RECORDS LiVE

Tamara: Hello, everyone. Welcome to RECORDS LiVE. I’m your host, Tamara. If you guys have never been to a RECORDS LiVE before, it is basically like listening to music in your house with your friends. And that’s what we’re going to do today. I’m very excited to be here. This is our first time doing it at The Farm House Collective. Give a shout out to Farm House right now. Let’s hear it holler. But we’re going to have a very exciting show here today. We’re going to be listening to a very eclectic mix of music. And we’re meeting some new guests today that are just really cool people…

**Doorbell Rings**

Oh, we actually have our first guest here today. Why don’t you come inside my living room? OK, I’m here with Nevi Outlyr from?

Nevi: Norwalk, California.

Tamara: Norwalk. Shout out to Norwalk. And you brought some records for us.

Nevi: Yeah, here you go. Oh, that’s a cool record player.

Tamara: Yeah, we got a good deal on it.

Song Plays: Joey Bada$$ – Survival Tactics

Nevi: That’s so cool.

Tamara: OK, so we have Joey Bada$$. Do you want to tell me the history of how you started listening to him?

Nevi: Yes, I was like 14, 15 when I discovered this. Complex used to have these like, in the year articles about who’s the most relevant artist in New York, Chicago. And this was one of the best albums I’ve think of like 2012, 2013. I’m lost about when it actually came out. So, in that, there’s this verse and these artists, they’re from New York at this time. They were about like 15, 16. They dropped, I think, it’s like a 12 to 13 song mixtape over all these old school hip-hop beats. And they kind of just took over most of my friend groups and the spaces that I was around. So yeah, this is one of the first projects that kind of made me want to rap. It was like, “Damn, it’s accessible.” And somebody who looks like me and is around the same age is in a position where they can do it. However, I mean, I think I wasn’t as good as him as fast. I think it took me a lot longer to get as technical as Joey Bada$$ is in his first project. You know, they’re so badass. No pun intended.

Tamara: So when this song came out, you hadn’t even dabbled in rap at all or making your own music?

Nevi: I definitely wasn’t making my own music. I mean, I started as a poet. And I was doing a lot of writing back in that time. And then I think this made me understand music and made me realize that if I wanted to pursue a creative outlet, I needed to do it in a way that was like rapping.

Tamara: When you listen to music like this, do you think you gravitate more towards like the melody and the flow of it or the lyrics?

Nevi: This? Lyrics for sure. I mean, I think the wordplay and a lot of the punchlines on this were just so insane. Like, it just…

Tamara: You’re getting lost in it. It’s so good.

Nevi: Capital Steez was like, he passed in like circa 2012, but a lot of his wordplay and the imagery that was used in this time was so in front of you and accessible, but at the same time, it’s still so clever. And so, yeah, when I listen to stuff like this, I’m stuck on the lyrics. I think nowadays, I’m probably more stuck on production choices and trying to figure out how to bring songs into a more complete version. But this was just like so technical, you know, and finding different ways to paint a picture so that people can understand and having a concise vision. I just feel like they did that so successfully.

Tamara: Do you see a vision, like a visual, when you listen to this song? Is there a music video with this one?

Nevi: I don’t think so. More, I think it just brings me into a time. Like, when I listened to that song, I was in my… I think that’s like my sophomore year geometry class. And I’m like touring the class, writing really inappropriate raps, and then trying to perform those in front of like the 20, 30 people I know. And then getting in trouble and having my teacher throw away my raps and my feelings get hurt. Yeah, it’s more like this was an era in time that automatically brings me back to high school, you know? But no, nothing visually.

Tamara: Yeah. I think this next artist has a good visual aspect. Would you agree?

Song Plays: Chance the Rapper – Acid Rain

Nevi: Oh yeah, All right, so Chance the Rapper is my GOAT of high school and of middle school. Even of college. I think my friends used to make fun of me when I first got to college and say that I would just introduce myself and they say, “Hi, do you know who Chance the Rapper is?” In my senior year of high school… My jacket is a cape and my umbrella is a cane. My richest man watches this snatches, necklace, spineless, backless dresses.

