Almost from nowhere did New Jersey duo Baba Ali and Jules Born AKA Voices of Black appear with a debut album on Wolf & Lamb earlier this year. Rather than just another collection of house toons, though, it was a cerebral concept album of sorts, and one which aimed to sartorially poke-fun at the vacuous world of fashion. Haughty designs for sure, but it worked, and was followed up by a sun kissed disco effort for sister label Double Standard… not bad for a duo who started out making hip-hop before it got “boring.”
Despite only being in the (very) early 20s, the erudite pair are back in November with a new and lengthy EP which features the vocal talents of Rap Lisa and marks something of a new direction. As such we sat them down to talk socio-politics, to laugh at the art world and to ask them about their ‘proper songs’….
How has your year been – what have been the highlights?
Jules: So far the highlights have definitely been spending the month of July in Berlin doing gigs and hanging out at the Michel Berger Hotel. It was odd for a bit not working on as much music as we were used to, but hanging with everyone on Wolf + Lamb and playing all over Berlin was refreshing. I ate Burger Meister every other day.
Baba: dj’ing Berlin was definitely a high point: both an eye-opening experience as well as an all around good time. It was fun to hang out with the W+L crew, for sure, as well as check out the vibes of the city.
How did you first hook up with the Wolf & Lamb crew – what made you guys all get along?
(Both)We met Gadi after we stopped by the Marcy because Baba said his friend Nico (Nicolas Jaar) was there and wanted us to play him some music. We didn’t know who Gadi or Zev were at the time but they were there and we played a bunch of music and got really good feed back. We stayed in touch sending music and then they took us into the family. The crazy thing is we almost didn’t go to Brooklyn that day because we were supposed to meet up with some girls in Soho and stood them up to go meet up with Nico. True Story.
How was it you came to do an album before anything else? How long had you been making music before then?
(Both): We had been making music together since high school. It wasn’t very serious but we consistently would make tracks together. It started off as hip-hop and then that got boring and it evolved.
Why did you feel so strongly about the vacuousness of the fashion world to make an album around it? Isn’t the club scene much the same?
Jules: Plastic Dolls was a collection of instrumentals we were making. We didn’t make all of them together. At the time baba was in Providence at Brown and I was finishing my last year at Pace University in Manhattan. We chilled in the city a lot and noticed the superficial state of mind of many people and thought it would be funny. It’s a serious concept and a joke at the same time.
Baba: I think that, in general, much of popular culture today that media pushes on society is vacuous. This, I feel strongly about, because it just doesn’t make sense to me how we, as a society, brag about how advanced we are, yet mainstream culture (art, music, fashion, etc.) still functions to serve the lowest common denominator of intelligence.
When we were making the album, what was on our mind at the time revolved around our perception of this vacuousness within fashion and model life in particular, and I suppose it naturally had an influence on the music we were making.
Are you aiming to change that with your music? Should electronic music be more socially and politically aware do you think?
Jules: Much of electronic music is instrumental so that is hard to achieve. I think that it is up to the artist to do what he or she wants. Sometimes we write songs about social issues and sometimes we write songs about food. Literally waffles, but it may seem like a social issue. It’s up for the individual to interpret.
Baba: I don’t necessarily think electronic musicians should feel the need to deliberately inject social/political issues into their music. I think what’s more important is to keep trying to push boundaries, and innovate. There’s definitely a time and place for politics and social issues to be addressed through music; many of the musicians of old that I admire made very political music, which I must admit is a rare talent. I just don’t think it works to forcefully inject it. In terms of example, I’d say Thom Yorke’s “Eraser” is really successful in alluding to political/social issues without being too blatant. I think that’s more the road we’re on.
And how have your tastes/has your style evolved since that album?
Jules: Plastic Dolls was pretty experimental and unorthodox. We primarily make full songs now not just instrumental music or dance floor friendly music.
Baba: I can’t really say particularly how it’s evolving, because we’re in the midst of it. But I think the pursuit is always to discover new frontiers and enhance the quality
What sort of scene did you grow up around in the ‘burbs of New Jersey? Or were you listening to music from outside that place?
