Paranom (of Tragic Allies)

Paranom lifts some sonic heat from a Venomous Villain for the brand new “Black Liquerice.” Check the sounds! - Insomniac Magazine

The rapper-producer formula is strongly exemplified by way of Paranom‘s al.divino-produced 777 (EP). Paranom and al.divino both hail from Massachusetts and they stay true to their East coast roots. al.divino’s instrumentals vary from jazzy and minimalistic to complex and infused with different genre elements. No matter the canvas, Paranom paints a portrait with his lyrical verses and serves listeners with what sounds like the seasoned delivery of an experienced emcee. 777 (EP) is muddy with low-tones and deep tracks, but is sure to stand out as an excellent release from this new emcee. - The Hip Hop Speakeasy

Brockton Mass emcee Paranom takes us back to last years "777" project as he acquires Cahl Benecchi to direct the raw visuals to the Al Divino produced banger "Saturday Dream". - Ok-Tho Mag

When it comes to art, no matter the medium, what I tend to find most intriguing is the artist's style, their unique fingerprint. Creativity consists of focusing the luminescent energies of imagination through one's personal prism, bending that light into original forms and angles according to the curves of one's distinctive artistic style. In this way, the best artists tend to strike us with a distinguishable spectral pattern, within the defined framework of their medium of course.

Two recent hip hop albums have been in heavy rotation for me during the first half of the year, both featuring lyricists with strikingly unique styles. Ironically, the two artists are also nearly opposite from each other in their approaches. While the albums share some basic similarities---both being of the underground hardcore rap variety and both collaborative works between one emcee and one producer---one lyricist twirls out heavily-worded abstract bars with rapidity while the other utilizes conciseness, internal rhymes, pauses, and other crafty techniques. One album is loaded with no fewer than 17 multiple-verse tracks; the other is practically EP-length, a quick 35 minutes. Both are compelling in their own way.

Paranom & Purpose - Life Outside the Frame
On his debut album, Paranom shines with a sharp voice and mesmerizing flow. His verses are constant streams of elaborate wordplay and surrealist imagery strung together over the polished, crisp yet somehow rugged production of Purpose. This collaborative project is the latest release from the Massachusetts-based Tragic Allies crew (who I've written about before). These guys are purists, dedicated to the golden era format of hip hop as artwork and they've mastered the craft.



The fluid, precise delivery of dexterous rhymes is a noted specialty of the Tragic Allies contingent (such skills are all over last year's Golden Era Musical Sciences album) and newest member Paranom certainly excels at this, but what's most impressive is the vocabulary and surreal imagery in his unique lyrical arsenal. His raps reward repeated listens; honing in on the swiftly delivered lyrics reveals a rich array of obscure terms like "tetramorph" and "vesica piscis" weaved effortlessly in his writing. The verbal imagery is taken to truly hallucinatory heights in the somnolent track-length trips of "Bee Stings (Seraphémme)" which opens with envisioning "Rose petals pouring liquid steel" and my favorite track "Dreamz" where the second verse begins:

"Gettin' faded to explore the universe inside me
dreams confronted with the world crumblin' behind me
underwater with the sharks gnawin' on them bodies
with they teeth fall in speech codes and Hammurabi"

The lyricism alone stands out on Life Outside the Frame but what makes this album so replayable is the full-length production from Purpose. His moody tones and heavy bassliness, occasionally enhanced with DJ scratches, create a cohesive sonic experience. The ostensible leader of the Tragic Allies crew, Purpose is proficient at making others sound good with his lively boom-bap loops. The poet Paranom's endless repertoire of original linguistics thus finds a perfect instrumental canvas to stretch out on and the combo yields potential classics like the mellifluous "Microphone Phenomenal" and the genuinely reflective "Dayz Go By".

Paranom stands out as an artist of limitless potential and talent, if perhaps only underground appeal because of the abstract language of his lyrics. Even if you didn't understand a single word of his verses though, his voice, flow and delivery simply sounds good over beats. Comprehending his words reveals an introspective, poetic intellectual artist who has created an album full of tough, rugged, raw hip hop while hardly uttering a curseword in his verses.

This is the best drop from the Tragic Allies camp thus far, already a personal classic, and Paranom already has a lot to live up to after such an impressive introduction. - A Building Roam

Promo for #DayzGoBy - UGHH.com

This is the first single taken off the Paranom & Purpose “Life Outside The Frame” album, dropping worldwide 12/10/2013 on Ill Adrenaline Records.