Tamara: Does anybody know the song?

Nevi: Y’all know “Acid Rain?” Yeah, there we go. We got some Chance the Rapper fans. You know, I think from his ad lib, it really put me in a place where like, I played football when I was younger and when people were screaming the woos and stuff like that to get hyped up, I was just doing his ad lib. I think he was super impactful. He connected to my black experience in a way that I wasn’t really expecting, you know? I think I was a bright kid whose grades were trash and just didn’t have enough ways to connect with people. I lived inside my headphones the whole time and was still somewhat of a slight badass and was a nerdy kid, but just didn’t have the outlets to express that. And inadvertently, without him ever vocalizing it in an interview or anything like that, he was like, “Oh, I see you,” you know what I mean? Also, I’m obsessed with his imagery and just the full visuals that he’s able to do via his poetic language. Especially on a project like this, Kicked off my shoes, tripped acid in the rain. Wore my jacket as a cape, and my umbrella as a cane. The richest man rocks the snatch-less necklace. Spineless bitches in backless dresses. The imagery is so concise and to the point and it still puts you in his shoes and helps you see the whole world that he was in, you know? I only hope that I can do something similar. “Acid Rain” specifically as a song is one of those things that’s in my sonic DNA. And it really is a primary influence of how I think music should be done, and how we can bring community together via the art form.

Tamara: That’s amazing. That’s really beautiful. Do you think that when you started rapping and the way that you connect with people in the crowd or people that you collaborate with, do you think music and rap is something that helps you connect with people when you weren’t able to link up with people that?

Nevi: That’s a great question, which is a cop out for any artist who’s getting interviewed. But I think, yeah, especially when I was this age. I’d watch tons of content from Complex News or whoever the hip-hop journalist is at that time. So I could be tuned into happenings in hip-hop culture and be able to discuss those with my peers. And I think it really changed my ability to connect with my blackness at a time when I was younger or when I was perceived as more whitewashed. It was like, all right, cool, hip-hop is this thing that is a black art form, and this black art form connects us all, whether or not you truly understand that there’s different sub-genres within the art form. But if you were tapped into this thing, you were a part of this community that I wanted so badly to be a part of, you know? So yeah, definitely hip-hop helped me to connect, specifically hip-hop. I wouldn’t say just rap, but hip-hop helped me to connect to the larger black community and people of color communities in ways that I wasn’t expecting when I was younger.

Tamara: I love that. I love the way music can connect anybody together.

Tamara: Okay, this is a crowd favorite. You guys better get wild for this one.

Song Plays: OutKast – Hey Ya!

Tamara: Who likes OutKast?!

Nevi: Andre is the GOAT.

Tamara: He is. I love him.

Nevi: He deserves to be in everybody’s top 10. I know he’s not always in everybody’s top 10 because he doesn’t have his own discography, just has his project, The Love Below. I love this song. I’m not gonna rant about it though.

Tamara: No, you’re like, “I don’t want to talk about this right now guys. Let’s just listen to the song.” No, it’s so good though. Okay, let’s talk about the lyrics for this song though because it is a very upbeat song, but let’s talk about the message.

Nevi: This is the most deceptive song ever, right?  It’s really dark in regards to how we think about marriage and whether or not marriage can last forever. But at the same time, it’s stuck into the reality of the time and that, his audience didn’t want to hear him talk about all this dense stuff. They wanted him to shut up and dance or get drunk, you know? I think this is one of the best examples of songwriting and of messaging, especially music that has layers and I feel like this song has so many. It’s like an onion, you have to keep peeling. There’s layers in the production, there’s layers in the melody, there’s layers in the lyrics. And then if you dig a little bit further, there might even be some analogies that you’re missing. I love this song for that reason. And I think this is how music should be. I think I aim to make some music that can be this deceptive and this catchy and make you slowly open up to different ideas once you listen to it, actually listen to it. You know? And I hope it has replay value like this. This song is on everything. Circa, I think it’s 05, 07-ish. This is on every radio station. And you’re not getting rid of it. So yeah, I love this song.

