In the era of 24-hour drive-throughs, Harborside Pizza’s 11:30 a.m. opening seems almost lackadaisical. But, for owner Brian Wildrick, it means starting work at 5 a.m. to prep the day’s dough and ingredients. As summer approaches, Harborside Pizza goes through 75 pounds of flour per day — almost more pizzas than Wildrick and his wife Lindsay Butters can toss and fire by themselves.
When a fisherman took to the mic at the Anchor Bar & Grill, reciting a poem ripping into Harborside for being closed, Wildrick wrote a rebuttal in the form of a rap. Jotted on paper plates, this was Wildrick’s first major foray into songwriting.
In 2019, Wildrick, under the stage name BWild907, dropped his first tracks on Spotify, Amazon Music and other streaming services. But BWild907’s true public debut came Feb. 5, with the premiere of his music video “What’s for Dinner.” Recorded in Wildrick’s basement, the track was mixed and mastered by RJ Pasin, a New York-based producer and engineer Wildrick befriended on Instagram. “What’s for Dinner” makes use of a beat purchased from Kato, a prolific Atlanta-based hip hop producer. The video itself was shot by Robbie Lewis of Cordova Radio and CordovaTV, making use of a $2,500 production credit Wildrick had gained for advertising with the station.
Though “pizza rap” may sound like pure novelty, Wildrick also has earnest intentions.
“It’s got a funny little take, but there are some serious lines in it too,” Wildrick said. “I’m not just rapping about pizza, necessarily, but about the work that it took to start a business, being an entrepreneur and doing what you love and the importance of family… I didn’t have kids to put them through daycare and nightcare and never see them. This is a family business, so I want to make it about my family.”
“What’s for Dinner” and soon-to-be-released single “Dish Magician” will join approximately 10 other tracks on an album titled “Harborside Vol. I.” In “Dish Magician” and throughout the planned album, Wildrick focuses on the challenges of running a business without sacrificing personal fulfilment.
“It’s not an easy choice for a lot of people to make, to not work as much,” Wildrick said. “Money’s nice — it really is. Extra money’s nice, though there’s no such thing, really. But I want to make sure we can get on an even, slow keel upwards, rather than getting too big, too fast and burning out and having to close.”
Wildrick plans to collaborate again with Lewis on a music video for “Dish Magician,” to be shot at Shelter Cove.
“I’ve never lived in one place longer than I’ve lived in Cordova, so, being part of a community and having the encouragement and support of my customers and my friends and, now, my fans, as BWild907 is pretty awesome to me,” Wildrick said. “I’ve never experienced that before… Hopefully it can be not just a fad.”
