XFaded Collective Rocks the House at PIANOS NYC
Photo Care of Swad’s Instagram
Contributing Writer
Pianos NYC is a live music and disc jockey bar in the Lower East Side. As a sister to Arlene’s Grocery, Leftfield on Ludlow, Mercury Lounge, among a handful of others, the venue features up to eight musical acts on two floors on any given night. Because Pianos NYC attracts not only the best music, its baseline of live music opens the shop to the most original and unique musical acts. At 8:00pm on a Friday, the bar was full but not quite shoulder to shoulder, as the scene gets more crowded when the night progresses.
On Friday, November 1, 2019, Pianos hosted the X Faded Collective (pronounced Cross Faded), which hails from Long Island. The collective featured four of its artists, along with their DJ, DJ Juju, and the collective’s fixer, point man, and de facto leader Rawel “The Supervillain from Outer Space.” Rawel occupies the space of Questlove, who is leader of the Roots on The Tonight Show, and also his lesser known collective the Soulquarians. While the Soulquarians includes famous artists such as Erykah Badu, Common, and D’Angelo, on Friday Rawel’s XFaded showcased The Happy Arsonist, The Real YGB, Finesse, and DJ Swad.
Rawel offered encouragement and organization for his team, and introduced his performers. Handsome and six foot three, with a hipster’s top notch, Rawel was dressed in a Japanese Kimono complete with a samurai sword. While this was perfect for Halloween the night before, Rawel’s costume was also a nod to New York City rap collective Wu Tang Clan, which uses ninja and samurai iconography frequently. One could easily spot his charismatic and warm leadership.
“We’ve been working on getting a show in the city to expand our audience outside of Long Island,” said Rawel. “I’m thankful for my brothers!”
First up for the night was The Happy Arsonist, who referred to himself in his lyrics simply as Arson. Arson’s fiery raps were exciting, energetic, thrilling. Onstage he said, “I’m just a kid from Queens following his dreams.” Sometimes the fire “starting” was more literal: at one point, he started a “happy” mosh pit in the audience. This rapper has much in common with Soundcloud rap, and is a cooler more authentic version of Tekashi69. Arson’s performance was awesome. Arsonist said to The Family Reviews, “Love yourself enough to say fuck everyone else.” Arson’s “Super Saiyan” lit up the crowd with a sweet EDM influenced trap beat. Likewise, The Happy Arsonist’s songs are clearly resonating, because the artist has upwards of two thousand plays on his songs.
Next up was The Real YGB, aka the Young Gonzo Bandz--or just YGB for short. YGB wore huge white butterfly sunglasses and had two hype men with him when he rhymed. Part of the joy of rap music is theatricality and the ability to create one’s own persona, and the sunglasses definitely made a cool stage presence. His song, “Blame on Me,” which appears on YGB's soundcloud, was particularly excellent. For this song, YGB pulled from any number of rap sources, and yet here the artist made the theme his own. YGB’s hype men were absolutely spot on, too, and not to be overlooked, knowing and emphasizing the lyrics appropriately, in a tight, well-practiced way. It was sick. One beautiful song on his website with mellifluous autotuned vocals is “Planet Argok,” which appears on the rapper’s webpage.
Photo Care of the YGB Website.
After YGB, Finesse hit the stage wearing iridescent rainbow sunglasses. As his name implies, Finesse had an awesome stage presence, and the crowd loved him. Finesse said to the crowd, “I love making music and you guys make it worth it!” Emphasizing the cross-pollination of the night, Finesse’s beats underwrote some of the best songs by the others in the collective, such as Arson’s “Til I Die.” Finesse’s “FEELING FANTASTIC!” Extended Play, from this year, is a formidable introduction to this multi-talented rapper and producer. The rapper weaves nimbly between techno, electronica, and old school hip hop. A critic might feel obliged to listen. “Just another Thot,” might not be politically correct, but the artist can’t argue with some 23,000 listens on SoundCloud.
Last to perform was the headliner for the group, Swad. Swad’s aesthetic is clearly vaporwave hipster, and has the coolest, most attractive vibe, which animates the crowd to break it down easy and dance. Like Rawel, Swad unites the collective by collaborating with each of the performers, who came up during their verses for Swad’s performance. “Left 4 Me,” has a swanky R&B lilt to it, like an updated Justin Timberlake. Swad’s sense of lyrical rapping is breathtaking, and he has clear control of when to slow it down or go double-time, like Andre 3000. On the other hand, Swad isn’t afraid to switch his delivery into singing, like Drake, which he does on “Try Me.” And the words themselves are clever, as Swad compares smoking to heartbreak on “Hotbox.” This is an incredible artist and it’s so exciting to wonder what he will do in the future.
Swad is on the right. Photo care of Swad’s Instagram.
Like the best rap, the XFaded Collective has its crew and offers inspiration in this world. It’s clear the best music lasts because of its wisdom, and the soulful rhymes of the Golden Age of Hip Hop seem to get better over time. The XFaded Collective has a long future of careers individually and, yes, collectively, shows solo or with all of them together, and intricate innovations are definitely in store. This collective reminds one of a young Tribe Called Quest, and the possibilities are endless for this Long Island crew.
