From the Hood to the Woods.

[Rayko Pipes]

From the hood to the woods


Fed up with being fed up, rap-rocker Rayko Pipes found a new life—and a host of inspiration—in the Ocala National Forest



By Colleen Dougher
City Link Metromix
January 20, 2009




From the hood to the woods

Last summer, Rayko Pipes was at odds with his life. His Lake Worth neighborhood was getting rougher by the day, his rap-rock band, Rayko/KRB, and its label had par ted ways, and his bandmates had begun working on other projects without him.

So when Pipes went to Ocala to help his horse-trainer father with a job, he and his girlfriend/manager, Marianne Backmann, looked at a small cabin in the unincorporated town of Salt Springs. Apparently, that cabin was more appealing than their place on Lake Worth's E Street, and a month after Rayko played SunFest, he, Backmann, her two daughters and their five pets packed up and headed north. By October, they had decided not to return to South Florida and moved into a rundown property in the middle of Ocala National Forest.

Pipes considered keeping his new home a secret, but eventually revealed on his MySpace profile that he'd grown tired of his day-to-day existence and needed an artistic refuge to work on new projects. "I will be living on a small pond and living a simple life. I am bringing my gun and my guitar," he wrote. "I like to say I went from the hoods to the woods. … I'm just going to let my heart and mind guide me and fuck the rest of it. … Who knows what the future brings, but right now, I'm heading out to my chunk of land in the forest and getting to work."

His friends were surprised, including Camilo "Milo" Velandia, who played with Rayko/KRB and is now guitarist for the Latin rock act Arenazul. "Ocala Forest? Rayko Pipes is a crazy mother effer," he says. "But I still love the guy. I guess that's how he gets all those good songs, with that crazy head of his."

Moving into a forest may seem extreme, but Pipes says he's been a risk-taker since he was 18. "I just fly by the seat and see what happens," he says. That's the strategy that brought him to South Florida in 2005 from Newark, N.J. "I just needed to get the hell out of there," Pipes says.

Within two months of settling here, Rayko/KRB (Kenny Ryan Band) signed to the Miami-based label BinaryStar. The band opened for Fiona Apple, Omarion and even Michael Bolton, and released the CDs "Six" and "The Rockstar Poor."

While Pipes certainly had more success here than in New Jersey, the songs on "The Rockstar Poor" allude to the harsh realities of trying to make a living as a musician. On the album, Pipes raps about chilling at a club and drinking Grand Marnier with Diddy while the paparazzi flash cameras. He brags about having legions of friends on MySpace but laments not having enough money to eat. Another song addresses feeling out of touch, facing hard times, trying to kick bad habits and moving forward. The alb um seemed to foreshadow the transition Pipes would soon make. After a few years of playing South Florida clubs, he'd grown tired of the late-night party scene and was ready to move on.

Pipes, who turns 28 this week, watched the film "Into the Wild" six times before relocating. "I was like, 'If that guy can do that, I can definitely do this,'" he explains.

Inside his refurbished farmhouse in Ocala, Pipes has created an indoor garden that includes about 100 plants. He's building a chicken coop and a paddock for a horse that he expects to acquire in March. He is expecting another arrival in July. Backmann is pregnant with a baby—they don't know the sex—they've already named Lyric. Their menagerie is also growing, with regular visits from a bear named Chicago and a fox known as Jim.

In his downtime, Pipes has been reading Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" and "Civil Disobedience" and Jack London's "The Call of the Wild." He's also been fishing and hunting. He hasn't shot anything yet but recently killed a rattlesnake to protect his cats. "He was in a tussle with Llama and G," Pipes explains. "Had to do it. Meat's in the freezer."

For now, Pipes and his girlfriend are buying their groceries at a Super Wal-Mart in Palatka. "[Hunting] is more about being out in the woods," he says. "I'll sit out there all day and not see a damn thing but a squirrel and still have a great day.

"Since I've shrugged my shoulders at the whole 'business' of music," he adds, "I have been doing better all around, on a personal level, career level and just overall quality of life. I see everyone around me complaining about the world today and I understand why, but I guess I made my life expectations so simple since the move that life seems easy now no matter what the newspaper says."

The musician, who describes himself as "a Charlie Hustle kind of guy," earns money by working odd jobs in construction and catering. Backmann works at a restaurant.

Pipes' new environment has spurred his creativity; he is working on several projects, including a screenplay about racism, a memoir titled "The History of Penner Pond" and songs about a life that's far removed from clubs where Diddy might drink Grand Marnier. "Guns-n-Guitars," a 13-song hip-hop album Pipes plans to release this June on his own label, GreenLynx Entertainment, will include "Rhyme Farmer," a song inspired by his indoor garden, and "Hoods to the Woods," which concerns his new lifestyle. In March, he will record a folk and country album titled "Empty Pockets" with the Americana band Myrus Jones in Nashville. The title track was inspired by the nation's rising unemployment rate, and an older man who's been teaching him about the woods and life.

Pipes is discovering there is more to life than music, though he remains devoted to his craft. After reading that Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker got highly visible tattoos so he wouldn't be able to land a 9-to-5 job and turn his back on music, Pipes did the same. His seven tattoos include a "13" on one wrist (in honor of his grandmother's birthday and his lucky number) and a large tattoo on his right forearm of his mantra—sacrifice, vision, focus—surrounded by stars, moons, musical notes and the Arabic symbol for "everything is God."

"I say my religion is nature," he explains.

Passion is tattooed on the inside of his right arm. "I guess that's what I'm about," Pipes says. "I don't always have the most talent or the most presentation or whatever you want to call it. But I always come from my heart and passion."