His love for rap-rock fusion has been inspiring him since High School. He was the lead vocalist/rapper in a band called ‘Flint Eastwood’ —the bands ultimate breakup lead to bLAck pARty coming into existence, stylizing it with capital letters to single out “LA” for Los Angeles, where he lives, and “AR” for Arkansas where he was raised. In 2013 he began producing for Kari Faux. The two had met when both were in their mid-teens. Their collaboration, “No Small Talk,” caught the attention of Childish Gambino, who remixed it and featured it on his STN MTN/Kauai mixtape. Which only lead to bLAck pARty inking a deal with the Childish Gambino’s Royalty collective. bLack pARty contributed production to Gambino’s GRAMMY® Award-winning album Awaken, My Love! as well as scores a placement with TV series Dear White People, Insecure, and Atlanta.

His 2019 album Endless Summer is his first release through Wolf + Rothstein and RCA Records. The first single, “No Complaints,” features DMP Jefe, watch it below.

Out of his busy schedule bLack pARty took the time out to catch up with RESPECT MAG about everything from music to his future plans.

RESPECT.: Growing up, what were some of your biggest musical influences?

bLAck pARty: Growing up my biggest influences were Stevie Wonder, India Irie, Nirvana, MF Doom, Kanye West, Bob Marley & The Wailers, Bad Brains, Zro I came across a lot of music being around the different people in my life. I also grew up in the internet age when music became much easier to access.

RESPECT.: So congratulations on signing with Childish Gambino’s label! How did that happen?

bLAck pARty: Thank you! I actually connected to Childish Gambino back in 2014 when I was mostly doing production for Kari Faux, we had made this song & video “No Small Talk” that went viral and through that I ended up connecting with one of Gambino’s business partner’s Fam, Kari allowed Gambino to remix the record and we built a working relationship since.

RESPECT.: How did your first conversation with Childish Gambino go?

bLAck pARty: I don’t remember exactly, but I remember it was the day his Sway interview dropped so it was mostly conversations about that and conversations about rap music in general. I’m a huge supporter of underground rap, so I remember showing him some of the underground rap groups coming out of Atlanta at that time.

RESPECT.: You also produced on his Award-winning album, “Awaken, My Love!” how did that happen? What was that process like?

bLAck pARty: That actually came about because I had moved to Los Angeles around the same time he was working on “Awaken, My Love!” We always talk about music so it started off from me just being in the studio giving feedback to doing background vocals and some drum programming. It was an interesting experience that I feel I learned a lot from. It was actually the first major album I worked on and being able to be around some of the most talented musicians in the business was a blessing.

RESPECT.: So you write, produce, and engineer and do vocals? Which one is your favourite and why?

bLAck pARty: I’d say my favourite is probably producing because it’s the more creative and fun job. It allows you to think outside of the box and make something that resonates without actually using language.What I’ve learned from playing in places outside of the US is even if the people don’t necessarily speak my language they can still get with the rhythm of the beats and even catch on to the lyrics if they’re simple enough.

RESPECT.: Do you play any instruments? Regardless, what is your favourite instrument and why?

bLAck pARty: Yes, I play whatever I can figure out. If i were to pick a favourite I would say guitar. I always find it easy to write songs with just a guitar. Also a large majority of my favourite artists play guitar: Lauryn Hill, D’angelo, Prince, Kurt Cobain, India Irie, Amy Winehouse- all guitarists!

RESPECT.: Tell us about your song “Dancing”. What are some of the themes found in that Track?

bLAck pARty: Dancing for me was a record that originally was up as a demo, over time it was revamped to be more groovy. I wanted to make something that felt like a day party going into the night time. When it came to video the director [Dylan McGale] and I wanted to play off of one of my favourite movies, KIDS, and one of my favourite music videos, “Frontin” by the Neptunes. I’ve been skating since I was young, and skateboarding and music go hand in hand, so I had to show love to the skaters.

RESPECT.: How do you feel after having your music placed on Insecure?

bLAck pARty: Shout out’s to Issa ! It feels incredible. I have a lot of people tell me they found out about my music through watching Insecure. I actually watch the show so it’s kinda wild to hear my music on there.

RESPECT.: Complex described your sound as a retro sound that could fit nicely into rotation if it came out in the ’70s yet still feels fresh for 2019. Do you agree?

bLAck pARty: Yes. I think the 70’s was one of the more interesting times in music. I’m definitely inspired by that era in music and I listen to more older records than I listen to newer music. The thing though is taking that inspiration and bringing into the present or the future.

