Real Legit: Jayson Musson

Philadelphia based artist Jayson Musson likes to stick his nose in every possible right place, with every possible right person. (Pun most likely intended.) A Jack of all trades, Musson spends his minutes writing, drawing, rapping in the group Plastic Little, and painting. Born in the Bronx and "trained" at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Musson's work has been featured in over a dozen exhibits in the States, along with the UK. One of his works, Too Black for B.E.T. is a collection of 34 word-based posters that covers topics like sex, drugs, Harry Potters, more drugs, and terrorism. He ruthlessly unleashed whatever was on his mind in 29 columns for the Philadelphia Weekly where he took full advantage of the free range given to him covering topics like Star Wars, being poor, a letter to Al Qaeda, and the stupidity of love. A cynical magician with words, Musson's pieces make you cringe in awkward encouragement, worse than watching the scene with Paul and his mother at dinner in the movie Rules of Attraction. Real Legit.

Here is an exert from an interview "Vulture Droppings" did with him last August. (Shout outs to Chris Moore.) Musson's views on:

Black Hipsters, Tight Pants, Indieclash and The Blowfish Look

V: What are your feelings on race and hipsterdom?

J: Hmmm... I'd like to see more black hipsters.

V: Why are there so few?

J: I don't know. Maybe they don't like the tight pants.

V: What's your experience of being a black hipster? Do you feel stigma? Or has it given you a kind of edge or advantage? Or both?

J: Going out in Philadelphia, I've been in what I'd call an "indieclash" scene. It's like this amalgam of a post electroclash, post indie-rock scene. People don't really go to shows anymore, they'll just go out to some electro night at some bar.

V: Whatever's on the flyer, pretty much.

J: Yeah, whatever's on the flyer. It's just a mishmash. I see indieclash prevailing for a few years until something else comes along. My indie rock friends find the word indieclash insulting.

V: What people find insulting is that you're grouping them into a group. When they're the most singular, individualist individuals who spend all day trying to elude every possible genre or categorical description.

J: The modicum of dressing for indie rock kids is very austere, which is supposed to indicate some kind of emotional or intellectual honesty, as if my thoughts are pure and untainted by any kind of cultural force.

V: Like "it's just me."

J: Yeah, these t-shirts, these pants, it's just me. That certainly isn't true of the hip-hop style of dressing, which I call the blowfish style. You just want to add mass onto yourself. It's machismo, looking like you're a virile threat. A lot of kids who listen to rap are just as skinny as indie rock kids, but they blow themselves up with clothing to make them seem as if they might eat you or something. It's the blowfish look. It's just ridiculous.

For full interview jump over to:

http://www.vulturedroppings.com/droppings/interview_with_jayson_musson_artist_rapper_folk_singer/

Jayson Musson's other works can be found at:

http://www.jaysonmusson.com/Menu.html