Take 5 with PawPaw Rod

TAKE 5 is an ongoing series where I photograph and interview inspiring friends and creatives to see if I can take some pretty portraits and see what's been on their minds.

For episode 3 of Take 5, we’re taking a break to get to know PawPaw Rod aka Rodney Hulsey. We recently had sandwiches and went for a walk around downtown Los Angeles and talked about college football and the beauty of generationally unifying music that gets played in the first thirty minutes of dancing at a wedding. 

Which is very fitting, as PawPaw Rod’s music is a unifying pastiche of genres. He effortlessly mixes hip-hop, afro-folk-funk, soul, and R&B into a contemporary sound that has found its way into Apple commercials, playlists, and airwaves all around the planet Earth. There’s an eternal youth sound that threads throughout his songs that gives even his moodier songs an optimism that I personally really connect with. 

Rodney, when I listen to your music, I feel like I’m in a time machine because I feel like I could listen to it in any decade for the last 60 years and it would feel relevant. When you’re writing music, do you have an audience in mind or do you just let it rip and bank on it connecting with people? 

I don’t really have an exact audience in mind when I’m writing. I ask myself stuff like, is this from the heart? Am I going to feel good about saying these words in front of people night in and night out? And I having a good time? I really just make things I want to hear personally, with hopes my future great-grandkids listen one day and know they had family out there making songs about love, joy, and journey they can be proud of. 

You’re a military baby who grew up all over the place. Do you find being on tour like a return to childhood? 

All the time. I went to like 9 different schools, so being the new kid was the norm for me; felt like I was constantly introducing myself. The tours feel like a mix of being the new kid at school, especially if I’m an opener and the crowd isn’t too familiar.  But also a family reunion; folks may be excited to see me even though it may be our first time interacting in the flesh. Crazy feeling!

You’ve been living in LA for a while now (I think it was 10 years?). What do you think is LA’s most inspiring quality as a city? 

More like 6! Feels shorter than that when you think about those weird pandemic years. Haha. I still romanticize this place every day and can get a weird sense of Deja Vu pretty much anywhere because of books I may have read about LA, movies, or music videos and you always meet people who have succeeded at what you’re trying to do, pivoted completely from what you’re trying to do or in the same exact boat. To me, that’s the most inspiring on so many levels. 

If you had to spend 1 day as a wild animal, what animal would you choose and why? 

A super old Greenland Shark! The lifespan of one can range between 252 and 512 years old!! What the heck do they know?! 

What makes someone a really, truly, great friend?

Someone you can be vulnerable with and trust that makes you feel confident in yourself. Being able to share stories of love, loss, excitement, anything! Loving you for who you are.