gaffney is a head sound engineer at One Take Studios in North Hollywood, which is owned by Chip Tha Ripper, aka King Chip, a rapper originally from Cleveland, Ohio.

Gaffney worked on Malik Yusef’s album “Good M.U.S.I.C. Universe Sonic Sinema: Episode 1 In The Beginning was The Word,” which is nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album at the 67th Grammy Awards set for Feb. 2 in Los Angeles. Yusef is a Grammy-award winning song writer, spoken word artist and rapper who has worked with Kanye West, Beyonce, and Common.

Gaffney described the album as a “magnum opus” with an array of instruments: brass, strings, pianos and woodwinds, backing the spoken word poetry. Gaffney was responsible for tracking and recording all of jazz trumpeter Keyon Harrold’s horn tracks. The album came together just before the deadline for Grammy submissions. Gaffney estimated that between 30 and 50 people worked on the album.

“It was one of the most gratifying, eye-opening, intense experiences,” Gaffney told The Gazette. “I didn’t go to sleep at one point for like three days. The executive producer, Mike Snell, didn’t go to sleep for five days because we knew we were (in a time crunch).”

Gaffney said that as a kid, he remembers watching the Grammy Awards with his mom.

“And people would always have these awesome speeches and they would always say the same thing. Follow your dreams and do what you want to do, and everything else will fall into place.” he said.

“And I used to think that was kind of a crock of baloney or like speaking things into existence doesn’t really work like that,” he said. “Oh yes, it does. Oh my god, it does.“

From Iowa City to making beats for Wiz Khalifa

Growing up in Crystal Lake, Illinois, Gaffney thought of making beats as something he did for fun. After realizing that the instrumentals on hip-hop tracks are made digitally, he downloaded software to try it himself. Later, his high school friend Zach Foster bought him a keyboard and encouraged him to pursue music production.

“Every other day I just started trying to make beats, trying to make melodies, watch tutorials, just try to be within the production world,” Gaffney said.

He decided to produce music under the name “PillowHead.” While driving with friends to his parent’s lake house, the conversation shifted to Gaffney needing a name to produce music under.

“And I had a pillow on my lap because I was using it to take naps and I put it behind my head … and I was like, I’ll be PillowHead. Like if I ever get afraid to be on stage or if I ever feel like people are going to judge me, I’m just going to say f#* it and put a pillow on my head like I’m deadmau5 or Daft Punk.” Gaffney said. “That’s really what I was inspired by was these DJs that wear masks.”

Little did he know, less than a decade later, a “PillowHead” beat would feature rappers Wiz Khalifa and Chip Tha Ripper.

After arriving in Iowa City in 2015 to pursue degrees in film and art, his passion for making music overshadowed his studies. He made beats in his dorm room and connected with other musicians in Hillcrest Residence Hall. He networked at open mic nights at the since-shuttered Yacht Club, and by 2018, he had transformed the basement of his Bowery Street town house into a studio.

Shortly after graduating in May 2019, Gaffney moved to Los Angeles for a two-month internship that, while unrelated to the career he wanted, landed him in an ideal location to network with music professionals.

That first year in L.A. wasn’t easy. After his internship ended, he moved into a cramped one-bedroom apartment with four other people.

“I’m now living in a corner of a living room where an air mattress is my bedroom.” Gaffney said. “I have no closet. I’m sharing a bathroom with four dudes, like we’re now sacrificing all types of comfort to be (in music).”

  Buy Photo

In February 2020, Gaffney met Chip Tha Ripper at a studio session. Gaffney leveraged that connection and became the head engineer at Chip’s at-home studio. He credits being himself as the key to building relationships. Now, Gaffney is an in-house engineer at Chip’s One Take Studios, working with artists like Flatbush Zombies and Guapdad 4000.

In 2023, Chip Tha Ripper released The Charles Worth LP, which featured household name Wiz Khalifa rapping on the track “Not the Weather.” The first thing you hear on the track is “Don’t sleep on PillowHead” — Gaffney’s producer tag.

The placement came about after Chip and Wiz Khalifa ran into each other at a red carpet event. After connecting, Chip sent Khalifa five tracks, hoping he would be inspired to rap on Chip’s project.

“I guess after they left that red carpet thing, Wiz went straight to the studio, played all five songs, and he only picked my song that I produced,” Gaffney said. “So then he put a verse on that, and that’s how that was done.”

He met Khalifa afterward.

“I (hadn’t) met Wiz when that song was made, and I think that’s how a lot of people think the industry goes, too, if you’re a producer, you’re going to be right next to these rappers every time you get a placement,” Gaffney said. “I really got a placement through the relationship of me and Chip and me being so present in our studio.”

Gaffney said that it’s been surreal to work with artists that he listened to in middle school and being Grammy submitted in the span of five years. At just 27, he said this is just the beginning.

“Being able to have these few accolades and being able to say like, I was struggling for so long and now I’m being recognized for working on a Grammy-nominated project … If Cole can do this, if I go by PillowHead and I can get Grammy nominated, anything is possible.”

Comments: bailey.cichon@thegazette.com