Tamara: Did you discover this song as a child and then later as an adult or as a teenager probably rediscovered it?

Nevi: I think I saw it on Nickelodeon. The Kid’s Choice Awards. I think I saw him get slimed. I think I might have saw him perform this. I’m also a big Music Choice Kid. Are you familiar with it? Music Choice?

Tamara: Music Choice Awards?

Nevi: No, not Music Choice Awards.

Tamara: Music Choice? No. Music Choice? Anyone know Music Choice here?

Nevi: Anybody got cable?

Nevi: So essentially, either Music Choice, you’d also go to MTV Vibes, I think.

Tamara: Oh, it’s like a music video type?

Nevi: Yeah, music video type thing. You just turn to the channel. It’s running stuff the whole time., and I would see this music video. First of all, how do you have 20 different versions of yourself? Just playing 50 different characters. Just super expressive black man who’s doing whatever he wants and is odd. And I think in my current state, I feel like I’m an artsy fartsy dude. You know what I mean? When I was younger, people were telling me how odd I was all the time, or quirky.

Tamara: Yeah, quirky man epidemic.

Nevi: I’m a part of it. I think Andre definitely was one of those people who was allowed to be himself, kept pushing the boundary of what it meant to be himself, and was talking about real stuff and having real emotional conversations through music. I mean, this is a great song. Hey, Ya! is a great example for it. But also, earlier or later in his career, he was doing a bunch of remixes to different songs. I don’t know if you’re familiar with them. It’s mixtape era, blog era, hip-hop. With those songs, he’d be having very dense conversations via music about the state of culture and being super introspective. And people like Chance and Andre really allowed for us to do that.

Tamara: OK, here’s the next record.

Song Plays: Mac Miller – Brand Name

Nevi: OK. This is my GOAT. I was depressed in circa 2016.

*Audience Cheers*

Yeah, woo, depression. Rock on. This is my depression album. But really, this song is something that kind of kept me away from trying to be like everybody else. It helped me to stop feeling bad about myself. The analogy of a brand name is insane, you know? The fact that we don’t care about something until somebody puts their name on it. Ironically, before that, it was just a t-shirt that was probably going to go for like $5, and once they put that stamp on it, now it’s like $50 or $60. It’s like, why is that brand relevant? And why are we pursuing that brand? And what gives that value, you know? I think a lot of the “American Dream” is this idea that we were taught to pursue, you know? None of that actually turns out to be something that as a person, I personally enjoyed. I was brought up on a lot of the frat movies, the Dick Van Dyke, the American Pie. That was so cool to me in an individual form. But once I tried to live that lifestyle, it didn’t make me happy. I didn’t enjoy it. It was so unfulfilling. And I think Mac Miller, at least in this example, is pointing to that, you know? Also, I think what’s amazing about this, this specific song and this specific project is he did a great job of making it open and honest in a way that allowed people to realize that they were having similar struggles. Here’s another example of how to create great art and what great art should be, which is open, honest, sometimes introspective, you know? And another way to connect with people as human beings about common experiences and common feelings. And I feel like he killed that with this song.

Tamara: How vulnerable do you think you are in your own music?

Nevi: I’m trying to get more. Do you write?

Tamara: I used to write a lot, yeah.

Nevi: It’s something about sitting down, and being that honest with yourself that’s super uncomfortable. I have on my project that I just dropped. It’s called 2019, which to some extent is an ode to Mac Miller’s 2009. I remember writing that song and I cried while writing the first verse. And it’s super uncomfortable to be that vulnerable, especially if you have the intention of sharing it with anybody at any point, you know? But yeah, I try. I think the worst part about trying to be vulnerable and honest about your life is there’s other people who are affected by your life, right? Or your decisions or your honesty. And I think even when you’re writing by yourself, it’s hard to admit those truths to yourself because that affects those other people. And then when you put it into an audio form where other people get to listen to it, now you say something crazy and your girl looking at you, and you’re like, “Oh, my bad?”

