Run It Back: Revisiting E. Grizzly's 2016 Synth, Calypso, Punk, Afrobeat, Hardcore, Dance Hall, Reggaeton & Metal-fusing Hip-Hop Concept Album FELIPE PUPO (A-Ha! Records)
"E. Grizzly is a progressive Hip-Hop artist from Philadelphia, PA specializing in a philosophical, poetic flow similar to Mos Def, Kendrick Lamar, Anderson.Paak, and Zach de la Rocha. The point of E. Grizzly's brand of music is to share new perspectives and challenge social standards accepted by the majority of society," reads the intro to E. Grizzly's press BIO fittingly titled, The Synth Calypso Punk Experiment. Now, many of you may recognize Erik "E." Grizzly's name from a few recent posts published right here within the pages of The Witzard: he designed an impressive zombified Breakfast Club show flyer for The Punk Rap Show held on May 6th, which I used as artwork for a recent MANIK|NETER EP write-up (as well as my lock screen background!) E. Grizzly was also included within a photo of what's very recently been dubbed the "Philly Squad," which includes—in addition to Grizzly himself—Darko The Super, ialive, Johann Sebastian, and Carl Kavorkian (MANIK|NETER.) E. Grizzly considers himself an audio/visual artist and in addition to making his own genre-blending music, also produces with a group of friends, and currently books shows for himself and his fellow Philly and East Coast-based musicians.
E. Grizzly has issused five self-released solo albums and mixtapes since 2010: THE REVOLUTION WILL BE TELEVISED on Miami's Puerto Roc Records, pre-Run The Jewels El-P remixing HELLDOESNOTEXISTASWEKNOWITBIZZAROMIXVOL0, RJD2-flipping Generation 01000001, Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor & How to Destroy Angels-remixing How to Destroy Everything, and his latest Hip-Hop, Punk, Afrobeat, Hardcore, Dance Hall, Calypso, Reggaeton, Metal, and Synth-Pop-blending Felipe Pupo. Grizzly has additionally recorded two albums with bands based out of Miami and Philly throughout his brief, yet incredibly expansive career: an "Experimental, Heavy Rock/Hip-Hop kind of thing" with AlukarD on Labeless Records called One shoT (2010) and The NAH Mixtape (2012) produced by drummer Mike Kuhn from NAH and 1994! with a little help from Lancaster's No Heroes and P.K.G. out of Philly. "E. Grizzly has performed over 100 shows in the Miami, Philadelphia, and New York area and is recognized in these scenes."
"The inspiration for this album came from a bass player and a good friend named Jason Pupo. We wanted to start a band that was as much fun as possible. We decided to do a Synth-Calypso-Punk set, so people can dance and rage. Everything revolved around having a good time. He then passed away before we could even start recording. That took the idea in a whole new direction and it became a homage to Pupo. That's when I started to write about ghosts. And not just cliche ghosts, but a whole psychoanalysis about things that typically haunt the average person. Now, it's just trying to have the time of our lives with the things that scare us the most," E. Grizzly said of the inspiration behind Felipe Pupo. It was entirely produced, recorded (including all instrumentation,) mixed, and mastered by E. Grizzly, Scott Labenski, and the ghost of Jason Pupo at Home Bassment Studios in Lancaster, PA. E. Grizzly very recently professed to be "taking a month off shows" to focus on writing and producing his next project aimed for a Summer or Fall release; although, he played two shows just this past Sunday, May 28th and currently has gigs booked for 6/22 (E. Grizzly solo) at Safety Meeting with LT Headtrip of The Karma Kids, Ray Strife, The Kankers, and Planet 88 and 6/30 (with Felipe Pupo) at The Pharmacy with Carl Kavorkian, The Sh*thawks, and Planet 88 BOTH in West-South Philly.