It's hard to believe that it's been 17 months since the release of rapper Mouse Powell's outstanding debut, Where It's Cloudy. The Tempe-based artist has kept busy during that time, notching several tours on his belt and becoming the house hype-man at the Valley's renowned weekly hip-hop night, Blunt Club Thursdays at the Yucca Tap Room.
His new record, These Are the Good Times, is scheduled to drop this summer and to mark the occasion, Mouse has finally released the music video for "Ruby Slippers" off his 2011 release. "We've been holding on to the video for a while now, but I felt like now was the perfect time to release it because I have so many things in the works," Powell says.
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Besides the album, Mouse has also started hosting a new party at Tempe Tavern off of Apache Boulevard called The Binge. The Sunday night weekly plays soul, funk and boogie-down music with resident DJ Organic and artist Dumperfoo.
Mouse began shooting the video for "Ruby Slippers" back in October before hitting the road with Writer's Guild alumni Mega Ran. "The video as you probably noticed is a little darker than 'Holding Home,' but so is the song," Powell says. "ILL AL produced the beat and the visual is a little bit of a mix between a drunken stumble and a love story."
These are the Good Times is set to be a free release once it drops, and will feature contributions from Valley music staples Jason Devore ofAuthority Zero, Kristina Moore of Where Are All The Buffalo, and Andres Rodriguez from the Vera Groove.
Mouse Powell performs tonight at the 4/20 music festival Grass is Greener II at Club Red in Tempe along with reggae rockers, Black Bottom Lighters.
