Name: Adam Bernard Home: Fairfield, Connecticut, United States About Me: Entertainment journalist w/ over a decade of experience. Lover of good music, fringe movies, day baseball & chicken shawarma. Nerdy, but awesome. See my complete profile
From Deal or No Deal to Celebrity Apprentice to her two shows on Sirius satellite radio, Claudia Jordan has been ascending the ladder of success at a rapid rate. On August 23rd Jordan will be co-hosting the Miss Universe pageant on NBC, possibly inadvertently making a contestant or two slightly self-conscious about their looks, and she just had a television show of her own green lit by a major cable television network. With all of this going on in her life I caught up Jordan to get the details on her upcoming projects, what went on behind the scenes at Celebrity Apprentice, and what a radio show about love triangles taught her about her audience.
Adam Bernard: I heard you just had a show green-lit. Congrats! What’s it gonna be about? Claudia Jordan: Thank you. Yes, we just pitched a show to VH1, it’s like a docu-soap, part reality, part scripted, it’s gonna be like a black female Entourage, and they bought it on the spot. Kim Coles, Melyssa Ford and Elise Neal are on it with me and right now it’s called Single, Sexy and Starving, not starving for food, but maybe one of us is starved for love, maybe one of us is starved for more career things. That’s the working title right now.
Adam Bernard: Going back a bit in your history, you went from Deal or No Deal w/ Howie Mandel to Celebrity Apprentice w/ Donald Trump. Tell me, do you have something against people with good hair? Claudia Jordan: {laughs} And there’s also Bob Barker, so maybe subconsciously there’s something going on there.
Adam Bernard: Why did you feel you’d be a good fit for Celebrity Apprentice? Claudia Jordan: I was always lecturing the other girls on Deal or No Deal about how you gotta buy your own stuff, you gotta get in the real estate game, you gotta take all this money and not buy bags and stupid nonsense, but put it in real estate or invest it.
Adam Bernard: You were working and interacting with a bunch of colorful personalities on Celebrity Apprentice. Which competitor most surprised you, either in their demeanor or their work ethic? Claudia Jordan: I’ll say Brande Roderick. She’s a playmate and a beautiful blonde girl and people would be quick to assume she’s just a bimbo, but she’s certainly not. She was smart, she was resourceful, she was a hard worker, she was humble, she didn’t have an ego, she was great.
Adam Bernard: What was it like working with the legendary Joan Rivers? Claudia Jordan: You know, as a woman who has kind of an edgy sense of humor myself, I was looking forward to meeting her. She’s someone who I really admired. I like her comedy, I like that she says what she wants to. As soon as I said something that wasn’t complimentary about her daughter, though, she became like a tyrant. She was on Twitter calling me a stupid bitch and I just thought wow, Joan, you gotta separate the TV show from real life. I was disappointed that to be so old she was so immature. I still have respect for her, but I tried to take a picture of her at the finale and congratulate her and she put her hand up and blocked her face. It was really childish.
Adam Bernard: Were there any backstage hijinks going on during the filming of the show? Claudia Jordan: No, but a little racist kind of thing happened. I went to dinner with two of the contestants and we were trying to butter up these rich people to get potential donations from them, it was this older white dude, me and Brande and we were like oh, we’re so tired, we’ve been working like slaves, and he was like slaves, yea, let’s make a toast to Obama! He made other inappropriate comments, too. He toasted Abe Lincoln for freeing the slaves cuz he thought I was a pretty black girl. I have a good sense of humor about stuff like that and I don’t take everything so seriously, but that's kind of rude.
Adam Bernard: Yeah, I should say. Moving from the serious to the humorous, can you give me a funny story from your time on the show? Claudia Jordan: One time we were getting ready and everybody was running late. We were getting ready to leave and Dice Clay came into the hair and makeup room with a robe on, like fresh out of the shower, and I think I saw a little skin. {laughs}
Adam Bernard: Oh no, an accidental peek at the Diceman’s dice! Switching subjects as fast as possible, in addition to your TV work you are also a co-host on The Foxxhole, which is Jamie Foxx’s Sirius radio show. Tell me, has he ever come in late and blamed it on the a-a-a-a-alcohol? Claudia Jordan: {laughs} He’s come in late, he doesn’t blame it on the alcohol, but he has this smirk on his face and you never really know what that means, it could mean anything. Jamie’s off the hook. I’ve been friends with him for over ten years and his jackets and his shirts may be a little bit tighter now, but he’s like the same person he was ten years ago. He has the same friends he’s had for ten, fifteen years.
Adam Bernard: What happens on The Foxxhole? Claudia Jordan: We try to find as many current events that we can draw some jokes out of. They gave me a spin-off show on Monday nights, The Claudia Jordan Show, which has me and four of my girls who suck at relationships. We try to get a male guest in there to tell us what we’re doing wrong. We cover a bunch of different topics. We just had a show called "Dangerously in Love - When Love Triangles go Bad," where we talked about the Steve McNair murder.
Adam Bernard: I don’t think love triangles ever go well. Claudia Jordan: They really don’t. I didn’t realize how common it was for people to get murdered because of it. Maybe our demographic is just off the chain, but we had several callers say the same thing happened to them. It was more than one person who called in and said this. It’s apparently more common than we thought.
Adam Bernard: From what I hear you’re also the pretty girl who’s into sports. Claudia Jordan: I love sports. I was All-American in track and I love football. I’m a Patriots fan all the way and not a new fair-weather fan, I’ve been a Patriots fan for a long time.
Adam Bernard: Have you ever dated an athlete? Claudia Jordan: Yes, I dated Dwight Freeney of the Colts for like a year. The game he invited me to, all his family was coming, it was a home game in Indianapolis and it was the Colts versus the Patriots. I was sitting next to his mom and they put a D. Free sticker on my face, bracelets, all this Colts stuff and then I walked around and I would see Patriots fans and they would look at me and I would look at them with a sad look like I’m sorry, I’m with his mom. I felt like such a traitor. But the Patriots won the game and I rejoiced inside, quietly to myself.
Adam Bernard: Finally, what would you say is the most embarrassing guilty pleasure you have in life? Claudia Jordan: I’m a degenerate gambler.
Adam Bernard: Wait, the woman who tells other women not to buy bags and to spend their money on real estate is also putting her mortgages down on the craps table? Claudia Jordan: Pretty much. I’m sensible in all areas of life except when it comes to gambling. I lose all my financial sense. I’m so savvy when it comes to investing money and all that, but when it comes to gambling it all goes out the window.
The year was 1986 and the Melvins were in the midst of a major US tour. A young illustrator named Brian Walsby, who had just moved to North Carolina from California, happened to be in the crowd for the band's Raleigh date and was enthralled by their performance. "I thought they were just great," he remembers, "it was kind of like a side bonus that they made all the people with triple Mohawks sick to their stomachs."
Melvins drummer Dale Crover remembers another aspect of that show: the sparse crowd. "Brian was one of maybe three people that liked our band." Perhaps due in part to that fact, the Melvins and Walsby have been friends ever since. Friendship, however, wasn't the only thing that came out of that night, as the punk band from Washington and the illustrator in North Carolina began one of the more interesting relationships in rock history.
Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week Pop Shots is hitting you with thoughts on everything from Shakira’s latest single to Demi Lovato’s arrival to Sugar Ray covering one of the biggest Hip-Hop songs of the year. All seasoned with a little bit of attitude.
If you’re my age or older you probably remember Kwame as an emcee who rocked polka dots on the regular. Here’s some interesting news for ya – he never retired from music and is now one of the most sought after producers in the game. His resume is all-star laden and includes working with the likes of Method Man, Mary J. Blige, Will Smith, LL Cool J, Christina Aguilera, Talib Kweli, Yung Joc and The Pussycat Dolls. This week I caught up with Kwame to get some stories and he opened up who the easiest artists to work with are, the digression of emceeing, and the unique ways in which Will Smith has helped him out over the years. Here are some of the highlights from the interview:
On working with veteran artists like Christina Aguilera: “She’s willing to relinquish any ego that she has and just say you’re the producer, you have your vision for the song, tell me what you want me to do. You get that with the seasoned artists because they’ve been around the block a couple of times so they know how to maneuver it and they know how to make a good song.”
On the help Will Smith gave him behind the scenes: “There was a period between me having a record deal and me being a producer and being able to make money as a producer where my money was virtually non-existent, but Will would put certain records that I did in his TV show and he didn’t know, but that literally helped me to survive through some tough times.”
On the issues he has with the younger emcees of today: “Their thought pattern is to one up what’s already been done. 'I’m gonna make a better party record. I’m gonna make a better fuck record.' That’s where an experienced producer comes into play.”
