Jandeltha Rae stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about her new EP, Exhibit No. 33.

Sanni Brown

This is the first artist that we've had in here that I have learned about strictly off word of mouth, and I went to business school, and they was like, "Listen, word of mouth — that's what it is. That's the best advertising." So imagine my excitement finding out that we got Jandeltha Rae in the building. So if you don't know, Jandeltha Rae is a Twin Cities artist whose music and creative work explore spirituality, identity, love, loss, and the experience of navigating life as a Black body. On October 8, she released her EP Exhibit No. 33. I am a science nerd, so I'm immediately interested. A six-track project that reflects on religion, capitalism, morality, and the personal experiences that have shaped her journey, Carbon Sound family. I'm gonna do it for you. Let's go ahead and give some love to Jandeltha Rae, yay!

Jandeltha Rae

It's me, in the flesh.

Sanni Brown

You made it!

Jandeltha Rae

I did, I did!

Sanni Brown

This is so crazy. I've learned about you through other people that we've interviewed. I'm like, who is Jandel?? You're here, and you look so beautiful.

Jandeltha Rae

Thank you so much. You do too.

Sanni Brown

It's giving Chaka Khan, Beyoncé.

Jandeltha Rae

OK, the big hair, you know.

Sanni Brown

I love it. OK, let me stop fanning out. So, who is Jandeltha Rae, and what do you want people to understand about you as an artist and a person?

Jandeltha Rae

Yeah, so my name is Jandeltha Rae Shawn, also known as Jandeltha Rae. I'm a multifaceted artist from the South Side of Minneapolis. I think the best way to encapsulate all that I am is a museum. I am an extremely curious person, and so therefore it allows me to create art from almost everything or see art in everything. Some things you might come across you love, other things you don't. Really big lover of God and religion, or I should say faith, and I try to tie that into everything that I am and everything that I do, and yeah, I just love art. I love people. I love love. And so therefore I'm a museum. I'm a walking, living exhibit to be witnessed.

Sanni Brown

That's the first thing I felt when I heard your project. Immediately, I'm hearing the camera. Is that a camera?

Jandeltha Rae

It was a cassette tape.

Sanni Brown

A cassette tape, OK. It was physical media. And I'm like, I'm immediately drawn in because I don't feel like that physical media sound is placed into art as much. So you immediately grabbed me with that.

Jandeltha Rae

I love it. I love it.

Sanni Brown

You described Exhibit No. 33, a project that you personally mixed. OK, let's just pause there. You personally mixed and mastered it. I'm in school for that right now. [You described Exhibit No. 33] As a glimpse into the last six years of your life. Tell us about that journey of self-discovery and how it materialized into Exhibit No. 33.

Jandeltha Rae

Yeah, so it all started when my father passed away in June of 2020.

Sanni Brown

My dad passed away in May 2020.

Jandeltha Rae

I'm so sorry.

Sanni Brown

I'm so sorry too.

Jandeltha Rae

With the world and everything, it was just like, what is happening? It cracked my ego open, and I just wasn't ready. But on September 16 of 2020, my spirit was like, "Ready, set, go!" And I had no choice but to catapult into this healing journey, and it materialized into Exhibit [No.] 33 by way of me returning to my inner child and the things that she loved to do. I mean, anybody that knew me before the age of 18 knew that I was a musician. I sang in choir professionally for 9, 10 years, and from church hurt and from all these other things, I just put music down. I was like, "I can't do it." I started screaming on microphones by way of spoken word poetry, and my healing journey over the last six years has forced me to face the music. It's forced me to face myself, and that's how Exhibit [No.] 33 came to be.

Sanni Brown

So Papa passes away. Later on that year, your spirit says, "Ready, set, go." And you just listen. You don't run from it.

Jandeltha Rae

No choice, no choice. One night, I'm eating veggie burgers with my ex-boyfriend. The next day, it's like you should probably break up with him now, and that was just it. And spirit just knew what to do. Led me to eating dinner alone on my birthday a few weeks later, and then solo traveling. Soul-led journey, and I'm here.

