The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
the b-side
Thursday, November 10, 2016 — 3B

 In 2009, Kid Cudi released 
Man on the Moon: The End of 
Day, a now-iconic debut album 
that redefined vulnerability’s 
place in rap and, consequently, 
resonated with a cultish fan 
base. The attention caught up 
to the Cleveland rapper, how-
ever. In 2013, he opened up 
about his perpetual troubles 
with addiction and depression, 
culminating in a visit to rehab 
this October for depression and 
suicidal urges.
 This news was, and remains, 
tough to bear for such a devoted 
fan base. One of these fans was 
OG Maco (he of “U Guessed It” 
fame), who this week released 
For Scott, a tribute mixtape in 
honor of Cudi’s recent return to 
the public eye.
 “At Night” is the standout 

track, for better 
or worse. The 
casual listener 
can hear what 
OG Maco tried 
to do, as he 
twirls over 
production that’s 
equally (and simultaneously) 
unapologetic and Cudi-
esque. While bland, this 
could have sufficed, if not for 
underwhelming bars: “Halfway 
late, dancin’ with the devil have 
one hell of a day / And the great 
escape must be another n***a 
fate.”
 What was probably intended 
as heavy-handed thematic 
implication — Cudi’s certainly 
had many an interaction with 
devilish temptation — comes 
off as flat, or even apathetic. We 

get that Cudi, 
or OG Maco 
for that matter, 
hasn’t been 
able to escape 
his demons 
(and instead 
watches others 

achieve what he so yearns to 
do) but it doesn’t quite hit us.
 What results is a product that 
requires compartmentalizing. 
Acting as a morale boost in light 
of Cudi’s worst stretch of per-
sonal adversity yet, it’s appro-
priately tortured. As a message 
of comfort for a friend, it’s suf-
ficient. As a singular piece of 
music, it’s inappropriately bad. 
Kid Cudi deserves more, even if 
it’s meant to be the thought that 
counts.

- JOEY SCHUMAN

SINGLE REVIEW

C

“At Night”

OG Maco

Betts DeHart is a 20-year-old 

Atlanta native and co-founder 
of streetwear label Lucid FC, 
which he started alongside 
his twin brother, Chet. I sat 
down with him at Complex 
Magazine’s 
first 
annual 

ComplexCon, where Lucid FC 
was a vendor, to discuss how 
the twins got their start, what 
they’ve done since and where 
they see themselves going.

Will 
you 
tell 
me 
the 

condensed version of how 
Lucid FC came about? I know 
there’s a lot to that story.

So, back in 2010, my twin, 

Chet, and I were about to start 
high school. We were at a point 
in our lives where we needed to 
decide what we wanted to do, I 
guess, but it was kind of early. 
We knew we really wanted to 
do footwear. When we started 
our brand, it was just Lucid 
Footwear. And it just made 
sense a couple months later 
to add clothing. That’s where 
the “C” in our name comes 
from. Lucid FC, footwear and 
clothing.

You were able to do all of 

this as high schoolers?

We didn’t really go to a 

normal high school. It was 
most similar to homeschool, 
but it wasn’t at our house, and 
it wasn’t our parents teaching 
us. Chet and I did a work-
study program there, so the 
curriculum we did for school 
was around our business. It 
was a self-curated curriculum.

Will you take me up to 

where Lucid FC is now? How 
have you guys progressed 
since high school?

Well, we’re still kind of young 

to have a brand. So we keep 
growing as the brand grows. 

I’ve never done this process 
before, so I’m not as familiar 
as others in the business, but I 
just feel like every day is a new 
growth point for sure. Some 
seasons, we see more growth 
than others, but the growth 
is still pretty steady overall. 
But say you release a new item 
and a celebrity wears it — the 
growth is more impactful for 
that part of time. But it’s a 
steady growth, which is good 
because that’s what I like.

I know Rihanna is in that 

mix of celebrities. What was 
that like?

