Boulevards' Jamil Rashad On Funk, Punk And Genres

Boulevards (aka Jamil Rashad) may be generating heat with his slick 'n' swag neo-funk, but he actually has a background in punk and metal. "Everybody talks about that!" Rashad laughs.

Hailing from Raleigh, North Carolina, Rashad grew up surrounded by jazz, blues, soul and old school hip hop. Indeed, Rashad's father gigged as a radio DJ. He encouraged Rashad to explore every genre. In his teens, Rashad sought out music by the likes of Slipknot — "aggressive, rebellious punk". He wanted to claim his "own thing". Later, studying art in college, Rashad immersed himself in the hard rock scene. "I was just so fascinated by the energy at the shows and the attitude and the onstage presence," the fast-talking Rashad enthuses. "They weren't like rap shows — they were just so much fun. You felt free."

"I just feel like sometimes at this point it's a little bit over-saturated now, because you have so many people trying to be like The Weeknd or follow his footsteps now."

But, moving to New York, Rashad checked out the disco and house parties. He began to newly appreciate classic funk acts — including the late Maurice White's Earth, Wind & Fire. Recently, Rashad has been listening to the proto-OutKast bohemia of Prince's 1987 Sign O' The Times, but he's still a bigger fan of Rick James — the King of Punk-Funk. "Throwin' Down is my favourite record by Rick James. That's just such a crazy party funk record!"

The aspiring funk vocalist worked with XXXChange (Spank Rock, Kele) and Aussie expat Dan Walker — the guitarist from the art-punk combo The Death Set who also produces as NineLives The Cat — on 2013's Ackrylic City EP. Curiously, it's not mentioned in Rashad's bio. Nonetheless, the Boulevards sound was consolidated on last year's eponymous EP — featuring the production of current cohorts Rollergirl! and Taste Nasa. Yet Rashad didn't forget "the attitude" of punk. "Funk music to me is just like punk music. It's rebellious and it's fun, it's sexy — and it makes you move. It makes you feel free." Now Rashad has issued his debut, Groove!, via Brooklyn label Captured Tracks, the single Move And Shout just one of its hooky party jams.

Groove! contains little retro pastiche — though some songs have "a late '70s, '80s vibe" — since Rashad has embraced electronic production techniques. He approaches funk "in a cool, modern way". "It's like a new style of funk music — it's not so nostalgic." Rashad's take belongs somewhere between Daft Punk, Dev Hynes and Dam-Funk. Still, he posits Groove! as having cross-generational appeal. Above all, it's "feel-good" and escapist. "I want people to just enjoy the record and dance and not to over think."

Contemporary R&B polarises with its electronic element. Traditionalists accuse artists such as The Weeknd of lacking 'soul'. Rashad hears it differently. For him, R&B was, if not "boring", then "in a flat place" until The Weeknd started singing about sex, drugs and despair with a "post-R&B, progressive feel". "I have nothing against it," Rashad says. "I just feel like sometimes at this point it's a little bit over-saturated now, because you have so many people trying to be like The Weeknd or follow his footsteps now. But I don't think it's a negative thing."

Rashad has already commenced the follow-up to Groove!. "We're just keeping the ideas going." And he's touring behind Groove! — playing select dates with a band, others with a DJ. Rashad hopes to hit Oz. "I've heard they get the funk out there!"