The Rocks Off 200: You(genious), Party Crasher Turned Musical Auteur

Welcome to The Rocks Off 200, our portrait gallery of the most compelling profiles and personalities in the far-flung Houston music community — a lot more than just musicians, but of course they’re in there too. See previous entries in the Rocks Off 100 at this link.

Who? He calls himself The Misfit of R&B, which is a hard sell because I cannot picture a villain for a rap version of Jem and the Holograms. That said, You(genious) has been doing what he does in Houston for some 14 years.

That’s an impressive stint. He’s been everywhere, and always in the public eye not only for his music, but for his larger than life existence. He was once named as one of the best party-crashers in the city, and has hosted shows for everyone from Devin the Dude to Planned Parenthood.

Now he’s got something new going on, and it’s original. I’ll give him that. It’s a musical, and a hip-hop one at that, but not just any musical. He calls it “imagination cinema,” and it combines the concepts of mixtape, album and audio play to offer the listener a unique aural experience that should play out in your mind as you hear it.

Dubbed Cold: When the Heart Becomes a Hole, the work deals with the harshness of homelessness, a social problem You(genious) comments on quite often. He spent months creating soundscapes, tiny little audio clues that make you feel as if you’re actually listening to a happening in the real world rather than just a studio.

To pull the whole thing off, he’s gather a veritable Who’s Who of Houston music to contribute to the project. Nosaprise, Dirty & Nasty, Destonee, Danimal (formerly of Studemont Project), Jordan Pannel (locallivehouston.com), Blair Doerge, D.Strange, Jimmy Bl!tz, Marcia Yingling, Adam Martinez (The Tontons), trumpet player Eric Jackson, Erin Rogers (Glass the Sky), Ms. Cash (formerly of The Manichean), Steve Aikey, and Gustavo Roman (Shotgun Funeral) all appear in Cold. The musical was composed by Daniel Ross McKinney III and mixed and mastered by Steve Torres, who also narrates. It’s an epic, one-of-a-kind undertaking that promises to be very special.

Home Base: You(genious) has his own home studio, and despite his loud reputation prefers the quiet and solitude of the studio when he wants to write. He expresses a lot of nostalgia for the long-gone Proletariat as a performance space, and now holds allegiance to no venue in particular.

He’s recently taken to performing in the streets, and says he finds the freedom and connection with people to be unbelievable.

REWIND: This Just In: You(genious) Not Dead, Is Awesome

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Good War Story: “I once accidentally ‘tea-bagged’ a fan onstage!” he opens. We’ll let him continue.

It was at the Mink. I was doin’ my thang and like to pull ladies up with me to get people in the mood. There was a chair nearby, so I grabbed it and slammed it against the stage, threw her down and proceeded to give her a lap dance of sorts.

When I’m through with the ladies I always lead them by the hand and take them back to where I found them. She didn’t want to go, so… I left her there and continued. During the next song I was hitting a powerful high note and rested my foot on the armrest. I was going through a suit phase and had on some thin slacks.

Then my foot slipped! Allowing my nut sack to rest on the bridge of her nose! Hahhahahah! SHE LOVED IT! Rubbed her face in it and everything!

Music Scene Pet Peeve: “I really hate when others hate so hard,” he says. “We ALL ‘sucked’ at one point. There is no reason to be bad-mouthing people all the damn time! If I wanted to be bullied I’d go back to elementary school! Take a new person under your wing and spit some knowledge to them. If you think you’re such a badass! Prove it!”

Five Desert Island Discs:: “Wow… okay…

Nine Inch Nails, The Downward Spiral and Pretty Hate Machine
“I believe the B-52’s were on that label too. All their shit is fly.
“Dru Hill and The Isley Brothers had some dope albums coming out when they merged with Def Jam, I believe, and became Black Island? [Close. Island/Def Jam — Ed.]
“And Keith Sweat, man.

“You’re really tryin’ get into my music knowledge with this one.”

Best Show You’ve Ever Seen: “Oh man, Marylin Manson on the Antichrist Superstar tour back in ’96,” he says. “That shit was CRAZY! I’ve never seen anything else like it! EVER!”

First Song You Fell in Love With: Young MC, “Bust a Move”

Jef has a new story, a tale of headless strippers and The Rolling Stones, available now in Broken Mirrors, Fractured Minds. You can also connect with him on Facebook.

THE ROCKS OFF 200

Daniel Alexander, Klein’s Backyard MC

See the Rocks Off 100’s 2013 alumni on the next page.

THE ROCKS OFF 100 2013 ALUMNI

Crystal Toliver, Source of That Yello Echo You Hear

Mr. Castillo, Song-Sniping DJ

DJ Big Reeks, The Chief Waxaholic

Melane Gutierrez, The Coffin Queen

Folk Descendent Kevin Taylor Kendrick

Eloy Contreras, Deathrazor’s Sharp Thrash Vocals

Robert McCarthy, Guitarist From Beyond

Justice Tirapelli-Jamail, The Manichean’s “Quiet One”