Sanni Brown

Well, I'm telling you, you can hear it as soon as you press play. That's real. When you can hear the art, when you can hear how serious the artist takes the art. So again, your project explores themes of religion, capitalism, love, loss, and navigating life and morality in a Black body. What brought these themes together for you, and what did you need to express through this project?

Jandeltha Rae

Yeah, so I didn't outwardly say this, but each track resembles a system that I had to overcome in order to authentically love myself. So "Psalms in Genesis" reflects the religion and God and the injury around that. "Story Untold" speaks to the throat chakra and how I had to heal that in order to learn how to speak again. "Spare Change" talks about capitalism and the patterns of abusing money and not knowing how to be well with money. "Good Grief" goes to attachments and letting go of attachments and relationships that I identified with and learning how to find goodness in that, through heartbreak. "What They Say" talks about boundaries and, like, "listen, I ain't the one. I love and I respect you, but don't try me." And then "Silence and Surrender," it's a song that sounds like it's me talking about a man, but really it's a conversation with myself and God. It's a conversation of you have to surrender your flesh and what you think you know in order to heal. So it's just different systems that I had to overcome and patterns I had to recognize within myself to really heal.

Sanni Brown

I said this before: you listened, and you listened to what your spirit said, and you followed it. That is so hard.

Jandeltha Rae

Yeah.

Sanni Brown

And I can appreciate artists that speak to that, and I'm feeling like you speak into that. But it seemed like it wasn't hard for you. You just released. So next question. So you described the project as representing the ways you've had to die to yourself to become who you are today. What does that process of letting go, growing, and rediscovering loving yourself look like in your life? Because it sounds like it's beautiful, but was it messy? I need to know was it messy?

Jandeltha Rae

Oh, it was very messy. It was extremely messy. When I first started healing, I would recognize I would have an ego death every like six months, and then it turned to like every six weeks. Now it's almost an ego death daily, and it's like a thing where I'm trying to do this thing, but where can I relinquish control, which actually gives me more control to be able to do the things that I want to do. Not depending on my own recognizance and letting the idol of myself die in order to let spirit move in the ways that it needs to. It's been ugly, though. Letting go of friends that I identified with. Habits that I identified with. I'm about 150 days sober.

Sanni Brown

Oh, congratulations!

Jandeltha Rae

If you would have asked me six years ago, would I be this, I didn't think so. But it's me letting go of identity and learning how to live wholly in the present, not allowing the past to have so much authority on me, like that version of me is very, very important. She got me here, but not so important that I have to recognize the wounds and create an identity within that. But then also staying so much in the present, where I'm working towards the future, but I don't anticipate it so much that I become impatient and run towards it before I'm ready.

Sanni Brown

So you have clearly built a strong presence in the Twin Cities — because, baby, I heard about you before I saw you — even before releasing a large body of music, how intentional has that been? And what have you learned about building genuine connections?

Jandeltha Rae

Yeah, so I don't even think it's so much intentional as much as it is my design as a human. My mom and my dad, they are not from here. I'm the first person in my entire lineage to be born in the Midwest. A lot of people are from Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit. So I come from a very Southern and Liberian lineage. I'm very just kind in my nature. My mother, you know, she taught me how to be that. But my father, you know, he taught me how to find love in everything. We were hanging out with the Middle Eastern man at the corner store, and then we're playing chess with the white man in the park. And so for me, it's like I'm looking at people and finding love and just connecting with people on a genuine level and seeing them as a person, not as just an artist. And so it's not like I go out of my way to meet people, but when I do, I can really see them, I can sense them, I can feel them, and I'm always giving love back to people. I'm at a place where people are like fans of me, but I'm like, "No, I want to be a human with you in this moment and connect with you on a deep level." And also, too, I had a spoken word career before this that was very lengthy, and so I think the combination of those genuine connections catapulted me into the space of musicianship and going to shows and just being a student and watching other artists be on stage, Obi Original, Brandyn Lee Tulloch, Righteous Emcee, some of my favorites. But watching these people and then genuinely connecting with them in their artistry. I mean, me just being a genuine person, I think, has helped me in my music.

