[Feature] Don’t Sleep On Me: Perrion

With its lineage of historic emcees: Nas, Big L, Rakim, Chuck D, KRS-One, Jay-Z…the list goes on; New York City has always been the Mecca of hip-hop. In recent years, there has been a considerable amount of attention surrounding New York’s resurgence. The “new” New York rap scene has sprouted artists, groups, movements, and counter-movements quickly and is still growing. Decked with vast talent and variety of style, dozens of acts with notable buzz: Flatbush Zombies, Phony Ppl, The Underachievers, Pro Era, and A$AP have given us some very impressive works of art. Perrion‘s latest, From Perry With Love, is no exception and serves as yet another reminder of why we should never snooze on the city that never sleeps.

Interestingly enough, at 13, Perrion and his brother Rafael “Microphone Preview” Rodriguez were signed to Universal Records, but due to unfortunate circumstances were let go from the label. This led him away from music and to Atlanta for a while to focus on other things. Perrion picked up playing the drums and skateboarding:

Hardest trick for me to land is nollie and switch flips. I can pretty much do everything else switch and regular besides that. Favorite skaters are Andrew Reynolds, Bryan Herman, and P. Rod.

Even with previous projects (Perception and Le Bourgeon) under his belt, it wasn’t until late 2011 that the harlem representative caught my ear with Circuit Breaker. On it he goes off over some dope production done by Washed Out, Neon Indian, Onra and many more. Showcasing his skills over a genre that few rappers try to touch — Chillwave. This project was very substantial in terms of getting more attention towards his music. Perrion was spotted on HypeTrak by French clothing brand Poyz&Pirlz, resulting in, him being flown out to Paris to work with Myth Syzer for a full-length collaborative project titled From Paris With Love. 

Big ups to Dabaaz, Pol, and of course the homie Myth.

From opening up for Ghostface Killah at this years annual A3C hip-hop festival, to becoming the newest member of Pharoahe Monch’s W.A.R. Media family and being invited to BET’s backroom; Perrion is an artist that I feel has plenty of potential and should be watched..closely.

Once the visuals for “Get A Job” dropped, there was a sudden eagerness within myself to hear his latest street release, From Perry With Love. I could definitely hear progression being made, so when asked about the maturation in his newer material he stated:

I was able to see where I felt I went wrong with From Paris With Love and I can also hear a bit more bass in my voice, lol. I age very slowly. I’m immortal. But idk.. I’m only getting older, so that’s bound to happen for every project you hear from me in the future. Like I said in Turn of the Tide, “Only time for progression, no need to relapse.”

In other words, what’s life without change? and what’s next up for Perrion?

“Tons and tons of new visuals and new songs. I’ve been working on the Rocket Science EP, but I’m going to release a special mixtape before that. It’s a special surprise for my fans, so I’m not gonna spill the beans yet. We are also working on a H.O.M.E (High Off Music Entertainment) mixtape called Home Work. A new video with my skate crew “Mira CoNYo” look us up, we really outchea. Shout out to young Tats, Joey Pops, Lud, Daivy, Doogie, and the whole crew. Gonna be cray, so stay tuned.”