Tu Phace

Far-N-Low Studios is dropping hip-hop in the land of tube socks.

by A.D. Amorosi

Mark Stehle

Nobody expects much of that little patch of warehouses near Jomar and Forman Mills along the Eastern edge of South Philly. Sturdy tube socks, maybe. But, down there at Jackson and Water, behind the Snyder Shopping Center, is a studio space some say is haunted. Perhaps there are ghosts in the machines in Anthony "Ant" Farlow's recording studio; the music coming out of there is spooky good.

Far-N-Low Management's clients Tu Phace and Brent "Ritz" Reynolds, along with their collaborators Charlie Patierno and Sammy Slice, are making a scene. And, if you believe rumors, Epic Records is interested.

All under 27, this joined-at-the-hip-hop cast does almost everything together. Producer/composers Reynolds and Patierno write what rapper/MC Tu Phace and DJ Slice let loose — melodic, head-charging cuts like "Change" and "La Di Da." Tu and Slice contribute to tracks that Reynolds or Patierno make at FNL Studio. Patierno leads the house band during Sammy's weekly Sunday "Say Yes" bash at Walnut Room while Tu hosts Slice's "Mo' Money No Problems" at Silk City, where he'll rap to music finished just hours before. Tu, Reynolds and Patierno were all involved with the Philadelphia Fashion Week track "Flash" heard in ads and on runways. "We keep all of the work in the family — that's important to us," says Tu Phace. "I feel like I work very hard and that energy rubs off on my peers."

Born Mike Taylor, Tu grew up in West Philly's Hilltop section, graduated from Overbrook High, the son of a jazz-sax-tooting pop and an R&B-loving mom. Tu listened to all that and everything in between. "When I write I don't look at it as rapping, I look at it as songwriting," he says. In high school, Tu formed the party-vibing The PA System, made tracks with local producer L.F. Daze and got involved in Philly's b-boy scene — dancing in crews like Wild Bunch and hosting b-boy functions. "Older heads into Wu Tang Clan hated anything mainstream, so when I wrote rhymes they were battle raps about how I was going to 'rip out ya heart and throw it onna ground' or something like that," he laughs. That's where "Tu Phace" comes from — he was the dorky kid who listened to Oasis but when he rapped, "It was game over."

The game blew up when Tu met Patierno in 2003 and joined the latter's Subliminal Orphans. He met Ritz through Philly's breakdance scene and Slice through mutual breaker buds. The clique clicked because they share a vision. "And we don't get caught up in the little bit of fame that Philly has given us thus far. Our dreams are a little bigger than that, so we stay focused."

And though it's Tu's name that'll go atop any recording contract currently being courted, he's quick to un-paint a picture where everyone works solely on "the Tu Phace project." Everyone has their own careers to focus on and utilize each other when needed. "Teamwork makes the dream work," he laughs. And none of them would get a big enough head to leave the collective. "I'm too much of a hippie at heart to get caught up in the BS. We're just a group of talented friends who support one another and when we all blow up it's gonna be the same way. We'll just have more money to play with."

(a_amorosi@citypaper.net)