I really don't have anything fancy to say about this episode of The Adam B Experience other than it's freakin dope, so listen to it! All the cool people will be talking about it tomorrow. You wanna be cool, right? Then listen!
You can download or stream the entire show at RapReviews.com.
Playlist
Doomtree - The Wren Zoser - Wind Blows Big Stat - I Gave You Everything Coole High w/ Tah Phrum Duh Bush - Last Laugh Doug Simpson - Freight Train PreZZure w/ Niles - Go In Bavu Blakes w/ Terell Shahid - Go Blaze Hopie Spitshard - The Hopie Spitter Super King Armor - Warganism Substantial - U Can Get It Seelo - Make Up My Mind Sum & Belief - Rivers Dyalekt - Froze Up Meltdown Random - Spread The Love
Great female emcees are hard to find. Actually great emcees, regardless of gender, are hard to find, but it’s always been especially tough to find a dope lyrical lady. Hopie Spitshard, who hails from the Bay Area, is one of the few I would put in that class. I was put on to her in a very roundabout way. Last month I did an Artist Of The Week feature on Kaz-well and when I was making sure his MySpace link worked I noticed Hopie as one of his top friends. The combination of her look, her name and her association with Kaz-well made me click on her and I’m really glad I did (hey, MySpace does still have a use!). We got to talking, and Twittering, and she sent me a copy of her full length album, The Diamond Dame, to check out. I was impressed, which is why this week I caught up with her to find out about the history of Hopie, how being a part of two minority groups in Hip-Hop affects her, and why what she does in the bedroom is a subject you’ll never hear her rhyme about.
Adam Bernard: Start me off with the Hopie Spitshard story. Where is she from and how did she come to be the woman and emcee she is today? Hopie Spitshard: Hopie Spitshard is Kae Hope Ranoa, a broke ass Philippine immigrant turned MC/law student. I am who I am because I've been hurled into all kinds of fucked up situations and learned to manipulate BS into art and strong personal attributes. I came from the tippy top echelon of Philippine high society - think WASP, but brown, so make your own abbreviation {laughs} - to living in cars, so I daydreamed in my room, transcribed every Tupac song to recite in the mirror, and wrote emo, teenage angst-y poetry till I found out about drugs and alcohol and home studios. {laughs loudly} I know that's the cliché Hip-Hop story, but I'm sticking to it!
Adam Bernard: Being both female and Asian you are a member of not one, but two minority groups in Hip-Hop. In what ways does this affect you? Hopie Spitshard: Being a minority affects me in every aspect of my life; musical, professional, personal, etc., but inasmuch as how much and whether it's negative or positive, that isn't really something I can readily ascertain. I have never known life as anything other than a Pinay woman, so shit's been rough, but I'm not really sure how rough. I can, however, say that there are haters who hate on the minority groups in which I am forever inducted and my supporters love that I represent these two minority groups and constantly thank me for representing them. So fuck how others feel, I am me and I'm going to keep being me. It's a hate it or love it thing for others, but for me, it's something I can't change so I roll with people who accept that. Sorry if that was a roundabout answer, but that’s me, too!
Adam Bernard: When you were coming up were you always either the only girl or only Asian in whatever group of people you were rolling with? Hopie Spitshard: I wasn't always the only girl, but my best friend and I were the only girls that would rap. The other girls were people's clingy girlfriends {laughs}. I always felt like one of the boys anyhow, so I never felt the great boy vs. girl divide. And, no, I wasn't the only Filipino, because I went to high school in Daly City for three years and that city is primarily Filipino. Moreover, at the time I was growing up a lot of the leaders in Hip-Hop from the area, i.e. the Daly City DJs, came out of Daly City and were Filipino, so I never really felt like too much of a minority in that aspect. That was when I was growing up, though. The underground rap scene is mad different now. I still work with a lot of Filipino musicians, but there are noticeably fewer of us, so we stick together and support one another. I like that, but sometimes I feel we’re too caught up in "representing" and that it's read as being nationalistic and exclusive, which is the opposite of what I'd like. I'd like for people to know my ethnicity, but at the same time feel that both my music and who I am as an artist in general are personable and relatable.
Adam Bernard: You got personal and relatable on The Diamond Dame, which is the full length album you released last year. Tell me a bit about it. Personally, I think it has a classic old school feel to it. Was that the intent going in, or am I the first person to say that and you’re now going to give me a total screwface look? Hopie Spitshard: {Gives a screwface look} Nah, just kidding. The Diamond Dame is very eclectic. I wanted there to be something for everyone on that album, but I found that the beats I gravitated more toward and sounded best on were the older, bass-heavy beats. I don't know if I want to say the intent was to make a sort of throwback joint or not, but I do know that I ended up leaning that way. I mean, I have a remake of “Rebirth of Slick” on there, so I guess you can say I knew what I was doing.
Adam Bernard: As an artist, what do you feel you have to offer that’s unique, or currently underrepresented, in the game? Hopie Spitshard: I feel that I'm a fun, lyrical, spittin ass female, and that's rare, even amongst male MCs. I'm not going to say that I'm what the game needs just because I'm a female MC, though. There are a lot of us that are fresh that are on the come up right now.
Adam Bernard: Speaking of female emcees, thanks to the influences of Lil’ Kim, Foxy Brown, Trina and the like, a lot of your peers focus on rhyming about their lady parts. You’ve chosen not to go that route. Tell me about your decision to rhyme about something other than sexual prowess. Is it cuz you’re just totally wack in the sack? (Kidding!) Hopie Spitshard: Oh no, I'm the fucking best {winks}. I don't feel a need to rap about fucking or my body parts because I'm not a Hawaiian Tropic model and that's not my job. Just cuz you have body parts doesn't mean you can rap and I'm tryna prove that I can rap, not that I have TnA. Shit's irrelevant and played the fuck out. Also, I have waaaaaaay more respect for myself and my fellow women than to perpetuate that tired ass shit. I'm a grown woman with a brain and talent and I expected to be treated that way. Even if people don't like my music, at least I still have my dignity.
Adam Bernard: Finally, to end things on a lighter note, judging by one of the pics on your MySpace page you’re a bit of a sneakerhead. Do you have a fave pair in your collection? Hopie Spitshard: Actually, I'm not really a sneakerhead. I can't qualify as one considering some other self-proclaimed sneakerheads, but I do love shoes and my favorite pair right now aren’t kicks, they’re heels I got in Chicago. The Chi style don't play!
For those of you who read my review of Warped Tour earlier in the week and wanted to know a little bit more about P.O.S, this week’s Vid Pick should fit the bill. “Purexed” is one of my favorite songs off P.O.S’ incredible 2009 release Never Better and the video is phenomenal. As an added bonus the clip has multiple Doomtree cameos. Enjoy!
As an actress she’s shared the screen with everyone from Sacha Baron Cohen to Pauly Shore. As a musician her work has been heard in numerous films and television shows and she’s recognized internationally for her work in the dance music world. She’s traveled the globe and even been hit on by Don Johnson. While you might not be able to say Gina La Piana’s done it all, she’s certainly done a heck of a lot. Never one to sit still, the feisty La Piana, who is of Italian, Spanish and Puerto Rican descent, has two feature films on the way and this week I caught up with her to find out more about what she has coming up, what it was like acting opposite Sacha Baron Cohen, and the awkwardness of Don Johnson’s flirting.
Adam Bernard: Before we get to what you’re working on now, you were in Ali G Indahouse, credited on IMDB as “Hoochie 1.” Gina La Piana: Yeah, I know, that’s terrible. I had a name and it was Rosa, but somebody put me up there as “Hoochie 1.” I opened the whole movie. If you remember, it’s me talking opening the film.
Adam Bernard: OK, so Rosa it is! Staying with that film, what was it like working with Sacha Baron Cohen? Gina La Piana: Oh my God, I couldn’t get a handle on him. He had his Sacha persona and then he had his Ali G persona, but he went into character a lot, even in-between takes. He was a total sweetheart while we were shooting and then, yeah, I don’t care, I’m just putting it right out there, he was a total sweetheart and then I went to the premier in London and I didn’t have the same experience. So he was sweet in the process, but when it comes down to it he’s all business.
Adam Bernard: Aw, oh well. Moving to your current projects, you already have two movies completed this year – Girl Gone Dead and Opposite Day. Let’s start with Girl Gone Dead, which you have a major role in. Gina La Piana: Yeah, it’s a crazy scary, thriller, horror movie about a bunch of girls who are locked up in this camp for girls who are having emotional issues. It was probably the most fun I’ve had shooting a film because with the horror genre you get to be so in the moment, you feel like you’re doing theater on film. It was just awesome.
