A tramp. A maniac. A tenacious man who chased his dreams down endless roads of despair and glory. Bleubird will never fit in. Pioneers never do. For out on the fringes, on the frontier of a music so new we call it underground, yet so old we call it timeless, sits Bleubird, with a can o’beans, coonskin cap, and a Macbook Pro! Full o’tall tales and moonshine, metaphors and folk music, Bleubird’s a rapper of the independent variety. He masters ceremonies in the oldest way, as a storyteller. A folk hero of sorts whose appreciation for the beauty within the mundane is spun as truth. Through humor and with wit, Bleubird turns the pain and euphoria of daily life into music. He’s the nice guy on a lifelong adventure to prove there’s no last place this time around. Only the road. Only the dream. Only the music.
Some say he’s satirical, some say comedic, some say adorable little fuckwad, but we know he’s a softy with his heart sewn bleeding to his sleeve. Music is art when it’s true – not true as in nonfiction, but true as in its soul. Despite the razor in the gums, Bird’s message is the gorgeously gory truth. There’s no curtain. Each song a treatise of complex rhymes, with references as literary as the aesthetic is yeoman’s. You may recognize him from the tweets, on the road and hoping to make it through the storm to the next show. From Florida to Montreal to Berlin, Bleubird has done more than travel. He’s lived. By throwing himself wholly into each destination, each truck stop, each shit hole bar, each house a home, Bleubird has defined a career in transit.
From Urb’s 2008 “Next 100” to touring internationally, Bleubird has made a name for himself through self-promotion as feverish as it is savvy, a near compulsory love of the road, and most importantly an ability to sweat out the syllables to your ear holes. He may or may not have an intimate relationship with his van. No overnight phenomenon, Bird’s been playing and promoting shows for over a decade, from Orlando to Montreal, Japan to Europe, and all the way to Mumbai and Amman. He’s a collaborator, a coconspirator.
Bleubird’s remained motivated because he has an indefatigable passion for what he does. He makes demented party music with Astronautalis as Boyfriends Incorporated, and teams up with Jayrope to deliver us well-focused chaos as Prinzenallee. For the comic and creepy Les Swashbuckling Napoleans, he hooks up with Thesis Sahib and Edison. In 2007, he and Scott Da Ros (Endemik Music label magnate and fellow artist) curated Mega Possee Cut, featuring 26 rappers from all over the world. He’s also one-third of the international collaboration , Triune Gods, along with Sibitt from Origami (TempleATS / Japan), and Da Ros, releasing their debut album, Seven Days Six Nights, in 2010.
All along, Bleubird has kept a steady flow of his own music. Since early self-releases, his partnership with Endemik music has brought us a few lp and cd master works: Sloppy Doctor in 2003, Pilgrim of St.Zotique in 2006, and RIP U$A (The Birdfleu) in 2007. If these official releases aren’t enough, he tides fans over in the spaces between with his “Street Talk” series available for download from the artist himself.
Most recently, Bleubird has teamed up with the sexy beasts known as Fake Four, Inc. to release the well-received,Cannonball. Produced by a dream team of Astronautalis and Radical Face, the album is a true labor of love. Cannonball is an intimate, heartfelt record and should be considered an achievement for an otherwise accomplished veteran.
A road warrior in the highest sense of the term, Bleubird is on the grind. Incessantly sounds too negative, infinitely sounds too lofty, so let’s say it’s relentless. Bleubird is on a relentless grind. With a blue-collar work ethic and a van, a microphone and a soul full of stories, like so many bleusman to come before him, Bird brings his music, for the people, to the people.