ORPHAN ANDY "GOD LOVE MONEY" ALBUM REVIEW

Melancholy, but bright and optimistic, the Minneapolis Emcee Orphan Andy swings through anxiousness and self-realization in his album “God Love Money.” Ominous and heavy production; live strings, pianos, and jabbing horns accompany the heavy 808’s and the overall grand production. The album’s first track shows it in a bold move with no vocals. However, the robust violins and the commanding saxophone riffs paired with the steady organs and fast trap drums give an ample look at what you’re in for, especially with the impatiently ticking clock topping off this orchestra-like intro that throws you into the second track “Out of Time.”
The second track is the designated banger on this project. With a hyphy feature from Kindyn Peters, who is also sprinkled throughout the album, “Out of Time” gives me one of my favorite joints of the project. This track seems to flex the lifestyle that it wants to reject in the coming tracks. Kindyn Peters delivers one of my favorite lines from the project, “ How the flow dumb from a genius?/ Ya’ll count sheep while I count my achievements.”
The first half of “God Love Money” deals with being uncomplacent with the balance of money and love. While the lifestyle of drugs, money, and woman, are easily consumable, it’s also easy to get addicted for the wrong reasons as revealed in the next two tracks in “Lust” and “Pray no More.” The album leans into a disenfranchised feeling of never getting out of the cycle of not being hopeless and broke.
The sixth track, “Lobby,” pulls the album out of this rut. The track begins with a sample that illustrates this very upswing: “I hope you change your future, you might very well change your mind.” This track has another one of my favorite lines, “I ain’t waiting for shit/ gotta go get it.” It’s a simple, but pivotal, line to show the rise out of darkness. The peak feeling of optimism and self-awareness comes on my favorite track, “Opaque.” With a trio of features from Rey Gordo, Asia Divine, and Kihndyn Peters, the lush melodies of Divine and the beautiful saxophone gliding through the track gives reassurance that everything is going to be alright, whilst pointing out the flaws of not being transparent enough to people around them and themselves as well.
The end of this album juggles the feelings of knowing one’s flaws and the realization of what one needs truly: “It may not always be clear; but we all need love, we all need money, and we all seek connection.”

(Melodic Noise) How's your day going?
(Orphan Andy) Great so far

(MN) Members?
(OA) Just me Andy. (I produce most of my music also, under my production name ATR/ATR The Sage)

(MN) What is your origin story?
(OA) Ive been doing music ever since i can remember; from playing piano, to bands/choirs in school, to making beats and such, since i was like 15.
The name Orphan Andy comes from me being an orphan child when i was young 0-6 and my name is andy...
I always thought it flowed off the tongue. its also kind of a play on words of orphan annie

(MN) Genre?
(OA) i tend to bounce around alot when it comes to genre. most of my rap stuff is trap, rap, hip hop, with an electronic influence i guess idk. i enjoy live instrumentation in my music as much as possible since i grew up going to orchestra and band concerts all the time for my siblings as well as my dad being in a cover band who played all the time...
but i also enjoy the new school synth sounds and the dark alien sounding dub stuff is interesting to me so i mess around with a whole array of genres

(MN) Label?
(OA) At this time im independent.
in the process of starting my own label but i dont want to give out too much more information other than that until it is an actual thing.

(MN) What’s the name of your album and the story behind the name?
(OA) God Love Money
At least for me these are the three pillars of what motivates me / what i live for in life...
i feel like this is highly relatable to most people as well as the content in the project.

(MN) Lyrically what stands out on the album?
(OA) Lyrically i think its the diversity throughout the project as a whole,
through all of the extremely talented artists i worked with as well as my own vocal range and lyrical ability.

(MN) What was the inspiration behind the album?
(OA) Honestly i was just going through a time in my life where there was a lot of conflict and struggle. Mostly monetary issues, but also having trouble keeping relationships with women, friends, and family...
the three things that stood out to me most through these struggles, and were the main driving force in inspiration for me were God, Love, and Money.

