Recent posts: Interviews

Throughout the 2010’s, nestled in North Carolina’s Bull City stood one of the premier jazz and R&B festivals. Assembling historic lineups with ease, where one could view legendary and rising talent favs at several venues across Durham, the Art of Cool Fest became a yearly highlight. During its second year, it drew bandleader, film and TV composer Kris Bowers. Connecting with him then in 2015, he spoke of working on Showtime’s Kobe Bryant ‘Muse’ documentary and the booked and busy musical road ahead of him.

As images of elaborate floats descend down historic New Orleans streets and mid-air bead tossing continue into the late night hours, one can’t help but get swept up in the mardi gras madness. An album that perfectly encapsulates this distinct time of year and its special festive atmosphere is Delfeayo Marsalis and The Uptown Jazz Orchestra’s “Uptown On Mardi Gras Day”. Whether it’s the “Mardi Gras Mambo” or the “Uptown Boogie”, this 2023 12-song offering takes the listener down to Bourbon St right quick.

Walking through the Grammy Museum a few months ago, I encountered a powerful musical industry agent of change who warmly greeted me while I was checking out the dynamic sights and sounds of the recent “Hip-Hop America” exhibit preview. Amid the valid vocal scrutiny and criticism from artists and fans in The Recording Academy’s past, Ryan Butler, VP of Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI), directly affects the Academy’s membership representation with the Black Music Collective and his partnerships with Color of Change and GLAAD. Although there’s more to do, the building impact can already be seen in last year’s nominations, changes to the voting process and in stage show content ( Check out this year’s show broadcasting live on Sunday February 4th) .

Walking through the Grammy Museum’s latest “Hip-Hop America- The Mixtape Exhibit”, flashes of fiery media clips, interactive pods and historic rare artifacts greet the visitor from the jump. Inspecting every display case during its preview a few weeks ago, it’s clear the expertise, care and thought that went into the exhibit’s creation. Wandering through the halls, I luckily connected with one of the exhibit’s co-curators, Felicia Angeja Viator, who brought her vast cultural knowledge and background to the table, ensuring West Coast hip-hop repped throughout.

Previewing Grammy Museum’s new “Hip-Hop America: The Mixtape Exhibit” before its public opening a few weeks ago, my eyes immediately met priceless, meaningful cultural artifacts at every turn. Among the friendly faces greeting the small crowd of photographers and journalists viewing these rarities, stood UCLA’s English and African-American Studies “Professor of Hip-Hop” and Rap Lab founding director Adam Bradley. As a life-long lover of poetry and song lyrics, I was hyped to connect with him about his passion for the art form and his influence on the prominent “Lyrical Adventures” pod within the exhibit.

Entering The Grammy Museum’s latest ” Hip-Hop America: The Mixtape Exhibit”, in the center of the room, an eye-catching case with studded jeweled nails worn by Bay Area rapper Saweetie, rests. Contributing this trendsetting piece of hip-hop art is celebrity artist and nail salon owner Temeka Jackson. Beginning her nail art journey as the first Black nail technician in New Haven, Connecticut, she’s appeared in reality shows like “Next Top Nail Artist” and “Nailed It”. Today, staying booked and busy, her custom creations reign on red carpets, music video sets and magazine covers on the reg.

While perusing through the stacked lineup for Bull City’s 5^thAnnual Art of Cool Fest earlier this fall, my eyes immediately stopped at one name. Dwele. Universally known for hailing from the historic Midwestern music metropolis of Detroit, he respectfully pays homage to the greats that came before but blazed his own action-packed melodic trail since his demo debut ‘The Rize’ in 2000. His career’s gone fascinating places, linking up with Raphael Saadiq, Eric Roberson, Slum Village, Common, Phife, Raheem Devaughn, DJ Quik and Kanye.

As many 90’s classic albums continue to hit the critical 25th Anniversary mark, genre purists cannot forget to commemorate 1992’s ‘The Chronic’. Released December 15, 1992, the monstrous solo album from future legend Dr. Dre bore its enduring mark into a crowded landmark year and introduced a new wave of East Coast impressionable hip-hop listeners, perhaps too young to know N.W.A., to the trademark West Coast P-Funk homage-paying Death Row Records sound for the first time. If an album perfectly encapsulated a time and place with its vivid corresponding videos, this would be at the top of the list. ‘The Chronic’, combined with the searing ‘Deep Cover’ soundtrack title-track released earlier in ‘92, introduced the world to Snoop Dogg, another future legend in his own right, provided a remarkable 1-2 punch, leaving their stamps on hip-hop history for all eternity.

When delving further into the credits for these enduring pieces of music, one key collaborator’s name, who contributed basslines you cannot get out of the head years later, stuck out from the rest. Prepping to attend this year’s MoogFest, I purposely sought out producer and musician Colin Wolfe to discuss these two projects with Dr. Dre and discovered an extensive and impressive discography highlighting another fruitful partnership with legendary ATL producer Dallas Austin. Rifling through Colin’s prominent laundry list of credits as composer, producer or bass musician, he’s worked with artists like Monica, TLC, Michael Jackson, Outkast, Aretha Franklin, Erick Sermon, Janet Jackson and George Clinton to name a few.

On a particularly hot and muggy day in Durham, NC, I sat down with Colin Wolfe who shared insightful and funny anecdotes (including an unexpected MJ pet Bubbles The Chimp story) and behind the scenes tidbits of working in two powerhouse creative compounds which shaped the history of hip-hop and R&B during their “golden eras”. Peep the interview clips below!