“Basically, my own solo career is an extension of whatever work I’ve done with The Roots; it’s not separate,” says lyrical pastor Dice Raw. It is a suitable description of the Philly-based artist who has been a part of essentially every release from the iconic...
Producer, composer and now label owner Adrian Younge is almost an anomaly in contemporary music. Having a breakout year in 2009 thanks to his work on theBlack Dynamite soundtrack, Younge eventually became the go-to producer for anything involving vintage soul. That includes collaborative projects with everyone...
How does one turn down an opportunity to work on tour with Nicki Minaj and Jennifer Lopez to become the creative director for a television show in China? When you’re acclaimed vocal coach, producer, motivational speaker and entrepreneur Nicholas Cooper, the answer is simple. “You...
The past few decades have been quite kind to legendary music executive Steve Rifkind. Since the early days of working with his father Jules Rifkind at Spring Records, Steve has always had a special ear for the best urban music had to offer. Growing-up during...
“I’m feeling fantastic today,” says Inglewood, California native Tiffany Gouché as she prepares for her set at Los Angeles’ Lyric Theater during a sit-down withSoulTrain.com next door inside Voila! Gallery. And emotions should be overwhelmingly positive. It’s been only a day since Gouché released her debut EPFantasy in late July,...
Past midnight, 93-years-old jazz icon Clark Terry lays on a bed as he mumbles (no pun intended) his almost academic doodle tongue technique to twenty something-year-old pianist Justin Kauflin. Nasal cannula assisting with oxygen flow, the man who served as Miles Davis and Quincy Jones’...
Essentially creating a lane for successful hip-hop acts in Pittsburg, PA, Rostrum Records has cultivated the lucrative careers of Wiz Khalifa and Mac Miller. Next up to bat is Boaz Bey, or simply Boaz. Describing himself as a “fly brother, all around hustler and extraordinary...
Akil, Zaakir, Marc 7, Chali 2na, DJ Nu-Mark and Cut Chemist are back. Seven years has passed since the release of Jurassic 5’s fourth and “final” album, Feedback,sans Cut Chemist. As this year marks the 20th Anniversary of the group’s first project, the Los Angeles-based collective...
2013 saw the untimely deaths of two very influential people in my life; my biological mother Mary Ann Holmes and legendary film critic Roger Ebert. Both losing their battle with cancer, similar fighting spirits and graceful acceptance of the end showed fearlessness in character. Those...
For a woman brought up in the church, St. Louis born and Chicago raised singer Aida didn’t take her Christian background seriously after traversing down south to Huntsville, Alabama around her sophomore year of high school. “I turned into the Tasmanian Devil because I didn’t...
