“Hip Hop and Cartoons” is Vancouver based Singer Songwriter Gena Perala’s newest music video which she is launching in conjunction with a Crowdfunding campaign to support the recording of her new album.
“The song pays homage to the power and brilliance of conscious hip hop music and to cartoons such as The Simpsons. She refers to it as her Church song because she says we can learn more from hip-hop and cartoons if we understand and believe in them, than we can from religion. “Perhaps not the most popular statement” she says with a laugh. When asked how it all transpired she says “It was a lot of work figuring out how to shoot with a green screen, finding a space, finding an illustrator and of course styling it, which is a character in itself.”
When asked about the lyrics of the song, with opening lines like “We can fuck and watch the Simpsons, we’ll make it like a new tradition” she says, “It’s something a lot of people of my generation can relate to. Trust me.” And with lyrics like “forgive me father for I have sinned I save myself and I like to win. Forgive me mother I’m no slut but I get around and I like to fuck.” “That’s my feminism I guess. Owning my sexuality as well as my independence. Two things women still aren’t ‘supposed’ to do.”
Perala teamed up with a small crew to help shoot the video. “I found an illustrator named Cael Nolan on Craigslist to do the background illustrations. It was actually really hard to find someone who understood what I was trying to do and who could do it for the budget I had. He did an amazing job!” “ I’m fortunate to have an executive producer Trevor Holt on board for this and he supplied me with the DOP and Editor Chris Hebert who basically showed me how to do everything. Then there are the girls who are my pals. Shoreline Studios gave me a break on price being that I’m an independent artist so shout out to Shoreline and the rest of the work was styling it really. That was a huge job and I begged borrowed and stole to make it happen. Well I borrowed anyway.” “All in all it was a ton of work but I’m so happy with the end result”
Gena Perala is launching this video in conjunction with a Crowdfunding Campaign to support the recording of her new album, a down tempo electronic pop synth sound with Producer Chris Gestrin. “I just have so many ideas and like two albums worth of material and tons of music video ideas, I just can’t afford to get it all done. I’m also burning out. I work really hard to pay for all the stuff I create but it’s just not sustainable. So Crowdfunding made sense.” “I’m actually really nervous because I’m pretty unknown so I have no idea if I have enough ‘Crowd’ so to speak to make this happen. Plus it’s just putting myself out there in a way that’s pretty scary. But hey, all I can do is try.”
Gena Perala grew up as a carny kid, spending much of her childhood traveling with her family on the carnival circuit. This explains her astute lyrical insight into human nature and the world around us. She has performed for the United Nations, on the PNE Main Stage, at the Stanley Theater, up the East Coast, down the West Coast and all over Vancouver. She has published three books of poetry, “I’m a Worst Case Scenario Type of Girl” (2003), “Clean Getaway” (2005) and “Better Sorry than Safe” (2011) and has released two solo albums “This Ain’t Pretty” (2008) and “Exactly Nowhere” (2014). She’s currently in the studio recording her third full-length solo album.
Here’s the link for the Crowd Funding Coming Soon Page
