the foreign exchange “raw life”
by PAUL W. ARNOLD
THANK AL GORE for the Internet. “You need a little bit of luck to get your foot in the door,” says Matthijs Lennert Nicolay Rook via IM. “And [for me] the Internet was that luck.”
The 31-year-old Netherlands native’s lucky break came after a decade of paying dues. The multi-instrumentalist spent the ’90s in various funk-flavored bands—including the Zapp-inspired Bastian—before harkening back to hip-hop influences to launch his production career. “It’s something you can do by yourself,” he says of beatmaking. “Instead of playing in a band and needing others.”
Escaping go-nowhere groups led Nic to an unlikely partnership with Phonte of Little Brother. The two first conversed in the message boards of Okayplayer.com. And upon hearing a reworking of Ahmad Jamal’s “Dolphin Dance” submitted for an Okay-sponsored beat battle, Phonte was immediately impressed with Nic’s work. “The boom-bap of a Preemo, with the atmospherics of a J Dilla, with the composition of a Prince,” is how he describes Nicolay’s sound.
While the two subsequently became The Foreign Exchange and released 2004’s critically acclaimed Connected, induction for the Dutchmaster into Phonte’s Justus League crew has yet to come. “I am very much my own person,” Nic explains of his self-imposed exclusion. Rollin’ dolo hasn’t prevented him from clocking credits with almost all JL extended fam though, and work on a Connected follow-up has already begun.
A move stateside this summer should only further those collaborations. “If you look at the cover you see a very faint T printed before the HERE,” he explains of his new album, Here. “My girlfriend, who’s in the States, used to say, ‘I am here, you are there, the only difference is the T.’” Playing like a neo-soul Chronic, the album showcases mostly newcomers, as Phonte’s sole contribution is providing background vocals for crooner Darien Brockington on “I Love The Way.”
But whether Here or there, via the Internet or in person, Nicolay will keep the rest of us, connected to his futuristic funk.