Houston-born, Portland-raised Uel is ready to introduce himself "to the world by releasing my first-ever music video, 'Banditos,' and also preparing to drop my first mixtape titled 4432," he says.
And it's no meek introduction considering the two-minute cut features a cameo by ascending PDX hip-hop star The Last Artful, Dodgr with visuals by local videographer Tiki (who's done some great work for Dodgr, Reva DeVito and Siren and the Sea) and the talented illustrator Bryan Schuldt—plus a co-production credit from Tomás Valladares, who has also worked on a Toro y Moi video (and once upon a time shot photos for Vortex).
As witnessed in the video, Uel steps into the Portland rap game with a little bit of backing from established scenesters. Turns out his cousin is Mehlthorpe (fka ePP), an EYRST labelmate of Neill Von Tally—who's also already lined up to drop a remix featuring all three of the aforementioned players.
As for this initial salvo, "'Banditos' is a song that I got inspired to write and produce while watching Public Enemies and smoking with friends," Uel says. "First I got inspired to make the beat, after that I just knew it had to be about a bank robbery."
The first "single from my debut self-produced and self-engineered mixtape," 4432 is set to drop this September.
