Skip to main content

Maverick Ad

Home

Main navigation

  • Home
  • Cover Stories
  • Features
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Cashbox Legacy Awards
  • Past Covers
  • Weekly Archive
High In The ’90s: Toronto Hip Hop - Funk Connoisseur John Orpheus Heats Up The Summer By Taking Us Back

Breadcrumb

  • Home
  • High In The ’90s: Toronto Hip Hop - Funk Connoisseur John Orpheus Heats Up The Summer By Taking Us Back
John Orpheus
Fri May 17, 2024
Cashbox Canada

Get Right! EP Release Party June 18 at The Rivoli. Tickets Now Available: eventbrite.com/e/john-orpheus-get-right-ep-release-celebration-tickets-880410671017?aff=oddtdtcreator

Baggy jeans and Timberlands for everybody! Toronto hip hop - funk connoisseur John Orpheus teleports us back to the salad days of the late 20th century on his new single, “90’s Fool.” And young and old alike take notice: What we have here is a throwback with real pull. Check it out on YouTube here:

From one listen to this irresistible faux time capsule, it’s clear Orpheus hasn’t missed a period detail—whether it’s the Dre-like siren song of the long, held keyboard notes or the lyrical references to everything from the Fugees’ breakup to Janet Jackson’s infamous encounter with Tupac on Poetic Justice. And if all that namedropping goes over anyone’s head, the joyful chorus refrain underlines just where—and when—Orpheus is coming from:

I came up in the ’90s fool
Never playing by no rules

Yeah we used to play it cool
Now we still do what we do

“I wanted to make a song where I could reminisce about the past, celebrate the present and see the future, all in the same place,” Orpheus says. “It’s catchy, singable, danceable and will make your uncles and aunties do funny dances and tell stories that make no sense.”

Listen on Spotify here: open.spotify.com/track/4j4XE1Vu8PSOwIvG0AEsrg

The kinfolks’ tongues will really be wagging when they see the accompanying music video, in which Orpheus takes a colorful walking tour through the street art and other visual iconography of the decade. Over to director Agata Waclawska, who shot the clip:

“’90s Fool’ was a journey back in time, a nostalgic exploration of an era defined by its music, its style and its attitude. Bringing John Orpheus into this vibrant landscape, surrounded by the relics of the past, was like watching a modern-day time traveler embrace his roots. With each step through the city streets, we aimed to capture not just the sights, but the essence of ’90s cool. It’s a celebration of authenticity, of staying true to oneself even as the world changes around us.”

Yet for the performer himself, the point of the single and video wasn’t to simply wallow in nostalgia, but to use yesterday as the foundation for an artistic identity that’s very much of the moment.

“I’m not trying to live in the past,” he explains. “I’m trying to understand what my vision of myself is, so that I can live here and now. That vision was formed in the ’90s. So, I guess what’s unique is that the song is my version of the ’90s and the things I liked and that shaped me personally.”

The song is yet another tasty appetizer for Orpheus’ forthcoming EP, Get Right! Like the title track that dropped back in March, the record mines the same vein of vintage funk and R&B the artist first began to explore on his 2021 album, Saga King—with sprinkles of everything from dancehall to Afrobeats mixed in to give it all a unique flava. The new EP was tracked in a frenzied nine days’ worth of activity at Copper Sound in Guelph, with musical director Adam Bowman and producer Mike Schlosser helping to preserve the immediacy of performances that prioritized good, old-fashioned live instrumentation. Expect a dynamic re-creation of the energy and spontaneity Orpheus has brought to the stage in festival gigs and show-opening slots throughout Canada, the U.S., and the UK—high-octane affairs that have been known to erupt into bouts of audience participation, chanting and impromptu dance-offs straight out of a Caribana road party.

It’s all a distinctly different high from the one Orpheus gets from writing under the name of his literary alter ego, Antonio Michael Downing. As Downing, he’s published a well-received memoir and two children’s books, with his first-ever novel, Black Cherokee, soon to follow.

