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.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
HNHH: Although some fans haven’t been keeping up with what you’ve had going on, you’ve been in Portland creating. But you said in a TikTok Live that your studio burned down?
ILoveMakonnen: The studio burned down. I was working at the restaurant, helping to do some fundraising. And gotta make money for myself. Gotta make money for the community. Part of the group went down to L.A. and the night they left, the studio burned down. It was like, damn. We had to be here and just recover. I still feel like the thing is great that we got going, but we just been in this little delay of, kind of recovering to get back into our files and all that. But, yeah, so it was like something, not secretly, but like something I’ve been cultivating and working on.
I have my Makoregon503 which is my artwork, my visual art, because I started to get into that last October after I “retired” iLoveMakonnen and started doing my visual art and stuff. Earlier this year, I was like, secretly recording, because I just love to record as as an artist, you know. And then I was like, damn, maybe I should drop some more iLoveMakonnen sh*t, but, some different sh*t, I guess. It’s still Makonnen sh*t, but it’s the different level, the elevated from Oregon, you know? Just where I’m at in 2025, type of thing.
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HNHH: One thing is for sure: you grind when it comes to music. Always have. The iLoveMakonnen catalog is deep, from your original works to collabs to remixes. It’s difficult with setbacks to get back into it, because it’s not just art, it’s a whole machine of the industry.
ILoveMakonnen: The thing is, with the whole sh*t is like, yo, I come on. I put everybody on with this music, right? Everybody, I pretty much know we doing the Makonnen song my way, right. But it’s also, ain’t nobody putting me on to no business. Ain’t nobody putting me on to no plays. Ain’t nobody putting me on anything. If anything, everybody just using me and trying to cut me out. And it’s like, what is this? Y’all, I thought we were supposed to be all coming up together? If that’s not the case, I don’t need to be sharing my music with y’all, you know what I mean?
HNHH: Has anybody reached out to you, where you might want to collaborate with them again? Is there anybody that has been like, hey, I see what you’re doing.
ILoveMakonnen: It’s a few producers for sure. Um, producers from Atlanta saying that they f*ck with it. It’s really no artists, you know, which I don’t mind. You know, I’m not looking for nobody to find me, because at the end of the day, I’ve always been the one who’s bringing my original music and letting other people’s remix it anyway. So, it’s not like somebody blessing me with a track—no shade. I’m just always open, I would always love to work, but I understand the position that the world is in. To where it’s like, Makonnen, you are so anti all of our sh*t going on, you know? Working with you would just be, for what? Yeah, I get that.
Read More: Why ILoveMakonnen Won’t Glorify Drugs After Losing Lil Peep & Juice WRLD
HNHH: One thing that I’ve come across, that has been standard, is how many people have talked about how great of a person you are, not just personally but to work with. It makes you reevaluate what the industry is and how it is navigated, because people can love you and it can still be over before you know it.
ILoveMakonnen: That’s just the industry at the end of the day. And I feel like somebody who does what I do, be their authentic self, pull up…it’s no ego, but it’s confidence, you know what I’m saying? I’m gonna be me regardless. Some people love that. Then they start envy it, then they start becoming jealous of it. And then they start hating on it, and then they do everything in their power to make that person who comes in there with that confidence start feeling like he ain’t sh*t, start feeling depressed, start feeling like, oh, the whole world is against me and maybe something wrong with me, you know?
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HNHH: Do you have anyone on your radar that you’d like to work with? Are there other artists you’ve been tapped into?
ILoveMakonnen: I like Ice Spice. I think she’s cool. I love Sukihana. Sukihana is like, one of my favorites, ever. I love it. Let me see, I love Steve Lacy. He’s really dope. I f*ck with PinkPantheress. I really don’t be knowing. You know, I’m for real. I really don’t be doing. I’ve so many artists that so much. And I’m just like, I don’t know, I people really just have to suggest to me. And I’m like, oh, okay, I can hear that. I’ll come with that.
That’s how it works, usually. But like, I feel like I got to collaborate with a lot of my dream artists. I didn’t get to work with Lady Gaga yet, so I want to work with Lady Gaga. I would love to work with like Jay Z, you know, I would love to do something for a Jay Z and Beyonce type of thing.
A GoFundMe has been created to help rebuild Burn Money Studios. You can check that out HERE.