In 2018, Chicago-based Fillipinx vocalist/producer/guitarist Ano Ba came up with an idea for his next music project—an all POC group called White Ppl—after noticing the lack of diversity during a set at a popular local bar/venue.  A few months later, he quickly developed chemistry with singer-songwriter Elly Tier and rapper/singer Cado San to form the group.  

The first session for the White Ppl project was a casual meetup at Ano Ba’s apartment that would lead to their eventual first single and opening track of their EP, “ilovemybb.” From there, the group would continue to catch lightning in a bottle with subsequent earworm singles “The Way U Move” and “Open Door Policy,” both released in 2019. 

Riding the momentum from the popularity of their trilogy of singles, they built a following and further developed their on-stage chemistry in 2019 by playing summer festivals and shows at Subterranean, Schuba’s, Tonic Room, Cole’s, and others.  By December of that year, their project was mostly complete, and the trio had big plans for their debut self-titled EP that were derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In April 2020, when much of the world was in lockdown, White Ppl decided to take a risk and release their debut project.  In a time of fear and uncertainty, the 6-track EP served as comfort music and felt like an escape to simpler times. Many of the songs on the project revolve around optimistic themes including romantic relationships and self-love. 

On the project, Elly Tier and Cado San effortlessly bounce luscious melodies back and forth over Ano Ba’s genre-blending production that seamlessly works in elements of hip-hop, soul, funk, R&B, EDM, folk, and more. 

These Days recently chopped it up with the group to talk about their instant chemistry as a trio and what it was like releasing a project during lockdown.

So how did y’all meet and form White Ppl?

Ano Ba: Met through the local scene at different shows. I invited Cado and Elly to come jam and I had a beat laying around that ended up being “ilovemybb.” We recorded over it that night and decided we should start a band. I came up with the name after going to a show at Cole’s and watching three hours of white dudes play garage rock.

Elly Tier: Mylo and I first started following each other on socials a few years back, met at a music event at rutcorp, and became pals shortly after. A year or so goes by, he has a whole bunch of people come be in one of his music videos and that’s where I first met Cado. Mylo then got the three of us together to jam and it went so well we decided to be in a band together.

When did you start working on the project? What was it like during the early stages of making these songs?

Ano Ba: I think from the first night we finished that first track, we just made songs every time we hung out. I guess we knew a project was inevitable but it came song by song. If we can build on them and we still like them after a bit, we put it out.

Elly Tier: We pretty much started working on the project after the first time we jammed. It was all very natural and fun. The early stages of making songs is pretty much the same as now, Mylo makes a fun lil beat and shares it with Cado and me to see what vocal ideas we have. We workshop it a bit until we get a demo recorded, and once we’ve got a few demos to go off of we decide which we’d like to really hone in on and get mastered. 

Cado San: Mylo plays a beat, then me and Elly start wylin, and then we scream at Mylo to run the beat back, then we turn into voltron and drink PBRs.

What were your initial plans for the EP release? What were your expectations for white ppl for 2020, before the pandemic hit?

Ano Ba: A release show, we had a small tour; just a lot of next steps that got put on hold.

Elly Tier:  Like most artists releasing their first collection of work, we were definitely looking to have a celebration/show to commemorate the project. My expectations for the group in 2020 were to play shows all year, network, maybe get some people to feature on our stuff, and make moves for a full album. 

Cado San: We were gonna, then COVID was like, “Sit down bitch,” and I was like damn. I think we are doing alright though.

Y’all put out the EP in April 2020, at the height of the lockdowns in Chicago. What made you want to put out the project then, instead of waiting for things to get back to “normal”?

Ano Ba: We had a lot of good momentum before the lockdown hit and we really wanted to share our music. There was a sense of pride we didn’t want to let slip away, especially as we looked ahead to creating newer music.

Elly Tier: I think just pure excitement for what we made and to also take advantage of the new following we had been getting during 2019. We had only released a couple of singles, so it felt right/necessary to showcase these songs we had been sitting on for a few months. 

Cado San: We had to do it, bro. “It’s our life, don’t you forget” - Gwen Stefani.

What was it like putting out these like romantic ass songs during such a turbulent and scary time, with the pandemic and a few months later the mass protests against police brutality?

Ano Ba: That’s a hard question to answer, I think. The EP was a quiet but defiant bright spot for us in an otherwise turbulent time. It was something to cherish, and for us to selfishly enjoy as the world sparked into more anger and more uncertainty.

Elly Tier: I personally did not look at our release as something correlating with scary times, but rather, a celebration in this dope collaboration with my friends. Obviously you can’t ignore the nature of the social environment at the time, so in response to that I’ll say it just felt good to have something to look forward to within the uncertainty and grey cloud looming over everything. 

Cado San: I don’t even put the COVID shit into my timeline. I try to avoid assimilating with that shit as much as possible.

How often did y’all see each other during the months following the release of your project?

Ano Ba: We met up to celebrate the EP, but didn’t really see each other after. We sent demos back and forth, tried meeting while masked up, but ultimately for safety decided it was better to hold off until now.

Elly Tier: We met up to have a small celebration over the release, but didn’t meet up too much after that since the unknown/seriousness of the virus was hard to navigate.

Why did you decide to do an album release show now, 15 months after you put the project out?

Ano Ba: When we met up to celebrate the digital release, we gathered around a metal container filled with logs and scrapwood. It wasn’t really a fire pit, but we still had a makeshift bonfire, complete with a playlist of songs and some cheap beers. It was really nice. But, if there was anything we were missing that night, it was performing our music for the people willing to listen.

Elly Tier: Honestly Mylo made this happen, and I’m very grateful for it. He told us about the offer from Sleeping Village, and one day it was locked in and happening.

Cado San: Time isn’t real bro.

Have y’all been working on any new material? Will there be a new White Ppl project coming soon?

Ano Ba: I’m not sure when but yeah.

Elly Tier:  There are a couple tracks we’re working on that are pretty different from the sounds on the EP. I feel like my singing voice has matured significantly since first working on the EP in 2019, so I’m very excited to get more songs going. 

Cado San: Yeah we gonna do dat, we gonna sang!