Sir Jarlsberg, who used to go by Jer Gibson when he was in Def Jux comedy rap group, raps about dragons and archery and shit. He’s released one album, Hark Thou, and a single that, while perhaps a little dated, as it’s a variation of Teach Me How To Dougie (called Teach Thee How To Curtsy), still bangs. By dint of talent and upbringing, Sir Jarlsberg makes “funny” rap where, as opposed to, say, Lil Dicky, rap isn’t the punch line. Rap is the medium and the punch line is…well, I’m not sure that there is a punch line; just a deeply strange and entertaining universe where it’s perfectly natural for a knight and his various squires (his newest video includes Blockhead, Aesop Rock, Kimya Dawson, Lateef, and Jarlsberg’s dad, minimalist musician Jon Gibson) to be gallivanting around the city, dropping…whatever science was in the dark ages. Witchcraft I guess.Sir Jarlsberg has a new album, Come Hither, out by the end of the month and was nice enough to let Noisey stream the album (below) and answer a few questions. And, yeah, this is pretty much how dude talks.When did you become Sir Jarlsberg? What was the initial impetus? I heard Party Action Fun Committee, while great, was less than successful sales wise. Is Sir Jarlsberg a result of some sort of emotional break?
‘Twas a breezy autumn day in 1006 or maybe it twas 2007 when it all came to me. What if I do a song as a medieval rapper with that funny voice that I use to make my chums laugh, holler, & hoot? That way I can still be a rapper but not have to be on the rap scene, which I didn't really want to be. So I made a tune called "A Tragic Tale." It flowed out of me with such warmth and ease like milk from a mule with udders. And I thought to myself…. HUZZAH! I played it for my chums and they all rejoiced and began to do a synchronized prance dance throughout the valley. ‘Twas clear that I had something there. Something that made sense to me and that got my brain swirling, twirling, and even whirling with possibilities.Are you a novelty act?
OH NO MY LORD, I am just a man. A passionate man. A man that can. A man that never ran (except from a barreling bull or two in my younger years). Sir Jarlsberg is all about being able to just do whatever the HARK my brain thinks of and the music/arranging/writing is my craft. Similar to how glorious of a poser Mona Lisa was for Leonardo da Vinci. I work my tookus off to make everything in the world of Sir Jarlsberg as high quality and authentic as I can. "Novelty" Act? PAAH…more like "Noble Acts of Glee" 'Tis my comeback to thee.I know you have a large troupe (I think I was in a band with your horse in the 90s), how does that work? Do they all contribute? Are there rotating characters? Are they all from NYC/hip-hop? Do they take a lot of convincing or are they just naturally peculiar?
OH HOLY SQUIRE, good man, you and Steedy King used to frolic? 'Tis quite something. I bet thou enjoyed listening to those hooves bless the lute with such grace. I know I do. Yes Indeed, I collaborate with all the chums at times. Whether it's learning to waltz with William & Richard, or writing some hark hop before going on a frock shop with DJ Forlorn Maiden & Gnomie. We all put our swords to the sky and our merry minds together. The chums add an important layer to what I do and it has help Sir Jarlsberg evolve quite nicely. Especially in the live performances. On my first album from a few years back Hark Thou, there were many less chums involved. I hadn't yet linked up with Steedy King or DJ Forlorn Maiden who are now an integral part of the group troupe.All the Chums are coincidentally native New Amsterdamers that I've grown up with and have known for roughly 9043 years. They are all instinctively willing and able to be magical participants in the world of Sir Jarlsberg. I've heard the laymen call that "on the level" (peculiar saying indeed).Twas quite obvious to reach out to my Noble father Jon Gibson to enter my world. He is a minimalist modern musician who has played in the Philip Glass ensemble since the 60s along with putting out his own records throughout the years. I had always wanted to collaborate with him and this was finally a way that made sense being that he is a wonderful player of wind instruments, which is right up Sir Jarlsberg's alley. Or should I say Valley. And now I've even got him doing a wee bit of rapping…who knew…and… HUZZAH to that! Tis lovely to think about how my noble father was part of a new music movement in the 960s and now I am creating my own genre as well with him on board…. Not quite sure if Hark Hop will catch on like the modern minimalist music movement but HARK thou never knoweths.My amazing mother was a modern dancer so I grew up in an experimental art world where anything was possible. One day I could wake up and there would be 14 hungry dancers intertwined in the shape of a crescent moon chirping like a swollen swan in ice water.What's you favorite version of Merlin?
