Top 3 Music Artists You Need To Know - THE Q SiDE

QUDDUS: Welcome to the Q Side.
I'm Quddus, and this is a fresh experience of
entertainment.
MATEO: This is when you feel like I'm
actually living my dream.
QUDDUS: You're confessing that you have a
thing for black girls.
Is this a big deal?
DA: I wouldn't think of it as confessing.
JANINA GAVANKAR: We just wrapped the fifth season of
True Blood.
And I decided to release a single.
QUDDUS: All right.
So let me break down how this is going to go.
Every week I'm going to give you guys the top three things
I think are going on in pop culture.
I'm going to give it a score, a Q score, three, two, or one.
Today's edition is all about artists on the edge.
The innovators, the boundary pushers, who happen to be
three very good friends of mine.
Janina Gavankar, D.A. from Chester French, and Mateo.

Coming in at number three is Mateo.
Anybody that knows me knows that I signed him when I was
at a record label working as an
artist development executive.
Now, he's working with people like Alicia Keys.
And he's making me real proud.
So we got a chance to hang out at Lab Art, very cool art
gallery here in Los Angeles.
And you get a chance to see how it went down.

Man this is making me hungry for chocolate.
MATEO: I know.
I'm starving too man.
QUDDUS: And ironically I also want to go to church.
MATEO: You want to go to church.
QUDDUS: This is a cool piece because I feel like--
MATEO: That's ill.
QUDDUS: --it's obviously got really dark overtones.
But then the color is there.
MATEO: It's cool enough where it's not too scary.
In the bedroom, it's probably more creepy.
QUDDUS: Yeah, don't put that in the bedroom.
MATEO: In a hallway, it could work in a hallway.
That's a hallway piece right there.
QUDDUS: Who's your favorite artist?
MATEO: Basquiat.
QUDDUS: Ah yeah.
MATEO: Hence the tattoo.
QUDDUS: What does it say?
MATEO: "Stand in the music.
It's safe there." It was still kind of raw, the
way he did his art.

QUDDUS: Now do you find that the debate about, what is art,
is a really interesting conversation?
Because I feel like so many things could be
qualified as art.
MATEO: That's the same with music though, really.
Because every generation always downplays that next
generation's music, like that's not music.
It's too simple.
It's too simplistic.
But sometimes simple things are the most genius things.
QUDDUS: What was it like writing with Alicia Keys?
MATEO: I was scared as hell.
And I was like, she's going to look right through me.
And she's going to see, he's a fraud.
I went that far.
Dude, I was scared.
And then as soon as I walked in--
And she's beautiful.
She's beautiful.
She's so talented.
And her vibe and her energy is so humble
and so cool and chill.
You know, this is fun.
This is when you feel like, OK I'm actually living my dream.
QUDDUS: Anything you would pick up here?
MATEO: Yeah dude.
I love these things, these Louis triple x things.
QUDDUS: Is it the color?
MATEO: It's not elementary, but it reminds you of
something basic back, but it's still brilliant.
QUDDUS: Right.
It brings you back to the child in you.
MATEO: It's almost like he was a kid and
he was making something.
But it's still very profound, you know?
QUDDUS: Now is that how you feel when
you make a good song?
Do you get that giddy feeling?
MATEO: It's so weird.
It's like some great songs, you feel giddy about it.
And then some songs make you feel like a grown man.
It's really crazy what a chord can do.
Or when I strike a piano chord, it
could tell me so much.
QUDDUS: So obviously you're on my iPod.
I want to know what's on your iPod.
Who are your favorites?
MATEO: Frank Ocean is on there heavy right now.
I'm a huge Coldplay.
So Coldplay is always in rotation.
Watch the Throne definitely is in rotation.
I love Adele and also LCD Soundsystem.
QUDDUS: Mmhmm.
MATEO: Yeah, yeah.
I love indie rock stuff, especially when it's that
electronic stuff.
QUDDUS: Dude I'm excited that the mixtape is out.
MATEO: Dude it's amazing.
QUDDUS: Congratulations on Suite 823.
I feel like it's a real big deal.
It's a big step in your creativity.
MATEO: Yeah.
It feels good.
I think it's the best body of work together, complete that I
put out so far.
I'm really happy with it.
QUDDUS: And now you'll get to work on more
bodies because of it.
MATEO: Let's do it.
See how I do that?
See how I do that?
Prophetic.
I told you.
QUDDUS: If you haven't downloaded Suite 823 by now,
slap yourself and go ahead and do that.
Because right now it's free on his website, OK?
Now moving on.
We got number two, DA from Chester French.
Now Chester French is one of those bands that's been on the
cusp for a minute.
Pharrell signed him.
Diddy co-signed him.
He's also the artist in residence at Spotify now.
And he's making some real commentary in his music, which
I'm very excited about.
So we want on a hike in one of the nicest trails in Los
Angeles called TreePeople.
See how we got down.

