For me, the last perfect marriage of rap/hip-hop with rock was produced by Run DMC. But know there is a new transition of singers trying to do the same as this legendary group (off the top of my head I think of Theophilus). Just think of DMC's revolutionary song "Walk this Way." Now, combine the colorful fashion of Aerosmith and the freshness of Run DMC, and you have a little hint of Curtis Santiago.
Santiago is a colorful guy. You can catch him in leopard short shorts, colorful suspenders and red pants. But he is definitely rocking the stage with them.
Santiago hasn't blown away American mainstream with his heartfelt vocals, beautiful falsetto and indie rock style, but he is infiltrating twitter, youtube and Canada. He says, "Well, we have been playing in New York more and more these days. Our plan is to continue to release records with U.S. artists and build our online persona. And just to keep hitting the NYC till I can be there working full-time."[One artist he's worked with is Mickey Factz]
His latest mixtape dropped in April 2009. It was produced by SkullKrushers and presented by the ultimate masher DJ Mick Boogie. Have Mercy! will make you say "Have Mercy" like Full House's Uncle Jesse. Santiago covered popular rock, alternative and hip-hop songs, but successfully made them his own.
Out of the 14 songs on his mixtape, there are three originals, including "Annabel" which his manager JO Segarra has been promoting on Twitter. But the collection of songs is hard to imagine "why did he choose these?" Don't you worry about that answer. He says, "The selection process was kind of easy. We are always obsessed with some band or song at any point of time. So between Mike and I, we just chose what we're geeking out on at that time."
Mike is his bandmate and producer Mikey Mike. These two produced covers of T.I.'s "Whatever You Like," King of Leon's "Sex on Fire," and Santogold's "L.E.S. Artistes." The songs will leave you with a great impression of his music, but what stuck out to me was his playfulness and the inclusion of Uncle Jesse and Michelle's voices from Full House. "The idea to use a pop art style image of Uncle Jesse and having his catch phrase be the title of the mixtape," says Santiago. "I felt it was only fitting that there be samples of the legendary phrase and during our search we found clips of Michelle saying it. I mean to get the Olson twins' voices as kids on the tape, Warhol was smiling I’m sure."
My favorites are definitely "Whatever You Like," "Human," and "Sex on Fire." Check him out and see what you think. You can find him on twitter at twitter.com/curtissantiago. And you can download his mixtape for free at http://www.curtissantiago.com/
Here's a sneak peek:
No comments:
Post a Comment