Sanni Brown

Off rip, off just meeting you, it's hard not to be a fan. The way you're explaining this, I know somebody is like, "OK, that's what's happening." It's really hard if you don't have the words or the upbringing or the lineage to understand all this stuff that's happening inside of you, and for you to take all that mess and you said it, you see art in everything, and you can tell. You can tell by this music. So for future fans that you want to connect with on a human level, how can we follow you? How can we keep up with what you're doing? Because you got so much going on. I know you just did a couple of shows. You got a lot going on. I feel like I'm coming in the middle of a different world season.

Jandeltha Rae

I'm screaming.

Sanni Brown

That's what it feels like, though. If we want to keep up and support and follow you and just be in Jandeltha Rae's essence, how do we do that?

Jandeltha Rae

I think the best way to capture my full essence is on Instagram. Don't add me on Facebook. You can also follow me on TikTok. Twitter's probably a no-no, but you can follow me @jandeltha_rae. I do perform a lot. I've had 21 shows in the last two years.

Sanni Brown

Ma'am, yeah, you out there.

Jandeltha Rae

I appreciate it. I post a lot of stuff on Instagram, so y'all can follow me there.

Sanni Brown

Yeah, for sure. Thank you so much for coming in. You are a sight of beauty and just a phenomena, and I'm so excited to see where your music takes you and where it takes us.

Jandeltha Rae

Thank you, I appreciate that.

Miss Shannan Paul stopped by to talk with Carbon Sound host Sanni about Twin Cities Film Fest, running Thursday, Oct. 15 through Saturday, Oct. 24.

Sanni Brown

Wow, this is a dope full circle moment for me. This is so dope. I'm a fan from way back when I first moved to Minnesota. I used to listen to this woman all the time. She inspired my radio journey. You have been a big sis inside my personal radio journey. So now that we got that out the way, Shannan Paul is a comedian, radio personality, and professional event host. She serves as the diversity and community relations director for the Twin Cities Film Fest, which runs this year from October 15 through the 24th, featuring more than 110 films. Carbon Sound will sponsor the Black on Screen series centered on Black storytelling and conduct a red carpet interview during this year's festival. Carbon Sound family, just go ahead and show some love to my big sis, Miss Shannan Paul.

Miss Shannan

Thank you. And I always have say I'm that Miss Shannan because people will talk to me for a while, and then the voice will kick in, and then they'll go, "Are you the one that was on the radio back when I was —" and I said, "Thank you, yes." Because it's funny, because there's a bunch of people that are in your general bucket. One, I think I'm well preserved for my age, so I will give myself that much. I hydrate well, I take my collagen, and I do my creatine. But it's funny to have people say that they were listening to me when they were a high schooler, when their parents were driving them to school way back in the day, and that was four radio stations ago, and it doesn't exist. But it was good times. It was good times, and so I am always so proud of you, Sanni. I love watching you from both near and far, and how much you have grown. For everybody that's listening, for a while, Sanni was my producer, and so it was always great to be able to see her every week and be able to hear about her life and her performances and what was going on. So I'm very proud, and I love that you are here, and you have been here for a nice stretch, and I'm glad that you're comfortable. I think I was one of the people that, when you said you wanted to take this job, you asked me for a reference, and I was like, "I'm so proud of you. I'm happy to give you a reference." So, absolutely, Sanni, congratulations.

Sanni Brown

This is big sis, y'all. This is a real big sis in real life. So now that we got that out the way, I need other people to know about you. If they don't know, because I'd be kind of shocked if they didn't. But you serve as the Twin Cities Film Festival's Diversity and Community Relations Director. Can you tell us a little bit about your journey into media and entertainment and how it led to your involvement with the Twin Cities Film Fest?

