Indie Raps in Paradise

I’ve taken a little summer hiatus from my blog. Summer is always too chaotic and busy to have focused on blogging. Plus I started an exciting new job in July at an auction house, so it’s been even crazier. Even though Fall has hit and life’s starting to normalize, we managed to squeeze in one last adventure.

My sister works for a destination club and won ‘hostess of the year’ with her company. The reward was five free nights in any of their properties around the world. So we spent five luxurious days in a ten person villa in Turks and Caicos with our own private pool and beach. I expect her to keep up the good work and win next year as well.

We pretty much spent the entire trip by the pool. With pool floaties and an outdoor grill, fridge, and speaker system, there really was no need to stray too far. The only time we left the villa was to check out da Conch Shack. Apparently white people giggle at anything with "da" in front of it. Paul just shook his head at us. But more importantly, on Sunday afternoons da Conch Shack hosts the Hump and Bump. The Hump and Bump is supposedly a dance party on the beach, but we were disappointed to find no DJ and no humping or bumping. Maybe we were too late in the season for it, but at least we still got to feast on conch and rum punch.

da Conch Shack

Maria gets a little overzealous about planning though (she may or may not have sent us a grocery/booze list for our approval two months before the trip), so she had a playlist ready to go for our poolside listening pleasure. My sister has gotten to know a lot of the rappers Paul works with and has become a fan of their music too, so scattered throughout her playlist were quite a few indie rap joints.

Obviously, she included a number of songs off the Willie Green album, We Live In The Future, but there were also some of her faves from billy woods, Open Mike Eagle, PremRock, Angi3 and Toussaint Morrison. Turns out Prem and Green’s song, Jogger, is perfect to listen to while drinking margaritas in a pool. Who wants to jog when you can float? Our friend Ali was laying in one of the second floor balcony hammocks (yes, we had those too) and yelled down to ask who the artist was cause she liked it so much. Paul was flattered obvs. Another converted indie rap fan!

It's a funny thing to be thousands of miles from home in a tropical island paradise and suddenly have a song bring me right back to my kitchen in Brooklyn.

Recovering From The Future

Last night was pretty epic. Paul’s release party couldn’t have been more perfect. It was a packed house and there was so much dancing, so much cheering, so much love. Paul had his guest artists come on stage and perform live with him. The energy coming from ANGI3, BS, Illustrate, and Michael Ross made the night even more amazing.

A big thank you to all the rappers (including some I had never met before) who came up and told me they've been a rapper in my kitchen and have read my blog. Here's to many more rappers in the kitchen!

The Future was pretty crazy. I was out late and I’m a little hungover, so today’s post is just going to be pictures from last night. Paul looks pretty good in his future hat, right?

If you missed the show, don’t beat yourself up too bad. Just get the album on either iTunes or Amazon!

Willie Green

Illustrate

ANGI3 & BS

Willie Green

Willie Green & ANGI3

Michael Ross

Livin' In The Future

Today, Paul's album "We Live In The Future" (via Fake Four distro) comes out! Anyone who is or has known an artist understands the emotional ups and downs of working creatively. When they feel uninspired they can be in bad moods, when they are inspired they feel great. It has been a long, but exciting year of watching Paul put together this project. And I couldn't be more proud of the end result.

Paul's focus has always been hip hop and rap, and while that edge still comes through on this album, it's definitely got more pop and is dancier than his previous projects. I joked before that I felt like he made the album for me, but me and my sister really were sounding boards for this project. Maria lives in Manhattan, and we have her over for dinner all the time. It makes me so happy that my sister and my husband are such good friends. So Paul will invite her over for dinner sometimes, and while we are in the kitchen cooking, he will play some of his beats and gage our reactions. When we started dancing to a beat, he knew it was a keeper. When we just stood there chopping veggies, he tossed it. We were his product testers so to speak.

Since I work in the visual arts, I often think about the producer process as similar to an art curator's process. Obviously, by making the beats and the musical arrangements, he is also the artist. He even wrote the scores for the live horn and string sections. But as the producer, he chooses the artists that he thinks would sound best over the different songs. Then once he has the finished songs, he figures out which order he wants the listener to experience them. He even writes liner notes that discuss each song, which are akin to artwork labels in a museum. The end result is a creative, well thought out exploration of Paul's futuristic interpretations of funk, dance, disco, pop, rap, and even rock.

You can buy the album on iTunes or Amazon. Get ready for a dance party!

Kitchen Evacuation - Discovering El Anatsui

Since Paul records in our kitchen, he tries to schedule sessions with clients during the work day so that it’s not an inconvenience for me. Our apartment is set up so that the kitchen and living room are basically one large space, so I can’t exactly hang out and watch some tv if he’s recording. For the rappers with day jobs, they have to schedule time on the weekends though.

Luckily, we live down the street from the Brooklyn Art Museum, and it’s one of my faves. I often go there during his recording sessions. (It’s also a lifesaver in the summer when it’s disgustingly hot out, and I can go there to soak up the art as well as the air conditioning. God, I miss having central ac.) A few weeks ago, Corina Corina and ANGI3 came in to record, so I went to see the new El Anatsui exhibition and it blew me away.

He’s a Nigerian artist best known for his metal wall hangings made out of liquor bottle caps. So often artwork made out of trash looks like trash, but these are stunning. They are draped on the wall and look like textiles from a distance. I think it’s the scale (they are huge) of such laborious construction in combination with the gold and silver sheen of the metal, but for me, they evoked the same awe as when I have visited Medieval churches in Europe.

The exhibition is open through August 4, 2013, and I couldn't recommend it enough. For those of you not in NYC, you can check out the museum’s website for more pictures and info.

Sometimes, it’s not so bad to have rappers in your kitchen.

That Time I Was Almost A Video Ho

Paul did a music video for the single “Fast Lane” off his upcoming album. He wanted to do a spoof of bad 90’s horror films. We have spent many a Saturday afternoon watching bad sci-fi and horror movies. If you haven’t yet watched Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus or Mega Python vs. Gatoroid starring eighties singers, Tiffany and Debbie Gibson, I highly recommend. They are two of our favorites. Disclaimer: they are best watched not entirely sober.

Anyway, his manager, Suz, found this corn maze and farm in NJ where it would be set. He wanted to make it cheesy and fun, so he cast the stereotypical high school roles: cheerleader, football star, token black guy, stoner, and slutty chick. ANGI3 and BS, the featured rappers on this song, were the cheerleader and football star. He had some friends play the stoner and token black guy. But he was having trouble finding a girl who was available for the day to be the slutty chick.

After many slightly awkward phone calls asking girls he knew if they would be his slutty chick, I finally stepped in and offered to do it. I knew he wouldn't ask me, because he knows I hate to be on camera (I have total stage fright). But that’s what a good wife does. She offers to be her husband’s ho in his rap video, right?

Seeing as I am a classy girl, we went to Salvation Army to acquire a wardrobe for my role. We found some leopard print, velvet, studded, 5 inch heels that were god-awful but perfect and a leather jacket. Luckily for me, Suz stepped in at the last minute and volunteered to do it. I cannot thank her enough. She did a much better job than I ever could have.