I love your story dude.
Because if I went to Harvard, I would probably endeavor to
run a CEO kind of situation.
And you became a rockstar.
DA: I decided very early on that I was going to treat
school just as an interesting thing.
And that it was going to be of very little significance to
whatever I did careerwise.
I also had this band.
And we got really lucky.
And we got a record deal right when we were graduating from
school, otherwise I would've gotten a job.
QUDDUS: Do you, now having a million followers on Twitter,
have to really deliberate the importance and significance of
every tweet?
DA: The things that people seem to respond to most that
I've ever done in music or on Twitter
are just really honest.
Just by being genuine, people respond to that.
QUDDUS: Yeah you're definitely a genuine dude.
And you confessed to having a thing for black girls.

DA: It was a big moment.
QUDDUS: Confessing that you have a thing for black girls
is a big deal?
DA: I wouldn't think of it as confessing.
Because that almost implies there's
something wrong with it.
Interracial love is still a touchy thing to people.
And it's interesting to me that that still is
inflammatory to people.
QUDDUS: What is it exactly about black girls.
Let's talk about them because they're so lovely.
I do want to discuss black girls.
DA: I think everyone has aesthetic taste.
And I just happen to think that black women are
exceptionally beautiful in a lot of cases.
And that's why in the video we chose to have a same sex love
scene that was interracial.
People came out saying this is
exploitative or this is whatever.
To me, there's nothing exploitative about finding
same-sex love or interracial love beautiful.
QUDDUS: Did you know this was going to have
that kind of reaction?
DA: Yeah.
Yeah.
The first lyrics of the song are "This ain't no fetish.
Ain't objectifying no one.
I reject your deconstruction of my taste." Because what I'm
really trying to say is, this isn't what you think it is.
I'm literally just saying that I like black women.
I think they're beautiful.
That's all there is.
QUDDUS: But still people took it there.
DA: Of course.
But you got black women saying either, I wish I had this song
in high school because I always felt like
no one liked me.
Then you had people on YouTube posting
incredibly racist comments.
But to me, the fact that it drew all that out and created
a conversation was what was powerful.
If you can do something with your art, I think getting
people to have a conversation about something deep like that
is one of the most satisfying outcomes.
QUDDUS: Absolutely.
That's the whole point of being an artist.
So I commend you for that.
DA: Yeah man.
QUDDUS: If that was too much of a tease for you to see
those beautiful women in that video and just hear us talking
about it, go ahead and check him out and
check the video out.
It is on YouTube right now.
Coming in at number one in our artists on the
edge is Janina Gavankar.
She is one of the stars of True Blood.
But she is really making some interesting moves
in the music biz.
So much that Randy Jackson signed her.
She is now doing some very innovative music that would
make Imogen Heap proud.
Take a look at what we got to see on the exclusive, first
look at her music video getting made.

