Some more Peeze, please
Love songs and school politics go hand in hand
by Clayton Woullard
The Metropolitan
During any regular school week, CCD student Patrick Jiner can be found busy with his classes and dealing with the breadth of student issues on campus as president of one of Auraria's most influential student boards.
By night, on the weekends-and really whenever he has free time-he's Peeze (pronounced Pee-Zee), a singer-rapper-musician trying to capture your heart and make you dance.
But he's trying to change the world 24/7.
"I strongly believe the only reason I'm here is to make a major impact on the world," Jiner said.
As president of the Student Advisory Committee to the Auraria Board, Jiner, 26, presides over a group of students from all three colleges who try to tackle the issues facing students on campus and make recommendations to the Auraria Board, which makes decisions on how the three colleges operate on campus.
But when school politics aren't dominating his time and energy, he's Peeze, a singer who channels the likes of R. Kelly and Brian McKnight, while at the same time bringing his own style. Part of making his own style includes never listening to the radio and not buying a CD in almost five years.
"I just feel that it would influence me too much," he said. "I just try to be as original as possible."
Beyond singing, he's a rapper, a producer and a musician who plays all his own instruments and makes his own beats. Jiner also reigns over Mile High Records, under which he's released his debut solo album, It's Time, and five other discs recorded by or with members of the A-Town Click, the Aurora-based hip-hop group he's been with from the start.
He describes It's Time, released in Nov. 1999, as a record of heartache and desperate pleas for love, recorded while he was reeling from a devastating break-up. With one-half rhymes andthe other half straight-up R&B, he aimed to do some self-exploration.
The album gained him attention, being spotlighted by Westword as a local act to look for in 2000 and, coupled with his constant performing, led him in the direction of the likes of Nappy Roots, Mystikal and Macy Gray, whom he's opened for or has been able to share the stage with when they have come to town.
In 2000, the same year Gray took home an award for her song "I Try," Peeze joined Gray at the Grammy Awards after-party.
"It was exciting, man; it was a rush," Jiner said. "It's a little overwhelming at times, but you can't help but like it."
He can't let his partying get too crazy, though. As a single father of two-year-old Devante James (he shares custody with the mother), Jiner's got to be careful when it comes to having a good time, especially since his own father was never around.
"Not having a dad, I have a respect for women most men don't have," Jiner said, referring to being raised by only his mother. "But I also have a lack of understanding for how to be a father and a man."
He doesn't want to see that happen to other youth, which is why he volunteers as a mentor at The Spot, located at 2100 Stout St. in Denver, where he helps young kids obtain their GEDs and get into college.
"I just like helping people, man," Jiner said. "There's a lot of young people who grow up without role-models."
But all that isn't going to stop him from having a good time, which is the main vibe of his next solo album, Hit Tha Floor, set to drop early next year. This time out, Peeze is looking to amp up his sound a little bit with some club bangers, but stick to what he likes best, singing.
On Hit Tha Floor, Peeze is constantly calling out to that girl who's caught his eye. "Starships & Rockets" has an airy, seductive appeal, while "Fresh Air" is like straight-up early R. Kelly, almost over-reaching.
"The first album was a lot of sad love shit," Jiner said. "This album I kind of got away from that ... you know, make you smile, not be sad."
He's really trying to be great and improve his talent, ideas that extend to the rest of his life.
Jiner, who's studying for his business management degree, said he would one day like to move into the White House, and while he thinks this country is probably more ready for a female president than a black one, that won't stop him, even if he's not taken seriously.
"I'd run until they told me I couldn't run," he said. In fact, he doesn't see the roles of politician and musician as separate, but as two sides of the same coin.
"Not only will the American people know who I am through my music," he said, "but, politicians will know who I am from my work throughout the community."
Big-time politics is more of a long-term goal, though.
"Right now politics isn't paying the bills," Jiner said. "Music is paying the bills." |
