Music supervision by Matt Biffa, placements by onestop music
HBO’s Hacks has consistently used music with care. Its tone shifts from sharp comedy to quiet heartbreak in a beat, and the soundtrack helps hold that balance. In the final episodes of season 4, which aired earlier this month, the show leans on a rare kind of music: vintage, soulful, and mostly forgotten—until now. Under Matt Biffa’s music supervision, the show has always created an exciting and rich world of music: featuring legendary tracks from Queen, Gram Parsons, The B-52s, The Bob Seger System, Emma Louise, Labi Siffre and even a live performance of “I Love L.A.” by Randy Newman. When Matt discovered the funk-heavy hidden gems from licensing company onestop music, his constant pursuit in vintage funk once again led him down a path of inspiration.
Onestop music placed 13 tracks across the final three episodes of the show. These aren’t just background music, or perfect-fit-content like Spotify’s commissioned playlists. The tracks help build the emotional world of Hacks, a show about reinvention, legacy, and creative grit. The placements include funk, soul, and jazz songs from the 1960s to the 1980s—many of them originally released in tiny runs, now newly available thanks to deep catalogue work. Onestop music’s placements include Larry Saunders’ “Where Did Peace Go”, “You Upset My Mind” by Little Tommy and “Tormented” by Jonny Holiday in the season finale, episode 10.
George Semper and the Soulful Roots
One of the key rights holders the company represents is George Semper, a funk pioneer from San Diego. Semper was a jazz organist, composer, and label owner whose fingerprints are all over West Coast soul and funk. His 1966 LP Makin’ Waves made him a Hammond B3 Hero. He later co-founded FUNKPROOF with Brenton Wood and Al McKay (of Earth, Wind & Fire). You can hear his influence in Hacks‘ retro cuts—warm, raw, and full of character.
Semper’s grooves echoed into 90s hip-hop, sampled by artists like Cypress Hill. Now, through the George Semper Music Archives and onestop music, these tracks are finding new life on screen.
Patti Williams
Another standout artist is Patti Williams. Her single “I’m Doing the Best That I Can” was originally released in 1970 on Forward Records and became a cult soul favorite. Produced by Semper, her voice recalls Aretha Franklin—standing out as a Female powerhouse in an era of Male dominated acts. She came up through Las Vegas stages and sang backing vocals for icons like Mary Love and Barbara Morrison. Her work fits Hacks perfectly: powerful, grounded and rare.
Making Vintage New Again
Supervisors know how hard it can be to clear vintage music. Rights can be messy and tapes missing. Most modern rights holders lack a high quality vintage catalogue. That’s what makes these placements special. These aren’t needle drops for nostalgia. They’re carefully cleared, restored, and curated. To help the story telling of these sync placements, onestop music created a limited vinyl pressing exclusively for music supervisors. It mirrors Hacks’ sound palette: soulful, witchy, and emotionally layered.
The music supervision in Hacks is a case study in how deep-catalog licensing can shape a show’s identity. These songs give the series depth without stealing focus. They also introduce audiences to voices they’ve never heard before—and maybe wouldn’t hear otherwise.
We don’t often get to celebrate this kind of detailed work in the current music climate of streaming algorithms and AI-generated music. But when a catalogue lands just right, like it does in Hacks, it’s worth pausing on.
To celebrate this rich musical collaboration in “Hacks”, onestop music — in partnership with the George Semper Music Archives — is releasing a limited-edition vinyl EP, which will be available to GMS members for free later this year.
Matt’s supervision on the show was also submitted for the Primetime Emmys Outstanding Music Supervision category for Season 4’s fourth episode “I Love L.A.” The live performance coordination was handled by the talented Ciara Elwis who has worked with Matt across a variety of projects, including their Emmy-winning music supervision for “I May Destroy You.”
GMS Team