who he got his style from, his pops?

We've been somewhat intrigued by the whole Clutchy Hopkins mini-investigation that's been going on over at Idolator for the past couple of weeks (see their posts here, here, and here). Clutchy, who allegedly resides in Apple Valley, CA, has an insane (and very obviously fabricated) backstory which involves being trained by Japanese monks and hanging out with Moondog.

Anyway, this would all be extremely tedious and boring if Clutchy wasn't such a talented multi-instrumentalist, and if his beats weren't so damn good. Our Idolators and their sleuthing commenters have speculated that Clutchy is actually DJ Shadow (doubtful), a Beastie Boy (no way), Madlib (this would be hilarious for a number of reasons), or Cut Chemist (definitely possible and probably the most likely option). Odds are that he's none of the above, and just one of those bedroom genius type dudes that likes his anonymity. But he has been getting attention from some labels, and the Idolator posts led to this mention in East Bay Express, which provides the most info we could find anywhere online. Here's an mp3 from the MF Doom Meets Clutchy Hopkins bootleg that Clutchy has been known to send out with purchases of his records:

mp3:
MF Doom vs. Clutchy Hopkins Air

You can buy Clutchy's stuff here. Highly recommended for fans of old-school soul drum breaks and instrumental hip-hop. And if anyone ends up hollering at Clutchy (his phone number is on his site), let us know what he says.