FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM SEPTEMBER 19, 2019 • BUZZ • THE QUEENS COURIER 59
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Forest Hills-based rapper captures life in Queens on new EP
BY MAX PARROTT
mparrott@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Th e utilitarian title of Queens Remy
Banks’ new “did this in detroit.” EP serves
to tell the listener something that might
go under the radar if they were going by
the lyrics alone. He recorded in the Motor
City with producer Black Noi$e. But even
though Banks camped out in Detroit rapper
Danny Brown’s Bruiser House studio
for the entire recording of the EP, he
couldn’t seem to get Queens off of his
mind.
“Hailing from the World’s Borough / I
be global when I rep it / you see love and
spread it / just hope to get the message /
it’s cut from a diff erent cloth / speak with
a diff erent texture,” Banks raps on the
second track of the album that focuses on
his home neighborhood.
Th e way Banks tells it, when he was
growing up in Queens in the 1990s, rap
was practically in the water. But while his
childhood may have inculcated an encyclopedic
knowledge of genre in him, it
was the internet that gave him his start.
Banks said that it was his long distance
connections to rappers and producers
like Domo Genesis of Los Angeles’ Odd
Future crew and Black Noi$e of Detroit’s
Bruiser Brigade that ended up helping to
fuel his early career.
Banks recently talked to the Queens
Courier about the tightrope between
regionalism and internet culture, the formation
of his Queens-based rap crew
World’s Fair, his memories about growing
up in Forest Park and the process
of recording his new EP. Th e following
interview has been edited for length and
clarity.
Th e Queens Courier: You really rep
Queens. You talk a lot about it in your
music. Obviously this borough has
been home to some of the most classic
rap albums of all time, but it seems like
nowadays in rap, it’s not as common to
rep your home city. I’m wondering why
you think that is.
Remy Banks: I think things became less
regional in rap because of the internet. It’s
like the internet infl uence made it easy
for people to access diff erent things that
they didn’t see in their home state or their
home city or on the block. Like they were
getting exposed to the Southern slang
or like my little brother, he’d be running
around saying, “Yo, you cappin’ bro.” And
that’s like an Atlanta thing. I’m laughing
like that’s crazy. Slang from Atlanta was
not coming out of my mind when I was
his age. So the infl uence made things less
regional.
QC: So how do you think that everyday
experience of living in a city infl uences
your writing process and what
you rap about?
RB: I write about what I’m going
through in my daily life. Whatever I’m
feeling that day, I’ll write that down. If
I’m home or if I’m in the city, I’m writing
about what’s going on — family stuff ,
the community, diff erent culture, diff erent
subcultures, diff erent parties — all of
that is happening in my music because it’s
happening around me.
QC: What were you up to when you
were in Detroit? What was your favorite
thing to do there?
RB: Well, my favorite thing to do is
just wake up, stretch, do some pushups,
brush my teeth, roll up, smoke, wait for
producer Black Noi$e to wake up,
try to fi gure out what Zelooperz is up to
because like I was staying in a Bruiser
house, which is like this big a– house that
Danny Brown brought. It’s got two studios
in there. So, I’m just around music
all the time. When Black’s awake, he’s
chopping a record up or he’s playing beats
that he just made in his room the night
before. So I’m just like hearing stuff from
the room I’m in and I’ll just walk over to
the studio and just start writing. So whatever
beat that was going on and however
it made me feel, I would just write it
down.
QC: When I was growing up in the
suburbs of Connecticut, New York City
rap was basically like a monolith to
me. Th ere was East Coast, West Coast
and the South and I kind of thought of
them each as cohesive things. Now that
doesn’t seem as accurate to me. What
are your opinions on what separates
Queens rap from other subgenres of
New York City rap?
RB: Yeah, when you go back in time,
I feel like New York had diff erent pieces
to the puzzle. Brooklyn had like a very
raw energy, like in-your-face-energy. But
then you also had groups like Black
Moon. Buckshot had this very smooth
demeanor. And then you had groups like
M.O.P. that were very rambunctious, very
animated, which was also very dope. And
then you had like your Harlem rap like
Cam’ron. Cam was ill. Big L was very lyrical.
Th en you had Queens like you had
Tribe Called Quest, you had Nas. Th ey
painted very vivid pictures with their rap.
Th ey painted landscapes and I feel like
that’s still the way it is today.
QC: How did growing up there impact
your appreciation of the art form?
RB: I was around it growing up. Like
when Nas was coming up, I was a little
kid listening to him because of like my
older cousin, my stepfather, my mother
and the radio. Same thing with Jay-Z.
Same thing with Biggie Smalls. Th ere
was a lot more New York artists on the
radio back then, let’s put it that way. So
as a kid growing up in the city, I was
exposed to everything that was happening
in every borough because every artist
that was popping from any borough was
being played on Hot 97. So it was dope. It
was a beautiful time. And I feel like that
helped mold me. Growing up in the city
at that time you were conditioned. You
went to the Bronx Zoo. You went Coney
Island as a kid. You went to Central Park
as a kid. I was exposed to the city from a
very young age. I was already adapted or
conditioned to being in diff erent parts.
QC: I read that you grew up in
Jamaica.
RB: I was born in Booths Memorial,
which is in Flushing. And then I lived on
88th Avenue between 149th and 150th
street in Jamaica. I lived there until I was
about 4. Th en I moved to New Jersey for
a year for kindergarten. Th en we moved
them right back to the same block in
Jamaica. And then we moved from there
to LeFrak and then from LeFrak to Forest
Hills, and I’ve been there ever since.
QC: At what age did you start making
like connections and inroads to rap
scenes in Queens?
RB: Well there wasn’t really any rap
in Queens. Th at’s why I feel like World’s
Fair is defi nitely important to the borough
because aft er a Tribe Called Quest,
and G unit — aft er Lost Boyz, Queens
was very quiet — at least on the forefront
of things. When we started to come up,
it was a resurgence because of independent
kids. With us putting up our own
music on YouTube or Mediafi re. In our
era, there were no groups in Queens, so
World’s Fair was that.
QC: Are there other Queens artists
you want to shout out?
I love Dean Spencer. Duendita. Shout
out to Jef Donna from World’s Fair who
just dropped a new song today. Action
Bronson. Money Magic. Shoutout to the
southside.
Maachew Bentley
Remy Banks
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