Printer-friendly version

Send to a friend

You might also be interested in

• Ego of the Week
• Metafiction
• Volcanic
• From Petty Theft to Selling Toner, and All the Rocking In Between

This Issue 02/22/2007

Also in this issue

• Oscar preview
• Crowd's eye view
• Oh Snap
• A "Touch" of Success

Dunny, meanwhile, is occupied with the beats Sean wants to splice together. "You sure about this?" Sean asks about Nelly Furtado's "Promiscuous." "Does it sound stupid if I sing it? Even the girl's part?" He gives it a try. It's silly, but somehow he makes it work. His high notes are impressive: clear and clean.

Sean and Dunny sit at the computer, moving to the beats and analyzing the different clips Sean has put together. Sean calls all the shots - "Put this beat here" - with Dunny either grunting, nodding in approval, or shooting back a skeptical "Are you sure?"

It's 10:55 p.m. Sean hasn't managed to magically create more time; he lives by the same rules as everyone else. In less than six hours, he's recorded and mastered a new single.

On the table, his Treo vibrates again.

* * *

Outside 8th Street Lounge, people are lining up for ID checks. Inside, DJ Wreckless has people dancing on the dark, smoky floor. The Projekt EsKoh crew has taken over the coatroom, and Josh has his cameras and equipment all set up and ready to go when the door opens and Sean walks in. He wears a blood red Ova Da Wall shirt, studded with gleaming crystals in the shape of a skull. His thick black-framed glasses are gone, his hair is gelled back, but he's the same cool, calm Sean.

"Any pizza left?" are the first words out of his mouth. Sean's sister Josephine, a freshman at NYU, had come down to support her brother's gig. Professor James Peterson, who taught Sean in "Hip Hop Culture," is also there. Everyone smiles wider than normal, edgy and antsy, with obvious anticipation.

Eventually, EsKoh walks out on stage to loud cheers; the crowd on the dance floor moves towards the stage. He opens with "Sexy Love," then Cedric, onstage by his side, goes into "Touch It." They move around the stage, singing, dancing, and hyping up the crowd.

After a few more tracks, he goes into his own hits, "Ring the Alarm" and "Touch." His voice is every bit as golden as it sounded in the studio. Josh and his film crew scout all corners of the club, culling footage for the music video.

As the performance comes to an end, EsKoh thanks the crowd and walks off stage to great applause. If there's a performing gene, Sean certainly has it.

Josh and Ray Ting, another producer from Drexel interview audience members and Sean's friends. "Really crazy good" and "out of control" are just a couple of the compliments. One guy notes later on, "If he can sing like that live, then you know he's got talent."

Sean feels that he's starting to lose his self-consciousness. "I used to think my music wasn't good. But then I did a little, and people liked it. So I did a little more, and it just grew bigger." He blinks. "Sometimes I wonder if things would be different if I had focused on my own music from the very beginning of Koherent."