RESPECT.: What was that moment in your life that you realised you wanted to be a serious musician? Like this was it for you.

bLAck pARty: When I was 13 I knew for certain I was going to make music. I remember watching videos online of Kanye, Alchemist, The Neptunes, Madlib, making beats and rapping and I decided that’s what I wanted to do: make music and have fun.

RESPECT.: Who are you looking forward to working with the most in the industry?

bLAck pARty: It would be dope to work with legends like Al Green, Patrice Rushen, Erykah Badu…

Photo Credit: Manny Singh

RESPECT.: If I was to see your playlist right now what would I find?

bLAck pARty: You would find Fela Kuti, Amy Winehouse, Al Green, Sza, Khruangbin…I just like to hear something with a lil soul or funk in it

RESPECT.: Tell us about your 5 goals in 2020

bLAck pARty: My only goals are to continue to get better as a person and as a creative.

Follow bLAck pARty on instagram to keep up with all his updates.

All Photos by Manny Singh.

The post RESPECT. Interview: Childish Gambino’s signee bLAck pARty talks Future & Past appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

This month, we at least get to hear a new track from them in the form of Pharrell’s “Letter To My Godfather,” a contribution to the Netflix documentary The Black Godfather, which centers around longtime music executive Clarence Avant.

Check out the track and a trailer for said documentary (also very much worth a play or two) below.

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The post The Neptunes Reunite on “Letter To My Godfather” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

RESPECT got a chance to catch up with Mad Skillz to discuss DJing and what makes a great emcee during part one of our interview. Today we are back with part two, discussing his illustrious career, his thoughts on some of the most memorable records in Hip Hop and why “Vinyl Destination” was the ultimate show showcasing the DJ experience.

Out of everything that you have done over the span of your career, what would you say was the most memorable moment?

That is tough because I am one of those people who doesn’t realize what I’ve done until after it’s done because I never set out to do some of the things that I have done. Like Barry Gordy didn’t set out to change Black music, he was just having fun. So when people say, “you put Virginia on the map”, it’s crazy to me, because I wasn’t trying to shit on anywhere else I was just repping where I was from.

Over your career, I know you have met a lot of people. Who is one person that you’ve met that had you a little awestruck?

I would have to say when I met Michael Jackson. I was with Missy and it was when he did the big show in 2001 at Madison Square Garden, matter of fact it was September 10, 2001; the day before 9/11 because I remember after it happened Pharrell and I were stuck in New York and were trying to get a rental car to go back to Virginia.

Ok so let’s switch gears, from time to time I like to ask emcees about classic Hip Hop joints and where they were when they first heard it, so let’s start with “Put Ya Hands Where My Eyes Can See” by Busta Rhymes?

That came out in ‘97, I was in Virginia at the time and I first heard it on a DJ Clue mixtape, but I didn’t understand the impact of it until I was at this party and DJ S&S was mixing. It was cool, you know everyone was chilling and socializing, I think “DeJa Vu” was playing, then all of a sudden the drums came in on Busta’s intro and everyone ran to the dance floor and he pulled it back. [Laughs] Man, I knew then Busta had a certified banger.

How about “Takeover” by Jay Z?

Aww man, I heard that on the bootleg before the joint came out because my homeboy did the intro for The Blueprint, but I remember thinking, “it’s over for Nas, Nas is done”. But then Nas came back with Ether and I was like, “gawt damn!”

That leads to the next joint, “Ether”…

I heard it on a mixtape, because my homeboy was like, “have you heard the new Nas?” Personally, I was like I don’t care what Nas says he ain’t coming back from that; because you know Nas was so laid back and you didn’t expect that from him. But my homeboy was persistent and yo, when I heard that joint and the beat dropped and he started going in; I was like, “yo, this n*gga is back!”

Finally, where were you when you heard “I Used to Love H.E.R” by Common?

Oh that’s easy. It was college radio, WDCE 90.1, Mike Street was DJing when he played it and I remember I was so caught up in the story and when he revealed at the end the whole time he was talking about Hip Hop; I was mind blown. I was like, “hold up, run that shit back”, because that was the first time that someone had “usual suspect” me in a record. I mean that joint had me so intrigued and the way he worded it was dope.

Looking back at Hip Hop back in the day, who do you think had the potential but for whatever reason didn’t blow?

I would definitely say Shawnna (from DTP). She had all the elements, she had sex appeal and she could really rap.

You traveled a lot over the past few years with DJ Jazzy Jeff and the “Vinyl Destination” series. Why was that never brought to TV?

