Jamil Rashad is nothing like I expected.
I first heard about the artist known as Boulevards ten minutes before his Hopscotch slot at Cam in September, after I had run across downtown Raleigh from a hostess shift to catch my friends before they hopped to the next venue. I walked in to find the place not quite full, but packed into the front, in anticipation.
This seemed strange, but then again, everything about the structure of Hopscotch festival itself was strange. Looking back, the event website even displays his photo over 100 bands down the lineup-reveal page, close to the bottom. Based on his spot in the Cam lineup — the first of four at the venue that night– any unwitting festival-goer would’ve pegged him as a small fish in the vast pond.
But this crowd said otherwise.
Checking my handy schedule, I saw that Boulevards was marked “electronic” — almost as broad a label as “rock/pop” and nearly as vague as “experimental” — so my first instincts had me expecting House or Techno.
But a DJ sat down at the table as a handsome man in a crystal blue suit and matching hat hopped onto the stage with a mic and I knew that wouldn’t be it.
What proceeded was an exciting blur of electronic, pop and funk that was arguably the breakout hit of the weekend. The song, “Got to Go” happily popped and sizzled with a beat that would not be ignored.
The crowd was in a frenzy. Throughout the set, he would get off the stage and run into the center of the crowd and the gravity of the room shifted.
For one song he got everyone on the ground around him, bouncing little by little into a jumping mass of bodies. At one point, I was face-to-face with him and, as I was jumping ecstatically like everyone else, I was also frantically trying not to accidentally chest bump him as I clung to my hat for dear life. He was singing right into my face but I’m quite sure he has no idea I was the same woman who interviewed him four hours later…
Between his catchy music, wardrobe, smooth dance moves and repeated immersion in the crowd, Boulevards charmed the room — a spell that promptly broke before the next act.
A few hours later, I had the good fortune of watching him again at an after party and caught him after the set to ask a few questions. I was nervous to approach the suave local star at 2 a.m., worried he would be annoyed and tired, or maybe slick — because I can think of no other word for ‘charming to an uncomfortable degree.’
But he was friendly, candid, humble.
After an audience of 20 for a day party show in 2014, Rashad said he was surprised to find 600 people filling Cam for him this year.
“It’s a blessing,” he said. “Hard work pays off but it doesn’t stop there.”
He had just been signed by Captured Tracks in Brooklyn, though he couldn’t officially confirm that at the time, and he said his album will be out in February.
The memorable blue suit was made by Raleigh-native Lumina Clothing and the style was inspired by his father, “back in the day.”
When asked what he saw in his future, Rashad said he wanted to “keep making the best music I can make, to the best of my ability, and sharing that.”
Seemingly overnight, however, Boulevards has exceeded even his own expectations.
His self-titled EP released on September 25th and since then, the artist has been featured by NPR and Vice and in an episode of the CW show The Flash.
