SACOOO!

I was recently at a show where up-and-coming rapper, Milo, performed. He had a nice write-up in LA Weekly over the summer, and I was super surprised to read that he’s originally from Saco, Maine. For years, I went on this annual canoe/camp trip on the Saco River with a group of friends.

I hadn’t been in a while, but my sister, Paul and I decided to revive the Saco trip this past July with fifteen of our more adventurous friends. There were a few semi-seasoned campers, but we had a solid percentage of first-timers. I got many emails before the trip asking me to clarify the ‘bathroom situation’. Our two born-and-bred New Yorkers didn’t even know how to swim! I can’t believe they agreed to be confined to a canoe for two days. I wish I had footage of Keisha wading in the river repeating “I’m in nature, I’m in nature…”.

It really isn’t that strenuous though. We tie our canoes together and float as a giant canoe raft for the first few hours. It’s a nice way to start, and it makes passing beers way easier. The only difficult part of the trip is carrying the canoes around the dam. Incredibly inconvenient, but pretty cute to see all these jaded New Yorkers get their camp counselor on and work together to get it done. Teamwork at its finest. At one point, even our resident smart-ass Matt was clapping his hands and saying motivational stuff like “dig your heels in, we’ve got this!”.

I had also forgotten about the frat party that is Saco. The beaches are lined with flip cup tables, people shout “SACOOOO” at every passerby, and mottos like “drink ‘em and sink ‘em” originated there. The newest bro catchphrase on the river was “dump ‘em out”. Seriously. It took us ladies a minute to figure out what that even meant. Naturally, I googled it when I got home and learned two interesting facts. One: the Saco River is in the Urban Dictionary. Two: that charming catchphrase was another Saco River original.

Since several of our friends that went on the trip are in the rap scene, there were a good number of Saco survivors at this recent show. And we may have all shouted “dump ‘em” when Milo took the stage.

eighteen New Yorkers go camping

hot dog on a stick, it's what's for dinner.

Tasty Keish & Mo Niklz do nature 

Prem does too

Fasho Fasho! Get Your Pick-Up Lines Here!

Today, Paul put out a remix of “Fasho Fasho!” from his album We Live In The Future. For those who haven’t heard the original version yet, you can get a taste of Paul’s knack for grimy pick-up lines here. As the ladies in the song, I think you’ll find that Keisha and I didn’t have to act too hard.

If I’m out and Paul is meeting up with me later, he frequently will slide up unexpectedly and jokingly hit on me. One night, Paul came out to meet me and started laying it on thick. Someone who hadn't met Paul yet was just about to intervene until he saw me burst out laughing. When you have to explain that your husband isn’t actually skeevy, he might be a little too good at it.

For the remix, Paul got raps from PremRock, Zilla Rocca, and Mad Dukez. Some gems were turned out, and it’s definitely as funny and catchy as the original. I laugh every time I hear Prem’s verse “I got dvd’s on my homeboy’s netflix, check it”. Of course, this also means Paul has an arsenal of new pick-up lines to use on me. Paul’s chorus of “I respect your tan lines” and “girl, I love you from the waist down, but the top look good too” have been getting plenty of use lately.

Suz made a little trailer for the remix, and I find this so convenient. I like that it fits in with the comic book theme from the original album artwork. Paul works with rappers from all over, so I also like being able to put faces with names. Take a look, get to know your rapper. And his pick-up lines.