Komplex and Alexei are Fly Gypsy; DMV’s latest group to take off…

For the past two weeks, the DMV has been covered with a blanket of snow from Southern Virginia to Northern Maryland.  Everywhere you go will involve a certain amount of trudging through the snow so it seems fitting that one of the DMV’s hottest new acts sits high above the snow still working on new music.  Sitting in a condo high above the with views of the Waterfront and the new Nationals Baseball Stadium, DMV Unplugged got a chance to sit down with Komplex and Alexei, the duo known as Fly Gypsy.  A few weeks earlier, we got our first chance to see Fly Gypsy at LIV nightclub performing songs from their first mixtape “Vodka and Rum” and their first EP “Change for a Dollar”.  With the energy and crowd approval from just one performance it was easy to see the “Fly” part of the name but we got a chance to find out more about how these two “Gypsy” found their sound, words and their musical travels to the DMV

Love the view, though don’t enjoy seeing the stadium,” says Alexei, the multi-instrumentalist producer and multifaceted musical genius of the group. “The city spent over 600 million of our money to build it – in what amounted to a huge corporate subsidy – and the benefits to the city have so far been marginal. If the city wanted to develop the area, it didn’t need a stadium to do that – half a billion surely would have been enough: build some affordable housing, parks, well-equipped schools, give rent or tax breaks to local business moving in there and keep the money, and the people.”

Alexei is definitely at home in D.C.,having spent nearly a decade here, but to know how he got here would take an atlas. Having been born and raised in Russia, he came to Kansas as a foreign exchange student, did college in Texas, and ultimately came to D.C. to work for an environmental group and, later, attend law school.  During the entire journey, Alexei brought his music with him.  He picked up a piano at the age of six and his first guitar at the age of thirteen.  Even as a practicing lawyer, he never put down the instruments; performing at local open mics around the area and writing and producing for other artists — pursuing his real dream.

Komplex, or Kom for short, gets his name for his deeply insightful lyrics, but his journey to the DMV may be just as complicated.  A native Jamaican, Kom was raised in Brooklyn and attended school in Buffalo before moving to Columbia, MD and then Baltimore.  Kom has always been a child of the hip hop generation, but he got his start on the spoken word scene at Silver Shadows.  He honed his chops not just on big stages, but also in coffee shops like the former Java Head Café on the College Park campus.  “Spoken word and hip hop rhyming are different, spoken word has a different structure that allows you say more,” Kom says.  Komplex went from the coffee shops to hosting and performing on the local open mic scene. After frequently running into each other, Kom and Alexei decided to collaborate on an election-time single, “The Ruler” – a track that received significant attention in the run-up to the 2008 Presidential election. They loved each other’s work, as well as work styles, and after giving it some thought, decided to continue as Fly Gypsy.

While their cultural backgrounds and paths are different, the two artists were able to easily meld on the fact that hip hop is their first love. Fly Gypsy’s last two albums are a refreshing mix of other genres but the group says that is the very nature of hip hop.  “Fly Gypsy is hip hop in it’s truest form,” says Alexei, “we take it back to when it started – remember, it was built on a variety of genres.”  Fly Gypsy fondly talks of the early days of hip hop, mentioning the Rock and Roll days of Run D.M.C., all the way back to Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight.”  These are some of the influences that affect Fly Gypsy’s sound. ”Hip hop started with emcees rapping during the breakdowns in disco beats,” Kom said, “It’s always been different genres coming together.”  With Fly Gypsy reviving the origin of hip hop, they still don’t feel a need to bash anything out now.  They give their respect to Jay-Z, Lil’ Wayne, and Kanye for achieving longevity as true hip-hop artist. They also don’t complain too much about the ‘bubble gum’ hip hop – “that’s what happens when hip hop goes pop.” “We stay to the true form of hip hop but we also understand that spitting insightful lyrics alone doesn’t sell records,” said Kom. “We want to be commercially successful true artists.” And so far, Kom and Alexei have been moving successfully toward that goal. Fly Gypsy’s music is aimed to engage the listener, get folks on a dancefloor without compromising lyrical substance. They are also very keen to make sure their musical quality matches the lyrical content.  “Music has always been a source of escape,” says Komplex, “and eighty-five percent of music is the beat.”  Fly Gypsy’s catalogue covers a broad range from music that will make you dance to some strong messages that will get everyone thinking. That’s why they have mixed songs like “Two Step” in with songs like “Strengthen Me.” Hopefully the listener rocks his head but leaves with some food for thought.

Fly Gypsy truly believes they can continue to engage the listener and drop knowledge as long as they don’t get stuck in the “bubble.” They believe that some of the younger artists get to a place where money changes the message and they lose touch with the people that connect with their music.  They feel that will be easier for them to avoid that trap because they have entered the mainstream hip-hop game later than someother hip-hop acts. “We’re grown-ups,” said Alexei, “we’re not going to get distracted by things that don’t matter in the long term and lose focus. Put us in the same category with Jay, Kanye, Wayne, the Fugees and Tribe. We’re in it to make art that stands the test of time, not to make quick cash on a single.”

When talking to Fly Gypsy, you see that their focus is clear.  While the music is raw and insightful, they are very focused on growing the brand and continuing to market themselves.  From the beginning, they have positioned themselves as national, rather than local acts and have travelled to do shows from Los Angeles to Texas to Miami heading off for a European promotional tour, with stops in London, Paris, and other cities.  They are both admitted “micro-managers” and they oversee every part of their operation from the music to clothing sales.  When asked about the money, they said “if you make good music, you will make good money; nobody that works so hard want to struggle financially. But we are not trying to be wasteful with that money either – we don’t even own cars (no need for them in the city), so we’re not going after rims, platinum chains, and all.”  Fresh off a late night mixing session for their next mixtape, FG:*XL:remixtape, Fly Gypsy is steady working and they don’t plan on resting until they are at the top of the game.  “The more successful you are, the more flexibility you have in making good music,” Kom says. While it has taken a few stops to get to the DMV, the question is where Fly Gypsy will take the DMV next.

Check out Fly Gypsy’s video “You,” filmed in Jamaica by Ras Kassa (Sean Paul, Beenie Man, Damian Marley), in DMV Unplugged’s media section.  They will be performing at their official video release concert on Wednesday, February 17th at Layla Lounge for the Metropolitan Muse Concert Series.