The Stool Pigeon

“You walk into the club and see loads of kids, mostly high schoolers. It’s hot, ’cos it’s so crowded, and everybody is dancing; everyone’s competing in big circles. The people in the middle are doing their thing as everyone around them watches. You catch people sitting on the speakers in the back. And you’ve got a good host, the best host: Buck Jones. You hear him and you die laughing; you’re cracking up as you watch circles of boys dancing, one by one taking their turn. The music just be jumpin’, and with the bass, you have no other choice but to start dancing. Then your song comes on and you find yourself jumping up, yelling ‘That’s my SONG!’”

This may sound like a fictional club in the eyes of most inhibited, stiff-lipped Brits, but for the 17-year-old speaker - Baltimore’s tightest mic slayer (and dancefloor mayor) Rye Rye - it could be any night in the clubs on her block. Rye Rye has become one of the biggest reps for the city and its cherished club scene, giving the Bmore sound a vibrant voice, and a pair of crazy legs to go with it. She should still be popping zits, but instead everything has been popping with her - huge club anthems on Diplo’s Mad Decent label, endless remix work, globe-stomping tours with the likes of M.I.A... She’s even been sniffed out by the majors: her forthcoming debut album, due next year, is being released by Interscope. And, although the prodigy just graduated high school (she plans to study child care in college once she finishes the album), she has a profoundly wise and level head.

“I don’t have a difficult time being in the music industry,” she says. “To me, it’s just a normal life. When I’m home, I just hang out. It’s real cool in Baltimore, a lot of people know about me and they sing my songs when I walk past. They try to imitate my voice!”

Rye Rye’s inimitable voice, fresh and fierce, complements a banging flow. She spits gold about the power of being a woman, and the beauty of exploiting men’s biggest weakness: booty. And while she brings the heat on the mic, it’s straight fire on the dancefloor.

In the late eighties/early nineties, Baltimore club DJs began playing a hyped up house beat (cranked 126-130bpm) with looped party-starting vocals and basslines hugging a crazy 8/4 beat structure. Long before the days it became hipsterised on blogs, Bmore Club was created in the hood to shake off life’s grind, just as Rod Lee sings it on his Bmore classic: “I’m gonna dance my pain away, I’ve got problems.” Its foundation is grounded on the dancefloor, with moves like Spongebob and Crazy Legs (check YouTube for examples) being a common language in underage clubs. Rye Rye explains: “They were the two dances that stood out the most. There are a lot of popular dances out there, but they haven’t been given a name. I was in a dance crew growing up, so I was always around it. We used to always listen to club music on the radio and dance. I started going to the clubs when I was about 15. You only needed a high school ID to get in.”

Baltimore, Maryland (aka Bodymore, Murdaland) has been deemed the twelfth most dangerous city in the United States, but Rye Rye has no qualms about it. “I grew up in the projects so I was around violence,” she says, calmly. “I mean, sometimes I’d hear gunshots and whatever else, but we were never in danger. All the people I grew up around in the projects, we’re all like a family.”

And while the inclusive, Bmore family vibe captures club floors around the world, Rye Rye will remain on top and Spongebob the fastest - watch her feet.

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