As July draws to a close, it’s time to reflect on a great music festing year thus far. Blessed to travel into the mountains, desert, city and country for the love of live music, there’s nothing like it. Putting my list of fav fests together in my head, The Art of Cool (AOC) Fest in Durham, NC automatically gets a spot. Even while experiencing opposite spectrums of weather during the weekend, I enjoyed every minute. Checking out Anthony Hamilton’s latest video with Teedra Moses released this week, I fondly remembered my group chat with Grammy Award-winning AOC headliner Anthony earlier this year who graciously chatted with us, press folk, in the pouring rain (when I say pouring rain, I mean POURING RAIN). Warm, down-to-earth and talented for days, our talk cemented my genuine fandom.

Peep the videos and round robin interview clip below with the artist who’s storied career includes songs with Al Green, Babyface and Tupac about his Grammy experiences, his memorable show playing to a crowd of 150,000 in Africa, his fav collabos, the loss of his mother, his time with D’Angelo and his thoughts on ‘Black Messiah’. If you haven’t seen him live, CLICK HERE TO GET TIX to see him soon!