I knew a Merlin in my younger years; he sold elk skin loin clothes at the market and was a very good man. If it wasn't for a deal my father had made with him where I would clean the dirt off the hooves on his deer rugs (Merlin had many Deer rugs that were the whole entire deer) in exchange for free 2 free loin clothes, I would have been a naked boy playing alone.You rap and you're funny…but hip-hop isn't the joke. How much do you pay attention to balancing out the more humorous aspects of what you do with the actual rapping? Is that even a concern?
I've been rapping for many years in one-way or another. My chums and I had a rap group that started in high school called The Overground (because we were sooo not underground teeheeheah) That was fun and went on for a while but I would feel a bit more inspired when we would make sillier songs, like as flaming gay men or murderous thugged out hoods for example. And those were always well-received and fun to listen to for myself. I always knew I could make people laugh which was more fun than trying to be a seriously DOOOPPPE underground rapper. Trying to be that doesn't really fit my personality. My personality is more like an off-white unicorn galloping upon a rainbow. I think at this point i just go into Sir Jarlsberg mode and try to make good music. I think just the act of doing that is kinda funny so it ends up having humor naturally.Seeing as you're already a knight I guess, what do you hope to accomplish with this? The crown? XXL Freshmanship?
XXL Freshmanship?? Doth thou mean to say "70 French Men on a ship?" Not sure why one would say that either. Anywhoooo my ultimate goal in life is to be the Queen of England, and to have an amazing hat collection. That way I can show off a splendid new hat at The Doonesbury Donkey Derby every year. People will we WOWED with wonder. I still have hope that one day I will achieve this goal.I would like to be someone and something that makes people happy. Similar to Pee Wee Herman who is one of my favorite characters ever and a huge influence of mine, I would like to be kid friendly and adult friendly. But in person I would like to be a ruthless viscous Liger that exudes evil and does NOT want to be bothered. (OH NO I didn't mean to write that last sentence, how does one delete scripture on these machines?? anyone??…PLEASE HELP). I mean I love everyone and just want to spread a highly contagious smile virus (that can also be a full body rash) throughout thy land.I feel really bad for that guy you beat in that rap battle on YouTube. No question, jut saying.
I mean look at me, I'm wildly intimidating. Like a flailing fiery fox lightly trotting through a fern brush at dawn. Sometimes when my inner turmoil starts to boil, I go to Dragons Creek and look at my reflection. Every time I see myself through the dribbling ripples and floating golden mollusks. I think to myself…"I'm glad I don't have to rap battle myself."The record release show shall be held at Ye Olde Union Pool on October 29.Zachary Lipez is a writer living like it's 2014. He's on Twitter - @ZacharyLipez.
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‘Twas a breezy autumn day in 1006 or maybe it twas 2007 when it all came to me. What if I do a song as a medieval rapper with that funny voice that I use to make my chums laugh, holler, & hoot? That way I can still be a rapper but not have to be on the rap scene, which I didn't really want to be. So I made a tune called "A Tragic Tale." It flowed out of me with such warmth and ease like milk from a mule with udders. And I thought to myself…. HUZZAH! I played it for my chums and they all rejoiced and began to do a synchronized prance dance throughout the valley. ‘Twas clear that I had something there. Something that made sense to me and that got my brain swirling, twirling, and even whirling with possibilities.Are you a novelty act?
OH NO MY LORD, I am just a man. A passionate man. A man that can. A man that never ran (except from a barreling bull or two in my younger years). Sir Jarlsberg is all about being able to just do whatever the HARK my brain thinks of and the music/arranging/writing is my craft. Similar to how glorious of a poser Mona Lisa was for Leonardo da Vinci. I work my tookus off to make everything in the world of Sir Jarlsberg as high quality and authentic as I can. "Novelty" Act? PAAH…more like "Noble Acts of Glee" 'Tis my comeback to thee.
