With her gold wire-rimmed sunglasses, she's Aaliyah, circa 1994. The 20-year-old L.A.-based R&B singer has a sleekly feminine, almost demure Mod look in the video for her single “ Bang Bang,” a cover of the Cher original over Mobb Deep's “Shook Ones Pt. Right now she's in the backyard of former Interscope executive David Airaudi's house, whose company is also the home of Odd Future. They're shooting the video for “Shades,” a song from her Crown Gold EP that was released a few weeks ago. We're speaking about her career when she suddenly becomes distracted. “Am I boring you?” she asks, her eyes fixing on something faraway. ![]() Not at all - in fact, there's something intriguing about her. She'll erupt suddenly into laughter, but then clouds will churn in her eyes. Her EP has an ominous air, and not just from its sampling of Tupac's “Hail Mary.” Minor keys dominate, and her voice is thick with longing. She identifies with Jim Morrison, and on Crown Gold, covers “Riders on the Storm.”īorn Elijiah Finister in Oakland, Phlo Finister is the daughter of a half Portugese, half black mother and an Irish father. She was shy, she says, but sang in the church choir because her grandfather was the pastor. She first went to Downtown Magnets High School in Fashion. But her mother moved, and she enrolled in Crenshaw High School. “It's very aggressive, a lot of black people there. Not mixed or diverse cultures like where I had come from. I got bullied in a rougher part of the streets, and it made me a really real person with a backbone.” After getting in a fight, she was kicked out, and transferred to Hamilton High School. When she was 15 her mother decided she didn't want to deal with her anymore, she says. She began bouncing around, with various friends' parents taking her in. She dropped out of Hamilton in the 11th grade. She did some modeling, but says she lacked the “desperation” necessary for the profession. “I wasn't gonna ruin my self-esteem to make it happen. Struggling with weight loss, and eating disorders. ![]() You're willing to do whatever to get that point.” 'Cause you wanna be the best at that stuff. Instead, at 17, she found herself drawn to behind-the-scenes work as a stylist to several Def Jam artists and an editor for Persona magazine. Though she doesn't like talking about them, Phlo has a number of influential friends from the music industry. She knows Odd Future's Mike G from her short stint at Crenshaw High School he's hanging out at the shoot today. Meanwhile Alia Rose Brockert, the late Teena Marie's daughter, walks by and tells Phlo she's going for food. New York DJ Venus X, co-founder of the GHE20G0TH1K parties and this year's Fashion Week darling, wanders by. She refrains, then, from mentioning Peaches Geldolf, her close friend with whom she appeared earlier this year on a track by Cory Enemy called, “ Closer to You.” I've connected with amazing people, but I hate exploiting things,” she says. ![]() She'd rather discuss her music and her attempts to reignite the '60s Youthquake movement, epitomized by Edie Sedgwick.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |