July 9, 2015

"It wasn’t my plan to record this at the Apple Store. First, my computer died. Then my external died."

"New York is expensive. I couldn’t just buy another laptop. I just thought, 'I’m going to die before anyone knows I’m hot.'"
[Rapper Prince Harvey] took up residence at SoHo's sunny Apple Store, where he claims to have quietly recorded an entire album using just his voice and a demo laptop....
The album is "PHATASS(Prince Harvey At The Apple Store Soho)."

I ran across that via my Google alert on "Bob Dylan." The Dylan context is:
"The video began as an ode to Bob Dylan and 'Subterranean Homesick Blues.' I asked my friend Gretchen Robinette to shoot me dropping cue cards through cars on a moving train, and since she’s a Dylan fan I knew she’d be down.... From that Dylan homage, I developed this concept of "What if life only existed underground?"
Here's that video:



As for the old Dylan video — in case it's not seared in your memory or you just want to see it again — it's somewhere in here.

9 comments:

tim maguire said...

It wasn't Prince Harvey's plan to record "Prince Harvey At The Apple Store Soho" at an Apple Store in SoHo? It just worked out that way?

Remarkable coincidence.

Bob Boyd said...

Sorry, but that's unlistenable to me.
However, between 0:32 and 0:34, signs seem to ask a penetrating question regarding etiquette in public restrooms.
Is he making a statement about his personal philosophy? Or did it just work out that way?

Fernandinande said...

Free advertising for Apple and some guy.

Richard Lawrence Cohen said...

It's very good to see hip-hoppers acknowledging Dylan -- and especially recognizing that song as a hip-hop landmark, and its video as *the* ancestral music video. As when punks and alternative rockers acknowledged Neil Young.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

I almost made it through the first 3 seconds.

Known Unknown said...

Pretty good for a demo laptop at an Apple shop. His writing is better than his rapping.

He seems smart.

pdug said...

I was intrigued by the artwork/statuary in the subway station. Very strategic under the stairs and on ledges people (homeless people) might like to sleep on or lurk.

Clever.

madAsHell said...

The working title for the album was BDASS.

Unfortunately, Dylan couldn't find the Apple store in Soho.

Mid-Life Lawyer said...

I'm proud to say that I made it all the way to :53 seconds. I've always prided myself on my tolerance to pain.