Premiere: Rapper Paris Williams’ “Sunsets & Solariums” video is full of life and light

On set with Paris and TheBabeGabe. // Courtesy Paris Williams

Over the past few years, rapper Paris Williams has made one hell of a name for himself in and around Kansas City.

Williams is a transplant from Muskegon, Michigan, but he’s made Kansas City so thoroughly his home and fallen in so well with the music scene, it feels as though he’s been a local all his life.

His Rebel Heart EP, released at the start of the year, features the warm and sunny 2021 single “Sunsets & Solariums,” with Bloom Allen and we’re beyond thrilled to premiere it for you, along with a brief email Q&A with Paris Williams’ spectacular 2023. To prepare you, here are our initial reactions when it first hit our inbox a couple weeks back:

A) This song is amazing.
B) The video is SUCH A VIBE.
C) I was like, “Is that TheBabeGabe from Blackstarkids?” and it was.

The Pitch: You started the year with the Rebel Heart EP, hit the midpoint with “Pack Light,” and now we’re ending with a new video. Did you expect 2023 to pop off like this when it started?

Paris Williams: I didn’t expect anything this year to play out how it did honestly. Looking back on it, this has been a year full of growth within my career and personal life. Things move so fast at times it can be hard to notice in the moment. I was super-inspired coming into this year after a bittersweet year of 2022 that was completely perspective changing.

So, releasing Rebel Heart and “Pack Light” and having people genuinely like it was an amazing feeling. I spent a lot of this year traveling the world by myself working on music and finding inspiration. Spending time back home in Muskegon, MI at the top of the year and heading to New York and Los Angeles during the summer. I’m grateful for everything and super excited to see where 2024 takes me.

Behind the scenes. // photo courtesy Paris Williams

How’d you come to work with Ryan Njenga and Njenga Films?

Working with Ryan was just a chance encounter, honestly. We’d known each other through mutual acquaintances in the KCMO area and I think we both respected each other’s artistry but never talked much. While being in the mixing and mastering sessions for Rebel Heart he reached out to me asking if I had any new music I was working on and that he’d love to work together on a video. It came together naturally at the right moment.

We started with “Hopscotch” and ever since, we’ve hit the ground running. It’s been an honor to work with him as a collaborator and someone I truly consider a friend. I think we do some of our best work together and push ourselves to reach higher heights each time.

Who makes you want to collaborate, and why do you team up with the folks you do, musically and visually?

I think when it comes to collaboration I view it as curating in a sense. Working with artists that have an understanding of my world musically and visually but also are different enough that when we come together we create something totally unique. Collaborations are always something I’ve valued but especially now, it’s one of my favorite things to do.

I started making music, writing, and producing completely alone in my bedroom back home. Still a lot of my music and ideas are created that way, so bringing in people I trust is important.

While “Sunsets & Solariums” is on Rebel Heart, it was also released as a single waaaaaaay back in 2021. What made you want to make a video for it now?

Initially, I wanted to release the music video right around the 2 year anniversary in October right around the time it reached 20,000 streams on Spotify. I wanted to commemorate the song with a proper video since I felt like it opened so many doors for me. It was the first time I got on a lot of people’s radar: being posted on Lyrical Lemonade, being in regular rotation on stations like The Bridge and KKFI.

I feel like songs have so much life in them as well no matter when they were released. Hopefully, this video gets the song to travel further than it’s already reached so far.

The video is sunny and romantic and fun and exactly the opposite of December. Do you have any particular memories from filming?

This video has been such a fun process there’s too many to name honestly, haha. The day we spent filming inside the house was amazing. Just being able to film in such a unique location that other people have been turned down to shoot in was an honor. Seeing the homies reactions when we first got there was incredible. I remember driving out to Mission, Kansas, for specific scenes in the video. We pretty much had a family road trip, haha.

It was fun. Since I’m from Michigan, there’s still so much of Missouri and Kansas I haven’t been able to see and the scenery out there was incredible. Overall just the sense of community throughout the process was incredible. So many talented creatives ended up being a part of this video it took on a life of its own. Hopefully, it’s a moment not just for us but everyone involved and everyone within KC.