Jon Rahi and Joshua Bonici were playing around with music one day when Bonici started freestyle rapping in French.

“I wasn’t making any sense, but I had good energy and flow,” he said.

So the Syracuse University students, both in the Bandier Program, formed a musical duo and began working on their own music in October 2017. They released their debut extended play “French Vanilla” on Friday and are playing a show to promote the EP Thursday at Spark Contemporary Art Space.

Jersey-born producer Rahi and French rapper Bonici — also known as ADIDA — are roommates at SU. Their friends Noah Rosenberg and George Schaefer manage the duo and have worked closely with them throughout the creation of their EP.

Rosenberg created their label, Veravie, with his friend Henry Touma to help other student musicians. But nothing really stuck until Rahi and Bonici decided to make an EP together.

The EP consists of seven songs, some of which were released as singles late last year. With Rahi’s producing skills and Bonici’s French lyricism, the songs are a twist on American popular music.

“It’s an incredible fusion of American trap and French hip-hop,” Rosenberg said.

Bonici’s musical interest began when his father taught him how to play guitar as a kid 14 years ago in France. He listened to bands like The Cranberries, The Police, Green Day and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

“I created my own music community in Paris,” he said. “I always knew I wanted to get into the music industry, but I had to go to America to find my place.”

After receiving his acceptance at SU, he moved to the United States to pursue an education and career in music and met Rahi through the Bandier Program.

Rahi, who previously worked on Good Charlotte’s label MDDN, said the pair used time between classes and weekends to work on the songs for the EP and were constantly engrossed in music.

“Anytime we had free time, it was devoted to music,” Rahi said.

Their goal is to create songs that reach audiences in both the U.S. and in Europe. They draw inspiration from American rappers such as Travis Scott and Kanye West and European rappers Damso and PNL.

Now that the EP is finished, the Bandier students are excited for people to hear it.

“I hope people give it a chance,” Rahi said. “Some people might think that because the lyrics are in French they can’t enjoy the music, but I don’t think lyrics should be holding you back from fully enjoying songs.”

But if listeners do understand French, he said, that’s just an added bonus to the experience.

As the school year comes to an end, Bonici has already made plans to return to France for the summer and perform. Rahi has plans to help other artists develop their sound.

Although they are working on separate projects this summer, they are focused on performing their debut EP in full Thursday at Spark Art Space at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 if bought the day of the show.

Published on April 23, 2018 at 9:58 pm

Contact Brooke: bnkato@syr.edu