“Dang!”
Unleashing a dorky white-boy rap sounding like it could be the product of Napoleon Dynamite joining forces with un-hip brother Kip, the second single from global combo Modem Romance is rather politely coming atcha May 13.
‘Not On Your Nelly’ might be one of the most unlikely song titles – possibly ever – and plays to some of the cultural / language differences between US singer / producer Ryan Hamilton and lyrical instigator Steve Rosier (UK).
“Ryan is a bit of an Anglophile from his frequent trips to the UK, and the thought of this ridiculous phrase coming out of his Texan mouth was too good to miss!” says Rosier.
Modem Romance originally began life as an experimental project between the two friends, Rosier submitting a phrase a week for Hamilton to craft a song around.
“This one definitely took me by surprise”, chuckles Hamilton, “what is a Nelly and how the heck can I get that into a song? Luckily I love a challenge!”
Featuring a sax riff that would sit proudly as an Australian Soap Opera theme tune and a keyboard sound straight from an 80s movie soundtrack, the outfit certainly lives up to its ‘nerd’ tag.
“Inventing a brand new music genre in ‘Yacht Hop Nerd Rock’ – we were intrigued as to who – if anyone – would interested in this sound”, continues Hamilton. “We’ve been somewhat taken aback with the amazing response so far!”
Featuring Phil the Frenchman on sax and Magical Mix Master Roman from Argentina, Hamilton says that Modem Romance is very much set up to collaborate with artists all over the world. “That’s part of what excites me about this project, how we can send our music to these talented individuals and see what they can bring to the party. It’s a total revelation!”
The lyrics aren’t your usual expletive riddled hip-hop fare, either. “Maybe I should’ve been a little more fudged up?”, questions Hamilton in Not On Your Nelly.
“We made a conscious decision early in the birth of Modem Romance”, informs Rosier, “that it shouldn’t have actual swear words. We needed something more gentle for the vibe we’d created. A bit like Samuel L. Jackson being ridiculously dubbed with ‘muddy funsters’ for prime-time TV, or the ‘devour feculence’ moment on Severance. Something with humour – a bit more creative”.
Probably no coincidence then that the track also mentions ‘Mom’s spaghetti’, a clear reference to one of Marshall Mathers III’s least sweary tracks, ‘Lose Yourself’.
Hip-hop you can listen to with the whole family, then?
“If it’s not inconvenient, please stay”, pleads Hamilton at one point on the track. With wildly off-beat and inventive sounds such as this, may the same kindly be said for Modem Romance.
Not On Your Nelly is released across all digital streaming channels on May 13.
