Singer Adrian Marcel represents his hometown of Oakland, Calif., to the fullest. Bay Area vibes are all over his latest EP, RnBay Szn, including a feature from Bay Area legend E-40. His musical journey took him from his home to Atlanta, where he has honed in on his new sound and is entering his latest era. He sat with rolling out to tell us all about it.
Why did you start making music?
Music, man, It’s just always in you. I’ve always loved the feeling that music brings. Not so much the attention aspect of it, but seeing how people were reacting to me singing or just me entertaining, in general. But as I got older, me entertaining turned into a vocal thing, and singing became a super passion of mine.
Who were your musical inspirations?
I grew up listening to Ginuwine, Usher, and Maxwell. There are some more older artists like Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Frankie Lyman, and Jackie Wilson. I had a really vast variety of musicians.
What did it mean for you to get E-40 on your EP?
He was the perfect person for the feature. I damn near manifested him onto this track. You know E-40; he’s a legend worldwide, but especially for the Bay Area. He’s always been an inspiration to me. From the music to the lingo, man. He’ll say something fly like “I’m everywhere, like air,” and it just hits. He’s the creator of calling money cabbage, broccoli, and spinach.
What is the meaning of the track “Big City”?
“Bipping” means a snatch and go. At the time we made this record, more than other places, people were breaking into cars in the Bay; it was really bad out here. Like if you had something in your car as small as a charger, they would break in and take it. So we thought about it and decided we should showcase a better side, a more player side on this record, and bring in the whole bip city thing in a different way. And we did. We flipped it to where it’s not that we’re not bipping cars; I haven’t ever stolen anything in my life except for somebody’s chick. That’s when it clicked, and we decided to flip it and make the song about “bipping” chicks, pretty much stealing someone’s girl. You know what I’m saying? Something real, playa.
You got E-40; who else do you want to collaborate with in the future?
For sure, J. Cole. I love to have artists who I feel spit that real and bring that honesty to records. I’ve been a J. Cole fan since before it was cool to be a J. Cole fan. I’m still a big Snoh Aalegra fan, and I would love to have her on a record, too. I love her voice, the way it melts on records. Lastly, Jasmine Sullivan. Even though I know she’ll blow me out of the water singing, she’s going to bring that soul.
