Words by: Alex Wen
At around the two minute mark of “Cafe Du Monde”, the chorus and instrument fades, allowing a solo whistle to accompany the female background vocals as they carry out the melody. Pell slowly comes back, the rest of the synths resume, and the track picks up from where it left off. The bridge offers a neat vertical slice into the components that result in Pell’s sound–catchy uptempo rap, influenced by contemporaries like Kanye, but with a heavy emphasis on the atmospheric and eclectic history of jazz and R&B. No wonder most publications slot Pell into broad ambiguities like “dream rap” and call it a day.
Pell has never fit in a box. Born in New Orleans and then relocating to Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina, the rapper has always drawn from a wealth of resources for his music. NOLA bounce music, indie rock, and Kanye West, they were all sources that Pell drew from as he crafted his sound. This is evident in his breakout full-length, Floating While Dreaming. There’s more traditional slow jams like “Runaway”. But there’s also tracks like “Eleven:11” where fast verses mix with a dream-like beat for a track that lives up to the album’s title. But just like “Cafe Du Monde”, Pell would come in with some unexpected crooning during the bridge, proving his many nights spent listening to John Legend and Stevie Wonder may have paid off.
I don’t think it’s an accident that the occasional breaks from the chorus-verse structure–in the bridges–give the best glimpse into Pell. The rapper has stated in the past his fascination with dreams, speaking at length about his adventures with lucid dreaming. Floating While Dreaming and LIMBO also make great use of the dream motif, from the obvious–Pell floating in both album covers, to behind the curtains–Pell’s major source of inspiration for his first album was Richard Linklater’s film on dreams–Waking Life.
LIMBO is also a great showcase of the versatility found in the young rapper. Other than the aforementioned “Cafe Du Monde”, the album also plays host to the aggressive “Almighty Dollar” and the laidback “Queso”, and I’d be remiss to leave out personal favorite, “Vanilla Sky 2.0”. The only consistent is a commitment to the unexpected and exciting.
Pell shows no signs of slowing down in 2016. His most recent single, “In The Morning”, is a delightful mix of fun instrumentation and polished raps with the help of some friends. He’s also about to kick off his “Only In Your Dreams” tour across the US, starting with Reggies in Chicago on Feb. 2nd. For a rapper so keen on sharing his dreams, it’s good to see reality keeping pace.
