Two Musicians Q+A Themselves Existential-Meltdown Style

 

B-FUNK

Forget swag, grills and OxyContin, baby faced Brooklyn rapper Bishop Nehru, 16, is dragging Brooklyn rap back to the Golden Era. Nehru’s smooth, weedsmoke-toxic sound is G-Funk on a comedown (see his newest single, the Illmatic-esque “Mobb Dizzle”). He grills himself on tie- dye, filmmaking and the LA Lakers.

 

What is your favourite colour?  

Green. It’s dark and bright at the same time. It’s just nice. Everyone liked blue and red, but I liked green.

 

What’s your favourite movie?

World War Z. I haven’t even seen it yet, but that’s going to be my favourite movie. Even if it was a different actor, not Brad Pitt, I would still see it. The special effects look cool.

 

What other occupations would you get into?

Acting, and maybe movie directing. I’d probably prefer directing. I’ve directed some of my own videos. With directing, whatever you see, you make it come to life. That’s what I do with my music.

 

Do you prefer producing or rapping?  

Producing. I can define my own sound. I’m always producing in my room, but when I make beats, it’s not like I make them one after the other. It’s when I feel like making them. I don’t like producing for anyone – just people I’m a fan of, people I feel like I should be producing for. Right now, it’s just for me and my people.

 

What’s your favourite beverage?  

Water or Sprite or a large Coke. Maybe medium Sprite, because it’s fizzier.

 

What do you like to do to pass time?  

Chill with my friends, I guess. Watch movies. Play basketball. If I chill with my bros, it’s a lot of people. We all can’t fit in my room at one time. My bros are like my brothers. I’ve known them for a long time. A friend is someone you talk to and just say, ‘Hey, how you doing?’

 

How would your describe your taste in clothes?

I don’t have a taste in clothes. I just wear what I like. I like tie-dye, green t-shirts. I get stuff sent to me, but I buy a lot of stuff online as well.

 

Who’s your favourite rapper?  

Nas. He’s great. He’s amazing. I’m a fan of all of his stuff, old and new.

 

And your favourite basketball player?  

Kobe Bryant. He’s the best. ‘Nuff said. I’m a Lakers fan because Kobe’s there. LeBron’s good. You can’t sleep on LeBron, but I like Kobe better.

 

What’s your favourite kind of food?  

Pizza, Fruit Loops with marshmallows, s’more cereal, Waffle Crisp, Oreo cereal. I eat cereal at all times of the day. I don’t eat fruits or vegetables. Fruits are disgusting. I take vitamins. Chicken, McDonald’s. I like pancakes, but I can’t eat them everyday. I can cook. I could probably make spaghetti. You just boil noodles, right?

EX-ISTENZ

Model-gorgeous chanteuse Amalie Bruun is the Danish singer (& tambourine) for New York duo Ex-Cops with guitarist Brian Harding. The band’s debut LP True Hallucinations launched earlier this year – a summery blend of sixties Wall of Sound strum-pop (“James”) and drum-skin lancing indie-dance “Shuffle-Beat (Birthday Song).” Turns out, as she informs herself here, all she really wants is to be Leeloo Dallas in The Fifth Element. (Don’t we all, Amalie?)

 

You’ve just been on tour. What’s your favourite part of America?

I loved Memphis. We got Memphis barbecue. We went to Stax and to The Sun studios, where Elvis did his first recordings, and Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash recorded too. As soon as we left the South and came back into East Coast territory, I felt like the vibe changed in a way that I wasn’t so excited about.

 

Who did you play with?  

We opened for a band called Local Natives. After one show, we went to this bar across the street and there was a bluegrass band playing and you could smoke inside.

 

Favourite female hero in a movie?  

Amelie and Leeloo Dallas in The Fifth Element, who embodies a wild child. She’s very fragile, but also very strong. It’s the women I grew up with, so the women I love.

 

You have to grab three things from a house fire. What would they be?  

My Fender Jazzmaster, designed by Thurston Moore. It sounds really surf-y and cool. Kurt Cobain played the Jazzmaster, too. I would grab my first edition copy of The Little Prince, from 1948. And my signed Joan Jett record. She signed it for me for my birthday this year. It says, ‘Happy Birthday Amalie. Keep rocking – Joan Jett.’

What superpower would you like to possess?  

I’d like to be able to fly, like everyone else, and I was thinking on the train, I’d like to be able to make everyone shut the fuck up. In New York, that would be great.

 

Who is the hottest woman on Earth?   

Béatrice Dalle in Betty Blue. She’s batshit crazy. I love crazy women, and she’s the definition of a crazy woman.

 

What would you like to change about the world?  

I get a little bummed out in America when you see how little in touch people are with nature and animals. I discovered when you order eggs, you get egg beaters. It’s some part of eggs, but has 40 different ingredients in it and chemicals. You don’t get real eggs anymore.

 

Who is your favourite Spice Girl?  

Baby Spice was my favourite. When I was about 10 or 11, my dad was working with the band Aqua and one of those guys got me a ticket to Spice Girls. I got to meet them afterwards and they were shorter than me, even though I was like 10. That was pretty much the best moment of my life. Baby looked the most like me and she had a spark, without being a slut.

 

How was Hurricane Sandy for you?

It was one of the scariest and most romantic things I’ve ever experienced. We lost all power, so we were reading books to each other in candlelight. I don’t think I’ll get to see New York like that again. It was a complete ghost town. I’m so glad I got to see that, but I’m so sorry for the places that got hit way worse than we did, because some people are still suffering.

 

How much can you bench press?  

140. Pretty low. I go to the gym and I like to go running, because when you go on tour, you eat like a little pig. I’m slim, but I know a lot of people who’ve been playing music for a long time, and it’s very easy in three years to get pretty gross.

 

Who would be in your supergroup band?  

I’d be fronting it and I’d have Jimi Hendrix playing the guitar. I’d have Mama Cass singing some backups. I’d have Charlie Watts, the drummer from The Rolling Stones. Oh no! Animal from The Muppets. He’d be so good, but he might be a bit of a dick though. We’d need a bass player, so I’d get Jaco Pastorius, the super bass guy. I’d have the one man band guy from Mary Poppins. And I want someone to be playing a sampling thing. That could be Abraham Lincoln. It’d be a pretty eclectic band.

Words Stuart Brumfitt

Fashion Editor Kat Typaldos

Photographer Kim Reenberg