The Double Scoop

Author: Ashley E.

While scrolling through Instagram a few months ago I randomly came across a musician’s page named Calligraphy. So like most people do when they come across a stranger’s open page on Instagram, I lurked to get a glimpse of what this person’s life was like. While lurking I came across a video that he posted of himself playing a keyboard and singing. Not to sound cliche or corny but his voice was mesmerizing and he had a unique sound especially coming out of Mississippi. I reached out to let him know I was digging his vibe and to see if we could possibly work together in some way. Later I got a chance to hear him for the first time live at an event this past June in Jackson, Mississippi. The crowd loved him that night! After the show I introduced myself and told him I would love to interview him for the blog.

The interview didn’t happen right away due to crazy schedules but the perfect summer day and time arrived. We met up at Cups in the Fondren art district of Jackson the following month. When I saw him he looked like he could be a model; tall, attractive, nice smile, oh…. and he had an afro. He definitely had the free-spirited look and vibe and he was very genuine and down to earth. He is known to friends and family as Anthony or AJ, but as an artist he is known by the name Calligraphy. A while back people always complimented him about his beautiful handwriting so the name was very fitting as an artist. Surprisingly he has only been performing since March of this year but he has been involved in music since the age of 5.

Check out our interview below:

Ashley E:  So how did you get your start in music?
Calligraphy: At an early age I played the piano and that’s when I realized I liked music. In junior high I started playing the saxophone and violin and during that time I started writing lyrics and songs. From there things just kind of evolved. Last year I decided I wanted to do something portable so I started playing the guitar.

Ashley E: Did you teach yourself how to play the guitar?
Calligraphy: Yea. I learned from watching other people play and I used a app that helped teach me different chords.

Ashley E: Do you have a musical background? Like are any of your family members into music?
Calligraphy: In my extended family there are a lot of musicians, singers, and producers. Not really in my immediate family. My family especially my mom wasn’t really that supportive of my decision to become a musician. I don’t think they realized how serious I was about it.

Ashley E: But now that you have evolved more and have fans are they more supportive?
Calligraphy: Yea some of my family have come out to see me perform now that they know I’m serious about it. My major was music industry studies so I learned all I needed to know about the business side of music.

Ashley E: When was your first performance?
Calligraphy: It was actually here at Cups. I’m a perfectionist so I kept putting it off but my friends kept telling me I needed to go ahead and put myself out there. During the performance I just kept thinking about how horrible I was doing but the crowd loved it. So many people kept coming up to me after my set.

Ashley E: Do you have any projects coming out?
Calligraphy: I’m working on an album called Love Child. It’s really about finding out what love is and going through that emotional journey of love; trust, anger, breakups etc.. I originally wanted it to be geared towards teens because most have a blind perception of love.

Ashley E: A lot of adults have a blind perception of love.
Calligraphy: Yea they do and a lot of my friends were telling me that this album could help a lot of adults too.

Ashley E: Do you have a release date set?
Calligraphy: Not yet, maybe some time next year. I’m raising money because I really want to get it professionally recorded.

Ashley E: Are there any artists that influence your sound?
Calligraphy: I really don’t listen to a lot of music besides piano music. I like John Mayer and Ed Sheeran. Ed is really where I got that inspiration to start looping… multi-tasking like playing the guitar and singing at the same time. I was like if he can do it there is no excuse why I can’t. And I like Alicia Keys. You can hear the emotion in her voice when she sings and she is an artist that developed her own sound.

Ashley E: What’s a word that describes your music?
Calligraphy: Therapy. I’ve had women come up to me after shows crying because my music touched them so much. I was shocked by that kind of reaction. I want my music to revolve around love because it’s needed. And it’s something I felt like I didn’t receive that much growing up especially being the middle child.

Ashley E: Do you want to expand beyond Jackson?
Calligraphy: Yes, of course. I feel like I’m a role model to a lot of people in my family so now I kind of have this pressure to succeed.

If you want to keep up with Calligraphy check him out here. If you’re in the Jackson, Mississippi area you can catch him live every 3rd Saturday along with other talented artists at the M7 coffee house in Ridgeland for their Coffee and Vibes series. He will be performing there next Saturday, September 17th.

Photograph: Mitch C. Davis, Jackson, MS

Author: Ashley E.

Looks can be deceiving, especially when it comes to 18 year old hip-hop artist Prymo. Hip hop are actually two of the last two words you would even think to associate with the Philippines native. I didn’t know what to expect the first time I saw him live at a show in Jackson, Mississippi. He walked up to front of the room, grabbed the mic that was taller than him, and while fixing his glasses introduced himself just as articulate as a college professor. The lights dimmed, the music started, the beat dropped, and then he opened his mouth and for a second I questioned was he the same person. I love those type of artists, the ones that come with a shock factor. His performance was dope; I heard lyricism and word-play mixed with a little poetry. He put me in the mindset of Eminem who is ironically one of his musical influences as well as artists like Royce, Slaughterhouse, ASM, J Dilla, Yeezy, and many others. We connected after his last show for a quick interview to get to know him better and to discuss his recently released project The broly EP.

Check out my interview with Prymo and broly. below.

 

Ashley E: How long have you been performing and when did you decide to seriously pursue music as an artist?