Adam Bernard: Girl Gone Dead is significantly different from your other upcoming film, Opposite Day, which is a kids’ movie that stars one of my favorite MTV grads, Pauly Shore. What was it like working with The Weasel? Gina La Piana: He is so much fun. He is such a sweetheart, so kind, so generous, giving you all he’s got. He is funny and I just love him. I actually found him to be so professional and so nice. I also not only acted in Opposite Day, I scored the movie.
Adam Bernard: Nice! Before we get to your music, though, do you have a particularly poignant, hilarious, or embarrassing moment from your acting career that you can share? Gina La Piana: Well, I think the most embarrassing moment for me came when I was working on a show way back in the day called Nash Bridges. I was a little teenybopper and there were a couple of embarrassing moments, one of them being that I was acting opposite Jose Canseco. Jose is many things, but he’s not an actor. At one point they directed me to be really crazy and emotional, very Rosie Perez-ish, but Jose Canseco couldn’t get it up emotionally for the scene, he wasn’t really there, so for me it just felt like I was overacting, but that was just part of the learning process. It was the stuff that Don Johnson did to me to elicit my performance that kind of embarrassed me. He would say little things to me in-between takes to get me where he wanted me to be, I guess, but the things that he would say to me were very flirty in nature and kind of embarrassing. Right before the director yelled action it was like “look at those lips, I’ll bite em right off your face,” or something, and I’m looking at him and trying to deliver a line after that.
Adam Bernard: That’s not a great flirt. Don Johnson must not get a lot of ladies anymore. Gina La Piana: I know, right? I was flattered that he gave me that much attention and that he thought he’d go out of his way, but I gotta say I was totally embarrassed.
Adam Bernard: As you mentioned earlier, you also composed the theme music for Opposite Day, and I see you listed as a composer for the upcoming films Tekken and Robosapien: Rebooted, as well. Actress, musician… is there anything else you do that we should know about? Gina La Piana: {laughs} I teach one day a week at the Aviva Center for Girls, which is a home for displaced teenage girls. It’s basically an accredited high school and I try to be there as much as I can. Also, right now I’m recording something that is kind of like a Black Eyed Peas project. I have a bunch of hits overseas in the dance world. Google Gina Martina, that’s my whole underground secret life. I have a self-titled album out right now under my real name that’s a pop/rock record, but the stuff that did really well overseas and gave me a bunch of hits was the Gina Martina project. I actually just revealed a really big secret there because I’ve never really linked those two together, I’d always kept them separate.
Adam Bernard: That’s what I like to hear, I have a scoop! Switching gears a bit, if you could link yourself, true or not, with one leading man, who would it be and why? Gina La Piana: This is really hard.
Adam Bernard: Don Johnson! Gina La Piana: No, not Don Johnson! I love Daniel Day Lewis. He’s the real deal. The fact that he goes and makes shoes in Italy… he gives up the industry and walks away from everything. I have so much admiration for him. He gets into every role. He lives the role for months on end. And then the fact that he can walk away from the industry altogether and do something that means a lot to feed his soul. I admire that.
Adam Bernard: Any parting words before we go? Gina La Piana: You could say that Gina says Randy Jackson owes her. {laughs} I was signed to him years ago, he was one of my A&R guys, I worked with a few of them back in the day.
Adam Bernard: When Randy Jackson reads this do you think he’s gonna give you a call? Gina La Piana: Yeah, I think so. I think that’s why I need to say it. Let him see it and let him go “wow, I gotta call my girl G, she’s right, I do owe her a couple record deals.”
This past Saturday I spent ten hours, in gorgeous weather, in the parking lot of the Nassau Coliseum enjoying the sights and sounds of Warped Tour ’09. This year marks the fifteenth anniversary of the event and the current installment features 60+ bands on seven stages. Obviously no single person could possibly see everything, but I managed to catch a few acts I was familiar with, make a few new discoveries (like Lights, pictured above), and see fifteen minutes of what might quite possibly be the worst act in the history of music. Although I have no fancy trophies to give out, the following are my awards for the best and worst of Warped Tour ’09. Enjoy!
Favorite New Discovery – Lights: I had no idea who Lights was going into Warped Tour, but when I wandered by her stage and saw a cute girl with a keytar I said, “I’m in!” It didn’t take long for Lights to win me over with her 80’s synth / new wave sound. Her entire set brought me back to the kind of music I used to hear on the radio when I was a kid and her vibe was so great that I couldn’t help but become enamored with her. I caught up with Lights after her performance and had a great convo about music and yes, she’ll be featured here soon.
Others that made the grade: Kelsey and The Chaos, TAT
Act I Knew Wouldn’t Disappoint – P.O.S: I don’t think P.O.S has ever given a wack performance and on Saturday he was in fine form, only spending a few minutes on the stage and standing on a metal record box in the middle of the crowd the rest of the time. He really embraced his crowd and even performed towards the audience that was gathering at the next stage waiting for their act to start. I have no doubt he made a few new fans that way. I kind of felt sorry for the writers who chose to stay backstage rather than get into the crowd and be a part of the performance. At some point you have to realize a large part of covering a show is experiencing it, and you can’t do that if you’re not in the crowd for at least a portion of it. Side note – P.O.S was wearing an Innerpartysystem shirt. Later in the evening I saw the lead singer from Innerpartysystem wearing a P.O.S shirt. I thought that was pretty dope.
Others that made the grade: Meg & Dia
WTF Act of the Day – Millionaires: When Kelsey of Kelsey and The Chaos ended her set by thanking the crowd for choosing her over Millionaires and included a little groan and an eye roll when she said the name of the group, I suddenly become really interested in finding out who, or what, Millionaires were. Any act that generates that kind of a comment and reaction is one I want to see because I want to know if they can really be that bad. As I wandered towards the next stage I heard what sounded like The Powerpuff Girls attempting to rap over pop-techno beats. I figured, “this must be Millionaires” and made my way over. I was so speechless at what I saw once I got there that I had to ask the security guy “is this real?” He assured me it was and that they were four songs in. I stuck around. I had to, because Millionaires are the musical equivalent of 2 Girls 1 Cup. They’re both positioned at the intersection of the Venn Diagram in our minds where the awful meets the intriguing. It’s like a train wreck, or a car accident, you slow down to see what’s going on because there’s a sick fascination with it all. We don’t really want to see the worst, but there’s something in us that keeps us watching. What I was “treated” to was a foul mouthed cheer squad of three “rapping” about everything from getting laid to getting “fucked up” off of white zinfandel. It was a true assault to the senses and just like with 2 Girls 1 Cup I stood there the entire time thinking “this can’t possibly get any worse,” but every time I thought that, it did. Also like 2 Girls 1 Cup, you kind of want to be there whenever somebody sees the group for the first time because people’s reactions to them can be pretty priceless. Don’t believe me? Just try to get through their video for “Alcohol” (NSFW lyrics). Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Best Picture of the Day – Millionaires: I only took one photo of them and it wasn’t even from the photo pit. I just wanted to get them all in frame and get one pic as evidence that what I was seeing was real. When I arrived home and saw the full screen image I realized I had really captured a special moment in time. Feel free to enjoy this image of the lead “rapper” lifting up her skirt and revealing her panties to the underage crowd.
Best Overheard Conversation: There was little competition after I heard this gem.
Teenage girl: “Your neck is getting sunburned.” Teenage boy: “No, that’s just Gatorade.”
Biggest Disappointment – 3Oh!3: Oh, they’re still gonna be pop stars, I was just disappointed in how soulless their entire set was. I have much more on this in my 8/5 Fairfield Weekly column.
Most Random Cameo – Lil’ Jon: For reasons unbeknownst to anyone Lil’ Jon was backstage for 3Oh!3’s set and came out to give a trademark “yeah!” during their show. Sadly, this was the highlight of their set.
Most Pleasant Surprise – Innerpartysystem: I first heard Innerpartysystem when their 2007 effort, The Download EP, arrived on my desk. It was good. I liked the group's mixing of electronic music and rock as it kind of reminded me of Blaqk Audio, who I really dig. I filed their name in my memory bank and when I saw them on the big board for the show I decided to check em out. Boy am I glad I did! Even though they were the last act of the night their 35 minute set was pure energy. Lead singer Patrick Nissley moved seamlessly from singing to sampling and back again and by the end of their time on stage Innerpartysystem had firmly placed themselves on my sparsely populated “must see” list. Simply amazing.
Finally, props need to go out to MSOPR, who always do a great job setting up everything for the press at Warped Tour. This year press check in was especially quick and easy and the vast majority of the event staff / security thoroughly respected the press wristbands. The photo pits were also really well done. Kudos all around.
Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week Pop Shots is hitting you with thoughts on everything from The Pussycat Dolls to Guns N’ Roses to VH1’s One Hit Wonders of the 80’s. All seasoned with a little bit of attitude.
There's something funky bubbling up in the UK, namely Bath based funk quartet FattyBoomBasstic. Formed in 2006, FattyBoomBasstic, which is made up of singer Laura James, guitarist JD, bassist Pete G and drummer / sound engineer Mcfly, recently released their debut album, Superfunkysexotronic, and their unique sound, which blends funk music with jazz vocals, has been striking a chord with listeners.
Even though the group is busy in the studio right now working on their second album, Filthysomething, I managed to get Laura James and JD to take a short break from recording to give me the low-down on the band and how they plan on saving the world with funk.
Everyone wants to know more about Detox. When is it coming out? Is it ever coming out? This week I caught up with one of the men in charge of producing the album with Dre, Dawaun Parker, who’s resume already includes working with the likes of Eminem, 50 Cent, Jay-Z and Busta Rhymes, to find out as much as I could. Parker also opened up about an incredible studio session with Em. Here are a few of the highlights from the interview:
On his first day in Dre’s studio: “I remember being a little awe struck just by the sight of how everything looked. It was like a spaceship with all the lights and things like that.”
On how Detox will compare to the two Chronic albums: “I just think that it’s a forward progression. I think that there will be reflections of what’s going on now, the fact that it’s 2009/2010.”
On working with Em: “One time I played live hi-hat and Em rapped strictly in my ear and I was improvising based on what he was doing with his vocals and the cadences and the rhythm changes that he was doing.”
The very first time I heard Doug Simpson’s “Freight Train” I knew there was something special about him. There was a raw energy to the song that I hadn’t heard in quite a while and it didn’t hurt that former Artist Of The Week Slim from Euphon was the one to bring him to my attention. In addition to his work as an artist, Simpson, who notes that it only made sense to him to go with his real name because “wild side, party side, tough talk, introspective side, whatever - it’s all still you,” also formed both Ironhorse Music Group and The Aqua League Beat Society. A little research turned up the info that Simpson’s production work has already been heard all over the world thanks to placements on MTV, MTV2, The Speed Network and Bravo and this week I caught up with the multitalented musician to find out more about what he’s working on now, how and why he formed The Aqua League and IHMG, and how he feels the rap game would be different if he was the most famous emcee in the world.
Adam Bernard: Start me off with the Doug Simpson story. Who is Doug Simpson? Where is he from and how did he come to be the man and artist he is today? Doug Simpson: I am a music producer and recording artist who originated from The Bronx and is currently residing in BKNY. The producer side started up in The Bronx, but the emceeing really picked up when I got out to Brooklyn. There’s something about the creative energy in BK that’s just crazy. The Bronx brought out the innovator in me, BK brought out the gorilla.
Adam Bernard: Nice. Moving from gorillas to amphibians and equines, tell me about The Aqua League Beat Society and Ironhorse Music Group. Who is involved in these projects and how did The Aqua League and IHMG come to be? Doug Simpson: Let me start with Ironhorse Music Group. Ironhorse Music Group was built out of necessity. In 2002 I did a song called “Superbaby,” which featured Harlem Hip-Hop duo Euphon and Bronx emcee Extra Large. We were very fortunate to have that song go out on tour with Moby during his Area2 tour dates. At the time we were running under our own production company, Don Productions, but since we weren’t affiliated with any record label it was difficult to move our music forward. This is why we decided to start our own label, Ironhorse Music Group. The goal was to incubate our music and hopefully get picked up by a major, but over time we began to realize the amount of control we had over our material’s look, feel, sound and release times. Slim (of Euphon) and I have been running IHMG ever since. The Aqua League was also conceived out of necessity. Slim and I produce everything and we referred to ourselves as The Aqua League Beat Society once we started doing projects outside of the Ironhorse Music Group walls. The Aqua League released its first all-instrumental project, The Velvet Gentleman, in the first quarter of ’09. We then released “Big City,” which was a single off of my Sketches EP, and that ended up as a featured song on Owen Smith’s live stand-up DVD, Anonymous. We followed that up with two singles, “Brooklyn Was Beautiful” and “One,” from our alternative soul singer/songwriter The Sistah, and followed that with The Repositioning, which is a compilation of some of the most talented New York-based emcees we’ve had the pleasure to work with so far.
Adam Bernard: How important is it for an artist to have a musical support system like that? What kind of advantages does it bring? Doug Simpson: I believe it makes a world of difference to have a strong support system. I can’t tell you the number of artists we come across daily who would give their right arm just to have a solid support system like we’ve created. When you’re doing this independently you are responsible for everything - the writing, the recording, the mixing, the mastering, the graphic work, the promo push and the PR. It’s a lot of work. So you are faced with either being a monster politician in rallying folks behind your movement, or attempting to do it all yourself. As Slim would say, “if you got the skill set, then what’s the hold up? Go in!” Another thing is realizing and respecting a network and a support system when you do have one. Listen, most indie situations are not working with heavy budgets, some don’t even have the ends to create a budget with, and that’s understandable, but when you do rally folks behind your cause don’t abuse that. Utilize it and find out how you can give back instead of just taking all the time. Always look for ways to give before you receive.
Adam Bernard: That’s a great rule to live by. Moving to your music, tell me a little bit about the Sketches EP. In what ways do you view your songs as sketches? Doug Simpson: We record a lot of material. We know we have deadlines for certain projects, whether they’re production projects or features, but our thing is to just record now, sort it out later. It has more of an immediacy when we work that way. As artists, whether we want to admit or not, there is a process. In the graphic arts world you start out with several thumbnails, followed by a mock up or a rough draft, then work towards a final polished version of your idea. Sketches was just that - the thumbnails. I’m currently working on Rough Draft, which will be the follow-up, and yes, I am also working on a full length LP entitled Portrait of a Former Self, but that probably won’t drop until the first quarter of 2010.
Adam Bernard: What do want people to feel when they put on a Doug Simpson album? Doug Simpson: I would like folks to remember why they love music every time they listen to anything I’m associated with. Music is truly the universal language and yields so much power, if we do it right.
Adam Bernard: Finally, if you were the most famous rapper in the world how would the game be different? Doug Simpson: If I was the most famous rapper in the world I’d be a poster boy for publishing and licensing. I am a firm believer in balance, but I believe more in education, financial education. I know it’s hard out here in this day and age, but rappers before me and unfortunately rappers after me are going to be saying the same thing, “get your money right.” Of course, as the old adage goes, you can lead a horse to water…
Pro wrestling, THREE B-Listers (Kats, Domer and Illspokinn), and a rapper taking a chair shot from one of his fellow emcees… can you really ask for anything more in a video? “Run Amok” is the result of creativity meeting humor and three emcees and one producer who are simply off the hook. Enjoy!
Film director and TV producer Morgan J. Freeman takes the occasional ribbing he gets for sharing his name with one of the great actors of our time in stride. “I’ve come close to changing my production company to Not That One,” he jokes. Freeman admits he’s mellowed a bit since he burst onto the scene in 1997 as the producer and director of the Sundance award winning Hurricane, a film which happened to feature former Adam's World Artist Of The Week Core Rhythm (credited as Mtume Gant). Freeman’s latest projects are the MTV docu-series 16 and Pregnant and the feature film Homecoming, which stars Mischa Barton (The O.C.) and Jessica Stroup (90210). With Homecoming hitting theaters today I sat down with Freeman to talk about the film and the decision to cast Mischa Barton in the bad girl role. We also discussed some of his TV work and the lessons he's learned coming up in the industry.
Adam Bernard: Let’s start by talking about Homecoming. When did this project start coming together and what were some of your original hopes going in? Morgan J. Freeman: It probably started coming together about two years ago and it came to me through Austin Stark, who’s one of the producers. I’d met with him about financing for another film I was trying to get off the ground and that movie didn’t work out, but a couple weeks later he sent me this script. I started reading it and it was a very sound script, but I also kinda got sucked into this small town sweetie that gets obsessed with her ex-boyfriend and when I realized it was going toward a Misery kind of thing it just hit me that I wanted to do something that had this teen sensibility, but was a sort of rehash of the dynamics that were at play behind a movie such as Misery.
Adam Bernard: What aspects of the main characters were you most concerned with getting across? Morgan J. Freeman: For me it was sort of the duality of a character who could play, outside the farm, a small town sweetheart and then inside the farm, this psychotic lunatic, and to almost pull it off. I was attracted to being able to work with somebody playing both sides of that coin and then just taking obsession to that level. I like the metaphor of how far will someone go to get their boyfriend back and bedding it in that teen, small town, world.
