Forget gangster rap. A new generation is leading L.A. hip-hop towards a brighter future defined more by the city's sunny skies than its criminal underbelly. The Dr. Dre figure overseeing this transformation is Polyester the Saint. The producer, rapper, singer and multi-instrumentalist was the driving force (along with co-producer Lazy Lou) behind 2009's LAUSD Presents: Curly Tops & Nautica Jackets, a scene-capturing, L.A.-artists-only mixtape that featured Pac Dic, U-N-I, Blu and Dom Kennedy, among others. Now Polyester, who's also produced for Too Short and E-40 and collaborates regularly with electro-soul duo J*DaVeY and Sa-Ra's Taz Arnold, is stepping out with his own solo album, Peace Love Unity Respect. Far from traditional hip-hop, his eclectic, leftfield sound borrows equally from jazz and funk—think Andre 3000's The Love Below, if it came from the West Coast in 2010.
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Born Christian St. James Cleveland on October 10, 1982, Polyester the Saint (The unusual stage moniker comes from his preference for funky '70s gear, and his middle name) grew up knee deep in music. His grandfather was the late Rev. James Cleveland, the father of modern gospel music, and his uncle is Jeffrey Daniels of Shalamar and Soul Train fame. His own father, Andre Cleveland, was a producer and promoter whose parties in the 1990s gave a young Poly the opportunity to rub elbows with everyone from Snoop to Usher while still in his teens. A drummer since the age of 5, his plan initially was to become a touring musician. But his life changed when a close friend of his father's—none other than Stevie Wonder—gave him a Yamaha keyboard for Christmas at age 13.
Now, Poly finds himself juggling a career as producer and an artist in his own right. He recently traveled to Paris twice to perform with J*Davey and Taz Arnold and oversaw the entirety of Little Light Of Mine, an EP by Marz Lovejoy, an up-and-coming female rapper from L.A. via Minnesota whom he discovered. All the while he's been working to complete his own masterpiece, Peace Love Unity Respect. Poly's first single as a solo artist was called "Ask, Believe, Receive." Like The Secret, the popular self-help book that turned those exact words into a worldwide mantra, his message is all about thinking positively. "My music is not gospel and it's not very preachy but the message is always positive," Poly says. "My motto is smile everyday. I don't do songs about anything negative. I don't think that way."
