Three Stars: Fly Gypsy
What happens when a Russian-born beatmaking lawyer and a well-regarded local spoken word artist with roots in Jamaica join forces? The answer is Fly Gypsy. The duo of producer Alexei Jendayi and emcee Kowboy Kom has been working together for roughly a year, and at a rather rapid pace. In the summer of 2009, they released The Vodka & Rum Mixtape. Last month, the EP, Change for a Dollar, hit iTunes.
And when they're not making music, they're performing. If you happen to be headed to Philly on Thursday, or know someone who'll be there, FG will be at the the Fillmore at TLA with D.C. artist-of-the-moment, Wale.
DCist caught up with the guys during a rare moment of downtime.
Prior to coming together, what were you all doing artistically/professionally/etc.? When did you really start plying your craft as individuals?
Kom: Few people know about it, but Alexei practiced international law for four years at Sidley Austin before going into music full-time. He was jetting down to Geneva all the time to represent countries in the World Trade Organization. All along, he kept up his music, producing and writing for a lot of local artists. As for me, I spent a lot of time touring colleges doing spoken word, as well as doing poetry and life skills workshops. Spoken word is the best foundation any emcee can have and it has definitely taught me a lot not just about writing, but also performing.
Your press bio has Kom’s point of origin being Jamaica and Alexei’s as Russia. How did you two come together in D.C.?
Alexei: Kom was born in Jamaica, came to the States when still a kid, and grew up in Brooklyn for the most part. I grew up in Russia, came to the U.S. as an exchange student and stuck around. Both of us have been in D.C. for the last few years. We first met at a cipher at Bar Nun, the legendary D.C. open mic spot where Raheem DeVaughn cut his teeth. I was playing guitar, Kom dropped some verses. The crowd went wild! Over the next couple of years, though, we focused on our own projects. Finally, last year Kom stopped by my studio to drop a verse on an election-time single "The Ruler." The verse was so sick, I gave him a few more tracks. He came back with more dope verses. So we started working together, and soon Fly Gypsy was born.
Speaking of "The Ruler," how did you develop the concept and what was the process of developing the track?
A: As a producer, I can't convey a message as easily as an emcee might be able to, since I don't write lyrics. With "The Ruler" though, I wanted the track to speak, even before Kom touched it. At the time, much of the country was still drunk on the Obama hope bug. I was cynical at first, but listening to some of his speeches and, even more so, Michelle's, I got a sense that he is far less middle-of-the-road, that he was actually for the people, understood their struggle, and was willing to take on the system. You had Barack talking about racial profiling and treatment of the native peoples, you had Michelle saying that, "the game of politics is to make you afraid so that you don't think." I heard a lot of Malcolm X in what they were saying so I mixed up Barack and Michelle's quotes with excerpts from Malcolm's speeches. What was most incredible to me was how Malcolm's message is so relevant today, be it him talking about how the people are disillusioned or about how the party that we helped elect controls majority of the House and the Senate and still does not keep its promises. Barack was essentially reciting Malcolm nearly word for word and for a moment I thought that maybe something would indeed be different. Almost sounds quaint and naive to say it now. That was before anyone could even imagine him bringing (Larry) Summers and (Tim) Geitner on board.
What was it like when you first saw the video for "You" on VH1 Soul?
K: Funny you ask. Neither Alexei nor I watch TV, not to mention cable, so to this day, we have not seen the video. We asked a friend to record a segment so that we can have a video watching party, play the recording and pretend that the video had just come on, since we don't really have time to sit in front of a TV and wait for the video to play. But we've been traveling so much that we haven't been able to do the party either. Maybe this week.
Change for a Dollar was released late last year and, on the whole, reviews have been positive. Tracks like "2 Step" really seem to be resonating with listeners. Did you all have an objective or a sense of what sentiment you wanted your audience to walk away with from the album?
A: We've definitely been very fortunate to have such an overwhelmingly positive response. I think Okayplayer called the album "a timeless example of the beauty in music" and Rap Reviews called us the future of music, if we keep doing what we're doing. [Laughing] As for the objective, we had one with the Vodka & Rum Mixtape, which we dropped in the summer of 2009 -- feel-good summertime music. Not so much with Change for a Dollar -- we just recorded what felt right at the time, and in the end it all came together. It has its feel-good tracks, it has club joints, it has a rock anthem and an acoustic hip-hop folk classic, and it has something for the die-hard hip-hop purists. And somehow, it all works together. We love to read and educate, but we also love a good house party. We love to rock out at a huge venue and we love to do an intimate acoustic set. The album reflects that diversity, and I think that's why folks have responded to it so well.
I've seen Fly Gypsy live twice now in D.C., and it seems as though you put your all into shows and the crowds seem very appreciative. As a relatively new act in a hip-hop market that's overheated and oversaturated, how are people finding out about you in other places, and what do you think you offer them that brings them out to support you?
K: We have a very strong buzz online. Googling "fly gypsy" will get you over 150,000 hits. We've been very strong on the blogs, including the influential HipHopDX, DJBooth and Okayplayer. So, that's how a lot of people are finding out about us. The video is helping, as is touring. We're also doing quite well on college radio. "2 Step" was No. 4 last week on the college radio hip-hop chart and, as I understand, will move up even more this week.
I think people find what we're doing honest, refreshing, as well as fun and engaging. We don't find ourselves bound by your typical labels. We make good music without trying to squeeze ourselves into any boxes and we put on a great high-energy and genuine emotion-driven show which stems from our music being very genuine to begin with. We've been fortunate to get the attention of true music fans that appreciate what we do.
You'e about to enter your second show in a month as an opening act for Wale. Is he a fan and, if so, what does it mean to you to have one of the hip-hop's rising stars co-signing you?
A: We are definitely excited to play with Wale and appreciate the opportunity. As for co-signing though, what matters to us is that our fans stay passionate about us. That's our focus. Wale is in a great place in his career and him affording us this opportunity is definitely helping us get ahead in ours, so we're certainly grateful.
Is there anything else you want to let us know about before we wrap up?
K: I would like to share a couple of things with the readers. First of all, please, check out our web site, FlyGypsy.com. We have music, video and all kinds of freebies and exclusives on it. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Finally, this is brand new! We're announcing here on DCist that our remix project, FG*XL:remixtape, will be released March 16. Check out the first track from the project on our website right now. And most importantly, if you like what we're doing, please, tell everyone you know about Fly Gypsy. We can't do it without you! And be sure to join our mailing list so that we can let you know next time we play in the D.C. area.