Adam Bernard: At what point did you say “we really need Mischa Barton wielding an axe?” Morgan J. Freeman: {laughs} I think when the idea of her came up we saw all those moments like OK, let’s flip it on its head. The sorta no-brainer way to do it would be for her to play the Elizabeth role. Oh, she’d torture well, but the torturer seemed like a smarter way to go because why do what everybody’s expecting?
Adam Bernard: What made you think she could be such an evil character? Morgan J. Freeman: It came from her wanting to cross that line within her own work and wanting to go somewhere a little darker and a little edgier and for me I respond to that kind of stuff because it’s always fun going somewhere the first time.
Adam Bernard: So she was pretty cool with work with? Morgan J. Freeman: Totally. It was awesome. We were on this farmhouse out in the middle of Pennsylvania. She was a total trooper. It was freezing and it wasn’t a big movie so everybody had to kind of show up and not necessarily lug apple boxes, but work.
Adam Bernard: It definitely looked like the middle of nowhere. Plot-wise, I really liked a few of the twists in the film, twists that I can’t really say without giving away the ending. Morgan J. Freeman: There were lots of little smart things in the script and without giving too much away, props become major transporters of plot points.
Adam Bernard: You’ve also done some production work with MTV over the years, from Laguna Beach to 16 and Pregnant. Incidentally, with just those two shows you have a helluva range. When it comes to producing TV versus directing films… aren’t these two totally different things? Morgan J. Freeman: Yes, absolutely. Producing TV and directing a film are almost polar opposites. For me it’s a way to sorta stay busy year round. My bread and butter comes from the TV series and then I can go devote 6-8 weeks on a smaller movie that really, you don’t really make enough to make ends meet on these films.
Adam Bernard: You kinda hope to break even? Morgan J. Freeman: Yeah, basically break even and each film is an investment in hoping that one of them causes a stir, to a point, or is the right stepping stone to a larger project. I have no illusions about where I’m at and where I want to go and I’d like to do bigger studio movies. The show I have right now, 16 and Pregnant, if that keeps rating well and is a successful show and Homecoming can do some business, I think there’s a cumulative addition to those as far as being positioned for a larger movie. I also try to keep two balls up in the air, two different games.
Adam Bernard: Because you need to have both of those balls in the air to have the potential opportunities. Morgan J. Freeman: Exactly. I have the six features under my belt, but I also enjoy the docu-series. 16 and Pregnant, for me, it’s been the first show where there’s really been an emotional connection to some of these kids and the show itself is being positioned as actually having a viable purpose out there, to show kids what it’s really like at that age to have a kid.
Adam Bernard: That’s fantastic. Now, to end things on a lighter note, everyone in Hollywood needs a good tabloid scandal. Take this opportunity to write your own. Morgan J. Freeman found where, with whom, doing what? Morgan J. Freeman: You know, I spent a lot of years trying to shake the bad boy reputation…
Adam Bernard: Why did you have a bad boy reputation? Morgan J. Freeman: I got myself in some trouble after the first couple movies. Just an over-inflated ego, some trashed hotel rooms, some publicly failed relationships that I’d prefer not to rehash up but that were definitely like a crash course in growing up and a crash course in how to treat people with respect and a crash course in gratitude for the opportunity because it’s not easy in this business.
Adam Bernard: There’s certainly no handbook for having success. Morgan J. Freeman: No, I don’t think there is and who knows, maybe this is the most golden path of all of them.
Everyone knows how heavily I’m involved in both the music and entertainment worlds, but what some of you may not know is way back in the day I also used to work in sports. This is why when I was offered an interview with New York Giants wide receiver Sinorice Moss I jumped at the opportunity. As a third generation Giants fan I had plenty to ask Moss regarding how the team is looking for the upcoming season, but we covered a lot more than just Giants football as we discussed everything from hard hits to Halle Berry… a little something for everyone!
Adam Bernard: Everybody’s talking about how the Giants need a #1 wide receiver with Plaxico Burress gone. As one of the current crop of wideouts already on the team, does this irk you in any way? Sinorice Moss: It gets under my skin a little bit because we did lose Plax, we did lose Amani (Toomer), but a lot of people look at it as though we don’t have anyone on the team that can contribute and step up and make plays. We have a lot of young guys that are on the team now and a lot of guys that are willing and very eager to step on the field and make some big plays for this team.
Adam Bernard: Burress’ arrest happening in the middle of the season obviously affected the team last year. How do you think the team’s play will change this season knowing going in you’ll be without him? Sinorice Moss: That’s why we practice every day. That’s why we put in new players while we work on different things because we have a group of young guys that can be utilized in so many different ways so it’s good for our offensive coordinator and for the coaches to sit down with us and go through different things that we can use during the season so we can really shine the light on some of these guys.
Adam Bernard: Now, for the record, when you go clubbin do you do it WITHOUT firearms? Sinorice Moss: Actually, I really don’t go to clubs much. I only attend clubs when I’m asked to, or I’m getting paid for an appearance, but I’m not a big club guy at all. I’d rather go to the movies.
Adam Bernard: The Giants have made some key acquisitions on defense this off-season, but haven’t really made a splash on offense. Do you think this is a silent vote of confidence in the O? Sinorice Moss: Yeah, you could say that, that it was kind of a confidence of saying OK, we have guys here that we know can contribute. I guess the big question mark was the wide receivers. That was the big thing and that’s gonna be the big thing this whole year because we lost Plaxico and Amani, so everybody had their opinions of who we should bring in, who should play this role, should we grab this guy from this team. We don’t need that. For the past three years I was learning from the best, from two guys that have been in the NFL for a while, so it’s not that we necessarily need a veteran receiver to be on this team to show us the ropes or to motivate us, we had those guys there and it’s now our time to step up and make some plays.
Adam Bernard: Are you worried about the loss of some of the coaching staff? Sinorice Moss: Nah, it really hasn’t been a problem from what I’ve seen so far. OTA’s (Organized Team Activities) went well. The defense is flying around, very exciting, making plays. The offense is doing the same thing.
Adam Bernard: And Osi (Umenyiora) is lookin healthy? Sinorice Moss: Yes he is. He’s flying around competin with guys like always. Osi’s lookin real good.
Adam Bernard: Good, cuz the only time we got to see him last season was in those 5-Hour Energy commercials. It was very disappointing. That stuff’s no joke, though. Sinorice Moss: {laughs} I’ve never tried it. I’m not a big supplement guy. I don’t really mess with that stuff.
Adam Bernard: Speaking of supplements, there’s a pretty big illegal one going around in sports today – steroids. In football it seems to matter a little less since the suspension for performance enhancing drugs is only four games and, in the case some people, you can still be an All-Pro the same season you’re caught. Why aren’t steroids taken as seriously in football as they are in baseball, or are they? Sinorice Moss: I have no idea. I’m not really for steroids. I don’t know who does it or why they do it. It’s not a smart choice, but it’s out there, it definitely is.
Adam Bernard: OK, switching gears a bit, as a wide receiver making the big catch is obviously what you hope for, but when you see a guy like Hines Ward totally jack up a defensive player is that another, perhaps hidden, joy for everyone who plays the position? Sinorice Moss: Yes. It’s good for us as wide receivers to also be aggressive, so watching Hines Ward and seeing how aggressive he is as a receiver and the shots that he takes on some of those guys, that’s pretty much letting them know “I’m not a pushover, you’re not gonna come in this game and just do whatever to me or knock me around, I play wide receiver, but you’re gonna respect me.” It’s more of a respect factor, so I really get excited when I see Hines Ward do things like that.
Adam Bernard: So can we expect to see you jack a few people up in the 2009 season? Sinorice Moss: I’m not gonna cheap shot anybody, but if I have to go in and make a block I’m gonna do my job.
Adam Bernard: The New York press can be brutal. You would know this just as well as anyone as they’ve thrown the “underachiever” tag on you. How do you deal with the NY press and do you feel that “underachiever” tag is fair? Sinorice Moss: They can call me whatever they want to call me, but you can’t label somebody as an underachiever just because he hasn’t been given the opportunity to do stuff on the field. Maybe I haven’t got a thousand yards yet and done all the things that people want me to do as a receiver, but that time hasn’t come yet. I’m working towards it. So I can be whatever they want to label me as, but I’m gonna continue to stay positive and continue to keep working hard. I have a big opportunity this year and I’m gonna go out there and make some plays.
Adam Bernard: What are your joys outside of football? Sinorice Moss: I love movies. I sing a little bit. I love music. I’m an aspiring actor. I’m working on a lot of things outside of football and just really trying to be successful.
