So, me and me mate Bob Smoke been wanting to do a collaborative effort with Brazilian Baile Funk influences for a while.
So, me and me mate Over the last month-and-a-bit there have been some instagram posts that I put out to showcase our use of some old gear that came out of the closet when we were inspired by some new gear. What anyone who saw these posts didn't know was that these are the foundations of Pugilist - what Bob Smoke and I have decided to call this, and possible future collaborations.
It's different from the Hip Hop music that has been the basis of most of our past collaborations and we really want PUGILIST to hit internationally by breaking language barriers and focusing on dance floors.
In 2011, Bob Smoke (AKA Emcee Dynamic) began introducing the hottest G-House selections to the Okanagan's underground clubs and festivals. What separates him from the herd is that he's not just a DJ, he's making original joints - but guess what!? - he's also the pen and the voice behind all the rhymes and vocals on his own tracks, including the human beat-box/vocal percussion and throat chanting. Brodie (as Bob Smoke is known to his friends) and I have been making Hip Hop music together since 1999.
In 2006, we journeyed to São Paulo, Brazil to meet up with some fellow heads and ended up recording "Rhyme Travel" at Casa 1 Records.
Our new Brazilian friends were finding it extremely difficult to pronounce "Brodie" so we would introduce him as "Bob" to make it easier. One thing led to another, some good times rolled, and Brodie rolled out of São Paulo with the nickname "Bob Smoke".
As someone who speaks, reads, and writes the Brazilian Portuguese, getting to use those skills to collaborate, record, and perform down there with my closest homie has always been, in my mind, that life experience which most brought together my three passions:
- Music - we got to learn about it, share it, make it.
- Guidance - as a stand-out non-local in a relatively dangerous place with a total language barrier there's no question that my best friend was at risk and I loved being able to guide him through such a unique experience.
- Travel - we explored with impunity, picked up new skills, and delved as deeply as we wanted to into the histories and cultures of our environments.
I'm going to point something else out in case it's not super apparent already:
I'm pretty passionate about this friendship which has grown so solidly over the last 17 years and I'm so grateful that we get to come together with a serious collaborative musical effort at this point in our lives.