I stopped touring with Jeff a few years ago, but I was saying then that we need to look at taking this to TV because I know they would have a place for it. Also, I have to shout out Chris Schaffer for the phenomenal work he does. Looking at it, you would have thought we had a crew, but it was actually just one guy and that was Chris. He’s so dope though that he made it look like we had several. One thing I noticed is that I didn’t know we were impacting as many DJs as we did, when I arrived today for my show I saw a guy had on the Vinyl Destination t-shirt, it’s crazy.

Being a veteran emcee, DJ and overall music lover, what element of Hip Hop from back in the day would you bring to the current state of Hip Hop if you had your choice?

The rule of no biting. Now you can bite someone and it’s nothing, like you can literally take someone’s whole shit. But people don’t realize that it started when emcees were quoting lines from other rappers and some people you wouldn’t question because you knew that the rapper being quoted was cool with that person; so when Jay quoted Biggie, no one said anything because we knew they were cool. But now people will literally copy your whole swag and try to tell you that it’s theirs and it’s acceptable. Like they don’t even go back far enough to know who did it first.

You have been doing a lot lately with the mashups, namely Michael Jackson and Prince, almost all of your events have sold out; is that something you plan on doing every year?

Honestly, I have been thinking about it because that it the type of music that needs to be heard and I know there are a lot of Prince and MJ fans out there who would love to hear them included in sets. Most of the time when you hear old school sets, especially where I’m from, they all sound the same. They usually start with “Outstanding” (by the Gap Band), then it’s going to go into “Before I Let Go” (by Frankie Beverly and Maze) and then you are going to hear “Poison” (by BBD) and I’m like yo, there’s more music than this and that’s why “The Art of Noise” events work, because we play what everyone else doesn’t play.

Your events are always so packed, when is the next one that fans can see you rocking at?

The next big one I am doing is in VA on September 18th called SBV, Surrounded By Virginia, which is playing all Timbaland and The Neptunes because many people don’t know that Magoo, Timbaland and Pharrell were in a group back in the day called SBI, Surrounded By Idiots, so it’s a play off of that letting people know who Virginia really is.

In the next five years, where do you see yourself?

World domination. My goal is to let the music to speak for itself. I want my music to be so far ahead of anything that I ever thought I could do like I want to have the number one record in the country as Mad Skillz the DJ, but people wouldn’t know that it was me, the rapper.

Let’s touch on your social media game, your Instagram account stays popping, but your Snapchat is so hilarious and cool because it’s you being normal. Are you planning on being on Snapchat more often than just on Snapchat Friday?

[Laughs]  I thought my snaps were corny because I was just doing regular shit. I am such a private person and I honestly like to keep certain parts of my life private, so I try to scale back as much as I can because if it’s done too often it becomes normal. So many people act like that having a lot of followers online is the end all be all of their life. [laughs] Let one of these rappers wake up and all their followers are gone, they will lose their minds.

Do you think that social media has given people a false sense of celebrity?

I think that people confuse followers with support because artists will have 30,000 followers but sell two records, that means they don’t support you. People don’t realize how it was back in the day, like I actually had to go to the show in 1996 and see A Tribe Called Quest, wait at the back door and hope to see them and if you missed it you had to take people’s word for what happened on the play by play; they don’t have to do that anymore.

Last but not least, what is one thing about Skillz that no one knows you can do?

I cook. I love to cook and I can make a mean lasagna.

Keep up with the latest from Mad Skillz online at http://www.gotmadskillz.com/

Twitter/Instagram/Snapchat: @SkillzVA

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The post Mad Skillz: Allow Me To Reintroduce Myself-Part Two appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Last year, Pusha T proved he could hold his own as a solo artist on a major label with his debut LP My Name is My Name. Since then, aside from hitting the studio with The Neptunes to get to work on his follow-up King Push, Pyrex P has sat down for a number of interviews to discuss the success of his debut and his plans for the future.

The latest of these interviews was conducted by none other than the legendary Larry King, who fired questions at the Virginia MC on subjects ranging from his relationship with Kanye West to his penchant for lyrical complexity and verse-driven music. You can check out the “Larry King Now” interview courtesy of Hulu below:

The post Video: Larry King Interviews Pusha T appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Pusha-T made it no secret that, after a nearly flawless 2013, he planned on hitting the studio on January 2nd for a marathon recording session with longtime producer collaborators The Neptunes. He did, however, fail to mention that his older sibling and Clipse partner No Malice would be joining them. That’s right, folks: the Thornton brothers are back by popular demand.