Adam Bernard: OK, one acting question – who would you want playing the romantic lead opposite you in a film? Sinorice Moss: {whistles} There’s a lot of nice young women out there. Everybody’s choice would obviously be Halle Berry. You also have Nia Long, Gabrielle Union… I could sit here and name them forever.
Editor’s Note – A special shout out to my buddy Q The Question for helping set this interview up. And yes, Q, I specifically chose that pic of Moss beating an Eagle just for you. Ha!
Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week Pop Shots is hitting you with thoughts on everything from Ashley Tisdale to Warped Tour to MTV Hits. All seasoned with a little bit of attitude.
While a lot of emcees like to claim they've seen and done it all, most haven't experienced even a fraction of what Bassman75 has. "I've lived in five different countries and three continents," the worldly emcee states. "I think of myself as an overseas representer. Let's put it this way: if US Hip-Hop and overseas Hip-Hop got married and nine months later they had a son, that son would be Bassman75."
Some of our local Hip-Hop and R&B stars, including Bridgeport emcee Chase Davis, Stamford soul singer Keith Densmore and Norwalk songstress Rain, already have them. Big name national artists like Mary J. Blige and Jadakiss are clamoring to get their hands on them, or, more precisely, to get into them. The “them” in this case are Tiffany Martinez’s Tru Kullaz hoodies.
Martinez, a child of divorce who grew up in both Greenwich and Bridgeport, started Tru Kullaz two years ago after more than a decade in the entertainment industry as a celebrity stylist working with the likes of Cameron Diaz, Sarah Jessica Parker and Christina Aguilera. Hoodies were her first endeavor because according to Martinez “they never go out of style and I just thought how cool would it be to line the whole inside with detailing and vintage fabrics?” The immediate reaction was huge.
Bruce Miller, who is Mary J. Blige’s brother and a longtime friend of Martinez’s, wore a Tru Kullaz hoodie to a studio session with his sister and according to Martinez the reaction was priceless. “She was like, where did you get that hoodie? And Bruce said, my girl Tiffany I was telling you about. She was like, I want a hoodie!”
Another friend of Martinez’s who goes by the name Bop was also interested in wearing one of her creations. Bop is currently touring with Jadakiss as his hype man and for every show they do he can be seen wearing a Tru Kullaz hoodie. Word is Jada might be looking to outfit himself in one, as well.
Friends like Bop and Miller are helping Martinez get Tru Kullaz on more and more national celebrities, a group she’s used to dealing with thanks to her past as a stylist. It’s also a group Martinez has always had a great connection with. She remembers one particular session with Cameron Diaz where the There’s Something About Mary star was so comfortable that she ended up attempting to do a few Wild Style-like moves. “There was this break dancing shirt and she put it on and she started break dancing in the store. It was really funny.”
The idea for Tru Kullaz came to Martinez while she was styling Sylvia Rhone, who is currently the president of Universal Motown, and what has so many people interested in the hoodies is the vibrancy and uniqueness of each piece. “I’m all about color,” Martinez explains, “I love putting color on people. When I enter a room and I have something bright on everyone is like OH! It changes the mood.” In addition to the bright colors, Martinez adds a special touch to each Tru Kullaz hoodie, a special touch she first found while traveling in Mexico. “I found a lot of these appliqués with a lot of sequins,” she remembers, “so I was putting appliqués on the back of them (the hoodies), making them a little bit more flashy.” Martinez now has a group of people in Mexico who create custom appliqués for her so her hoodies can have that extra bit of flash.
Flash is actually one of the big attractions that draw recording artists to Martinez’s work. She figures that’s at least partially due to their chosen occupation. “Some people like to be on stage, they like to be known, seen, and some of the glitter, with the lighting and stuff, it looks great.” She points to the recently passed Michael Jackson as a huge influence on this type of fashion, noting “all of his jackets are all sequined. They’re very loud and they say a lot.”
Martinez’s path with Tru Kullaz has been one that’s been navigated with good friends by her side. Bruce Miller has seen the company grow since its inception. “He was with me when I designed my first sweatshirt,” Martinez remembers. Another person who was with Martinez at the start was her good friend Amy Meno. Meno, however, passed away last November as a result of being involved in a car accident while not wearing a seat belt. It took Martinez a substantial amount of time to get back to designing after the tragedy. “She was my muse,” Martinez mourns, “she was there at the very beginning. A lot of the clothing I made was based around her. I would always think, how would this look on Amy? She was someone that had a lot to do with Tru Kullaz.”
Pushing forward, Martinez knows she still has a lot to accomplish with Tru Kullaz. Not only does she have plans to expand the line past hoodies, but, in her own words, she wants to “do it all.” “I want to go into interior. I want to do a perfume line. After all this I would love to have my own record label and sing.” For now Martinez’s singing is reserved for her time in church, although she does have the pedigree for it as both her parents were singers.
Regardless of where life takes her next, it’s clear Martinez is serious when she says she feels Tru Kullaz is just a starting point for her. “I believe this is just an opening,” she says ebulliently, “this is just a stepping stone.” Before any of those next steps can be made, however, she has to get back to work on a few hoodies. Mary J. Blige and Jadakiss are waiting.
I caught up with Seattle duo Steelo this week and with emcee A. Uno being half Iranian we talked at length about the current election situation and the protests going on there. He and Bobby K, the R&B half of the group, also discussed going into schools with their Steelo Empowerment program and what people can expect from their just released debut LP, Music. Here are a few of the highlights from the interview:
A. Uno on the Iranian government: “I think that the whole society is in need of change and basically the regime of the past needs to have their brick walls cracked and crumbled.”
Bobby K on Steelo’s cleaner image: “We’re not trying to be the cool guys that are cussing our brains out and talking about stuff that’s been done before because it’s getting old as far as the quintessential Hip-Hop lifestyle and what people think that is.”
A. Uno on being real with students: “It’s not like we’re putting on an act and then leaving that spot and doing something else. I think what these students really appreciate is the fact that we give it to em real.”
This latest edition of The Adam B Experience is a jam packed hour of music and hilarity with 14 new tracks and a not-so-major announcement regarding the health and well being of your fearless host. Incidentally, I recorded the entire show at two in the morning and as long time listeners know, there's something special about the shows I record at that hour that makes everything better. Enjoy!
You can download or stream the entire show at RapReviews.com.
Playlist
Hopie Spitshard - The Hopie Spitter Doug Simpson w/ Johnny Wah - Freight Train (rmx) Random - Spread The Love Zoser - Wind Blows Billy Drease Williams (Edreys) - Get Free Bavu Blakes - Play The Role (rmx) DJ Smutvillain w/ Domer, Kats & Jake Lefco - Leave Em Behind Kaz-well - Krazy Glue Vinnie Scullo - I Spit On Your Grave Mr. Beatz - MC on the MPC Kaleo Futuristo - Coco Havana Sleepwalkas w/ Euphon - Euphonasia MC K-Swift w/ Gif, Cavalier & Supa Nova - Nu' Ol' Skool (rmx) Soul Khan w/ Koncept, H. Sandman & 8th W1 - Knuckle Puck
When Kaleo Futuristo’s The Future is NOW! landed on my desk the first thought I had when I looked at the album was “damn, this dude has some crazy ass hair!” After popping the CD in, however, I found that Kaleo, who is both an emcee and a singer, was interested in making a lot more than just fashion statements. I really felt the album and this week I caught up with Kaleo to find out more about his music, his decision to make The Future is NOW! a clean record, what love’s got to do with it, and, of course, his crazy ass hair.
Adam Bernard: Start me off with a brief history of Kaleo Futuristo. Where are you from and what’s your path in the music world been like up till now? Kaleo Futuristo: I was born in Hollywood, CA, and raised in Pasadena, CA. I've always loved music and playing music. I've played in orchestras, marching bands, and have been in various groups ranging from Hip-Hop to Electronica. One of my performances while I was promoting a solo album caught the eye of Russell Tate, my now manager and the owner of (independent record label) System 3 Entertainment. He signed me and we took the project over to Midem, the biggest music convention in the world. We got a great response and were in negotiations with a couple major labels, finally signing a licensing deal with Mercury/Universal Music Group.
Adam Bernard: That must have been a dope performance to get signed off of it. Before we get too deep into this interview, though, I think everyone wants to know – what’s up with the hair, man? Kaleo Futuristo: A lot of hair products are up with my hair! It's craziness. People always love it and I just have fun expressing myself in all different ways - hair, clothing, music, art - that just happened to be another way for me to do that and, of course, since I'm a Leo it only makes sense that my lion's mane is poppin' nicely.
Adam Bernard: How do you feel your unique sense of style translates to your music? Kaleo Futuristo: Through variety and self-expression. That's what my style is all about and that’s what my music is all about and, artistically and creatively, that's what translates into fresh music. The album has so many different unique styles, feels, and expressions and that's what makes it a good album and fun to listen to.
