Artist Spotlight: Jacob Plante

Meet Jacob Plante, the creative dynamo with an MFA in Creative Writing! This talented artist mixes theater, poetry, and music in a playful blend. His latest album, Flippy Dippy, showcases the joys of fatherhood, featuring special contributions from his son. Inspired by the likes of Sublime and Matisyahu, Jacob’s sound is a fun ride you won’t want to miss!

1. You have a rich background in theater, poetry, and music. How do these different disciplines influence your creative process and music?

Good question. I'm able to utilize different skills I've learned from each discipline to develop a unique approach to my art and in creating music. Most especially the MFA in Creative Writing and all the poetry I've studied and written greatly influences my style and rhythm when I am penning lyrics for songs. Some skills I've developed from my theatre studies and my career as a stage and film actor have really helped me with inflection, subtext, tonality, and giving life and character to verses and bars that I spit.

2. As a single father, how has your experience with fatherhood shaped the themes and emotions present in Flippy Dippy?

I have this ineffable unexplainable unconditional love for my son. From the first moment I saw him at the hospital at his birth I was all in and can't explain the emotions I felt in my heart that day. This really comes out in the song "Turkey Jive" where I flow about my relationship with my son with lines like "we're the supreme dream team, always down on the scene, cause teamwork makes the dreamwork..." And working with him on the track "Oak Park Funk" where he created and mixed the beats and I wrote lyrics and did vocals was some of the most amazing father son time I have ever had with my son. He's brilliant in every endeavor he pursues; he even performs Shakespeare in the Park with Shakespeare Royal Oak every summer in their Youth Program. This past summer he did an amazing portrayal and unique interpretation of Jacques from As You Like It. I'm so proud of him, he really shines. Some other themes in Flippy Dippy are focused and themed around my mother and my maternal Grandmother and my maternal Grandfather, all who helped mold me into the human being I am today.

3. Your track Oak Park Funk features a collaboration with your son, Adam. What was it like working together, and how did his contributions impact the final product?

My son's a teenager now, he turned 13 this past April. So hanging with dad isn't as cool these days as it used to be when he was younger. But at his school in his music class they were learning beat making instead of traditional instruments. And the software they were using at his school was very similar to the studio software I use so he picked up on it right away and even taught me a few things. He's also helped me with designing album cover art for different projects. He's a straight A student, super brilliant, super talented. I may be a little biased as his father; but even if I weren't related to him I would recognize how immensely talented and smart he is. It made me laugh that after our studio session with Oak Park Funk, I asked him if we could do this again because we both had so much fun and his reply was, "Maybe". He's such a hip, too cool for dad teenager now. I say that jokingly, we have a great relationship. He did this thing in Oak Park Funk at the end of the song when I say the Shema in Hebrew, he dropped out all the beats and put in an acoustic guitar for the duration of the Shema to give it emphasis and then he brought everything back up when the Shema was over. (The Shema is the central theme and statement in all of Judaism, Here O' Israel The Lord is Our God, The Lord is One, or in Hebrew: Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokienu, Hashem Ekhad.

4. Your Jewish heritage plays a significant role in your music. How do you incorporate cultural references and humor into your songs, particularly in tracks like The Kosher Pepperoni?

It's just one of those things man, I used to be a working stand up comic and wrote all my own material, and I'm super passionate about Judaism and study Torah as often as I can. It just naturally happens. I don't even try to be funny in my writing I just try to be honest and clever and create fun rhyming schematics, and the humor just naturally weaves it way into my writing. It's just my personality and it comes out in my lyrics.

5. Among all the tracks on Flippy Dippy, you mentioned Turkey Jive as your personal favorite. What makes this track special to you, and what do you hope listeners take away from it?

What makes it my favorite track is not only do I rap about my relationship with my son, but in the track I give a shout out to my Grandpa Norbert Jerome Rudy, my mother's father. He fought in World War II and was Dow Chemicals head patten attorney, he had 10 children with his wife of which my mother is the oldest. He is such an inspiration to me, he had a gusto for living and a fire in his belly. The man was passionate. I also love how I ended the song. To someone looking in from the outside my life may seem like cookies and cream, but I have a PhD from the school of Hard Knocks. I end the song with, "From the life I've lived, and what I've seen, nothing from nothing leaves nothing, so you better have something"

6. You’ve transitioned from stand-up comedy and acting to music. How has your artistic evolution shaped your approach to songwriting and performance?

I feel like it makes me unique, I have a stage presence that you won't get from most performers. Also my lyrics and songs are original, unique, different, and a bit awkward, and I really embrace the awkward. It's part of who I am.

