Interview: Pell Talks LIMBO, Levitation, & Much More

Earlier this week New Orleans rapper Pell came through to Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn for a listening concert for his second LP titled LIMBO. The crowd was definitely responsive, and nobody in that crowd should be in limbo about copping the album that drops Friday (November 6). In addition to putting on a good show, Pell sat down with us to talk about Limbo, touring with Kehlani, and much more. Check out the insightful interview below.

RESPECT.: What should your fans expect from LIMBO?

Pell: The fans should expect a more progressive sound from me and a more upbeat tempo sound. But also a darker sound because I’ve been going through a transition in life that’s a little bit more that’s new to me. You know what I mean, as any transition would be. But it’s like I’m just going through a bunch of different phases of growing up essentially so that’s what you’ll hear in the project.

R: What about new listeners, how do you think they’ll receive it?

P: I think they’ll receive it with open arms because it’s something that like has this certain punch to it, that like instant gratification to it that as soon as you hear it like shocks you from jump. And that’s one thing I’ve been trying to adapt and implement in my music so it’s cool for it to be that.

R: What inspired the visual for your LIMBO cut “Café Du Monde?”

P: What inspired that, it’s just really a cautionary tale of people that like lie to themselves and lie to others about who they are and what they’ve done, so much so to the point where they don’t even who they are themselves. And it causes them to do things that a normal human being wouldn’t do, you know what I mean. That’s why you have scenarios of people cheating on their significant other or somebody going as far as to commit rape just so that he can be accepted into masculine society. Just because he feels he has to live up to some expectation that is unlike himself.

R: I understand that Café Du Monde is an actual cafe in New Orleans, what of the themes that I find in your music is the term “feel good.” What’s your favorite feel good food?

P: Ooh my favorite feel good. That’s a good a question by the way. My favorite feel good food is jambalaya.

R: Jambalaya why?

P: Cause my Mom makes it really good. And I feel like being from New Orleans that’s something that my Grandma and my Mom made very well and it kinda just stuck with me. It would be between that or gumbo. But obviously I feel like jambalaya just, I like rice, and it’s a comfort food. It’s always something that I remember and associate with being home.

R: At first glance your other tracks “Queso” and “Almighty Dollar” may come off as just being about having money and getting money but they’re about much more. What makes you feel rich? Not materialistically, but in life overall?

P: Love you know what I mean that’s something you can’t substitute with anything, like no dollar sign amount. I feel like that’s the key to feeling rich. And having knowledge of self, those two things are really what make you happy at the end of the day, that may you feel rich as a human being. If you don’t have those you’re poor. Poor in spirit and poor in health usually. Once you have those two things going for you nothing can stop you.

R: One of your LIMBO tracks is titled “‘93 Supreme.” The title alone makes me think of fashion so I wanted to ask you how would you describe your sense of style?

P: That’s funny because I actually named that song after I’m just gonna give some background, but I am going to talk about my style. “93 Supreme” I named it after gasoline I was thinking more of like weed, like sour diesel. You got gas you know is just another brand of smoking. But I thought it would be interesting to title it that.

My fashion is more centered around what catches my eye at the time. And it changes and it varies. But I like to wear things that represent how I’m feeling. A lot of times I feel really relaxed and reserved and that’s when I’ll wear collared shirts a lot, I’m a big fan of button ups, I’m a big fans of collared shirts. And I think that comes from me being in the South for so long where I see a lot of preppy attire as people would call it attire. And like I just mentioned button ups, and even like Khaki pants, Khaki shorts, Wallabees. I think that’s something I’ve adapted to my style but I’ve recently been in big cities like L.A. and New York. So I feel like I’ve taken on a whole new urban look with it as well, I don’t call it urban but you know what I mean. Like t-shirts and long fitting shirts with that. So that’s where my style is right now. Urban preppy.

R: Still going along with that song it’s “‘93 Supreme,” how old are you?

P: I’m 23.

R: I’m a ‘93 baby. My 11th birthday coincided with when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.

P: That’s crazy. it was unfortunate for everybody that lived there as well as just the whole nation was struck by it because New Orleans is one of those cities that everybody loves you know what I mean. It’s different from any other city in America. We have a rich culture, and a rich vibe that always has. You mentioned before feel good, we have a great electricity, and everybody feels good in New Orleans 24/7. It was a great tragedy. That’s crazy that it coincided with your birthday.

R: I peep that on LIMBO you have a track called “The Wild.” Is that supposed to be an ode to your 2012 project of the same name?

P: Yes. It is. Actually I had been working on music with my homie Stacks. But we were on tour with Kehlani and his hardrive crashed, and we had to scrap the music we were working on for this project. And we looked at “The Wild” as a song that didn’t have the platform at the time, like people weren’t really listening to it, and we wanted to basically reintroduce it because it’s such a great song and it still embodies what we’re going through today.

