I really enjoyed the first season of Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss, his travel docuseries based on the book by Eric Weiner. As an independent creator/producer —and something between a “serious journalist” and a humorous presenter— I pay close attention to programs like this. I’ve been plotting my own travelogue since my early days as a VJ, and I’ve been lucky enough to meet with and learn from some of my biggest inspirations —Rainn and this show are now among them.

Finishing the series led me to check out some of Rainn’s interviews for it (and for his own books, Soul Boom and The Bassoon King). But a lightbulb moment occurred, listening to Questlove’s recent interview with Andre 3000, in which they discuss woodwinds (flutes/oboes/bassoons), creativity, enlightenment, success & celebrity, life in Los Angeles, and reference the 70s TV show Kung Fu —subjects that Rainn also talks about. That sent me back to Geography of Bliss, Episode 5 (Los Angeles), in which Rainn visits some young influencers to discuss among other things, “how to make the bassoon go viral…”

I’m also still a semi-active beatmaker, from my earlier days as a “true-school” hip-hop artist. Re-watching Episode 5 sparked me to produce BLISSOON (stream via player above), which contains multiple sounds from the episode. The track is built around the bassoon riff Rainn teases at about 31:55 (before the moment dissipates in laughter), and it opens with a soundbite of the influencers explaining how they use audio bits —which struck me as similar to what sampling producers do…

I’d sampled the Tom Browne classic Funkin’ For Jamaica (N.Y.) years earlier. I discarded my first idea, but always intended to return for the powerful “I feel it inside my soul” lyric. I was reminded of this in 2020, when I learned FFJ lyricist and vocalist, Toni Smith had passed (RIP). BLISSOON features her immortal FFJ vocals: edited, tuned and arranged in call-and-response, to match the bassoon progression.

Funkin’ For Jamaica is a flawless jam, and I have the utmost respect for Tom Browne and his other genius collaborators. I just wanted to (respectfully) recontextualize Toni Smith’s soulful voice —think Fat Boy Slim with Camille Yarbrough, Flo Rida with Etta James, Kaytranada with Chaka Khan, Odesza with Bettye LaVette, or The Roots with Sly & The Family Stone [sidenote: speaking of Chaka, FFJ is sometimes mis-credited to her, which is understandable, because she and Toni shared some vocal characteristics, and she sometimes performs it].

As a beatmaker, I usually produce downtempo (rarely over 100 BPM), “boom-bap” style hip-hop. But I wanted BLISSOON to be more dancey/bouncy/fun (like Native Tongue-type “everywhere music”, as explained by Will.i.am to Talib Kweli). For drums, I started with a full loop from FFJ, but then decided I didn’t want that much essence from the same source. So I chopped out (and self-sequenced) a kick, a snare and a hi-hat to keep rockin’ while I searched for new drums. Later, in a full-circle moment, I decided to audition Questlove’s hella-groovy Ludwiggy breakbeat…

I’m a huge fan of The Roots. I regard them as the foremost representation of “true-school-hip-hop-as-high-art”; and our several meetings as personal highlights —the most notable during filming of The Legendary (2010), a short doc by Cam Be, co-produced & hosted by me. But I almost passed on Ludwiggy for BLISSOON, because I’ve used it once before (slightly modified chops) and I already have another use in mind (unmodified loop).

But when I randomly discovered Rainn Wilson and Questlove share the same birthday (Jan. 20), that struck me as a wild coincidence, given how BLISSOON was conceived, plus all its audio files are saved in a folder I’d titled “Blissoon 120” —for the BPM, not the date. I then felt compelled to make Ludwiggy work, so I chopped out another kick, snare and hi-hat, stacked and EQ’d them with the FFJ set, and used some other parts at full and half tempo (120/60 BPM).

BTW: I enjoy The Office as a casual fan, but I started following Rainn via my curiosity about the Baha’i faith, of which he’s a prominent voice. I live in Chicago and the beautiful North American temple is nearby in suburban Wilmette; I occasionally attend music events there (see flyer) or visit just to sit and journal in the surrounding gardens when the weather’s nice. During my active rap days, that’s where I wrote Soul Oasis and Coolin’ on the Lakeshore.