Last fall, Converse’s Rubber Tracks program brought 84 bands and artists from 25 countries together across 12 music studios, from the newly-minted digs at Boston’s Converse headquarters at Lovejoy Wharf to London’s Abbey Road Studios. Dubbed the Global Studio Takeover, it was one giant swap-meet for music scenes around the world — bands like South Africa’s Diamond Thug came to Boston to record, and rappers like DAP went to London to work with producers like Mark Ronson.
Today, Converse has teased those sessions with a new video that spotlights four sessions, including the Providence-based DAP, a.k.a. Dolapo Akinkugbe, heading across the Atlantic to record with Ronson at Abbey Road.
The four-part documentary series is presented by Noisey, and begins February 24 with a look at Brazilian alt-rock band Water Rats recording with Thurston Moore and Jack Endino at Seattle’s Avast Recording Co.
DAP’s session follows on March 2. Titled “The Undergraduate”, the documentary tracks the Nigerian-born artist, currently studying classics at Brown University, as he travels to London to record with Ronson. Future episodes include British indie rock band the Magic Gang recording with Sly and Robbie at Tuff Gong in Jamaica (March 9), and Chinese punk band Pumpkins, tearing it up with Marky Ramone at Hansa Tonstudio in Berlin, Germany (March 16).
The up-and-coming band and artists were selected by Converse from more than 9,000 applicants around the world. Check out the trailer below, and well as a video from late last year that looks deeper into DAP’s session with Ronson, who earlier this week scored a Grammy for Record Of The Year for his work with Bruno Mars on “Uptown Funk”. Not bad company to keep.