Alli's Articles
INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS, CULTURE PIECES, MUSICAL RAMBLINGS.
It’s January of 2020, and college winter break has finally ended after what seemed like an eternity. I’m finally back on campus and ready to bring the New Paltz content back to the blog. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait long for my first artist spotlight opportunity.
Brian Casey is a freshman at SUNY New Paltz like me. He is originally from Oyster Bay, Long Island, and writes and records rap music under the name BZA. I’ve heard his name around, and was interested in getting intel about songwriting from a rap artist’s point of view, so I sat down with him outside of the campus Starbucks on a rainy Saturday afternoon to discuss his new EP, Life of Brian. At what age did you start writing and making music? I think I started writing maybe two years ago. When one of my really good friends now came to my school he was really quiet, but then I found out that he was a rapper and that he would write music. We went on this college trip together with the school and I really got to know him then, and he inspired me to start writing and rapping. Everyday I would write something and send it to him. He didn’t know who I was, really, at first, but then we became friends through the music. I started rapping a year ago, I think. I got a microphone and a preamp, and started rapping from my laptop. People said I was good at it, so I kept going. Who are some of your musical influences? I’m a really big jazz fan. I really enjoy listening to Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra. I’ve also been a Beatles fan for a while. I have a bunch of their vinyls. My dad always had rock on in the house, so I listened to AC/DC as well from a really young age. After that, I became an Eminem and Mac Miller fan. You know, when I was listening to your EP I did hear influence from both of those artists. I’ve been a huge fan of Mac for a very long time. He was the first rapper whose songs I memorized - “Donald Trump” was the very first one. In 5th grade, my friend Jeff and I loved him to death. We would just rap all of his songs. And Eminiem, I just love listening to his music as well. You just released a new EP, Life of Brian. What was the songwriting and recording process for that like? I’ve been writing a lot of music this past year and made a bunch of songs over the summer but I didn’t like how they turned out. There wasn’t really a theme with them, so when I came here I started writing a bit more. One day in this math class I had I left the classroom and started writing a song. That was the first song on the EP, “Just Be With Me.” So you literally left math class and wrote one of the songs that would make it on the EP? That’s great! Yeah! I wrote it in the bathroom! Then I went back to my dorm room and recorded it that same day. I made all of the songs on the EP while I’ve been up here at school except for two, “SHINING” and “Guns & Roses,” and each song was made one after the other. So, “Just Be With Me” I made first, then I made “Upside Down Frowns” the day after. That was kind of a slow, underground hip-hop sound. I tried altering my voice using a higher pitch on both of those songs, too. Then, I went into a drought where I wasn’t really making any music. I only write when I’m really inspired, so for the next song “Running on Beats,” I went to a little park bench in a field near Esopus Hall. I went there with my longboard and I just started writing a song there. I wanted to have fun with it, so I tried rapping really fast over three different beats. I hope it turned out well! It totally did! I could definitely see the combining type of beats on that one. That was probably the most I’ve had fun making music. Then I had “Seo’s Interlude.” That one was special. I felt like most of what I was doing was making music, and I noticed that a lot of artists find their purpose in making music. I found this J Cole snippet where he talks about where he wants to to more than just music. I put that in there, and I put a whole verse in there about noticing different coincidences that go on in my life, and why things happen the way they do. I actually produced the beat, so that was the first beat I actually made that was on a song. I want to do that more, because I feel like a bunch of rappers take beats from YouTube. I do that sometimes, though. I was gonna ask you that next, actually! I really like all of the beats in your songs, especially the one in “Just Be With Me.” I was wondering if you made any of them yourself. So, yeah. I go on YouTube and I just don’t pick a random beat. I have to connect with it on a certain level, and if it gets me going, like I can rap with it and all, I’ll use it. Like, for “Just Be With Me,” I was originally going to use a different beat, but I switched it. I liked the cassette tape in the beginning because it was like, the start of the EP. I have to love them. “Guns & Roses” is a track focused on by the school shooting problem in America. What inspired you to write that song? The Parkland shootings. I think that was like, 2 years ago? That’s when I wrote a verse for it. I had that there, and I discovered that beat that got to me, emotionally. I had another verse about a girl I knew who was self-harming. Hence the title, “Guns & Roses.” Guns for the school shooting aspect of the song, and roses for women and their beauty, but also because of the color, similar to blood. I thought the combination of both of those subjects would be powerful. These things do happen, unfortunately, and we have to overcome that. Yeah, definitely, ‘cause I was listening to it, and I was wondering if anything specific happened to you for you to write those verses. I tried putting myself in the perspective of everything, too. Like, when I talked to that “stereotypical weird kid.” I wrote “Are you wondering if they’re gonna shoot…” Like, why should that thought even come across your mind at all? I was a weird kid in high school, so I don’t know why people have to think that way. People make comments like that, and it just really irritates me. I remember hearing that line, and it stuck with me the most. I was like “Oh wow.” It’s sad but true, the stereotype of the “weird” kid. They’re not the problem. If anything, this stereotype is contributing to the problem. So yeah, I definitely could hear that. What are the things you do first before making a song? I know some singers have their warmups, but I just go right into it, because you don’t want to lose the inspiration. I’ll find that sometimes during a song I’ll lose a line in my head and I’ll get really upset because I had something and then I lost it. So, I try to get it out when I can, or you might never get it out. In the process of writing a song...it’s just whatever I’m feeling. I’ll just say whatever I want to say, and let it all come out. Other times, like with “Guns & Roses,” I’ll have themes before I write the song, and I’ll try to connect them into a story. You seem to be interested in talking about a lot of subjects in your raps, but if there was one main message you wanted to spread to the world through your music, what would it be? Don’t be so hard on yourself. When I make music, I feel like I’m putting all the negative stuff from my life in it. I don’t know if I want to shy away from that or keep doing it, because a lot of things happen in your life that tear you apart, and I use rap to get that out of me. In “Upside Down Frowns,” I say a lot of nasty stuff, and of course that wasn’t to be offensive in any way. It’s a way of getting my anger out. In the song I say “presence peaceful, violently pen it,” My presence in real life is very peaceful, and I try to be a humble person, but in my rap songs sometimes, I come off as very angry. You have to keep your mind in check. Sometimes I get angry at people and I say some mean things. In context, it’s just supposed to be an angry song. And sometimes people don’t understand that. I try to put a lot of thought process into what I’m creating. It's an art to me. Thank you, Brian, for sitting down with me and giving me the opportunity to hear about your music! Listen to BZA's music on SoundCloud!