When Rihanna wears your 

hat, and it’s on ESPN because 
she’s at an NBA game, and 
you see her courtside, and you 
see a whole bunch of pictures, 
and you see your online shop 
notifications going insane, the 
impact is huge. Different items 
vary, but celebrities bring in 
huge, huge progress. When you 
compare the numbers, you can 
see that they play a very big 
role.

Do you know how she got a 

hold of the hat?

She bought it!
She just found Lucid FC’s 

site?

She bought it from VFiles, 

actually.

How did you guys get 

involved with VFiles in the 
first place?

They’re the first store to 

carry our clothes. Chet and 
I were customers. We’d used 
their website, and soon they 
opened up a store in New York 
in 2012. We were kind of like, 
“Hey, we have a brand, too.” 
And they liked it.

What’s your specific role 

in the brand?

A wise man once said that 

the only two things you need 
for a business are marketing 
and creation, or something 
like that. Although this sounds 
very black and white, Chet is all 
creative and I’m all marketing. 
I handle business matters as 
well, but I mainly specialize in 
marketing. We have the perfect 
balance going.

You 
two 
grew 
up 
in 

Atlanta, correct?

We did. Born and raised. 

When 
college 
would 
have 

started, we moved to New 
York. We lived there for two 
years and then Chet moved to 
London for a year, which is still 
going on, to go study at Central 
Saint Martins.

How 
has 
Atlanta 

influenced what you guys 
have done with Lucid FC? I 
know you’re not directly on 
the design side, but I’m sure 
you have some insight.

The Atlanta aesthetic is like 

nothing else. It’s truly unique. 
It’s very heavily influenced 
by music and food. We’ve 
definitely been influenced by 
the music, not the food.

Before we wrap up, do you 

have any specific goals for 
the brand that you’d like to 
mention?

Yeah, 
win 
the 
CFDA 

(Council of Fashion Designers 
of America) next year.

(Laughs) 
I’d 
expect 

nothing less.

ARTIST
PROFILE

IN

TESS GARCIA
Daily Arts Writer

TESS GARCIA/Daily

20-year-old fashion designer Betts DeHart joined ComplexCon this weekend with label Lucid FC.

WARNER BROS.

David fire Byrne-in on the dancefloor.

The second he walked onto 

that stage, I fell in love. David 
Byrne circa three decades ago has 
the kind of hair — a dark brown, 
straight yet messy beast — that 
makes girls swoon.

It’s just him and his grey suit 

on stage for the first few intimate 
frames of “Stop Making Sense,” 
Jonathan Demme’s (“The Silence 
of the Lambs”) lauded, barrier-
breaking 
concert 
film, 
which 

enjoyed a screening at the Michigan 
Theater last week. Byrne’s band, 
new wave darlings the Talking 
Heads, performed three nights 
at Hollywood’s Pantages Theater 

in December 1983, and Demme 
caught it all. The smiles, the sweat, 
the exposed ladders and technical 
accoutrement turned digital, bright 
red backdrops — it’s all filmed 
with smooth pans and downright 
stunning close-up shots.

The grooviest aspect, though, 

is the fact that the Talking Heads’ 
best songs — “Psycho Killer,” 

MELINA GLUSAC

Senior Arts Editor

Falling in love with ‘Stop Making 
Sense’ once more in this lifetime

Iconic Talking Heads documentary comes back to Michigan Theater

“This Must Be The Place (Naive 
Melody),” “Once in a Lifetime,” etc. 
— play nonstop during it all.

Byrne’s eyes are freaky-wide 

as the camera stays tight in the 
opening scene. He’s 
cringing, “I can’t 
seem to face up to the 
facts / I’m tense and 
nervous and I can’t 
relax,” and neither 
can the anxious 
cinematography. 
We get long shots 
of Byrne’s stark 
white 
sneakers, 

his 
pristine 

cheekbones: 
our 
avant-garde 

Moses is dry and new, singing 
with sonorous chutzpah as he 
guides us on this journey of 
impending sweat and colorful 
cacophony.

