Nur-D x Durry : PB and J for your ears.

Peanutbutter and Jelly, Sweet and Sour, Rock and Rap. Combinations of proof opposites attract and make a tasty little treat. While I initially wanted to do this write up in the style of a stay at home mother of 5 with a food blog on how to make their world famous Mac n Cheese so sinful it makes you say cheese-us, I am opting to shoot from the hip and lean into my biases.

This particular bias goes back to the belief that Minnesota is quickly becoming one of my favorite music states. Hell, two of my favorite artists doing their thing hail from the state with the Twin Cities. Sir Sultry-lot the Milf Hunter, my guy Yung Gravy being the first and my friends who are equal parts Bionicle spokes people and band, Durry. What I think overlaps the most when it comes to both artists mentioned are their unfiltered them-ness. They know what they are about and that is something I look for passionately when supporting artists.

But this write up is not about Minnesota musicians or my love for the corny and nerdy music of Durry and Yung Gravy.

This dissertation highlights a song from ANOTHER Minnesota artist who has now been added to the ever-growing playlist of mine Small Time, Big Sounds. Though I haven’t gotten to know the artist currently known as Nur-D formally or as closely as I would have liked to yet, they made their way into my Twitter algorithm due to a track called Big Boi.

Firstly, Boi is the only way to spell boy in my humble opinion so right off the rip I was excited to spin it.

The song opens with an overdriven guitar build straight from the mid-2000s pop punk scene and the vocals are what hiphop mixtapes flaunted in the 2010s. Blending samples from Durry’s fantastic tongue and cheek single Big Boy, Nur-D creates a PB and J sandwich for your ears that is equal parts confident, comfortable, and anti-cliché.

What I love most about artists like Durry and Nur-D the most is their ability to connect and appeal to a wide range of listeners for entirely different reasons. If you take the lyrics and sounds from Big Boi at the surface, it sounds like a corny and basic reach for “being with the times” in highlighting the “newly embraced definition of attractive”, and that sentiment may be true for an artist with an established career trying to get a hit on the iHeart. But Nur-D has a little more authenticity to their music and contents of their art. They have a small following of just over 10k monthly listeners on Spotify and their track isn’t being pumped out to the masses on mainstream radio. Big Boi is fun song that contains what is important to the artist, a labor of love, much like a parent's in making the perfect Peanutbutter and Jelly sammy, A labor of love that connects their interests and experiences into a fantastic blend of rap, pop punk, rock, and poetic prose.

Will there be a tour in the near future where Durry and Nur-D team up to tackle the Midwest? I hope so.

Until then, give Big Boi a listen below and embrace Nur-D’s philosophy on body positivity and embracing your interests, no matter how niche they may be.