Juan Wauters - "Presentation (feat. Nick Hakim & Benamin)," a 2021 single on Captured Tracks.

On his latest single "Presentation," Juan Wauters, a longtime resident of Jackson Heights, pays tribute to New York City in this collaboration with artists Nick Hakim and Benamin. 

"'Presentation' was made one night when Nick, Benamin and I met at Nick's studio in Brooklyn," Wauters stated in a press release. "Nick and I had only met a few times before and Benamin and I met that night. We all hit it off really well and made this song that was built by all of us pitching ideas." He continues:

The lyrics are a mash up from a bunch of notes I had scattered on my cell phone. There are many references to other songs, some obvious some not so much. I’d rather not disclose that since that’s the fun for you, the listener.

I wanted the video to be an ode to early NYC hip hop in a very cliché way. 

It was filmed during the summer of 2020. At that time, there weren’t many people around the city, a lot of transplants had left and there were no tourists, so that painted the city in a very special tone. Nick, Ben and I met at a playground in Maspeth, Queens with Matthew Volz where we shot some casual footage of us to the song. The day after Matthew and I went to the Bronx to meet with a young crew of breakdancers. It was a really hot day. We filmed with them for about an hour. The dancers really brought the house down. It was so cool to see them all vibe to the music. We also filmed at Central Park’s Alice In Wonderland statue to connect some lyric references. 

In many ways, unintentionally, the song as much as the video came out to be a big shoutout to NY and things that have come out there. New York has been one of the main powers pushing behind my creation and this is me saluting it again.

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