Reggie Watts Is The Best Artist Of 2012... And Possibly Of All Time [NSFW VIDEO]
If you haven't heard of Reggie Watts you've been missing out on one of the most talented, hilarious and creative musicians around today. Then again, if you haven't heard of Reggie Watts you're probably not reading this article.
But even if you've heard of Reggie Watts by name, listened to a few songs, caught one of his live shows or you're already a huge fan there's a chance you still haven't seen this phenomenal music video. Check it out, but be warned, it's very vulgar and will also blow your mind because it's so good.
So who is Reggie Watts? He was born in Germany back in 1972 to a white French mother and black father, before his family moved to Montana where Reggie grew up. As a child, Reggie studied piano and violin.
When Reggie Watts turned 18 he moved to Seattle to study at the Art Institue but ended up focusing on Jazz at the Cornish College of the Arts. While living in Washington, Reggie bounced between bands while composing scores for Northwest dance choreographers KT Niehoff and dabbling in improv comedy.
In 2004, Reggie Watts moved to Manhattan's Lower East Side to bring his unique blend of looped music and existential standup to New York. He started recording music videos and went viral with a video called "What About Bl*wj*bs" he recorded for CollegeHumor. Since then he's toured with Conan O'Brien and performed around the world, from Bonaroo to the Louvre.
But what does Reggie Watts music sound like? And why am I so clearly obsessed with him? It started over the summer at the AFROPUNK festival in Brooklyn, where I saw Reggie perform in front of a crowd of thousands. I was impressed, but distracted by all the other performances and activities happening around me. Still, the music made an impression on me. It's both alien and natural. Something you've never heard before in your life that somehow feels as if it's always been inside you waiting to be unlocked. Reggie Watt's improvisational style is loose and unpredictable, but it's always impressive.
Then last week I caught a small, free Reggie Watts show in downtown Manhattan and go the real Watts experience while sitting on the ground just a few feet away from Reggie. Every song starts the same way, with Reggie almost absent mindedly creating a beat out of his own mouth and a few keyboards. The suddenly he starts singing or rapping but the beat continues to play on a loop. One second Reggie will rap in a deep baritone, the next he's singing in a falsetto and a moment later he's impersonating a Salsa singer.
In between songs Reggie raps to the audience. Not in the Hip Hop sense of the word but in the '60s sense of the word where you just say whatever weird trippy things come to mind and let them flow from your mouth into the audience's brain. At one point he discussed his fictional plans for upcoming shows at what he called "micro-clubs," tiny venues that you have to lie down in because the ceiling is so low and then bend twist your neck to watch a tiny Reggie Watts hologram perform on a tiny stage. Sounds crazy, and honestly terrible, but if that's what I have to do to see Reggie perform again than I'm game.