Adam Bernard: Speaking of your album, The Future is NOW! is a clean record. What went into your decision to make your album curse-free? Kaleo Futuristo: It's so funny how we all now expect that albums are supposed to be curse laden. {laughs} We decided to make an album that had no cursing because we wanted to reach as many people as possible. Our themes are universal and we want to reach the masses and we felt that by creating a curse-free album we would better be able to reach the world.
Adam Bernard: Your album, although party driven when it comes to production, is message driven when it comes to lyrical content. How did you meld those two, usually disparate, musical concepts together to form songs that work? Kaleo Futuristo: That was the goal of The Future is NOW! We wanted to create a bangin' club/studio album with fresh, catchy hooks and all the polish that could rock on any radio station, but then have the dope lyrics that open up the listener once they're in. Generally speaking when people are listening to any type of music they are caught by the beat and the music, then they are enticed by the melody and cadence of the voice or singer, then lastly the listeners tap into the lyrical content. Knowing that, we created The Future is NOW! and we melded all of that together.
Adam Bernard: What are some of the most important points you hope come across when people listen to The Future is NOW!? Kaleo Futuristo: Love. I want them to laugh and cry and think and dance and most importantly I want them to think about having love for themselves, because from that all things are possible.
Adam Bernard: You have a famous guest on the record, one Jon B. How’d you two link up? Kaleo Futuristo: I've known Jon since we were little kids. He was always playing music and then he was the kid who blew up. We always stayed in touch throughout. We share music when we see each other and collab on records from time to time. We've got some other joints, as well. I'm happy to have his skills on the album. Plus he's a great guy and a great friend.
Adam Bernard: I’ve heard you’re also getting some pretty dope placements in films. Are you at liberty to talk about them? If so, do tell! Kaleo Futuristo: We've gotten a lot of placements in both film and television ranging from MTV and ABC to Lions Gate productions. Some of the most recent placements have been in Red Bull commercials, America's Best Dance Crew, Eli Stone, and a new movie starring Charlie Murphy.
Adam Bernard: That’s fantastic, congrats! Finally, let’s get into a little nomenclature. The name Kaleo is Hawaiian, correct? What does it mean? Kaleo Futuristo: In the Hawaiian language one word will mean a lot of things. Like aloha means, hello, goodbye, and I love you. "Ka" means "the" and "leo" means "voice, music and song," so Kaleo means "The Voice, the Music and The Song." I was named by my Tutu, or grandmother, a very wise and powerful woman. In my culture what you're named gives you power and I love the power that Kaleo gives me.
As the AOK Collective’s lone injection of estrogen you know that Nola Darling have to be some supremely talented emcees. This clip for “That Nola D” is prime evidence of that. Enjoy!
There aren’t a lot of American/Cambodian psychedelic rock bands in music today, or in music history. In fact, as far as I know there’s only one - Dengue Fever. Comprised of (pictured L to R) brass man David Ralicke, guitarist Zac Holtzman, bassist Senon Williams, drummer Paul Smith, singer Chhom Nimol and keyboard player Ethan Holtzman, Dengue Fever, which formed in 2001, has been making quite the name for themselves in the global pop/rock scene with their unique genre-bending style. Their recently released documentary, Sleepwalking Through the Mekong, which covers their 2005 trip to Cambodia, also has people talking about the band. This week I caught up with Dengue Fever drummer Paul Smith to find out a little bit more about the group, the difficult transition Nimol is making going from singing in Khmer to English, and the craziest happening from their 2005 trip that wasn’t caught on tape. Spoiler alert – it involves a meth head!
Adam Bernard: Let’s start with the obvious, why on earth did you name yourself after such a horrible disease? Paul Smith: At the time very few knew of it in the States and Ethan, when he was in Cambodia and first heard some of the songs that we ended up covering, his travel companion had dengue fever. On top of that, we were thinking of Dance Fever a little bit. Somehow we thought it was funny. We still like it, but some people have had an adverse reaction, especially if they’ve had the disease or known someone who’s had it.
Adam Bernard: I think Anthrax went through something similar when the whole anthrax scare was going around. I remember Scott Ian joked that to placate people they were going to change their name to Basket Full of Puppies. On a similar note, is Dengue Fever a fever that can be cured with more cow bell? Paul Smith: Yes, everything can be cured with more cow bell. Just turn it up.
Adam Bernard: The story behind the band is that Ethan was inspired by his trip to Cambodia, but what originally inspired him to make that trip to Cambodia? Paul Smith: At the time Ethan and I were roommates with another friend of ours in Santa Monica. He was working with mentally ill people, a lot of schizophrenics, and he was really burned out on it. He had made some decent money and had socked some of it away and he said I’m gonna travel, I’m gonna check out southeast Asia for six months. We all left the house. Our other roommate ended up moving to Hawaii, where he died at Pipeline, surfing. I went to recording/engineering school.
Adam Beranrd: My condolences for you friend. You know, those are three very different paths you each took. As a band you’re also on a new path as you’ve just started to make the transition from Khmer (Ku-mai) to English language music. How difficult has that process been? Paul Smith: It’s not easy, but the one thing I think we did that was smart was instead of forcing it we only let it happen when Nimol, just on herself, gradually learned more English. We didn’t say OK, we gotta learn more English, we gotta sing in English, it was like she was just hanging around us more and started picking up more English. She lives in Long Beach in a very Cambodian community, 50,000 strong, it’s the largest Khmer population outside of Cambodia, and all of her friends are Cambodian, so when she’s in her own neighborhood she doesn’t really have to assimilate in any way. When she hangs around us it’s really her only time getting, or absorbing, English and American culture, so the more time she spends with us the more English she gets. It’s been a natural progression and we just decided it’s not an issue worth forcing. It’s difficult enough when you’re in the studio and you’re trying to learn a melody you’re not familiar with, she’s also trying to learn a language.
Adam Bernard: Is it possible to compare Cambodia’s pop scene with America’s? Paul Smith: No. They love ballads. You could be in a Hip-Hop club, they could be spinning a Lil’ Jon cut, and they could go straight to a slow straight up ballad and everybody loves it. They put their arms around each other and they just sway. It’s not like it’s the end of the night and they’re trying to clear the floor, that’s just what they do, they love em, they call them “sentimentals.”
Adam Bernard: That’s pretty wild. I bet you have plenty of wild and strange stories from the road. Can you share one of the wilder or stranger ones? Paul Smith: There have been so many strange things, but one show in Cambodia, this Australian, who turned out to be a meth head, booked us and this was a situation where the guy had to supply drums, amplifiers and all that. The first weekend of the trip we got to play on national television for like an hour and a half and it got broadcast to everyone. The whole country only has four channels so literally 8/10 of the population saw us. The moment we finished with that show we walked outside and everybody knew who we were. It was almost surreal. We still had this deal with this guy, we were gonna play for free. We get there and there’s a huge crowd, it was already at capacity, and we see the stage that this guy built. It looked like if all of us got up there it would instantly crash. There was a half broken drum kit and no amps and the guy charged everyone like five bucks, which in Cambodia is a ton of money. Nobody has five dollars there except the people from other countries. The crowd was mostly white people from Australia. We were just like, “where are the amplifiers” and he pointed at a home speaker, like a stereo amplifier that has two input things on the front, and he was like “you can just plug into that.” We were like “dude, we need amplifiers, we went over this with you twice on the phone.” He was like “yeah yeah yeah, this will work, just plug into this.” “No, that doesn’t work and half the drum kit’s missing.”
Adam Bernard: What did you end up doing? Paul Smith: We had never cancelled a show up to that point. We were just looking at the crowd and looking at the stage and going “we have to just walk” and the guy heard us talking and immediately freaked out on us, started cussing us and threatening us and saying he was gonna kill us. The whole time we were filming the documentary. Of course, somehow the cameras weren’t rolling then. We just had to run out and split and this whole crowd didn’t know what was going on and this owner was screaming at us, “you’re done here, you’ll never play another gig in Cambodia,” which was funny to us because Cambodia’s not a market you can make money in. It’s not like that was gonna hurt us somehow, we can just go there and play for free. There are some websites that he went on where he went off on a rant badmouthing us. That was a strange and bad experience, but you look back on those and it’s like whatever, it’s funny.
Adam Bernard: After that story I think my last question may have an obvious answer. Is there anyone you’d like to give the disease dengue fever to? Paul Smith: To that dude. {laughs} You know what, no, I would never wish that on anybody.