Fans were uncertain as to whether these two would ever reunite, despite the urgings of both The Neptunes and Kanye West. In spite them releasing three critically-praised, uniquely raw albums between 2002 and 2009, The Clipse has been MIA ever since Malice turned to religion and changed his name to No Malice. Pusha, meanwhile, found another “god”: one by the name of Yeezus, who signed him to his G.O.O.D. Music label back in 2010 and has been instrumental in helping him go from being the younger half of one of rap’s greatest duos ever to becoming King Push, the guy who takes shots at Lil’ Wayne and prances across the stage at the VMAs in a salmon-colored suit.

Thankfully, Karen Civil has confirmed No Malice‘s presence in the studio so it appears that Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo, and the Thornton brothers are back at their magical ways. We would have been satisfied if Push had simply put together another solo project on par with My Name Is My Name, but the boys are going above and beyond for their fans. And if Kanye were to get involved like he’s said? Well, that would be kinda like a big deal.

Source:

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The cover of Kenna Zemedkun‘s first album, New Sacred Cow, is nearly blank. For his second album, the story goes, Pharrell urged him to reveal his mug, to give his audience a face to the name. He didn’t, of course, titling it Make Sure They See My Face in joking rebuke. And four EPs later, he’s still yet to heed his friend’s advice.

But far from a camera-shy Weeknd-type enigma, Kenna’s face has been seen in a variety of other mediums in the six years since his last full-length. There he was on the pages of Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink, as a case study of the virtue of intuition, and on MTV, leading a pack of celebrities to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro in support of clean water. For the most part, though, he stepped out of the music world, fashioning himself into more of a philanthropist-entrepreneur than singer-songwriter.

Now, he’s back in the role of musician, with a slew of brief releases produced by the likes of RJD2 and Chad Hugo out on Dim Mak Records this year. We sat down with the Virginia Beach-bred Renaissance man to chat about his new sound and old image.

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 RESPECT: Your new music is out on Steve Aoki’s label, Dim Mak. How did that come about?

Kenna: Aoki and I have been friends for a few years, and Dim Mak is a hungry label. I wanted to license my records, I wanted to own my masters, and he afforded me that opportunity. At the same time, he’s a fan of my music and put his team on task to make sure that it gets heard. And that’s all I ever wanted from a relationship with a label. It’s a true partnership. The other thing is that—maybe I shouldn’t say it—it’s an indicator of where, sonically, I might shift a little bit in the near future. I’m not sure exactly how to explain it, but I definitely have always had an electronic twinge to my music anyways; there’s gonna be some interesting dynamic shifts from my album that don’t sound anything like the Imitation Is Suicide EP, doesn’t sound like any of the Land 2 Air EPs. It’s gonna change completely. And in the meantime, I’m just saying, “By the way, remember this? By the way, I can do this too. Don’t try to limit me, ‘cause my next record’s not gonna be anything you expect.”

You’ve been working with a range of other artists lately, from Vic Mensa to JoJo. How would you describe your approach to collaboration?

Here’s the thing: I don’t think that the world is flat anymore. People listen to everything. Diddy came out today and said he loves country music. Did you hear about that? We’re influenced by a lot of different music, and it only makes sense for me to find the best  breeds in all different genres and wanna work with them—at least the ones that I love. Working with Jo, she’s one of the illest vocalists on the planet—forget what genre she’s in. Working with Childish [Gambino] is like working with one of the best in the world. It’s not about what genres they’re in, it’s about whether or not we can make great music together.

What does the EP format allow you to do that can’t be done on a full-length? What kinds of ideas can you get across in three tracks?

I look at myself as a new artist. I stepped out of the focus on music for a minute to do some other business and philanthropic work. And to come back to it, I have to acknowledge to my fans that I’ve been doing other things, and I have to come out with music that matters and is relevant now. So for me, it was about being able to create little bite-sized packages for people to get into but not be overwhelmed by. Who wants to hear a whole album of anybody right now? So to me, it’s like, “Here’s three records. Love what you love, hate what you hate. Here’s three more. Oh, here’s three more.” And being consistent. The other thing that’s happened over my whole career is that, being stuck to some label systems, I haven’t been able to put out the records when I wanted to. And there have been a lot of delays. I hated that. It wasn’t my fault. But now that I control it, I want to make sure I’m consistent with putting out music that matters and being relevant in what I make. And respecting my audience and being sure that they know that I’m fucking working. The hustle’s on.

Are you still recording in Virginia?

No, I haven’t recorded in Virginia in a minute. Chad, we do some stuff satellite, so Chad’ll be working in Virginia. I’m mostly working in Los Angeles now.

What’s it like working with Chad in a post-Neptunes world?

