Pale Kid Doesn’t Only Rap Fast (Interview Project 1: George Watsky)

My name is Jenni Powell. Some of you know me from my work on the first few episodes of BlackBoxTV.  I also wrote for Tubefilter and have been a huge fan of YouTube and web series since 2006.  Phil asked me to work with him on a project that would share with The Nation some of the artists and creators on YouTube that you may not have had a chance to check out yet…including ones suggested by you.

When beginning this project, Phil and I were bouncing around ideas on what format it could take and the discussion lead to video interviews.  He wanted to know a creator I thought would be interesting to introduce that had a unique voice that people may or may not be familiar with. Without hesitation, I said, “George Watsky.”

Watsky had already hit our radar around the office. His video “Pale Kid Raps Fast” was passed desk to desk and Phil had featured it (the video now has over 8 million views).  I then explored his YouTube channel and discovered that being able to rap fast was just the tip of the iceberg with Watsky.  Here lied a true celebrator of hip-hop and spoken work poetry as an art form, using it as an expression of the struggles of just being alive: from dealing with having a lisp to what it feels like to have a seizure to tackling the challenges of being…inexperienced.  From the overarching to the personal, Watsky presents poetry in a way that is engaging to those who might have once considered it stuffy and old-fashioned.  He also plays the harmonica and doesn’t use an Emcee name.

And did I mention he’s just 23 years old and has been doing this for 9 years? You do the math.

And check out Watsky’s latest:

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