With so many up and coming rappers choosing to beef as a way to get on it was refreshing when both Kid Cudi and Drake were so enthusiastic when I proposed the idea of a combined interview to them. A lot of artists want the entire spotlight to themselves, but both Cudi and Drake really liked the idea of showing some unity and proving to the world that the spotlight provides enough room for more than one emcee. Here are a few of the highlights from the interview:
Kid Cudi on mutual admiration: "I know that he’s (Drake's) gonna kill shit and I’m gonna kill shit and it’s gonna be like’97 again when you had Jay-Z, DMX, Nas, Ja Rule, you had all these great artists and they were all killin shit in their own right."
Drake on mutual admiration: "I can say on record that I have nothing but love for Cudi. Every time I hear something good about him I’m happy because I know we’re on the same climb. I always feel his accomplishments as if they were mine."
Kid Cudi on making relevant music: "Make sure it’s important. Make sure that the kids get it and it’s gonna be something that they want to live with forever."
Drake on the added pressure having buzz brings: "That’s not a negative pressure, that’s a little competitive edge that we should all feel. I feel like I really have something to live up to. It’s a great thing."
Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week Pop Shots is hitting you with thoughts on everything from Jordin Sparks to Attack of the Show to JoJo. All seasoned with a little bit of attitude.
The Alchemist has long been considered one of the top producers in the game, but he's not all about beats and rhymes. I caught up with him this week and while we did talk about his work, including his latest album, Chemical Warfare, the conversation ended up going in some pretty crazy directions as we ended up discussing tour pranks, dumb things people say, and why the yellow cab is the new private chopper. Here are a few of the highlights from the interview:
His thoughts on Auto-Tune: "I’m not going to say Auto-Tune is wack. That’s like saying a certain drum machine is wack. Wack is wack. Auto-Tune is just a program that you use."
When people yell about being a "grown ass man": "If anybody has to tell you they’re a grown man… they really aren’t. 'I’m a grown ass man!' OK, maybe you need to hear that out loud so you can believe it, because I don’t."
Joking about riding in taxis: "It’s really ruining my Hip-Hop ego, stepping out of a yellow cab. I think I’m gonna lose some record sales. Perception is everything, bro. I should be getting out in front of my crib in a helicopter."
You don’t hear a lot of rappers spittin about Kabbalah, but that's just one of the things that makes well traveled emcee Eprhyme so interesting. Eprhyme grew up in Phoenix where he played the sax and did poetry readings with his brother Cannupa Hanska, primarily at a club called The House of Grooves. During that time in the mid 90’s he also started jumping into some ciphers, although he didn’t actually write any of his rhymes down until half a decade later. At 18 Eprhyme moved to Olympia, WA, for college and ended up staying for ten years before eventually moving to Brooklyn. While in Olympia he rapped with a crew called the Saints of Everyday Failures. The group would put out five albums independently. Before that he was in what he describes as an “art-noise-ritual-metal jazz band” called American Cancer. This week, intrigued by both his music and his life story, I sat down with Eprhyme to ask him about his mixing of traditional Jewish music with Hip-Hop, his openness about his religion in his work, and what Kabbalah is really all about.
Adam Bernard: Start me off by telling me how you ended up with the name Eprhyme. Eprhyme: That’s actually a complicated and nerdy story. I came across the term "e-prime" in a book called Quantum Psychology. I always thought it was kind of a cop out to have a moniker with the first letter of your name and some goofy word, but then when I stopped being so hyper critical of everything I realized it was kinda classic and this was perfect - e-prime. It refers to a neuro-linguistic programming technique thought up by semanticists in the early to mid 1900’s. It’s the English language without the word "is." So nothing IS anything. Things may "seem to be" something, but you can’t fully define or understand something with a single word. Quantum physicists started using e-prime when they came across the wave-particle duality, when they realized that if they looked at light through one lens it was a wave and through another lens it was a particle, so they could never definitively say that "light IS a wave," or that "light IS a particle." It was both at once. It’s a linguistic technique designed to deal with paradox and ambiguity, so I thought that was pretty cool. Then I realized that my initials are EP and that I could spell "rime" like “rhyme,” so then it turned into EPrhyme, which lots of people mistake for Ephryme (efraim), but it’s not, it’s pronounced E-prime. I told you it was gonna be nerdy.
Adam Bernard: Nerdy, but really dope. Moving to your album, waywordwonderwill, which is due out in the fall, what was the process of melding Jewish music and Hip-Hop music like? How long did it take to get it right? Eprhyme: Ultimately, it was pretty smooth. Each kind of music, from the Klezmer to the Middle Eastern music, has its own rhythms and textures and it was just about bringing out that funk that was already there. That’s always been what Hip-Hop was about, finding the funk and swing in all kinds of music that is just waiting to bump. I was privileged to be able to work on this project with my good friend Smoke of Oldominion. He's a fuckin Jedi. I basically dropped off a ton of songs and samples that I had been collecting over about two years and waited for what he came back with. It was amazing. As far as the lyrics, that was easy because rap is a universal language through which you can tell any number of stories, so that’s what I did, I wrote my story.
Adam Bernard: There are a lot of topically relevant songs on waywordwonderwill. Are there any specific points in particular you hope people better understand after they listen to the record? Ephryme: Yes, definitely. 1) Maybe white men can’t jump, but for sure Jews can rap. {laughs} 2) Hip-Hop is a universal language and rap is an art form and it can make you think and dance at the same time. 3) Cultures and conflicts are complex webs of collective consciousness and contradictions. 4) Violence is not an option in the pursuit of sustainable peace. 5) Judaism is culturally and spiritually unique, universal, accessible and relevant. 6) Collective/communal dynamics are reflections of personal imbalances and dis-ease... and vice-versa. 7) We all individually have the power and choice to make a difference in our own lives and in the world. 8) G!D is not a bearded man in the sky waiting to judge you... It's all G!D. You “twoo” are One.
Adam Bernard: You mention Kabbalah on your album. Could you tell everyone your thoughts on that offshoot of Judiasm and what it means? Most people only think of it as a celebrity trend because of Madonna and Ashton Kutcher. Eprhyme: Sure. To start, Kabbalah is not an offshoot of Judaism, it is one of the many integral facets of Judaism which really only fully reveals itself when viewed and experienced within the context of the rest of Judaism. The practice, observance and discipline of Judaism actually bring the Kabbalistic teachings to life, so it does not remain just a head game, but you are able to bring the teachings down into your heart and your body and your life. Kabbalah is the tradition and transmission of the "concealed" Torah. There is the "revealed" Torah and the "concealed" Torah. They deal with different aspects of our lives and souls, but ultimately they are one and the same. Literally, Kabbalah means "to receive." Some people interpret this to refer to the oral transmission from teacher to student. It is the teachings and tradition that you must "receive" from someone experientially. It was actually debated for hundreds of years whether or not to even write these ideas down because people might just read them and not "receive" them from a living source, but as time went on it became increasingly clear that the human race would benefit from the spreading of these teachings and traditions, so gradually the "concealed" Torah is being "revealed." Personally I interpret the term "to receive" to be referring to a state of consciousness, the "receptive" state, where one is clear and open to take in new and seemingly paradoxical information and experiences on a very deep psycho-physical soul level. Most methods of meditation, or yoga, and even the arts are intended to assist in achieving such an inspired state. Kabbalah is the Jewish tradition, art, and science of achieving the "receptive" state of consciousness, so we can receive what is constantly being revealed, the revelation of One.
Adam Bernard: Religion can be both uniting and alienating. How do you feel people will react to your openness about your faith? Eprhyme: I don’t know. Really I’m just trying to bring and share my whole self in my music. I’m a religious person, so that’s gonna be in my music, but I’m a religious person in the etymological sense. The word religion means "to connect," so I’m a religious person in the sense that I am constantly seeking to connect with G!D, with other people, with the earth, and with my deepest self. I grew up listening to rappers talk openly about their spirituality. That was one of the things I loved about rap music, you could be open and honest about who you were and you could talk about G!D, poverty, girls and rockin the mic all in one song. It was so true to the reality of the human mind at any given moment in time. It felt so honest. You know KRS-ONE, Killah Priest, Tupac and tons of other rappers have shared their deepest thoughts, feelings and struggles with G!D and life and spirituality and philosophy. I don’t feel like I’m doin anything different. It’s just a different set of symbols. I’m just trying to round out the picture of the human mandala as expressed through Hip-Hop, adding another voice to the cosmic symphony.
B-Listers are a select group of artists that were featured in my Artist Of The Week series that ran every Monday from April of '06 to April of '11. All of these artists have two things in common; extreme talent, and a flight path far too under the radar for my liking. They took on the title of B-Listers as they embraced being featured by me, Adam B. Check out the AOTW Archives for all the interviews.