P: Well, if we’re discussing semantics, first verse I wrote was when I was in the 4th grade, and started battling when I was about 12 or 13. My first real performance was when I was 13, at an inter-city rap contest back in my home country (Philippines). We came in third. I’ve been clawing my way to self-sufficiency in terms of music and the business behind it ever since.”

Ashley E: What do you feel distinguishes your music from other artists?

P: My point-of-view and my overall being, really. Growing up in a third-world country where morality is more flexible than my underwear’s elastic will do that. A lot of folks think that I belong in a rich-ass country club somewhere, but I literally grew up in the urban slums without the faintest notion that I would ever set foot in America and be able to go to college, and that background really influences how I create. Plus the fact that I don’t really conform to the conventional “rapper” image. I’m into comic books, video games, I don’t do drugs, I try to inject an element of stand-up to my performances, and just an overall atmosphere of awkward wackiness really, cuz that’s who I am in real life.

Ashley E: Do you find it challenging to be taken serious as a rap artist because of your age, being in the south, your background etc…?

P: Absolutely. When I first came here, people absolutely REFUSED to believe I even LISTENED to hiphop, let alone make hiphop music. I literally heard the words “Why you listen to hiphop? You ain’t black” from a friend of mine (who was black). People I personally knew said I suck for the sole reason that I didn’t curse as much as other rappers (I actually do that a lot) and don’t talk about the stuff they do. My reasoning behind that was I talk about what I know. And yes, I’m VERY far from saintly, but I DO know that the wrongs that I DID make aren’t in the least bit brag-worthy (not in scale, but in nature).

P: On another note, my age is a double-edged sword, since a lot of people cut me slack for being so young and going to tackle everything alone which is kind of bad for me since I want to be taken seriously (to an extent), but at the same time, my own ego starts spazzing since SO MANY other artists are getting their slice of the pie way earlier than I am. But the upside to everything is the look on people’s faces when I speak English eloquently and I give them a sixteen instead of speaking in a Chinese accent with broken ‘Engrish’ and doing a crane kick. Shit’s priceless.”

Ashley E: How did you and broly. link up to produce this project, and what was the process like of working together?

P: We met in high school (Shout out to the Mustang Debate Team), and when I found out he produced shit, I wanted to collaborate. See, the thing I love most about this project was how organic and personal it felt. I wanted to work with him since you can feel what he’s trying to say through the beat. It’s spirited. He gave me some beats that I picked from to do songs on, and I wrote and recorded to it, working independently from each other. But that didn’t make it any less collaborative, we just had our own personal freedom within the confines of the project itself, and it just meshed together. We’re actually working on an extended cut of it which we’ll release soon.”

b.: Working with Prymo was easy. All he wanted was something different and that’s what I gave him. He needed some inspiration.”

broly.

Ashley E: The EP is comprised of three songs; Thr33, Mug O’ Joe, and Busted. Can you tell me a little bit about the inspiration and meaning behind each track?

P: Thr33’s lyrics are actually a love song dedicated to @geiszl_star (my partner and the EP’s cover artist). Hidden in the song’s folds of fat is an apology/love note/way of dealing with “what if she leaves me?” syndrome. The first verse is my internal dialogue dealing with attachment/dependency on her, and nearly all of the lyrics are based on independent fights we’ve had in the past that we’ve since resolved.

‘Mug O’ Joe’ has this element of me role playing as this exaggerated version of broly.’s outward demeanor when he’s ‘not himself’, dealing with his frustrations the way I would. Sort of like a Saiyan fusion. The words’ concept stemmed from my perspective on social circles around here, since a lot of emotion and decorum is considered when dealing with issues, versus when I was growing up where if you guys can’t agree on something and you felt wronged, you either had a rap battle grudge match or you beat the snot out of their noses, but either way, you depart the battlefield as friends.

‘Busted’ is a lot like my other song ‘Nightingale’ in the sense that it’s a narrative-based song (I wracked my brain trying to think of a Taylor Swift-narrative joke, couldn’t swing it). It’s about infidelity and empty sex that I grew up thinking was the measure of a man. ‘You gotta sleep with a lot of bitches’ and all of that nonsense. It’s from the perspective of a guy who’s very happy with his significant other, but is still seeking sexual relations with other women from fear of ‘being whipped’.

b.: I was at a weird time in my life when I did the music for Thr33, but in Mug O’ Joe, I was determined to make something different than anything else I’ve done.”

Ashley E: How far do you want to take your career?

P: “At its pinnacle, I want everyone to consider me a close personal friend, even though they only know me through my music. For everyone to be able to relate with me at least on one level, and have a community sprout from my ideas, and in turn fuel new ones from different people. Also, it would be nice if I had enough dough to personally fund research to help punch Alzheimer’s Disease in the face. I grew up with my grandma calling me by my aunt’s nickname because of that shit. So until I’m either dead, unknown and penniless, or dead, famous, and have my head right next to Walt Disney’s in the deep freezer, waiting till science catches up and resurrects us. Either way, I’m doing this for life.”

 

Comprised of only 3 tracks, The broly EP is 6 minutes and 22 seconds of intergalactic beats, wit, lyricism and wordplay. Tr33 is my favorite track on the album because I’m a sucker for love stories and I liked that I didn’t realize it was a love song until towards the end of the track. It’s a snippet of what’s to come; Prymo and broly. have an extended cut in the works.

Check out The broly EP here.

 

The broly EP cover