Jules: Growing up in Teaneck NJ I was surrounded by tons of cultures and lived in a mixed environment. Teaneck may be one of the only places in America where a Jew, African American, Indian, Caucasian, Hispanic, and a East Asian family all are neighbors on the same block and kids grow up together and become friends. This type of environment made it comfortable for me to step outside my comfort zone, which would eventually cross over into my musical taste and desire to create different sounding music.
Baba: my perspective of New Jersey is a bit different, because I moved around a couple times as a child. I’d say the one area of New Jersey that I identify with the most is Fort Lee. It’s definitely a very diverse neighborhood because it’s literally right across the George Washington Bridge, but it also has a very strong Japanese/Korean influence. Since I went to school there, most of my formative years were spent roaming around with my friends, a basketball and some Pokémon cards. I was exposed to a lot of Japanese culture–the food, the animated cartoons, the style, and what have you… and I’m still fascinated by it. From what I’ve experienced, the Japanese tend to be more open to accept new, weird shit, so I guess from them I learned to appreciate stuff that was considered more weird or avant garde.
What influence did your childhood have on you as musicians? What music did you grow up around?
Jules: My Father exposed me to a lot of music growing up but he was mainly into soul music of the 1960′s a lot of soul and disco music. My mother listens to more worldy music like samba, meringue, Sade etc. Without realizing it until I got older all of that is the reason I think our music is more worldly now.
Baba: I grew up on a healthy diet of Bob Marley, Fela Kuti, Michael Jackson and Sade. My dad and mom are both products of the disco generation, so I was also well informed of that.
I started piano lessons at 7 years old and when I was 13, I was like “yo, I wanna play jazz”. So then I delved heavy into jazz. Hip-hop was at its peak (in my opinion) when I was growing up and I was obsessed with the west coast sound. Then, my dad bought me D’Angelo’s ‘Voodoo’ album and Common’s ‘Like Water For Chocolate’ and it had a large impact on me. This was before I really knew about J Dilla; I remember I just used to look at the liner notes and be like “who’s ‘jay dee’? What’s ‘the ummah’?”
What do you like to do outside of music day to day?
Jules: I exercise at least five days a week. I graduated college last spring and music is currently my number one focus so there’s not much I do outside of music. Lately we’ve been going to gallery night in the city a lot because everyone looks at us weird and we make fun of them. The art world is hilarious.
Baba: well, I’m in my final year at Brown Uni. So that occupies my time mostly outside of music. I also like playing soccer and boxing. Then with the little free time left after all is said and done, I’ve randomly picked up making furniture..
Tell us about your latest EP – it’s fairly lengthy and introduces a new vocal talent – how did you hook up with her?
Jules: When I moved to Providence last year I had already known Rap Lisa but never knew she even made music until about 6 months after I moved when she randomly played me some stuff. Her mind is completely different than most. She is a Genius.
Baba: I knew she was a native French speaker, and I needed help with my French homework. That was my first encounter. Then Jules told me she works on music. That was exciting.
Her Flower feat. Rap Lisa by Voices of Black
Where does the inspiration for your lyrics come from? Are they done on the fly or heavily thought out or… ?
Jules: Usually it is a combination of both. Sometimes I may write a hook one day then the rest of it another. Other times we don’t even make a hook. It really just happens some how.
Baba: it just happens.
And what are you aiming to achieve with your music? An emotion, tell a tale, a certain stylistic thing, or…? How do you want people to react to it?
Jules: I think the main goal is to be genuine and hope someone can recognize that or relate to what is being said. Music can be interpreted by anyone in any way so as long as it generates some sort of feel its all good.
Baba: I think that music is spiritual. Not necessarily religious, but spiritual. If people are able to perceive that from what we do, then I think we did a good thing.
What else have you got coming up are you working on or looking forward to?
Jules: We are currently working on a full-length album. In between however we plan on dropping free mixtures of original material in a series called the 7:30 tapes. We are also going to be releasing visuals and music videos throughout the next few months working closely with our partner Mackenzie Younger (Mind Sex Productions). Somewhere in-between that we will also produce Rap Lisa’s EP. We are also doing some side projects placing our music in a television documentary series about surfers. You’ll find it. (laughs)
Baba: more music, more collaborations, more tours.
Kristan J Caryl