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The music you hear in your teenagedom greatly influences your view of the world from then on. If this article was an argumentative essay I had to write for my senior year AP English class, that would be my thesis statement. My supporting evidence would be the entirety of the year 2019, where, whenever an event that invoked strong emotion inside of me happened, I would tune into Spotify to help deal with it. It’s my exercise, or drugs, I guess you could say. (Although some people pair music with both of those things. I just sit down and ponder about the current happenings in my life.) It’s a coping mechanism for sure, but it’s anything but a bad one. It just gives you memories for the future, and instant, ecstasy-filled flashbacks whenever you hear the first note.
Slide, the second album from George Clanton under his own name, was released in the summer of 2018 long before I heard of it. I was introduced to this album through two recommended songs at different parts of this past year, “Make It Forever” being the first one and “Dumb” being the second. It took me months to finally listen to the whole album, and in late August, when I was home from college for Labor Day, all I could do was shake my head at how stupid that was. Clanton’s previous projects, Mirror Kisses and ESPRIT 空想, are drenched in vaporwave influence, something I didn’t realize until I listened to the rest of Slide. Those two tracks I mentioned earlier are amazing in their own right, but they definitely were more shoegaze-inspired as compared to the rest of the release. “Livin’ Loose” is an intro song if I’ve ever heard one. I felt greatly overwhelmed by the trippy synths, but in the best way possible. It felt relaxing, like I was in a dream. That, paired with the trumpets and the echoed vocals and the hip-hop-like beat drop made for an amazing introduction to the world that lay ahead. “Tie Me Down” was definitely a song I had on repeat for the end half of 2019. The garage rock noise quality and Clanton’s unrequited, lovesick lyrics hit me right in the heart. Still, listening now, I want to go to a public place and just scream the words. Then there’s “Slide.” The monster title track. The way I felt when I heard the breakdown near the end of this song for the first time is indescribable. There’s something about Clanton’s voice on this song that truly makes me feel like I’m sliding down a slide, not in control, only the notes steering me in the path they want me to take. The “Asleeps” and the “My dream is to be with yous” always get me. This song is almost 7 minutes long but it definitely doesn’t feel like it. I think that’s just because I’m enjoying every minute of it. “Monster” is the next song, and it totally cools down the mood from the faux-acid trip that was just experienced. A heart-wrenching track about two lovers caught in alcoholism and other problems, it was my go-to angst song whenever things didn’t work out. As sad as it made me, it also made me happy because of how amazing those instrumentals were. All of this praise about how this album makes me feel powerful things reaches its crescendo in the 8th track, “You Lost Me There.” Out of all of the 80s-like tracks on this album, this one takes the cake. I really felt like I was in a Stranger Things episode, and a horrible, plot-twisting event just took place. This 6 minute electronica ballad made it onto my 2019 Spotify Wrapped Most Played Songs, so I guess it really is my favorite on the album. It played in the music videos that my melancholic mind made up during serious angst-y times, and it made the experience oh-so more powerful. It’s lyrical content is a mix of struggling, moving on, being ready to give it all to a person, them not feeling the same, losing someone not physically but emotionally, and just so, so many unrequited feelings. I’ve morphed and flipped this song to match my own life so many times. I think that’s my favorite thing to do with music, especially when they’re so specific to a certain situation. I will blast this song whenever I’m feeling any of those listed things until I feel better until the end of time. “Walk Slowly” is the soundtrack to an ending credits scene. Somehow I find the ultimate comfort in it, like it’s the swan song at the end of a long, emotional journey. I feel like it’s sending me off into the world. Like, “Okay, you just heard an album that will change your viewpoint on music and basically the world forever, so go on and do something about it.” The hypnotic melody of the chorus, “I’ll wait, my turn, I’ll rush, you’ll learn” definitely adds to this feeling. It just seems like the perfect way to end it off. There are few albums where I’d say that all of the songs successfully compliment each other, and Slide is one of those few diamonds. Even putting my personal connection aside, this album is flawless to me: The vibe, the length, the interludes, the subjects, and even that beautiful cover that finishes the aesthetic perfectly. Searching for technical information about this album taught me an important lesson: Never look at Pitchfork reviews for albums you adore because it will get you angry. No snobby critic’s review will ever change the way I look at this album, though, which is the way it should be. George Clanton is going on tour with The Garden, another one of my favorite acts, later this spring, and I really hope I can catch them and hear some of the songs I hold so close to my heart live. 2019 was an eventful, bizarre year, with loads of things being thrown at me all at once. There were times where I was feeling too much, or too little, even, and needed an outlet to reflect on everything that was happening. Slide was that outlet. I truly made this album my own last year. So, thank you Slide, thank you George Clanton, and thank you for everything that has happened in my life that has pushed me out of my box and made me feel uncomfortable. It sucked at the time, but, with the power of music by my side, I allowed it to shape me into a better and stronger person in 2020. I’m looking forward to what my Slide of this year will be, but it will definitely be a long time until I completely get over this album. |