Ill Adrenaline Records & Tragic Allies strike again! Adding onto previous releases: Purpose & Confidence, and 7 G.E.M.S. (Tragedy Khadafi & Tragic Allies), Purpose of Tragic Allies teams up with up-and-coming lyricist and latest Tragic Allies member Paranom to deliver a 19-track, strong boom-bap heater entitled “Life Outside The Frame”.

As already the case for the critically acclaimed 7 G.E.M.S. project, Purpose once again handles the entire production on this offering, ranging from rugged uptempo joints (“Interlude To Your Mood”) to jazzy, conscious, and mellow vibes (“Dayz Go By” and “Night Gallery”). Being featured only on two tracks, Purpose this time concentrates fully on providing stellar instrumentals that complement Paranom’s excellent lyrical, and even cryptic skills. With the ability to fuse different musical influences into a raw, but soulful sound of Hip-Hop, Paranom’s aim is to further evolve an ever growing culture into a more balanced art form, one that’s rooted in self-empowerment and realization, freedom, and discovery. - Gods Of Rap

This is the next duo that Ill Adrenaline Records is pushing. You’ve definitely heard of Purpose from his album with producer Confidence. This time around, Purpose is handling the production for emcee Paranom. Paranom is a really talented wordsmith just based off of this first impression. I’m loving this song and I can’t wait for more. Their album Life Outside The Frame drops December 10th. As dayz go by this project gets closer and closer to release. - Fashionably Early

Fellow Ill Adrenaline signees and members of the Tragic Allies collective, Paranom & Purpose introduce their ‘90-inspired sound to The DJBooth with Dayz Go By. On this headphone-ready cut, single numero uno off the duo’s forthcoming joint album, Purpose’s jazzy piano loops and boom-bap rhythm section set the mood as his partner poetically outlines his philosophy on the artistic hustle. Like what you’re hearing? You can look forward to more thoughtful bars and ear-pleasing instrumentals on the Life Outside the Frame LP, scheduled for independent release on Tuesday, December 10. - DJBooth.net

Metro-Boston Area

Our list was Boston only and we took a city-limits definition. If mumbles is not your mayor, if the BPD are not your pigs, you did not make it. This eliminated a lot of artists from the metro-Boston region who put out some great projects this year.

From across the bridge, we got NBS who put out ‘The Dispensary‘ this year, Key Fiya’s ‘Charles Rivers ExPerience‘ and Millyz with ‘Contagious Lifestyle 2.0‘. From Brockton we gotta bring up Notoriety who dropped their dope project ‘Road Trippin’, Kool-Aid Sippin’, Chicken, Beef Patties, And Herb‘ at the beginning of the year and Paranom’s ‘Five Seasons - Bs and 3s (Hip Hop Blog)

Here's some more heat from The Wreckshop Movement. Check out Paranom's new video, The Embrace, off his new album Five Seasons available for purchase for $5 which is a steal for 17 tracks of quality hip hop. - MassHipHop.com

Each week, 889@Night will recognize local unsigned talent and promote their music on air as well as on our website. We highlight the talented few who got that “fire”. By the end of the week, we let our listeners choose whether they want these artists to be added to constant rotation or not. This week starting today, November 12th, 2012, we are highlighting local rapper Paranom and playing his music at midnight and 12:30 am every night this week.

Traversing through a young life that has brought him to many places, from Lynn and Boston to a few years in southern Alabama, Paranom is an emcee of Haitian descent who has pulled inspiration from various perspectives and experiences– making him a more well rounded individual and MC. Some have even called him “a seer.” Now residing in Brockton, MA, Paranom has that ability to connect to many people. He uses his amalgamation of influences from Soul, Jazz, Reggae, and Hip-Hop music in himself as a catalyst for the evolution of urban culture from its current state of a material based focus into a more balanced focus, that aims to ignite self-fulfillment and discovery through the creative arts.

At the growing age of 24, Paranom has obtained and continues to use his skillful ability of collecting his thoughts and experiences to help inspire, challenge, and unite people across all labels and barriers– by highlighting some of the past and current problems in the community and the solutions on the table that can be built towards. It is Paranom’s aim to help bring a new meaning to the term, “The Soundtrack to the Revolution.”

Not only with his lyrical ability has Paranom shown that he is someone to be watched out for, but he also turned heads with his stage presence. Because of this he has shared the Hip-Hop stage with the likes of: Tragic Allies, Krumb Snatcha, Shea Rose, and TDE’s own Ab-Soul & ScHoolBoy Q; among many other talented artists. This showcases Paranom as a well rounded artist enabling him to perform in front of any audience of any age.