Bit by bit, other members of 

the band join him on stage. Tina 
Weymouth, one of the original 
badass band chicks, smokes on 
the bass. She’s donning a baggy 
grey jumpsuit and swinging 
blonde locks as Jerry Harrison 
hops 
alongside 
on 
rhythm 

guitar, and Chris Frantz looks 
like an extra from “Caddyshack” 
in a green polo as he begins to 
bang those essential tom toms. 
By the end, he’ll be soaked in sweat, 
too. These are the Talking Heads.

Frantz and Byrne met while 

studying at the Rhode Island 
School of Design in the early ’70s, 

and formed the band officially 
in ’75. The Heads’ music sounds 
exactly the way you’d think art 
school would sound: off-the-wall 
and 
kitschy, 
with 
inspiration 

pulled 
from 
a 

variety of muses. 
There are tinges 
of 
world 
music, 

punk rock, gospel 
and funk; this sexy 
hodge-podge shows 
in 
the 
concert’s 

staging, 
which 

gets exponentially 
more eye-catching 
as the film rolls 

on. An intense, scarlett backdrop 
accompanies “Swamp.” Everything 
goes dim for “This Must Be The 
Place (Naive Melody),” and you can 
feel the happiness simmering in 
Byrne’s eyes as he smiles, singing, 
fiddling with a lamp: “I got plenty 
of time / You got light in your eyes / 
And you’re standing here beside me 
/ I love the passing of time.” There’s 
also a picture of human buttocks in 
the background.

Part of being human is learning 

to accept the fact that we get 
bored, even at concerts. But “Stop 
Making Sense” never gets boring. 
Even when things start to teeter 
on typical, unorthodoxy prevails. 
Byrne starts seizing on stage in 
between lines of the chorus on 
“Once in a Lifetime,” his body 
gyrating from head-to-toe like an 
impassioned preacher. He pops 

out in a giant gray suit with bigger 
shoulder pads that reduce his head 
to the size of a toe on “Girlfriend 
is Better.” He leaves the stage 
entirely so Frantz and Weymouth 
can perform a song as the Tom 
Tom Club, the married duo’s side 
project, which spawned the smash 
“Genius of Love.”

During this jam, Weymouth 

hunches over, bouncing back and 
forth between each of her bent 
legs as Frantz scratchily yells 
out “JAMES BROWN? JAMES 
BROWN” behind his drumset. All 
of this is nothing short of funk-
driven madness, yes, but it feels 
right — artistic — and it makes the 
film’s 88 minutes unapologetically 
thrilling.

Yet, I fear I’m not making 

sense. It’s difficult to capture the 
fundamental allure of Demme’s 
work in words. I didn’t just watch 
the concert: I was at the concert, 
in 1983, and Byrne was singing 
“Heaven” to me. I could see the 
scratches on his acoustic guitar, 
hear 
every 
imperfection 
and 

perfection. “Heaven / Heaven is 
a place / A place where nothing / 
Nothing ever happens.” It doesn’t 
make sense; I’m not making sense. 
But, with every fiber of life in my 
human limbs, I wanted to jump to 
my feet and applaud after “Heaven” 
was over.

Because I fell in love with David 

Byrne, this odd little talking head. 
And music, too. All over again.

A+

“Stop Making 

Sense”

Michigan Theater

Cinecom

You know the story — but 

not like this. From Thursday 
to Sunday, the School of Music, 
Theatre and Dance will present 
Charles Gounod’s opera, “Roméo 
et Juliette,” at the 
Power Center for 
the 
Performing 

Arts. Shakespeare’s 
classic tragedy is 
brought to life by 
the students (in the 
School of Music) 
both onstage and 
in the pit.