So we are so blessed.
We actually have a moment with--
This is so behind the scenes.
JANINA GAVANKAR: This is so crazy.
Talk about behind the scenes.
It's like between shots.
I just did a half stunt.
I got flour all over me.
QUDDUS: It seems to be a pretty ambitious shoot.
JANINA GAVANKAR: It's more than ambitious.
This is a 30 plus crew.
And we just wrapped the fifth season of True Blood.
And everybody else is on vacation.
And I decided to release a single.
QUDDUS: You're a workaholic.
JANINA GAVANKAR: I don't what you mean.
QUDDUS: You have a lot of passions.
JANINA GAVANKAR: People know that I'm a gamer more than
people know I'm a musician.
If I was really famous, then people would know that I
actually make music.
We wouldn't be having this conversation.
QUDDUS: You're about to be really uber, uber famous.
JANINA GAVANKAR: That's very nice of you.
But I don't really care.
I still just like to make the things the way I
like to make them.
It's not really a priority.
QUDDUS: But you got Randy Jackson backing you.
JANINA GAVANKAR: Oh yeah, but it's a very indie operation.
He basically said, look you're weird and I like it.
So stay weird and go make weird stuff and
come back to me.
QUDDUS: For somebody like you to actually have a vision and
be able to execute it, it makes it all that much better.
It makes it more authentic.
It makes it more powerful at the end of the day.
JANINA GAVANKAR: I mean I hope so.
QUDDUS: And it's exhausting in the process.
JANINA GAVANKAR: It's exhausting.
I don't know how we're pulling this off.
But we are.
And it's ambitious and we know that.
But whatever.
There's stunts happening, by the way, right now.
Can we talk and walk at the same time.
QUDDUS: Absolutely.
We can do a couple of things.
What is it like watching yourself on True Blood.
JANINA GAVANKAR: It's very weird.
It's weird.
MALE SPEAKER 1 (OFFSCREEN): Quiet please.
JANINA GAVANKAR: Oh OK.
Let's see what happens.
Oh let's go over there.
QUDDUS: I'll clean you off, if you want.
JANINA GAVANKAR: OK let's go.
Come on.
QUDDUS: What the heck is going on with the video?
What's the concept?
JANINA GAVANKAR: OK so here we go.
The song is called "Waiting for Godot." So Waiting for
Godot is actually a Samuel Beckett play.
It's basically a play about two men who sit together and
contemplate life and death and wait and wait and wait for a
man who never comes.
This song is actually about waiting for a
sign from my father.
QUDDUS: Oh.
Aww.
JANINA GAVANKAR: I know right?
Yeah, so he just passed in January.
Basically everything on this EP is going to be about him.
So deal with it.
QUDDUS: Well you're dealing with it, by doing this music.
JANINA GAVANKAR: At some point I realized it's
never going to stop.
It's never going to get easier.
So that realization was actually
really, really helpful.
So then I just started writing about it.
QUDDUS: Well that's where art is at its finest, right?
When you actually tackle your life through it.
JANINA GAVANKAR: You hope so.
You can't make stuff for other people.
Otherwise it hurts you when they don't like it.
So I've just decided to not give a
shit and make it anyway.
QUDDUS: Good for you.
What a lovely human being and so, so talented.
Glad y'all got to check us out this week on our premiere
episode of The Q Side.
And make sure you come back to Loud.
Every Tuesday, we are preparing a new episode
delving into the entertainment business like never before.
And remember, comment, subscribe.
Let me know what's good at my Twitter.
Let me know who you want to see and what you want to see.
Anything in the entertainment business, I will investigative
it just for you.
Make sure you check us out next time and get
your Q score up.
And this is a fresh experience of entertainment.
MATEO: This is when you feel like, I'm
actually living my dream.
MALE SPEAKER 2: You are interested in DTF?
MALE SPEAKER 3: I don't know what DTF is.
MALE SPEAKER 2: You're interested.
MALE SPEAKER 4: [INAUDIBLE]
switching my position left butt cheek.
Pissed because I know my stupid phone is going to ring.
[INAUDIBLE]