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.

Motown In The Kitchen

This past weekend, my girlfriends and I rented a cozy 1850’s farmhouse in the Catskills in upstate NY. When you live in NYC, sometimes you have to escape. Especially after a long winter. There’s also nothing better than a road trip. The subways are great for getting some reading in or being able to go out, drink, and have a ride home at the end of the night, but there is something so freeing about being in a car. So we were pretty obsessed with our minivan.

It was a recharge weekend, so we spent some quality time in the kitchen. We made amazing brunches of eggs, toast, bacon, pancakes, etc. every morning, but it was our Saturday night dinner that I think defined the weekend. We all had something to contribute, and we drank wine and danced to Motown in the kitchen as we prepared dinner. Which naturally led to a screening of the “Evolution of Mom Dancing” with Michelle Obama and Jimmy Fallon and then the “History of Rap” with Justin Timberlake and Fallon. You’d be impressed with how many rap songs a group of dec art & design grads can identify. Rappers in my kitchen: the white girl edition? We sat down to pumpkin-goat cheese pasta, fresh salad, and an apple crumble for dessert in a dining room that can only be described as farmhouse chic. I would say it was a perfect evening.

The highlight of the trip was our hike up Overlook Mountain. About halfway up, we discovered the snow hadn't fully melted. Considering our aversion to winter at this point, we almost turned around. But luckily we followed through. When NYC has beaten us down all winter, why wouldn't we choose to climb a mountain covered in snow and ice? It was the best decision we could have made though. At the top were ruins from a 19th Century hotel that had burned down. It was beautiful and eerie and amazing to explore. There was also a fire tower that we climbed for stunning views of the surrounding Catskills and Hudson River. The only thing that trumps the beauty of art is the beauty of nature.

It was hard to leave our farmhouse on Sunday. Back to a small Brooklyn apartment and far fewer stars, but with plans for many more weekend excursions. There’s a reason my girlfriends had High Voltage off of Paul’s new album stuck in their head this weekend. Illustrate knows what’s up. We’re all craving summertime.

From Christy's Kitchen To Mine

My friend Christy started making custom cookies and baked goods for friends and family out of her kitchen, and it has turned into a full fledged business. So many great things happen in kitchens! Her day job is teaching, but at this point it seems like all her spare time is spent baking. I almost asked her to make our wedding cake, but she lives in Houston and we got married in Brooklyn, so that would have been nuts.

Luckily, she can mail smaller goodies! I had her ship up a king cake for my sisters surprise birthday party this past January. For those of you not from the South, king cakes are made during Mardi Gras season and have a hidden plastic baby inside. If you get the baby, you’re supposed to supply next years king cake. Since we are an interracial household, Christy sent us a black baby and a white baby to choose from. We went with black.

Paul had a listening party for his album before he went on tour for press contacts and colleagues in the music industry. So naturally he wanted some custom made cookies to include with his press kits. He sent her the album art, and she replicated the futuristic building and typography from the cover. With frosting. That's impressive.

If you ever have any cookie needs, reach out to Baked by Drake. She's my go-to girl. I already picked out the cookies I want for my future baby shower. (Mom, if you're reading. Don't get excited. I am NOT pregnant. I just like to plan ahead.) Seriously though, how freakin' adorbs are they?

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

Accessorizing For The Future

United Nude, aka shoe heaven

A few summers ago, Paul and I travelled to London and Paris. In London, we stayed with his friend, Paddy Corrigan, a British rapper who goes by ID. He was an amazing host and cooked us a British feast. Pork cracklings? Delicious.

While in London, we discovered United Nude. They sell the craziest, most futuristic looking shoes and hats. Paul really loved one of their hats- called the "Stealth" hat, because it's inspired by the lines of stealth fighter planes. It's a geometric, kind of architectural flat cap. But they weren’t cheap and with the exchange rate, there was no way we could justify the purchase at the time.

Last month I was meeting friends for brunch when I walked past the store right here in NYC! I originally thought birthday present, but when I realized he could wear it at his release party, I just went for the impromptu gift. I mean, how perfect is this hat for a guy who just released an album called ‘We Live In The Future’? Naturally, I decided I should get futuristic accessories for myself too... so I bought some shoes.

  Paul and I are both accessories people. Paul has a serious collection of shoes and hats. He hangs his hats and I hang my jewelry on the walls of our bedroom, partly because it’s the most convenient space for them but also cause we like to have them on display. So please be understanding when I dedicate a whole post to a really awesome hat and pair of shoes.

Paul's collage of hats

The release party is TONIGHT and I am ridiculously excited. This will be my first time seeing him perform the songs. It’s going to be fun, and there is going to be so much dancing. Take a sneak listen to my two favorite songs- Tomorrow and Fasho! Fasho!

Show details: Tonight (3/28) at Spike Hill in Williamsburg. 186 Bedford Ave (it is literally across the street from the subway). Cover is $6. Doors are at 7:30pm. It's an early show for us 9-5'ers!

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!

Futuristic T-Shirt Designs

My husband is on tour right now, promoting his new album “We Live in the Future”. Since he makes beats, he generally doesn't do any lyric writing. But I told him when we first started dating that he should NEVER write a song for me. I don’t know why I can’t handle that stuff, but it’s corny to me. I hate poetry too. So what.

We just got married this past year, and I do, however, secretly feel like he made this album for me. A lot of the albums he works on are darker, more serious (Billy Woods, I’m looking at you), but this one is dance-y, upbeat, and fun. While I completely appreciate the genius behind Billy Woods’ albums, I LOVE a good dance party in the kitchen. Most things go down in our kitchen it turns out.

Paul’s talented friends helped out with the artwork for the album- Matt Carter drew the album cover and Justin Keller did the graphic design. I love it. It looks so awesome. Between the album art and how much I dig this album, I got inspired myself and decided to screen print t-shirts for Paul to sell while on tour.

I wanted the designs to tie in with the cover art, so I decided to stick with the futuristic city theme. I decided on three designs representing NYC, LA, and Austin. They are cities he was planning on performing in, but they are also some of the most well-known music cities. I chose iconic buildings from each city- the Chrysler building for NYC, the Capitol Records building for LA, and the Capitol for Austin. I have a thing for patterns, so I filled each building with a pattern I thought was representative of each city. A Deco pattern for NYC, an Eames mid-century modern pattern for LA, and a southwestern pattern for Austin. And then I chose colors that I felt could be associated with each city- green for NYC (Paul’s music name is Willie Green), pink for LA, and orange for Austin. We decided to top each building with the futuristic orb from the cover art to make sure the t-shirts made sense with the album. I think they turned out pretty cool. A big thank you to Chris Nguyen for helping me digitize everything and Garrett Klein for lending me the screens!!