Or not necessarily sampling, but I like my production to be just reflecting how I feel at any given time.
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And sometimes it feels more honest to me to be singing a part of a song, or to be sampling some rare, like, soul-jazz or even some R&B stuff. IVAN AVE: I guess my thing is just I'm always trying to be as honest as I'm able to be when I express myself. So that was the birth of my obsession.įRANNIE: Can you tell us how we could hear that influence on like Helping Hands, for example? I was very much influenced by what they listened to, and then I kind of found the harder stuff coming through the soul-influenced hip-hop. So I kind of came from R&B more than hip-hop coming up. So it was like, The Fugees, Janet Jackson, Raphael Saadiq, Lucy Pearl at some point. So – but also they would put me on, but I would also be sneaking in there. I would – not necessarily knowingly, but I would sneak into especially my oldest sister's room and listen to CDs. IVAN AVE: I have two older sisters and one younger. Yeah.įRANNIE: But, I mean, speaking of which, I read another interview you did where you speaking about – you have older sisters? So, again, it was just like this online link up that I think is more common now than meeting in real life even.įRANNIE: And also the lowkey, like, girl-made-it-happen story that is incredibly important to hip-hop and not often acknowledged. She also knew Ringgo was looking for MCs or vocalists to work with. We were into the same art.Īnd then I got to talking to her, and she lived out here in L.A, and she knew Ringgo. Cause I was big into Tumblr back in the day, and I got to know a lady by the name of Tanya Enriquez who – I guess we just shared the same stuff on Tumblr or whatever. It was kind of serendipitous how – it really happened through some visual stuff. Mndsgn, and we'll get him in here in a minute, but how did you two link up? Was it through the Internet? So he's here – ladies and gentlemen – Mr. And then we've gone on to put out two more LPs.ĪLI: That's cool. That was sort of the start of my relationship with them. And then they put that on wax and we released it, just like a limited – I think it's 300 copies. So they hit me up when I put out those four or five tracks. And, yeah, some offers started coming in, and I felt like Jakarta was the right place for me. I put that out myself, just put it up on Soundcloud. So I put together an EP called Low Jams with Ringgo, Mndsgn. IVAN AVE: I guess it's just a natural dynamic of how Internet oriented music is right now and has been, obviously, for a decade. And you're based in Norway.ĪLI: This whole thing is fascinating because you're talking about Arabic funk with a German-based company. So how'd you link up – if it's a – you said Cologne, so that's Germany. But the name of the label is Habibi Funk, and there's going to be a whole lot of stuff coming out on there.ĪLI: Wow. And they just recently discovered that he also recorded a bunch of rap tapes in Arabic in the early '80s, I want to say. IVAN AVE: He was like a James Brown impersonator almost. IVAN AVE: They actually just discovered the first Arabic rap artist. But I guess you can never really separate the two.ĪLI: I never knew that there was Arabic funk.ĪLI: Like, I've been digging for a lot of records.
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So that's why I say that politically I respect what they're doing.īut it's mainly about the music. But there's definitely a vibe of like, they're trying to bridge some gaps in Europe right now that I think are very important. Like, he might just be a Arabic funk-head. IVAN AVE: Arabic soul and funk that we wouldn't've known existed if he didn't reissue it. IVAN AVE: I guess one example is they have a sub-label going on right now called Habibi Funk where Jannis, one of the managers, he travels to a lot of Northern African countries and countries in the Middle East, and he digs up old funk from the '80s and '70s. And I appreciate what they do musically and politically.įRANNIE KELLEY: What do you mean by that? I put out two records – three records actually – on Jakarta. It's a Berlin- and Cologne-based operation. IVAN AVE: Jakarta is the label I'm signed to. I'm a big fan of the show, so thank you.ĪLI: So, what's popping in Jakarta? What is Jakarta?
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We hope this one takes you places.ĪLI: What's happening? It's good to have you here, man. And then, Mndsgn jumped on my mic to tell us more about their collaborative relationship. We weighed the responsibilities of artists, heard about Ivan sneaking 90s R&B out of his older sister's collection, and learned a bit about rap music being made in Norway. He's from Oslo, signed to Jakarta, a Berlin based label, and works often with Mndsgn, who grew up in New Jersey and who he met through Tumblr. and talk about his internet enabled global network. LISTEN TO MICROPHONE CHECK: IVAN AVE ON SPOTIFY.Īli is a giant fan of Norwegian rapper Ivan Ave, so we asked him to come through when he was in L.A.