In its own way, maintaining two distinctly different yet complementary personas is great ongoing practice for the balancing act he’s pulling off so winningly as John Orpheus. “90’s Fool” may revel in back-in-the day boosterism, but its author says the real agenda of his music is to break down the barriers between then and now, erecting a playing space that’s beyond the limits of mere time.

“There were no ’90s or 2010s,” he muses. “We are people living lives that are much more fluid than that. So, I want to make music that’s neither trying to be old school or new school but is a place where we can all can hang out: THE WHOLE SCHOOL.”

Class dismissed … for now.

johnorpheus007.bandcamp.com/track/get-right

Reviews
Album
John Orpheus
Month: May 2022
Jim Dan Dee Blues Dynamos Jim Dan Dee Deliver Premium Grit & Growl with New Single…
GURTH Canadian Rockers GURTH Offer Up a Potent Post-Hardcore Anthem in New…
Gabi Epstein Gabi Epstein Pays Tribute to Barbra Streisand with New Single, “Don’t Rain On My…
Americana Singer/Songwriter Doug Schmude is “On The Run” in Adventurous New Single Americana Singer/Songwriter Doug Schmude is “On The Run” in Adventurous New Single
David Bray David Bray Completes Trilogy with 'Land of Extremes' Album
Dan Frechette & Laurel Thomsen Dan Frechette & Laurel Thomsen Say “Money Shouldn’t Talk That Strong”
Deborah Lynn Chart-Topping, Award-Winning Canadian Country Artist Deborah Lynn Unveils “…
Canadian Alt-Indie Rock Duo Blackout Orchestra Unveil “Unfound” Canadian Alt-Indie Rock Duo Blackout Orchestra Unveil “Unfound”
Grunge-Punk Band Bad Skin Sing About the Sorrow of a Bad Breakup on New Single, “Completely Insane” Grunge-Punk Band Bad Skin Sing About the Sorrow of a Bad Breakup on New…
D.K. LYONS Manhattan-Based Pop Artist D.K. LYONS Breathes Readies the Season of Sun with…
Harriet Chung Award-Winning Canadian Artist Harriet Chung Takes a Musical Journey of the…
Laurie LeBlanc Laurie LeBlanc Counts His Blessings with the Release of New Single, “Lucky In Love (…
Ceesar Canadian Breakout Pop Producer Ceesar Creates Heat Waves With New Summer…
Pop-Funk Group Numb Tongues Savour Some Seriously Delicious Grooves with New Single, “Dance” Pop-Funk Group Numb Tongues Savour Some Seriously Delicious Grooves with…
OLENKA Reflects On The Downfalls Of Stardom In Her Newest Single, “Sad Boy Popstar” OLENKA Reflects On The Downfalls Of Stardom In Her Newest Single, “Sad Boy Popstar”

Pagination

  • First page « First
  • Previous page ‹ Previous
  • …
  • Page 67
  • Page 68
  • Page 69
  • Page 70
  • Current page 71
  • Page 72
  • Page 73
  • Page 74
  • Page 75
  • …
  • Next page Next ›
  • Last page Last »

CEO/PUBLISHER/EDITOR IN CHIEF
SANDY GRAHAM

email:sandygrahamemg@gmail.com 

Canadian Journalists:

Contributing Journalist - Canada and Global
Don Graham
email: dongrahamwriter@gmail.com

Contributing Journalist - Canada and Global
Lisa Hartt
email: lisahartt87@hotmail.com

Contributing Journalist - Canada 
Michael Williams
email: greydread@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

International Journalists:

Contributing Journalist - Sweden
Malin Osth
email: malin@musicdays.se

Contributing Journalist - Sweden
Jonas Tancred
email: jonas@musicdays.se

Contributing Journalist - USA
Rob Durkee 
email: rockster2746@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Web Developer/Technical Support
Chris Wardman

email: info@chriswardman.com
website: chriswardman.com

Cashbox Cover Design and Graphic Artist
Jain McMillan

email: jainmcmillan@gmail.com

Contributing Photographer 
Tracey Savein - South Paw Productions
southpawproductions@rogers.com

 

 

 

Footer menu

  • Home
  • Features
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Cashbox Archive
  • Issue Archive
  • Past Covers