This fall, witness Paranom’s rise as he will be releasing his first album entitled Five Seasons– soon to be available via physical copy and download on his website.

Email: ParanomMusic@gmail.com
Booking: ParanomBookings@gmail.com
MGMT: whoisjostsurin@gmail.com
Website: www.PNOMMUSIC.COM
Twitter: @ParanomMusic
Facebook: facebook.com/ogpnom
YouTube: ParanomMusic
SoundCloud: soundcloud.com/pnom

By Kathleen St Fleur - WERS 88.9FM/ Kathleen St Fleur

ProU is proud to announce our selection for rapper of the year for 2014 – someone who has been crafting rhymes since before most of us had even developed a liking for the opposite sex (at the ripe age of NINE).

Still young and very young at spirit, at age 26 he has not close to reached his peak – though he has accomplished a fair amount. He’s the youngest rapper from the Boston area I know who has toured Europe. He goes by the name of “Paranom”. Short for Paranormal – with “Para” also meaning “Supreme” in Sanskrit – he came up with his rap name at the age of 16 when he was obsessed with conspiracies, ghosts, and anything to do with paranormal forces. Born Kerveen Saint-Phard, he is from Lynn, MA (20 minutes from Boston) – but resides now in Brockton.

Congratulations to the man – who is the first recipient of the award. This is the first year we are giving it out; And we at ProU like to recognize talent more than mainstream success – so don’t expect a legend in the game to ever get our award. Paranom is someone you will continue to hear more and more about as the years go by and hopefully by 2017, 2018 he will be in the mouths of everyone just like we hear about the underground success of Joey Badass today.

His recent successful campaign album “Life Outside the Frame” (listen on Spotify, dropped Dec. 2013) and the marketing of videos/tracks around it – stretching mainly through 2014 indicates that if he keeps it up, that type of success may very well be possible. What is sure is that his pure type of hip hop will help him be an artist that is synonymous with longevity in the industry – a la a Common or Jay-Z.

Here is “Dayz Go By” the first super-successful single/video off LOTF (produced entirely by Purpose — of Purpose & Confidence. You may recognize Confidence as the producer for the underground classic “Rashad and Confidence’s ‘Element of Surprise'”. I’m definitely a fan of Purpose’s beats – this one a shining example.

Like many who were heavily influenced artistically by their humble beginnings, Paranom – who is of Haitian descent, grew up in a single-parent household. He probably would not have had as much to talk about if he was born in Bel-Air. As quoted, “His ability to fuse different musical influence into a raw, but soulful sound of Hip-Hop has been received ACROSS gender and age lines”.

Recently
What solidified choosing the award – beyond recognizing his massive skill – hard work, humility and complete resume, was hearing two recent works by him. One, a track that has been impressing many “Blue Lotus”.

And also another, “What They Wanna Hear”, that has been performing very successfully in the blogosphere with Wendall Scott and Composition (of Glasshouse), produced by Jon Glass (our Producer Of The Year) choice. You can listen to the star-studded Massachusetts track below. This was done all on the spot, written in one night, in Glass’s studio. That is the most impressive part to me. P.S Composition (the second rapper) is only 17. The beat was made on the spot as well.

The Europe Tour
Recently he went on his first Europe tour — the Killah Priest of Wu Tang tour – visiting Germany, Austria, and Greece. Austria was his favorite country – and Athens, Greece was his favorite city. Note to self: visit Greece sometime. This is not the first time I’ve heard it’s nice.

With the success of Tragic Allies getting noticed (a Lynn, MA super-group consisting of him, Producer-emcee Purpose, Estee Nack and Code Nine) – they were able to grace the stages there. You could tell, when he came back, he still had excitement in his eyes from how much of a life-changing experience it was – and how badly he wanted to return. When you’ve been rapping since such a young age – you don’t take such an accomplishment lightly. That hunger is the 6th man element that you need to push yourself over the top in a saturated market.

He’s clearly plotting a return overseas. A very smart move. They appreciate underground hip hop a lot more over there it seems – or at least come out to support in doves. You will find rappers from our state such as M-Dot, Termanology and REKS constantly getting love out there.

His hit “Microphone Phenomenal” peaked at the #1 spot on Europe’s Underground Hip Hop chart while he was overseas with the Allies. I couldn’t believe it. I recently became involved in the hip hop scene in Boston – and am about the same age – so to see someone my age and in the same “class” of Boston hip hop acquiring such an achievement – it was surreal. It shows that even though he was not super known in our area – you are still able to make a splash and hang with the best overseas.

