Mayer

Mayer, a hip-hop artist entrenched in Staten Island’s music scene, performed a set for Plea for the Fifth’s Online Concert Series. Each act in the series was selected and interviewed by a different Plea for the Fifth member with the goal of showcasing a diverse range of artists.

Plea for the Fifth videographer, Kasson Colon-Mangin, asked Mayer about his ties to the music industry, his performance preparation, and the Staten Island artists that inspire him. Check out previous performances from the series by Queen Blizzy, Justy, and Lil Z.

Interview Highlights

Plea for the Fifth: How did you get into music and what is your connection to the music industry?

Mayer: My family's been in the music industry for forever. My dad will tell me stories about how he tried to hit on Big Daddy Kane's girlfriend and that's why he kind of got blacklisted from the industry. But it's okay, it taught me how to address things professionally. You never never know who could be connected to whoever. My brother [William Starda Perry] has been doing this for a long time. He's been keeping his head screwed on streets, and he has some businesses that he runs, WeJustWorkin. So I see the profitable aspect of it. For me, I just love the fact that since my family's been so in depth in music since Rakim. My dad and uncles would hangout with him. That's my connection to the music industry. And that's a big thing for me to not get starstruck, since I've met a lot of famous people already. It's like, you're just a regular person, just like me, and I’ll get there one day.

Plea for the Fifth: How do you prepare for performances?

Mayer: I wasn't the greatest performer in the beginning. So what my team would do [in rehearsals] is they would just talk, not paying attention to the set, to see if I would get any distractions to stop my song, so I stay on task. They’ll be like, “Boo! He sucks!” and throw pillows to throw me off, so I mess up a lyric. And that taught me to get better in my performance aspect. I appreciate the guys doing that. We do it for anyone who’s about to have a big performance.

Plea for the Fifth: How has the pandemic affected you?

Mayer: The pandemic is a positive and a negative. Positive because those are the moments where I'm very introverted. I got to do more things that are very personal songs. The negative is, I don't get to do those club songs that more people would appreciate. Some people that are your true fans appreciate the personal stuff from you. But fans want what fans want to a certain degree. So not being able to go out and party everyday and absorb the feelings of partying and then putting it into my lyrics. It kind of halted those kinds of songs from being made. But I appreciate the time for giving me the personal songs to be made because that’s what makes great albums in my opinion.

Plea for the Fifth: What are your opinions on music in general today?

Mayer: Quality is very, very important. So when you're just freestyling, you don't have a theme, you don't have so many good aspects that make a song connect. I hear so many songs where the ending of a verse doesn't click into the hook, so it just seems like they're two worlds apart, and I hate that about music. If it doesn't connect for me, I truly don't listen to it no matter how popular that song may be. My process is I sit down, I listen to a beat. If it makes me feel good, or if I'm having a sad day, and {the beat] makes me feel that I can just pour myself out into [the music].When I actually hear the beats, I'll chop up five or six flows and I'd be like, “This one fits the best. What’s the theme? What’s the words that fit the flow?”

Plea for the Fifth: Is there anyone you want to shout out?

Mayer: Just had an event, Eddy I, dope, music portfolio is phenomenal. Family, Tyrone Briggs, wrote the craziest flow schemes. My brother Starda is super dope. All the music content, for the years he’s been making music, I can bump to it to this day. Let's start on the rock bands because rock bands play a big part on Staten Island. Giffords Lane, super dope. Producers, A.R. young, super dope. Back to artists, Stacks is nice; I give him hella credit. Snoop, all the Demon Low people, Balagio, love you guys, the energy is always real. Paul Mars, I could go on about Staten Island about artists that are really, really dope that deserve their flowers. Even Hause, he’s an engineer, but his tracks are crazy. I give all the credit to the people, so that’s my list so far. There’s more, we know you’re out there.

Plea for the Fifth: Where can we find your music?

Mayer: If you really want to get into what I'm doing, merch is on the way. Follow me on Instagram, Mayer_PCXTC you know it already if you already follow me but for the newcomers definitely tune in to what I'm doing. You know, just ride along with me for the process.

This is the fourth installment of a five-part online concert series. Stay tuned as we release the remaining performance and interview. This project was made possible (in part) by a DCA Premier Grant from Staten Island Arts, with public funding from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.