THINKING BIG
MR. SMALLS SHOW SHOWCASES BENJI., MARS JACKSON, CLARA KENT, ISAIAH SMALL
Pittsburgh’s Very Own, a quarterly series at Mr. Smalls in Millvale, turns its sights this weekend on four artists rising from the hip-hop/soul scene with Mars Jackson, Benji., Clara Kent and Isaiah Small.
“This is exciting,” Ms. Kent says. “I hope this is the start of more shows like this, where each act has their own feel and texture and color. Sometimes Pittsburgh is known for not supporting acts on their way up, especially if they’re in soul, hip-hop or funk or do genre-fusion music — some genre other than trap or punk. This is a refreshing thing to see us all get a platform.”
It’s special for them, as they’ve crossed paths in various ways. Benji. and Ms. Kent were neighbors growing up, and he mastered her album. He also recorded Mr. Jackson’s and went to the same college as Mr. Small. Ms. Kent and Mr. Jackson were in a youth program together as teens. More recently, Benji. signed with Misra, the Pittsburgh-based label that released Mr. Jackson’s debut album.
Here’s a closer look at the artists:
Benji. delivers a beautiful ‘Smile’
The most beautiful and poignant moment on “Smile, You’re Alive!” comes on “Sanctuary,” the eighth track, where the album seems to come to a halt, just hovering with a few keyboard notes and some ricocheting voices, making space for Benji., in a sort of reggae style, to declare, “Ain’t trynna be like no one, ain’t trynna act like nuthin’/just trynna be myself, be all up in your function.”
“Smile, You’re Alive!” is a powerful musical statement from the rapper born Ian Benjamin Welch, who, indeed, has a smile to light up a room and a wide grasp of musical genres.
“Smile” beams with a chill, sunny, soulful, jazzy vibe that speaks to his roots growing in a household in Homewood with plenty of Earth, Wind & Fire and Gap Band to go with the music in the church.
“I was always around music,” says the 25-year-old Benji., who goes by a single name and period. “My dad is a fantastic musician, my mom an angelic singer, all my siblings are musicians and singers, as well. It was too easy to not catch on to the music bug in the house, especially when my parents are blasting ’70s and ’80s funk and R&B in the house.”
The musical tools were handed to him at an early age.
“On Sundays, when I was like 3 years old, my dad would take me and sit me next to the drummer in church while he had to preach, and my mom would be in the choir and I would just watch him play. Then, he would sit me on his lap, put the sticks in my hand, and I would play. I would do that every Sunday for a couple of years until I could play by myself and, boom, here I am.”
The hip-hop education, to go with his drum and bass work, came from his older brother, Christo, who is the producer and DJ for Atlanta rapper J.I.D.
“He put me on to Lupe, Kanye, Charles Hamilton, etc.,” Benji. says. “I would scroll through his iTunes and just get lost in it. That was my introduction to hip-hop music. When I got into rap, my brother was just starting out as a producer. I can remember his very first beat like he made it yesterday. He was also rapping as well, and he’s still really damn good. Basically, I was just trying to do everything he did.”
Christo wasn’t always super positive with the feedback, but that’s how brothers can be and, Benji. knew it was just to push him to get better. Music, though, was a sidetrack to — track. The Central Catholic grad broke the school record at Duquesne University in the long jump and triple jump. He left in his senior year to chase a shot at being an Olympic high jumper.
Journalism, his major, is still an interest, along with filmmaking, and he still plans to finish the degree. It’s going to have to compete with hip-hop and a part-time job that suits him well: teaching kids all aspects of hip-hop and music production at KRUNK, an after-school program under the nonprofit called Center of Life, where he works with his DJ Jourdan Martin (aka Slim Tha DJ) and his drummer Julz Powell.
“As we’re learning and growing,” he says, “it’s cool to be able to pass it down to high school kids who want to do what we do.”
The well-received “Smile” almost got away. Just before Thanksgiving, Benji.’s backpack filled with precious things was lifted from a storage area at The Flow Lounge in Oakland on a night he was rushing off to see his brother do a show at Spirit.
“The hard drive, my recording equipment, and computer were all stolen,” he says. “I found a flash drive in one of my old book bags that had the album on it. Tweaked it a few times and the rest is history.”
This happened during a stretch in which he discovered, with his own eyes, that the child he had with his girlfriend wasn’t his. It’s the opening narrative on “Smile!,” addressed with some humor mixed into the heartbreak. “Smile” is playful that way.
“I like to have fun like everybody else,” he says. “I’m also not ashamed of myself, flaws and all, mistakes and all. When I stopped trying to be something I wasn’t meant to be and started taking ownership and accountability, I decided to put that into my music instead of what everyone else was putting into their music. It’s nothing crazy or super different, it’s just authentic.”