Making these accomplishments known on social media (like hitting #1 in Europe) – he started getting more respect locally too. Two weeks ago he just came off headlining a Mind Spray concert in Boston (a $100 monthly open mic), and is always getting shows around here. So slowly he is getting more recognized. I would like to see him killing it in New York and all around the country – California – and different festivals this year. Maybe a big act will get him featured. The main thing is that the Boston hip hop scene is on the rise – and as the artists here grow – he will also have more opportunities. He makes sure to give back. He is a member of the Wreck Shop Movement (founder Justice Born, who was one of the first to support and give him a platform), and is always repping the Wreck Shop gear. He is a very humble guy – and it’s always a pleasure knowing that one of your favorite rappers is down to earth.

____

Simply put, Paranom is your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper. On his Wreck Shop/SonicBids profile his sound is described as a soulful sound “akin to the likes of John Coltrane meets Black Thought meets Nas”. Many compare him to Black Thought, and see the similarities between the two but I think he’s more of a Nas. That may be my bias of me liking Nas more. But what I do know, though, is that him and Nas are of the only two rappers that could pull off a song such as “All Ideas Subliminal”. When myself and Mr. Fritz (a rising Boston hip hop artist) saw him perform that live – we were both flabbergasted. Which is a white man’s term for saying “we were in awe”. The amount of breath control it takes to perform that live is just simply CRAZY. That is why I said he’s your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper. I think it’s something like 52 bars straight! You had to see it in person to inhale the full worth of such a performance.

Regardless, you’d have to be deaf to not like his music (considering you are a hip hop fan). I haven’t seen anyone get mad when myself or someone compares him to Nas or a great. They see Nom’s talent – so it is not an insult to the greats. They see HIM as a potential great. So it’s not surprising to reveal that I haven’t showed anyone Nom’s music who hasn’t liked it. He is just one of those rappers – and only needs more publicity. Which will come with the right marketing techniques and consistent output. We hope that this award pushes him further – and to work so hard that by the end of next year he has 5 more just like it.

Random tidbit: from an interview he did with “Ok-Tho”. They asked “If there were ever an album you wish you had recorded, what would it be?”. He said “Moment of Truth” by Gang Starr. My man.



Bonus / Growing Up On Hip Hop
I asked him a little about how he got into hip hop and his most proud accomplishments:

I initially got into it because my big brother used to write and do music when I was a kid and he gave me the idea to try it. Ever since then I would record songs on the radio and write out the lyrics the best I could. Then one night I heard Canibus for the first time on 88.9 when I was 9 and it blew my mind. And ever since then I’ve been into Hip-Hop.

"I’ve always been writing little songs here and there but decided to make a project at 15 when I was a Freshman and I sold them at my school, and the rest just went from there. My favorite accomplishment I can say is that I got to personally know, travel with, go to places neither of us have been before, get on a song with, party with, AND hypeman for one of my favorite MCs and biggest influences in life itself, Killah Priest. Not many people can say that. A close 2nd is collaborating with amazing MCs from different countries who barely even speak English. I love that."

Favorite Sentimental Songs:

Oldies are goodies. His two favorite songs he has written include “My Plateau” off his “Revenge of the All In” mixtape and “Death Is Not The End”, a personal song released in 2011 – one verse about his grandfather’s passing – another one about his best friend that passed when he was 17. It also just shows that even though you may have new songs recorded with incredible quality – there will be certain songs that will always be the most meaningful for you because of what you said on them.

About his best friend he said:

"It was an event that changed my life and pretty much every project I did had at least one mention dedicated to him either directly or indirectly. At that time I had learned a lot about life and death and just reality itself and it’s kind of a song I did for my own therapy. It’s one of my favorites now because when I listen to the lyrics I feel like they are perfect. And it takes me back to how I felt at that moment. It was something I did to help others who might already know that all is mind, and we are eternal and not just bodies, even though we go through the pain anyway while we are here."

I love what he says there: “We are eternal and not just bodies. All is mind”. Beautiful. We need messages like this. It’s important for us to learn through other’s experiences and I know this song will be helpful in others recognizing that there are people out there going through and feeling exactly how they are.

Purchase his album “Life Outside The Frame” (4.8 stars), and check out his new “777” EP produced by Al Divino. You can also rewind and check his first album release “Five Seasons” (and sometimes our first is one of our bests). - The Producers United