Photo by Nina Lincoff/RESPECT.

Much like Meshell Ndgeocello, Aloe Blacc can’t be confined to one genre. While his catchy and soulful song, “I Need a Dollar,” has strangely taken the form of a pop hit and subsequently resulted in the artist being branded as a soul singer, Blacc is not simply a soul singer. In fact, he isn’t even simply a singer. Between Shine Through (2006) and Good Things (2010), and even currently, Blacc has been dabbling in a melange of musical styles. From bossa nova to hip-hop to future soul to adult contemporary, Blacc spreads his creative wings wide, soaring high and scoring high among critics.

Interestingly, he doesn’t make music to remain in figurative flight. “I don’t always make music for release,” he admits. One of the various projects he has stashed in his vault is an album composed entirely of acoustic covers of songs chosen by Parisian producers Roseaux. Of that project, only his cover of The Police’s “Walking on the Moon” has seen the light of day.

Roseaux – Walking on the moon (feat.Aloe Blacc) by totoutard

Blacc has “no plan” for the rest of those songs, but he does have schemes for other projects. In particular, some albums with his band, The Grand Scheme, will eventually be released. Their first album will most likely be a recording of live performances, he says, but studio-recorded albums will soon follow, he assures. The band gets its name from Blacc’s “grand scheme” to “be the voice of the unheard and tell the stories of the underrepresented through the music,” he says, while pushing for “equality and justice with the visibility and influence” he gains from the music. Elaborating upon some of the details this grand scheme might entail, Blacc says, “I think the most important thing that a government can do is make sure that its citizens have sufficient access to healthcare, education, nutritious food, and work. There are enough resources to make this happen for everyone in our country and in many other developing nations around the world. In order for this to happen, the entities in control of financial and natural resources need to be more compassionate and share with those in need.” To make these things happen through music is a grand scheme indeed.

In spite of the pain and suffering Blacc sees in the world and channels through his music, during his live performances he is rarely without a smile. Explaining this seeming discrepancy, he says, “The lyrics in the songs that I sing are not always bright and happy, but the music can tell a different story. Sometimes my expression matches the music and not the lyrics. I think the reason I smile is largely because I am having fun on stage and it is difficult to have any other expression in that state of mind.”

All in all, Blacc’s grand scheme doesn’t seem so farfetched. If music is so powerful that it can make the “heir of soul,” a man who uses suffering as his muse, smile, it can undoubtedly move the governments and institutions that Blacc sees as obstacles to peoples’ well-being. Perhaps this is why he experiments with so many genres. Because Blacc contributes to so many musical traditions, whether he is making music with his wife, Maya Jupiter, Exile or  just for himself, his impact is wide. Possibly alluding to Shine Through, an album that features a pantheon of sounds, Aloe speculates that, “Perhaps in the past, my songs were all too diverse to tell a story about who I am.” That may be true, but based on his grand scheme, Blacc’s individual story probably doesn’t matter.

The post An Exclusive Look at Aloe Blacc’s Many Musical Faces appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

This isn’t an introduction in the sense that Meshell Ndegeocello’s career is just beginning. It’s more of an in media res introduction to a career that you might have had the misfortune of missing. Meshell recently sat down with us (at her computer) to tell us how her career developed and where it’s going, among other things. Here’s your chance to catch up.

First, it is important to note the “musician” in Meshell Ndgeocello’s title. Though she’s frequently associated with the genre “neo-soul,” Meshell eschews that category and all musical categories in general. For Meshell, neo-soul is nothing but the vapid result of record labels trying to comprehend an unfamiliar sound. Accordingly, she doesn’t identify as a neo-soul artist. She is simply a musician.

Typically, artists who shun categories in order to play up their creative licenses are either delusional, dishonest, or both. Meshell isn’t affiliated with any of those groups. As indicated by multiple Grammy nominations, several genre-defying albums and an openness regarding her personal views, her career has been characterized by experimentation, honesty and acclaim.

Though Meshell has enjoyed this freedom and the opportunities it has brought her, she acknowledges its costs. In fact, she openly admits, “I have had to compromise commercial success… I chose music over money.” Some might consider this compromise a poor decision, but Meshell views it as enabling: “Music is a creative, meandering, soul-searching experience and pop music is dilution and mass and broad. It’s great too, don’t get me wrong, but it isn’t what I do and I guess I was just lucky enough to know that from the get.” Without the compromises she made at the beginning of her career, Meshell wouldn’t have had that career in the first place.

In a word, openness has certainly characterized Meshell’s career. But as she’s gotten older, this openness has changed just as much as her music. For instance, while sex and relationships are still common themes of her works, her newer songs approach these themes very differently than her older ones. “I wish I never had to play an old song,” she says, acknowledging her changing outlook. There’s one particular song that she’ll never, ever play: “If That’s Your Boyfriend (He Wasn’t Last Night).  Meshell attributes both her distaste for old songs and her mercy (up to a certain point!) towards the fans who love them, as a product of change. The Meshell of 2012 is different from the Meshell of 1993. To consider them one entity would be limiting and we all know how she feels about limits.

That being said, the Meshell of 2012 and the Meshell of 1993 are not distant relatives. They are more like estranged cousins. Though she feels uncomfortable when she sings it, Meshell’s song “Fool of Me,” a track from her third LP, Bitter, continues to make her setlists because she loves to perform it. Another thing that the estranged Meshells have in common is a continued drive to make music. In fact, Meshell says that they both make music with the same frequency. Some things never change.

In the end, Meshell Ndgeocello is an artist that you definitely want to get to know. While many artists continue to make music because of a desire to “stay relevant,” Meshell makes music because she wants to. In her words, “the prize is in the process.” Once musicians and the music industry process those words of wisdom, Meshell predicts we’ll see some changes. In fact, she already sees those changes manifesting in artists like The Quakers. Wow, look at yourself. You met one artist and you’re already meeting more. This introduction is over. You can take it from here.

The post Introducing Meshell Ndgeocello, Musician appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.