Benji. has been the rare rapper embraced by WYEP-FM, which put his album at No. 2 on its best of Pittsburgh list for 2018 and helped get him on NPR’s 20 Artists To Watch In 2019, with a blurb written by program director Kyle Smith.
As for the good vibes coming back to him after releasing the album, he says, “In all honesty, it’s something you try to prepare for because you feel you’re good enough for it, then when it happens it still catches you by surprise. It’s been amazing. Every day is different. My family is proud, my brother is proud, I’m able to put my friends in better places now for the future. Validation is cool, but what this has all been showing me is that what I’ve been learning and growing through is working. It’s all worth it.”
The good news for his fans is that the next album is almost done.
“I’m really excited about this one — easily my best work, entirely, and I think it’s the album that moves us along. I’m booked out of town a bunch for some big shows. A lot of good things in the works, for sure.”
Clara Kent has surprises coming
It was a breakout 2018 for neo soul singer Clara Kent, who began the year performing shows during Grammy Week on the invitation of New York producer Rich Nice, who thought her music was “dope” and called her up.
A month later, she was making her debut at South By Southwest in Austin opening for Wyclef Jean.
It was a nice setup for the release of “A U RA ,” a debut album revealing a warm, soulful R&B/jazz style aligned with her love for artists like Sade and Erykah Badu.
“I was a painter first,” she says. “People didn’t know me for my music, really. They knew I sang, but they really knew me for my art” — which she created working under the title of Bounce.
She had always balanced the two, starting her songwriting pursuits as young as 8 or 9.
“I only love to sing because of the lyrics,” she says. “The lyrical element is really important.”
Over the last decade, she aligned herself with the local Tribe Eternal Music Group, a member of which helped her capture the attention of Nice.
During her fruitful 2018, she was embraced by WYEP and WPTS-FM and did a lot of regional touring. This year, she plans to expand that while also working on the follow-up to“AURA .”
“It’s just as raw, just as melodic, just as much soul element,” she says of the new material .“I feel like I’m vocal ly more present .‘ AURA’ was more about the essence and energy and me getting through a lot of darkness and a lot of pain. This is more about acknowledging it, being accountable for it, being present with it. It has more moments of, like, I’m sitting there talking to you, whereas‘ AURA’ is more like thoughts in your mind, where they’re drifting in and out.”
There’s no timeline for the follow-up, so she’ll be dropping some little surprises along the way.
“I wanna train people’s ears out of ‘A U RA’ first and show them a different side of what I can do,” she says. “I’m not going to veer off into pop or pop-punk or something crazy — just give people a little more of ‘Oh, she’s a jazz vocalist or she can do an R&B ballad.’ “
Mars Jackson goes live
Rapper-singer Mars Jackson, who released his debut album, “Good Days Never Last Forever,” last year, has a special plan for Pittsburgh’s Very Own.
He’s sat in with bands before, but this will be his first official set with a live band, getting backing from The Paul Keys Band.
“I love music and live shows and what’s a live show without a band? More fun,” he says.
Mr. Jackson is in the midst of working on a second project, “The Coffee Break Tape 2,” which he says will depart from “Good Days.”
“This one is gonna be more of why people listened or fell in love with my music: rapping and songwriting is what I do best. Combine those elements together over a cup of joe at your finest hour of the day and you’re most likely talking ‘bout Mars, so that’s where I’m going with this project.”
The debut was the first hip-hop album released on Misra.
“Hopefully, this next album is on Misra, but I’m in my creative mode, so we’ll see.”
Isaiah Small has an orange crush
Isaiah Small stems from a place, Minneapolis, where purple reigns, but it’s not his color.
When he envisions his sound, he sees a different secondary hue.
“I call it Orange Music,” he says, “a mixture of jazz, alternative, reggae rhythms presented in a hip-hop form.”
What makes those things orange? “When I was younger,” he says, “it was the combination of major and minor 7th chords. It seemed orange to me. Some people make bright music, some people make dark music, some people make gray music. Mine’s orange.”
Small is a multi-instrumentalist — drums, piano, cello — and singer who came to Pittsburgh in 2014 to attend Duquesne University and just graduated with a bachelor’s degree, specializing in sound recording.
He began playing here in 2015, starting with a gig opening for Internet. Mars Jackson also was on that bill. In 2016, he released the six-song EP “The Colour,” showcasing his dreamy blend of styles. He considers the “hit” off that one to be “Ayite.”
“Probably my most successful song but I’ve never performed it live,” he says. “It’s too difficult — very technical and falsetto based.”
His latest single, “Crazy ‘Bout You,” is a little ray of tropical sunshine with vocals by Mia Gladstone and sax by Spencer McNeill.
Expect lots of dynamic range from one of his sets.
“I like to rock out and rap, then get really soft and do a ballad, then we’ll samba for a second and go back into some tasteful trap music.”
Enjoy him now, though, because he has Atlanta in his sights.
“I’ve got family and music down there,” he says. “And it’s super orange.”