Paper Tiger (hip hop producer)


John Samels, better known by his stage name Paper Tiger, is a hip hop producer and DJ from Minneapolis, Minnesota, who is currently based in Brooklyn, New York. He is a founding member of the indie hip hop collective Doomtree.

History

Paper Tiger released the 7-inch vinyl single, Cloquet, in December 2009.
His first solo album, Made Like Us, was released in July 2010. It features vocal contributions from Dessa of Doomtree and Maggie Morrison of Digitata. Chris Riemenschneider of Star Tribune described the album as "a moody, sometimes dark but also surprisingly elegant and cinematic collection, recalling DJ Shadow's best stuff."
He released Summer EP in August 2012 and Beat Tape the next month. Prefix premiered the track "Gold Pass" and 89.3 The Current premiered a video for the track "The Fortunate Wayfarer."
In 2016, Paper Tiger released In Other Words Part One in April and In Other Words Part Two in July, with each containing four songs. It features vocals from Dessa and Aby Wolf.
Samels is also a founding member of the Doomtree project SHREDDERS, as well as Cloquet, an indie electronic music project with J.Gundersen.
In addition to artistic music output Samels creates the original music score for film and television including the HBO documentary Rock and a Hard Place.
Besides producing, Samels also works as a Designer / Art Director in Brooklyn, New York.

Discography

Studio albums