ClarkAirLines first solo mixtape, Between The Lines, was released in March 2012. Earlier this month, he landed at #7 on Fake Shore Drive’s “The Top 10 Chicago Mixtapes Of 2012 (So Far)” list and has gained a lot of notoriety for his crazy, conceptual music videos. In “Watching Me,” he shoots himself in the head. In “Sippin While Whippin” he climbs on top of a moving car on Lake Shore Drive. In “Rebel Canon,” his most watched video (over 150,000 views in three weeks), he jumps off the roof of his house and he’s in the studio four times at once, Multiplicity-style.
“I don’t want to make a video of people dancing and sitting in a room,” says AirLines. “I want to make people think.” He and his videographer, Nick Johnson a.k.a. Nicky P, write video treatments and storyboards for each video. They do location scouting and they watch tutorials online to learn new special effects. “It’s not pick-up-and-shoot,” says Nicky P. “We know exactly what shots we’re looking for.” Their goal is to make movies one day. “Me and him are like black geeks,” says AirLines.
Longtime collaborator Darryl Harper a.k.a. Maserati Deeder calls AirLines “a visionary.” In 2009, TCU shot a video for the song “Hometown,” featuring Deeder and MPulse, about violence in Chicago. “It was a song of despair, but triumph, too,” says Deeder. One commenter on the video said, “I was one of the [Chicago Public Schools] Students Shot [in] 2009. This is Chicago!! I [sic] can be one of the most Dangerous places in U.S. but It’s also one of the best citys [sic] to live.”
Deeder is from the super south side of Chicago, the “High 100s,” an area considerably more dangerous than Matteson, IL. But it was ClarkAirLines who “encouraged me to be able to look at a situation that everybody is into (gang-banging), but show it in a different light… I never thought the music that I make would be able to touch somebody deeply like that. He introduced me to that side.”
I ask Mrs. Clark, “Can you think of a time in [Jarvis’] life when you were most proud?” She pauses for about 10 seconds to think, scanning her memory for an appropriate anecdote. “I would say right now because for so long he has been doing his music… not having anyone to help him. There has been many a time where he would be in the basement and he would be down there all night and all day.
“He has achieved so much on his own without anyone, any financial backing, people against him, negative things… but he took everything that he had in him. His creativity. He took his thoughts. He took what was in his heart. And he just took it to the basement and he just worked it… I told him, ‘This is your time.’ I’m proud of him for never giving up.”
I repeat the question to ClarkAirLines. “What do you think she said?” I ask. He hesitates for roughly the same amount of time. “Right now, man. Right now.”
ClarkAirLines sophomore mixtape, AirPlay, is set to drop on Friday, July 27. He will be performing a one-hour set at Reggies, 2015 South State Street, on August 24, the day after his 25th birthday.
Great Interview Clark we wit u bro!! Keep Goin #CashGang
Dope!!!! Let’s get it cuz!!! CCE/TCU/CGE ”Family eats First”
man im proud!! salute!!
Dope Article bruh! Hard work paying off kid!
Much love and very much appreciated. I have been working with Bebe for some time now and this is really a blessing to see how much hard work and great planning is starting to take flight. Seeing your dreams manifest into reality, is a beautiful feeling and for those who are still unclear as to who Ms. Bebe O’Hare is…Don’t trip, you will soon get to know this talented young lady.
Thank you once again for this article, by far one of the best that we have seen thus far.
Much love and respect.