Tamara: Yeah, you’re like “Just joking? I’m not sure.”

Nevi: Like, what truth am I supposed to tell? Can I tell truths?

Tamara: Yeah, do you have to censor your truths?

Nevi: I think you do, a lot of the time. And then with Mac Miller, somewhere in his album he was saying something about not writing another depressing song. If you’re depressed and you’re being honest about your depression and being vulnerable about that, then at a certain point you get tired of telling your own truth, you know? This project just did a great job of exploring all of that and being vulnerable and sharing those villains.

Tamara: It’s got a great outro.

Nevi: Bro, and finish songs, people. You should finish every single song all the way through, do not skip the outro. It was intentional. Yeah, unless you’re a DJ. If you’re a DJ, I hear you, mix out of it, but don’t skip it if it’s in the album.

Tamara: That was amazing. That’s actually the second time in my life I’ve heard that song. I’m gonna listen to it more, I really loved it.

Nevi: Are you an album listener? 

Tamara: Yeah. I gotta listen to it all the way through, but I need to be in the right mood.

Nevi: Yeah, GO:OD AM from top to bottom. I think my favorite song right now is “ROS?” When I get lonely and sad about the state of my relationships in life, I just listen to whoever that woman is say I love you and I feel loved.

Tamara: Love that.

Song Plays: GoldLink – Dance On Me

Tamara: Okay guys, we’ve made it to our final track here.

Nevi: All right, we’re gonna get a little ratchet. Well, I mean, this is semi-ratchet.

Tamara: Semi, yeah. 

Nevi: I realize how much of a hypocrite I could be perceived as for going from Mac Miller to GoldLink, but I enjoy them both. Two sides, I’m not picking one, you know? It’s not my job to pick a side, I like the music. His cadence is insane. And this is one of those albums around the same time that, I was depressed and listening to Mac, I was listening to GoldLink. I didn’t realize how much I love “dance music” until probably this stage, which is ironic because I feel hip-hop is so traditionally a dance music, but it’s regional. So, living in Norwalk and going to a lot of parties in black and brown spaces, we’re listening to YG, which I’ll almost put on here, but…

Tamara: What song would you have put?

Nevi: Ooh. It’s in the back of my head. It’s probably not, oh. Probably “Me and My Bitch” or… Or… What’s the one with J-Rock? “I Just Wanna Party.” Oh my God, it’s so ratchet, beautiful. I think what’s crazy about living out here, it’s that we don’t really, at least in predominant black and brown spaces, it’s not like we celebrate disco and house and even go-go in a way that is accessible in our party spaces. I consider myself a little bit of a house dancer. And you can’t do a lot of that to West Coast Hip-Hop or New York Hip-Hop, because those grooves aren’t being played a lot of the time. So, this was an introduction to dance and disco, but also alternative hip-hop. A lot of this is alternative hip-hop. Then it kind of opened my eyes to what you could do in a groovier, posing sense. So yeah.

Tamara: What is the vibe you try to bring to your own live sets?  Do you want that type of dancey vibe or is it okay if people are just kind of there resonating with the lyrics?

Nevi: So, I personally talk a lot of shit, so my main way of communicating is, I’m gonna tell something relevant story and I’m gonna dance and you can spectate. And if you’re not, then I’m gonna wink at you or shake my shoulders a little bit and hope that you’re enjoying it as well. I mean, I’m just playful, you know? I wish I wanted to get better at doing more crowd work with my hands and stuff like that. But for the most part, I’m an entertainer, I’m a show. You can watch the show however you choose, you know? But as long as you’re watching it, you can heckle me a little bit if you want to.

Tamara: Yeah, you’re like, “Yell at me please.” Well, thank you for joining us here today. This was Nevi. Round of applause. Where can we find you?

Nevi: I’m everywhere @nevioutlyr. Also, I just dropped an album. If you guys care to listen to it, it’s also on all platforms. It’s called Idle Grooves. I talk about depression and all that type of stuff and dancing in fun ways, so check it out.

Tamara: Thanks, beautiful, thank you for joining us.