Atkinsonians take YouTube by storm with 'Granite State of Mind' NH parody

From the Eagle Tribune;

Locals take YouTube by storm with 'Granite State of Mind' NH parody takes YouTube by storm
By Jillian Jorgensen
jjorgensen@eagletribune.com




HAMPSTEAD — Last week, Christian Wisecarver of Hampstead was a video production specialist. This week he is a rapper, whose parody of a Jay-Z hit song has lit up the Internet and is getting airplay on local radio stations.

"If I write a rap song and I record a rap song, and a rap station plays my rap song, that makes me a real rapper," Wisecarver, 32, joked yesterday.

Maybe not quite a "real rapper," but his song has made Wisecarver famous on the Internet. His video, "Granite State of Mind," a parody of Jay-Z's hit single devoted to New York, "Empire State of Mind," had over 250,000 views on YouTube yesterday. It had only been online two days.

"It just started taking on a life of its own," Wisecarver said. "If you're from New Hampshire, or even New England, you'll get basically all the jokes. But if you're not from here, I think you can still enjoy it."

After all, there are plenty of obscure references to New York in Jay-Z's song that Granite Staters might not get. But the bulk of it, and Wisecarver's version, is pretty obvious. Some of Wisecarver's humor is pretty broad, poking fun at flannel shirts, a New Hampshire belt buckle, and cow-tipping. But there are other jokes only a Granite State fan could love.

"You can go to Bike Week that's up in Laconia, in the winter months hit the notch in Franconia," he rapped. "Home of B-O-D-E our Olympic ski champion, he faced high pressure like my man Al Kaprielian."

Wisecarver grew up in Atkinson and graduated from Timberlane Regional High School in 1996. He earned a film degree from Emerson College in Boston, and spent a brief time in Los Angeles working as a production assistant. But he tired of it and returned to New Hampshire.

"You don't really need to be in Hollywood," he said. "I can do it here and let the Internet get it to everybody."

Wisecarver started making short films after he got a job in a production company he said had lots of equipment and not too many customers. He also had a band, Super Secret Project, that played locally. After a while, and the advent of YouTube, he combined the two.

This isn't Wisecarver's first video to earn national popularity. An original song, "Ode to Zach Braff," caught the actor's attention. Braff showed it during an appearance on "The Tonight Show," Wisecarver said. But nothing ever took off completely on its own like "Granite State of Mind."

"I think if it was mean-spirited or something, it wouldn't have gotten any attention," he said.

Sure, the video pokes fun at some of the state's more eccentric characteristics — "Don't drink and drive here, listen to what I say, even though we put our liquor stores right on the highway." But it comes from a place of love, he said.

"People who are from New Hampshire love being from New Hampshire," he said.

Wisecarver, a Jay-Z fan, said he was watching the rapper's video when he realized it was ripe for parody. He printed out the lyrics and began looking for things to "New Hampshire-ize."

Harlem became Salem. Bed-Stuy became Bedford. Then he added jokes and began looking for someone to sing the chorus — finding Holly Winchell, who also grew up in Atkinson.

Winchell said Wisecarver e-mailed her the lyrics to the parody and asked if she wanted to be involved.

"I was like, 'Heck, yes! I definitely want to do this. This is going to be good,'" she said.

Winchell has sung for Gov. John Lynch and writes her own music.

"I think I'm going to start putting it out now that I'm already noticed," she said.

Wisecarver's friend and fellow Super Secret Project band member Billy Donohoe of Haverhill made a cameo as a "plow guy." Darby DeChristopher of Somerville, Mass., produced the video.

They shot the video on Hampstead conservation land, and Wisecarver painstakingly edited it, flashing black-and-white photos of New Hampshire spots the way Jay-Z's video showed New York pictures. The rest is viral video history.