Gonzales is the T-Pain of Paris

By Red Foxx • February 14, 2008 • Mp3, Words is Like Ziti

There exists this particular kind of person, the one that unabashedly does his thing, follows his heart, does it a lot, and does it well. It’s the kind of person that simply loves to create and will indulge whatever whim they have and make something beautiful out of it. Gonzales is a perfect poster child for this mind set. This a man who raps with Peaches yet releases an album of moving piano pieces. With a range that wide it should be no surprise that his next track dropping, Slow Down, featuring Teki Latex, sounds like a T-Pain single. I guess the strangest thing is that it’s so good it could actually be a T-Pain single. A&R’s around the world: you have an R&B master right here under your nose, so wake up and smell the vocoder. I got to talk to Chilly G himself to get a glimpse of how this rapper/pianist/robotic crooner works. Oh yeah, and the word on some serious “boeuf” going down in Paris…

Red Foxx: So you came from Canada, along with Mocky, Peaches and the crew, set up shop in Berlin, helped Jamie Lidell become an underground superstar, and now according to my Wikibrain™ you are in Paris. I know alot of people like myself would love to live such a cosmopolitan lifestyle. How did you pull it off, and is there any one place you really feel is “home?” Could you pick a favorite?

Gonz: I have no choice. I’m the opposite of a rapper because I have nowhere and nothing to represent. I’m just a career-obsessed opportunist so I follow the glory. Canada has no culture beyond bearded indie-rock so I left. Berlin is for true bohemian underachievers, so making my first few albums in an East German apartment was the right kind of look for the end of the credible 90s. But Paris is where execution trumps content, so it’s simple: I fight to keep the music on a personal level and take advantage of the fast track to success. France loves me, baby, and the infrastructure backs it up.

R: Your track “Working Together” you really sound like you could have ghostwritten for Juelz Santana, and now you are pulling off T-Pain with ease… What’s next? Who do you think is really burning the block right now? Are you in touch with any rap producers, hooking them up with piano samples or tracks or anything?

G: I’m a mainstream music fan, I love successful music, successful people and songs that everyone sings, TV themes, that kind of thing. So of course rappers are the most successful musicians of today, it’s kind of obvious that they are the ones worth imitating. But I look bad in a doo-rag. So I steal their rap cadences, technology, and I translate their swagger into something an old funny Jew can pull off. I’m not in touch with any real rap producers, but they all love Feist, which is a strange twist after having left the land of bearded indie-rock. Now all these heads are nodding to some Canadian indie-rock.

R: You spit heat and write classical piano pieces. I want to know how far that contrast goes. Can you give us a story about the most gutter moment in your life… and then maybe a story about the most celebrated moment of artistic integrity you’ve ever had?

G: One time this dude came up to me, all like “you know” and I was like “no I don’t know” and then dude was totally on some shit that I was not hearing and then the rest of the story what the fuck? (gutter moment). Artistic integrity is the myth that encourages all the wrong people to attempt this music ish. Imagine a world without it and suddenly it’s all bangers all the time. Artists paint, I’m an entertainer. I’ve sued George Clooney for using my piano tracks in his movie without permission, and won. Integrity is a lie.

R: A man of such intelligence talent and surely must appreciate poetry. Please, share with us a favorite stanza or couplet from the contemporary master of wordplay, Lil Wayne.

G: “Got the industry shakin like a tambourine.”

R: Who’s snitching in Paris? Is there anyone you want to put on blast right now?

G: Have you heard of Sebastien Tellier? He and I have been snifing each other’s musical butts like dogs for a few hot minutes. He’s like a French self-medicating version of Gonzales but we occupy the same conceptual niche of the Gallic hipster microverse. He put out the album “Politics” with a single called “Broadway” a year after I put out “Presidential Suite” with the single “Take me to Broadway” among other transgressions. Well I decided to ignore that evidence and co-opt him so there wouldn’t be the temptation to beef (as we both put out albums in the first quarter of 08). I asked him to be on my posse cut and he said NO even after I reached out to him through neutral parties. So the beef is now in the saucepan and it’s coming to a rolling boil…

R: Damn… Not to be negative but I hope it escalates to disses and mixtapes because those tracks would be heat! Whats coming out next for you? I hear there’s a posse cut too, like 8 people on it. How buck was the studio? Were you all wiling out?

G: “Let’s Ride” is a disco instrumental from the album but the remix is a massive crew gang-bang – this is the one Sebastien Tellier said NO to. It’s a cross between “We Are the World” and “One Blood Remix with 23 rappers”. It’s got 13 people on it. Jarvis Cocker is on it, Princess Superstar, Peaches, Jamie Lidell, Teki Latex, Feist, Mocky, many other Canadians and culturally exceptional Frenchies. I thought about paying 750 US dollars for a verse from Bizarre from D12, but even with the exchange rate it’s still a bad deal. The studio wasn’t really popping off because it was 3 months to get everyone on it mostly through the
interwebs. It will be leaking sometime soon.

Gonzales ft. Teki Latex – “Slow Down (Remix)” (Palmsout Exclusive)
[gonzales on myspace]

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