P.K. Rez talks about viral Walt the Crane song, unity through music

UPDATED: Feb. 3, 2020 at 1:21 p.m.

There was no chance that Jordan Shepherd was going to climb up a crane in the middle of the night, even for his friend’s music video.

But with little regard, senior Oladeji Awe clambered 20 feet up, his initial fears fading away once he started dancing atop the crane.

Awe, whose artist name is P.K. Rez, recently released a song called “Walt the Crane,” featuring Shepherd, also known as J Shep, accompanied by an SU pride-filled music video. The song is an homage to the 580-foot crane being used to renovate the Carrier Dome. It gained the nickname “Walt” through the successful Instagram account @walt.the.crane run by freshman Niko Benelli.

The single came together in less than an hour during Awe’s industrial design class, and its sound is inspired by the sharp, playful lyrics of 2 Chainz, an artist from Atlanta — Awe’s home city. The Syracuse student said he’s influenced by the prominent rapper.

“I like to be very crafty with my lyrics so it’s not in your face, but it’s present so that you can still catch it,” Awe said.

Over the course of two weeks, as of Feb. 2, the track has amassed more than 1,400 views on YouTube and has 4,418 views on @walt.the.crane’s Instagram account.

While the song contains lighthearted and playful bars, Awe said the song was meant to reunite the SU community following the hate crimes and bias-related incidents that took place during the fall 2019 semester. Awe said he played a role throughout the early stages of the #NotAgainSU sit-in at the Barnes Center at the Arch, acting as a floater and helping in any way needed.

In the same week of dropping his single, Awe also released his first EP, “Rookie Season,” which features many genre changes, including hip-hop, R&B and trap.

“The way I made the album is you would just listen to each one after another, and it will just flow right into each other,” Awe said. “Like a wave that will go up and down, but at the end, you’ve felt enough emotions.”

The album came together while Awe was abroad in Florence. On the trip, he befriended numerous producers at small-time production company APM Firenze and was able to perform sets at popular Italian clubs.

Although this marks Awe’s first foundational EP, he has had a passion for music his entire life. He began writing simple freestyle raps as early as 8 years old, Awe said, and later picked up alto saxophone and piano. In high school, he bought a microphone with the intention of singing. Yet, while music was a way to develop his creativity, his parents did not approve.

“I have a traditional African family,” Awe said. “So from there, especially as a first-generation immigrant, it focuses on education and excelling through that means. And so, they had me in any kind of extracurricular activity that could help me.”

It was also in his youth where he gained the nickname “Preacher Kid.” By 14 years old, Awe was regularly preaching at his church. “It’s part of my identity” he said. “And you know, I can preach through lyrics.”

When it came time to choose an artist name, he shortened “Preacher Kid” to P.K. and added “Rez” for no real reason at all. Such a decision aptly sums up his personality, which he categorized as somewhat of “a clown” that is simultaneously serious.

With little opportunity to pursue music in his home city of Atlanta, the microphone he bought remained stowed away until his third year at SU. At that point, he began to “learn the tricks of the trade” and released a few singles over the next few months.

Awe said that while he enjoys making more melodic hip-hop now, he would be interested in pursuing worldly gospel rap music. Elizabeth Billman | Asst. Photo Editor

Longtime collaborator and part-time senior Corey Mitchell spoke upon the growth of P.K. Rez and his shift from “straight rap to a more melodic sound.”

“It’s very intense,” Mitchell said. “You never know what you get in the studio. He takes it really serious. But I can always tell when he’s making jokes because once he locks into the rhythm, he’ll just zone out in the studio.”

For Awe, music is all about unity. Coming from a Nigerian family and having lived in London and Atlanta, P.K. Rez uses his music to fuse all of these influences together. But he is also constantly in search for new sounds such as German, Russian or Caribbean.

As a result, he describes his sound as “UK-Afro hip-hop.” He added that he is heavily influenced by artists such as Chris Brown, Lucky Daye, Travis Scott, and Lolo Zouaï. He is even interested in the possibility of taking a more gospel route to his music.

“Deji definitely likes to have fun and is creative, ‘cause he likes designing merch and making music, doing the whole graphic design thing,” said Shepherd, a junior marketing major. “He’s just got a creative mind and he’s going for it, so you gotta respect it.”

Music is not Awe’s only method of expressing himself.

Beyond being this year’s homecoming king, he co-founded Groove Phi Groove Social Fellowship, Inc., an African-based alternative to Greek life, in 2018 with Mitchell. Awe is also a member of the Men of Color Initiative, a leadership initiative that provides academic support to men of color, and even released a clothing line. That is all while completing his five-year thesis program as an industrial and interaction design major.

“I’m a very business-minded, creative, artist-type everything, you know?” Awe said.
“It’s like I have very different ideas about how I’m going to go through life.”

However, Awe will continue releasing music and performing shows. He said that he is waiting on an Afro-Caribbean track, hopeful that fans enjoy the new direction. Most prominently, he has an upcoming show in Brooklyn with rapper Roddy Rich, who currently has the No. 1 song on Billboard Charts, “The Box.”

With everything that Awe is involved in both on- and off-campus, he likes to maintain a positive outlook.

“In general, I believe you have to live life as a kid, so that’s why my songs are never particularly too serious,” Awe said. “So, that’s the kind of energy I come from. I like to just have fun, you know, I’m from Atlanta … We’re very light-hearted people down there, you know we don’t do the cold energy of New York.”

CLARIFICATION: In a previous version of this post, it didn’t state that there were two founders of Groove Phi Groove. Also, Lolo Zouaï’s mention didn’t include her last name.