(MN) What do you hope people take away from the album?
(OA) i hope that they find whatever they need/are looking for in it and more...
idk

(MN) Is there something that connects the songs together?
(OA) the album was originally called VS (versus) because it is a concept album of light and dark, good and evil, or ying and yang if you will...
so as you see even by how the track list is split up you have
Intro
Out of Time - Lust - Pray No More
NoWay Out
This is the first half or the dark side i would say...
ive always sort of seen things from both sides and through my life ive see being homeless and broke and all the struggles that go along with that, and generally this brought out a darker side of me which is kind of what influenced this half of the album

Lobby - Opaque - Otherside
Sould Out
World So Cold
This is second or light half.
this reflects the lighter side of my mind and life.

(MN) Are you a locals or transplant?
(OA) Local, Born and raised in MN.

(MN) What are some of your influences and Minnesota influences?
(OA) ehh idk i have too many to list off because everyone inspires me in some way. whether its something unique a certain artist is wearing to the way a producer rolls there hi hats...im like a sponge when it comes to inspirations and influences but i would have to say of course kanye, j. cole. kendrick, jay z mostly because of the way he handles his business, cardo (Producer) as far as local influences i really dont have that many, all of my peers are constantly influencing me in whatever way to be a better person/artist. which ive been truly thankful for.
to be apart of such a caring community of dope talented individuals that are working there asses off to be somebody is inspiring in itself because you can just feel the hunger in there work, in the way they carry themselves and hustle.

(MN) Who are some of your favorite current Twin Cities artists?
(OA) theres a bunch that are in my spotify playlist right now, student 1, why khaliq, j. plaza, bobby raps, exxe, demon marcus, will robinson, im sure im forgetting a lot of em

(MN) What is your favorite venue to play & see shows in Twin Cities?
(OA) favorite venue to play is the cabooze and to see shows is probably first ave main room. once i get the chance to play main room that will probably be my favorite all around. i gotta manifest that shit

(MN) What can fans expect when they come to your show?
(OA) energetic, passionate, authentic me.
I'm a bit of a loose cannon so idk expect the unexpected
I've stood on speakers, climbed scaffolding, thrown money into the crowd. started mosh pits, given free drinks to the crowd, however im feeling im gonna make sure y'all feel it with me

(MN) Do you have a favorite or crazy memory of playing a show?
(OA) not necessarily my favorite but at my birthday show a few years back this drunk dude wouldn't stop yelling through my set telling me to give him a chance at rapping, to the point where it was so distracting i had to address it, me being a little intoxicated i gave the dude the mic instead of kicking his ass and sending him to security, i threw on a beat and he freestyle'd like two lines, that didn't even rhyme and then just started talking about how life was unfair and he was broke and a dialog on similar topics ... security quickly caught on to what was happening and carried the dude away.

(MN) Who are your dream tourmates?
(OA) honestly just the homies i currently make music with would make a really dope tour,
super proud of the work they've been doing and the talent they've manifested and i think people would really fuck with it.

(MN) Other hobbies?
(OA) Traveling, exploring, art, making beats, graphic design, got a puppy not too long ago so that's been taking up alot of my time.

(MN) What do you like about living in the Twin Cities?
(OA) always something going on / dope people to kick it with, the local music scene is popping and ridiculously talented. the surrounding area is beautiful.

(MN) Anything that sets the Twin Cities scene apart from places you've toured?
(OA) the whole minnesota nice thing i always thought that the twin cities had a nice crowd of people but maybe im bias because ive lived here nearly all my life

(MN) Favorite places to grab food or drink in the Twin Cities?
(OA) uncle frankies is fire, el taco riendo, tea house, im a foodie so i could go on and on but these are my usual spots

(MN) Day jobs?
(OA) lately ive just been doing music full time. when im not working on my own tunes, i am recording other artists, mixing and or mastering other artists music. doing graphic design work for myself and other artists and companies, and other tasks involved with running my music studio.

(MN) What are your plans for the future?
(OA) well i am working on starting a label entity right now.
i have a collaborative ep mixed and mastered, and another album probably half done after that.
as far as production goes the homie HVZE and I formed a group called SVGHVZE and are releasing a collaborative album,
we are all done with the instrumentals for that just doing artist placement and such trying to finish it up.
steady working getting more shows and furthering my self as an artist and person..

You can check out “God Love Money” and more of Orphan Andy’s music on Spotify and Bandcamp.

Review by: Paul Thorson
Interview and edited by: Andrew Perrizo