Don’t sleep. It seems like they don’t work together as much, but it doesn’t mean they don’t work together as much, if that means anything. They still work together. It’s not official, on multiple levels, but Chad and Pharrell will always be allies. They’ll always work together on things here and there. You never know when Chad’s involved with something. It may not be titled “Neptunes” anymore, but he’s always close by. When it comes down to the big picture of evolution, we all have different things to say with our lives, and naturally, there’s a progression there. I’ve always been kind of tangential to the Neptunes’ mast, but at the exact same time, I’ll see Pharrell this week, and I talk to Chad—Chad’s in Charlotte on the way back to VA right now. We’re far from each other on multiple levels, but we’re just making other things.

I just put out another song, “Love Is Still Alive,” from Chapter II of the EP, and that was the first time—well, not the first time, but one of the first future soul type of records I’ve ever fully produced myself, and wrote, and produced, and played everything. It’s that kind of time right now, where we have to evolve and shape our futures. Pharrell’s always produced his own shit, and I commend him for that, because he’s always pushed himself to do that. My focuses are different. We all do come together, though. I’ll be there to talk to him about his mix on things, or a record that he’s writing, and assist, and give him—I guess, the word is a 30,000-foot view on something when he’s in the middle of it. Same with Chad—Chad will do the same thing for me. We’ll always work together, so it’s really dope to see the cycle. Great music comes back. You look at Pharrell, and the things that are happening this year, and what’s gonna happen next year with him, it’s great to know that music and great melodies will always return to the forefront no matter what.

It just occurred to me—the nexus, the meeting point of you, Pharrell, and Chad, might be Steve Aoki. Isn’t P on tour with him right now?

[Laughs] Steve Aoki is the nexus! It’s interesting. Things are just not written. When you circle each other in a creative space, you’re bound to bump into each other. Steve Aoki circles that space, so does Pharrell, so does Childish Gambino, so does Santigold. The nexus in LA is the Record Plant studio where we all run into each other and run into each other’s sessions and cut vocals. You wonder why those collaborations ever happen—it’s because they were all in the same studio on the same day by accident. And they all love each other’s shit.

Talk to me about your extracurriculars. You and Pharrell took a couple years to step into entrepreneurial mode, making waves in the world of online media. What exactly do you do for MySpace?

Justin [Timberlake] is a co-owner of Myspace. I’m his partner at MySpace. As the Chief Vision Officer, which is in tandem as one of the chief creatives here, my gig is pretty overarching—basically, where MySpace is gonna go, what it’s gonna do. For example, why it looks the way it does right now is a part of my work.

The side scroll, right? Was that you?

Yeah, the new design, the side scroll, the UX, the UI, how we build the team around it. I brought Joseph Patel, who was at Vice before. Now he runs editorial and content at MySpace. I’m pretty much a change agent. Let’s just call it that.

Ten years ago, if I told you that you and Justin Timberlake were gonna own MySpace and Pharrell’s gonna be on tour with Daft Punk, what would you have said?

You know what’s funny? There was a moment ten years ago when I sat down with this kid in college, and I was like, “Yo, I need you to make a MySpace page with me,” and he was like, “Yeah, but I don’t have a computer.” I said, “Cool, let me get you one,” and I bought him a computer. I said, “Because I’m giving you this computer, I want you to run my MySpace page from now on. You just keep it up.” And he did that, and he’s gone on to do a lot of things. He directed music videos, he’s over at Karmaloop now—

Shomi?

Yeah, Shomi. He’ll tell you this story. He said, “I’ll do that for you,” and I said, “Look, one day when I run MySpace, we’ll do a lot of shit together.” That was ten years ago. Then, literally ten months ago, I went to have a meeting with MySpace and Karmaloop, and he walked in and told that story to the whole room, and it was like, “Oh shit—we’re here to actually do shit together.”

I think it’s manifest destiny, man. You build what you believe is your future in every word you speak, in every action you take. I’m here for a greater purpose. I’m here to help people get clean water. That’s my legacy. I’ll climb mountains for that. I’ll write records for that. I’ll run social networks for that. So everything I do is to build towards that goal. That first Kilimanjaro climb I did ended up being a part of pushing $400 million into clean water. At the end of the day, I went and dug a well 50 yards from where my grandfather tried to build a well in Ethiopia so that he could get water 50 years ago with my father. These are the things that matter in this life, and my music is a conduit for that kind of change. So every time you guys post stuff, every time I get put on here and there, the opportunities rise for me to be able to do more of that. I appreciate this conversation. And at the end of the day, I know Pharrell, and Chad, and everybody else that I work with, they know what my purpose is. Pharrell always says, “Make something greater than yourself.” And that’s what I try to do with every single melody that comes out of my mouth and every sound that comes out of my teeth. That’s my goal, so that I can actually do what I’m here to do: make change.

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