AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Madison McFerrin knows what it takes to put on a show behind NPR's Tiny Desk because years ago, the Los Angeles-based artist submitted an entry to the Tiny Desk Contest. That's NPR Music's annual search for the next great undiscovered artist. Last year, she played her own Tiny Desk concert, and now Madison McFerrin is a contest judge. And today she introduces us to one of this year's five contest finalists.
MADISON MCFERRIN: I'm so excited to share the entry of "No Brainer" by Dallas hip-hop group Cure for Paranoia.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NO BRAINER")
CURE FOR PARANOIA: (Rapping) Everybody go left brain, right brain, no brain.
(Rapping) Left brain, right brain, no brain.
(Rapping) Left brain, right brain, no brain. I lost my mind. Not complaining. Go.
MCFERRIN: This group has submitted to the contest every year since 2023, and each year they've raised the bar. Songwriter Cameron McCloud says, I got placed on medication for bipolar depression and paranoid schizophrenia. But it turned out that the music was more therapeutic than the medication was.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NO BRAINER")
CURE FOR PARANOIA: (Rapping) I don't right no songs, I'm a lefty. Got a ghost writer with me like Nic Cage. I don't write my wrongs 'cause I'm left-brained. I'm not gay no more. I'm just insane.
MCFERRIN: McCloud says, I created Cure for Paranoia as a source for therapy for myself with the hope that eventually it could be therapy for someone else in the future.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NO BRAINER")
CURE FOR PARANOIA: (Rapping) Left brain, right brain, no brain.
(Rapping) Left brain, right brain, no brain.
(Rapping) Left brain, right brain, no brain. I lost my mind. Not complaining. Go left brain, right brain, no brain.
(Rapping) Left brain, right brain, no brain.
(Rapping) Left brain, right brain, no brain. I lost my mind. Not, not - left brain, right brain going back and forth. Brain split down to the apple core. Sasha Fierce ego. I'm a savage. Got two wolves in me. I'mma feed the bad - I'm the big bad wolf. Yeah, I'm about to blow. Sinners outside, how I'm at your door. Knock-knock joke. I be kind of lame sometimes. But I can't change, no Macklemore. When I was in the third grade, I thought that I was straight.
MCFERRIN: I love this entry because, you know, as soon as I saw it, I was captivated, not just by the huge eyeball in the back, but also just the sound itself. I felt fresh. It felt unique. And just the blend of, like, punk, hip-hop, jazz even, was - it really stood out to me, and I was, like, immediately hooked.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NO BRAINER")
CURE FOR PARANOIA: (Rapping) 'Cause, I mean, this is America. This is embarrassing. This is only the beginning.
(Rapping) America.
(Rapping) We need to take the whole country, then put it in rice and then reset to factory settings.
(Rapping) America.
CHANG: That was artist Madison McFerrin talking about Cure for Paranoia, one of this year's Tiny Desk Contest finalists. You can watch their entry, plus many more, at npr.org/tinydeskcontest.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NO BRAINER")
CURE FOR PARANOIA: (Rapping) Everybody go left brain, right brain, no brain.
(Rapping) Left brain, right brain, no brain. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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