7. Family seems to be a recurring theme in your work. Can you share a particular memory or lesson from your family that has inspired your music?

Yes, well this moment I'm about to tell you about inspired my passion for life and everything I do which poured into my music. When I was a teenager I was a troubled youth always getting into trouble. My Uncle Peter, my mother's brother, pulled me aside one day at my Grandma's house and he told me I had no heart and that I don't have a fire in my belly. It was the best thing he could have ever said to me and I think he knew that. Because it motivated me, and I can now say proudly that I am all heart and like my Grandfather Norbert Jerome Rudy, I have a fire in my belly. 

8. Flippy Dippy blends hip-hop with elements of blues and humor. What inspired you to experiment with these genres, and how do you think they complement each other?

I don't like most contemporary rap. It's all rinse wash and repeat. Most rappers just talk about guns, violence, how many cars they have, how many women they get with, and how many 100 dollar bills they have. Not only has that been played out and it's unoriginal, but it's really boring as a listener, almost annoying. I wanted to try mixing and fusing genres that I love. Not all hip hop is what I just mentioned and I hold a deep love for hip hop music in my heart, but ironically it's not my favorite genre as a listener, I'm into a little bit of everything. And I wanted to try to fuse that little bit of everything into my hip hop and create something different. 

9. What does your writing process look like when you’re creating a new song? Do you start with lyrics, a beat, or a concept?

Always the lyrics. You can have an amazing beat, but if you don't have good lyrics, what's the point? I never title a song until I've finished writing it. I don't want to pick a title and then feel like I need to conform to that title or its concept or theme. I want to let the lyrics go where they go. Also, with first drafts I never use a computer and word processor. I always use an ink pen and a pad of paper. There's something almost romantic about writing with your hand and putting the pen to paper, also free writing with your hand induces and promotes stream of consciousness in your writing. The concepts develop themselves as I free-write and in revisions. The beat comes last. It's the icing on the cake. I strongly feel that hip hop should be lyric driven and not beat driven, it should almost be like spoken word poetry. 

10. You’re currently working on new projects, including Unity on Wax and Socially Awkward. Can you give us a sneak peek into what fans can expect from these upcoming albums?

Yeah, these are some amazing, unique, creative, and very different and enjoyable tracks they will get to listen to. Unity on Wax is a collaboration with Detroit's renowned one and only DJ Blaze. He's mixing and laying all original unique beats for my lyrics. I have the songs all written and he's had the lyric book for quite some time, and we will be going into the studio soon to record the tracks. Socially Awkward is something I'm having a lot of fun with, On each track I'm collaborating with a different artist/musician from all different genres and we're fusing our styles and sounds to create one of the most unique albums to hit streaming services, your ears will ring with delight and you will crave these sound waves. Unity on Wax is a cool collaboration because DJ Blaze is representing Detroit and I'm representing the suburbs in Oak Park, which I like to refer to as the Mighty Mighty Oak Park, you'll actually hear that in a few of my songs; and we're bringing it all together and bringing the love, and creating something with heart and passion for the people. Socially Awkward got its title because I'm socially awkward and I have to socially interact with other musicians in creating songs. It's so much fun. I'm learning so much along the way as well with these collaborations. Some people on Socially Awkward will be Eszeay, Marty Mendelbaum, Kat Orlando, Emma Zee, Leor Barak, Michael Anderson, Sophie Hartz and more. Each track on Socially Awkward will have a very different distinct sound from all the other tracks. It will be a diverse smorgasbord all you can listen to buffet of an album. I'm so blessed to be able to work with such amazing and immensely talented creative people.

11. What message do you hope to convey through your music, and how do you want your listeners to feel after experiencing Flippy Dippy?

That's a really good question, and I'm not sure if I have a good answer. I want people to enjoy it and take from it whatever they find of value in it. And enjoy it for the reasons that they find music enjoyable. I would hope for them to feel moved, inspired, and leave a concert with a smile on their face because they enjoyed some of the infused humor.

12. Looking ahead, what kind of legacy do you hope to leave in the music industry, and who are some artists that have influenced your work?

Legacy, I should only hope and pray that I would leave any kind of legacy. I'm just a schlep from Midland Michigan passionate about music and art and I'm creating it to the best of my ability. These are the artists that have influenced my music: Sublime, Matisyahu, The Beastie Boys, Adam Sandler, Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, Prince, and The Sugar Hill Gang, and NOFX. Oh yeah, and let's not forget Dirty Heads. Dirty Heads are my second all time favorite band, my first all time favorite band is Sublime.