Director 
Paul 

Curran, who has 
directed operas at 
the Metropolitan Opera in New 
York City and Royal Opera House 
in London (to name a few places), 
was brought in to direct “Roméo 
et Juliette.” He chose to set this 
particular production of Romeo 
and Juliet in the late 1950s.

“He has this concept that the 

’50s were a transition from a very 
conservative time into a very 
liberal time, which goes along with 
the story of Romeo and Juliet: the 
power of peace and love against 
hatred,” said Mulder, a second 
year Masters student in Vocal 
Performance who plays Juliette. 
“He really wanted to bring out that 
aspect of how the time and the 
community affects the lovers.”

Mulder, who was a Young Artist 

at the Ash Lawn Opera Company 
in Virginia this past summer, 
said the entire experience at the 
University is one of the most 
professional settings she could 
ever imagine.

“Martin Katz, who’s conduct-

ing the opera, is one of the world’s 
most famous collaborative pia-
nists,” Mulder said. “The cos-
tume department, the production 
department, the stage manage-
ment team — everything is so well-
oiled and well running, and the 
orchestra just sounds pristine.”

Darius Gillard, a second year 

Doctor 
of 
Musi-

cal Arts student in 
Vocal Performance, 
plays the part of 
Romeo.

“I’ve had a hand-

ful of professional 
roles, and honestly, 
the production here 
is on an extremely 
high scale,” Gillard 
said.

The production 

is filled with suspense, excitement 
and fight scenes: a special fight 
choreographer was brought in to 
coach the cast members on how 
to correctly perform combat on 
stage.

“It was a fantastic experience,” 

Gillard said on receiving combat 
coaching. “The knives are made 
out of steel, so any wrong choreog-
raphy could lead to someone get-
ting painfully jabbed. Thankfully, 
we had a fight choreographer to 
help us put that together, which 
was amazing.”

“Since we’re using knives, it all 

has to be really precise,” Mulder 
added. “The fight scene is really 
intense.”

The cast rehearses for six 

hours a day — both a huge time 
commitment 
and 
physical 

undertaking.

“We began rehearsing the first 

week of school — we had our first 
rehearsal the first day of classes. 
The whole process took about nine 

weeks,” Mulder said.

Approximately 
three 
hours 

long, there are two intermissions 
throughout the duration of the 
performance. “Bring a snack!” 
Mulder advised.

The 
opera 
is 
performed 

in French, and there will be 
supertitles above the stage.

“I encourage everyone to come 

and see it even if you have no 
experience with foreign language 
because we have supertitles that 
are in English — you will know 
what is happening all the time,” 
Mulder said.

“This performance is a very 

real, honest reflection of life,” 
Gillard said. “It’s a reflection of 
people at their most human — at 
their best and their worst — and 
it also tells a story of how to work 
past differences. It teaches a lesson 
about how prejudice can destroy 
you.”

Mulder said she believes people 

should come see the opera because 
of the story’s power.

“We forget so often how much 

damage hate can do, and we forget 
the importance of acceptance and 
tolerance in our communities. 
In the world we live in today, it’s 
really important to always think 
about that, and think about how 
choosing love instead of hate is 
the better choice. I really do think 
that the story — now more than 
ever — is important for people 
to understand why they need to 
accept those who are different 
from them,” she said.

When asked if there were any 

other modifications made to this 
version of Romeo and Juliet, 
Gillard said: “There is something 
that’s different — but I don’t want 
to give it away! You will absolutely 
know it when you see it.”

ALLIE TAYLOR
Daily Arts Writer

A new kind of ‘Roméo et Juliette’

SMTD to perform Shakespeare classic at Power Center this weekend

COMMUNITY CULTURE PREVIEW

“Romeo et 
Juliette”

Thursday through 

Sunday

Power Center

$22-$28, Student 
tickets available

“When Rihanna 
wears your hat, 

the impact is 

huge.”

FILM REVIEW