R: What was it like touring with Kehlani were her fans receptive? Did they get a preview of the LIMBO cuts? How was that experience for you?

P: That experience was so great. Being on tour with Kehlani is one of the best experiences I’ve had because I got to see people who, some of her camp is younger than I am especially she’s younger than me, and I got to be inspired again. Sometimes when you look up to people who’ve already been there and done that, you look at where you are differently. And to see people who are younger than me putting as much work if not more than every day. You know what I mean we’re working every day altogether for a common goal. And seeing how teams function is a beautiful thing. Because it doesn’t happen for everybody like that, a lot people don’t have teams and people that are willing to ride or die for them every day. And it’s good that they’re like a family cause they make me appreciate my family even more, and the people that are around me every day. It was beautiful thing. And she’s talented so it was a win win.

And her fans are amazing because actually at most of the shows I remember girls would come up to me and they would tell me that they hadn’t listened to me before I was going on tour with her and when they found out we were gonna have a show together, they learned all of my music and were singing along with me at every stop. And it’s crazy, they’re just so receptive you know what I mean cause they’re so young and we’re all going to be able to grow with them.

R: “Vanilla Sky” is one of my favorite tracks since there’s a “Vanilla Sky 2.0” on LIMBO could you explain how the original track came together?

P: The original track came together awhile ago I was visiting New York. I was in Brooklyn with the homies they’re now called Lion Share. Well no, they’re now, they changed their name. I still call them Lion Share. My good friends Jesse and Chris. We working on a bunch of different things, we had basically arranged an EP, like we had made so many songs together. This was one of the last ones that we worked on. And we were working on a vibe that was a little bit earthy and a lot of Rock influence to it, like that’s why you have the guitar in it. And the melody came to me instantly. And we started like vibing with it, and at the time I just felt like speaking everything that was on my mind, it was a beautiful process.

R: I just really like the song.

P: That’s dope, that’s crazy, that’s a crazy song. It’s all about people who, especially in today’s society where like internet is quick to love and then to hate things. It’s good to have those people around you who keep your moral support up, and not even just moral support, but just tell you what you need to get through the day, sometimes it’s not all good knowing the worst is about to come, or you’re about to grow through something that you might not want to go through sometimes you need that little pep talk with someone who’s close to you to help you get through it. That’s really what it is about “Vanilla Sky,” that’s really why I wrote it, for anybody that needs that boost or that lift from they know and trust that can get them through a hard time.

R: On your LP release Floating While Dreaming you had quite a few featured artists, LIMBO doesn’t have any. Can you explain why you decided not to have people featured on your tracks this time around?

P: I feel like it coincided with the whole idea of isolation, that this project is coming from, the perspective of isolation. I wanted it just be my voice heard in, from a bunch of different perspectives that all leading up to same culminating point and I felt like sometimes features can distract from the main ideology of where the artist is coming from. And in this particular case, I wanted to make sure that my voice was heard throughout. And it’s shorter than Floating While Dreaming, so my voice won’t get tired.

R: What sparked your fascination with levitation? I see that on your project covers whether you’re horizontal or vertical and I wanted to know why.

P: Natsumi Hayashi. She’s the truth. One of my friends Avery Nejam, who did all the artwork for Floating While Dreaming as well as LIMBO introduced me to her and came up with some cool concepts around levitation photography because that’s what’s she’s known for. And I looked it up after she had told me about it, and we were like we have to do this and it coincided with everything I wanted to talk about. And it was just the idea of being elevated, or floating onto your dreams, or moving on to the next thing. It played perfect with everything that I want to do.

R: Can you talk about your last LIMBO track “Sandlot?”

P: When I was recording the track Sandlot was on. Like my homie has a VHS player, and he put in Sandlot. We were watching Sandlot while it was being made, and it was just perfect because it was like the last track that I made on the album really. And that’s it’s last and it’s just felt very really chill, surreal, and cerebral. And I wanted to make sure that it encompassed the idea of not being where you fully want to be yet, but at the same time not selling yourself short because you’re not there yet. Sometimes you can psych yourself out and like “I’m never gonna get there cause I’m not there now.” But all you have to realize is that working every day for that future thing to happen or whatever outcome you want to happen like months from now or years from now, so all you can do is be comfortable where you’re at.

R: For those that are reading this right now, for those that feel like they’re in limbo what advice would you give them?

P: Get back in touch with your roots, you know what I mean find family, friends, who make you remember who you were, before you feel like you were in a situation of limbo or you’re a transitional space, and they’ll help you see where you’re headed. In order to know where you’re going you have to see where you’ve come from.

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LIMBO drops tomorrow, find $10 and buy it.