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OH HOLY SQUIRE, good man, you and Steedy King used to frolic? 'Tis quite something. I bet thou enjoyed listening to those hooves bless the lute with such grace. I know I do. Yes Indeed, I collaborate with all the chums at times. Whether it's learning to waltz with William & Richard, or writing some hark hop before going on a frock shop with DJ Forlorn Maiden & Gnomie. We all put our swords to the sky and our merry minds together. The chums add an important layer to what I do and it has help Sir Jarlsberg evolve quite nicely. Especially in the live performances. On my first album from a few years back Hark Thou, there were many less chums involved. I hadn't yet linked up with Steedy King or DJ Forlorn Maiden who are now an integral part of the group troupe.All the Chums are coincidentally native New Amsterdamers that I've grown up with and have known for roughly 9043 years. They are all instinctively willing and able to be magical participants in the world of Sir Jarlsberg. I've heard the laymen call that "on the level" (peculiar saying indeed).Twas quite obvious to reach out to my Noble father Jon Gibson to enter my world. He is a minimalist modern musician who has played in the Philip Glass ensemble since the 60s along with putting out his own records throughout the years. I had always wanted to collaborate with him and this was finally a way that made sense being that he is a wonderful player of wind instruments, which is right up Sir Jarlsberg's alley. Or should I say Valley. And now I've even got him doing a wee bit of rapping…who knew…and… HUZZAH to that! Tis lovely to think about how my noble father was part of a new music movement in the 960s and now I am creating my own genre as well with him on board…. Not quite sure if Hark Hop will catch on like the modern minimalist music movement but HARK thou never knoweths.
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I knew a Merlin in my younger years; he sold elk skin loin clothes at the market and was a very good man. If it wasn't for a deal my father had made with him where I would clean the dirt off the hooves on his deer rugs (Merlin had many Deer rugs that were the whole entire deer) in exchange for free 2 free loin clothes, I would have been a naked boy playing alone.You rap and you're funny…but hip-hop isn't the joke. How much do you pay attention to balancing out the more humorous aspects of what you do with the actual rapping? Is that even a concern?
I've been rapping for many years in one-way or another. My chums and I had a rap group that started in high school called The Overground (because we were sooo not underground teeheeheah) That was fun and went on for a while but I would feel a bit more inspired when we would make sillier songs, like as flaming gay men or murderous thugged out hoods for example. And those were always well-received and fun to listen to for myself. I always knew I could make people laugh which was more fun than trying to be a seriously DOOOPPPE underground rapper. Trying to be that doesn't really fit my personality. My personality is more like an off-white unicorn galloping upon a rainbow. I think at this point i just go into Sir Jarlsberg mode and try to make good music. I think just the act of doing that is kinda funny so it ends up having humor naturally.
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XXL Freshmanship?? Doth thou mean to say "70 French Men on a ship?" Not sure why one would say that either. Anywhoooo my ultimate goal in life is to be the Queen of England, and to have an amazing hat collection. That way I can show off a splendid new hat at The Doonesbury Donkey Derby every year. People will we WOWED with wonder. I still have hope that one day I will achieve this goal.I would like to be someone and something that makes people happy. Similar to Pee Wee Herman who is one of my favorite characters ever and a huge influence of mine, I would like to be kid friendly and adult friendly. But in person I would like to be a ruthless viscous Liger that exudes evil and does NOT want to be bothered. (OH NO I didn't mean to write that last sentence, how does one delete scripture on these machines?? anyone??…PLEASE HELP). I mean I love everyone and just want to spread a highly contagious smile virus (that can also be a full body rash) throughout thy land.I feel really bad for that guy you beat in that rap battle on YouTube. No question, jut saying.
I mean look at me, I'm wildly intimidating. Like a flailing fiery fox lightly trotting through a fern brush at dawn. Sometimes when my inner turmoil starts to boil, I go to Dragons Creek and look at my reflection. Every time I see myself through the dribbling ripples and floating golden mollusks. I think to myself…"I'm glad I don't have to rap battle myself."The record release show shall be held at Ye Olde Union Pool on October 29.Zachary Lipez is a writer living like it's 2014. He's on Twitter - @ZacharyLipez.