Miss Shannan

Well sure. I mean, a lot of things end up overlapping, and so the way that I got involved with the Twin Cities Film Fest — this is our 17th year. I've known our executive director, Jatin Setia, since college. And so way back in the day, when I was working at a different radio station in town, I ended up getting a job, and I moved out of town. And when I came back, I saw this dude that seemed to have the job I used to have at the radio station. And so I'm like, "Who's that brown kid across the street?" And so we would just nod, because that was when I was at the station called B96. He was at a station called KDWB, and we would just kind of nod, and then back to small world for the performers here in the Twin Cities. He and I ended up on an overnight shoot for an industrial video together, just randomly. And so we had time to just vibe and get to know each other. And we just ended up being friends. And so a few years after that, he came over, and we're talking, and he's like, "Yeah, I'm gonna start a film fest." And I'm like, and what I want to tell to everybody who's listening who does not hang out with performers and creatives, they have a lot of ideas that do not come to fruition. There are a lot of "Hey, this is it." And then something shiny happened, and then you're like, "What happened to that other idea?" But when Jatin told me that he was gonna start a film festival, I looked at him, and I said, "I bet you are." And I had no doubt. And so now we're 17 years in, and so I just, over time, because I was friends with him and supported the mission of what the Twin Cities Film Fest does, slowly just got more and more involved into the thing. So it's been a great journey, and I'm glad that the film festival has continued to grow over the years. And so we're encouraging everybody to come out and see us.

Sanni Brown

I love that. I love that you're in here talking about how you influenced my career and how you hooked up with the creator of the Twin Cities Film Fest, and I really hope young people are understanding how important it is to network, how important it is to show up. Because I hear a lot of people talk about community, and you are community in action.

Miss Shannan

And that's a lot of what the Twin Cities Film Fest does by mission, is to provide ways that stories can be told and stories can be absorbed. Especially right now, with the way that our media is being created, it's very difficult for people who are making this kind of content to get screens. So if you're not a remake, a second, a third, or a reboot, it's difficult to get a big screen, and so that's why film festivals in general are so important. Is that that's a way for people who are making shorts to get themselves out there. That's a way for newer filmmakers to get this one, or people who are evolving from "I was making shorts,” or “I was doing series, and now I'm doing something different." That's a way for you to be able to see them. So anytime you see "something something film fest,” I encourage people to go. For sure come to the Twin Cities Film Fest, but anytime you see that, because you're gonna see something a little different than that normal big-budget, big-box consolidation of media that's happening.

Sanni Brown

I'm glad you said that, because I constantly hear about the Twin Cities Film Festival. I'm like, "What do they do? Do they talk about OG movies?" So to know that it's basically where all the new talent for the most part, or undiscovered talent —

Miss Shannan

Right. One of the things I think is great about the number of films that we have. So this year we have over 110 films, as you said. There's going to be something you love and something you hate, and that's what's great about these things, because it'll be documentaries; it'll be short films. They also have billed themselves out so that we have series involved there, so you can see not only some series, but now you can actually see — short plug for me, as part of the Black on Screen and all this other stuff, and part of the series, I have a series. And so it's interesting for me and my evolution that not only am I one of the people that works with the red carpet and does the Q&A, I have a series that's in here called "Comedy Through The Chaos." So it'll be another place for people to see that, to get eyes on it, to really get that feedback of what it's like. And that's one of the best things about — anybody, if you're going, "Why would I go see a bunch of movies I've never heard of?" This is a great opportunity for you to just disrupt your algorithm because those algorithms are always gonna funnel you the same thing. So you can go on our website, twincitiesfilmfest.org, pick something, and then go, "OK, what's next for today?" Just pick something based upon your schedule and do something new.

Sanni Brown

Twin Cities Film Festival has a Black on Screen series, dedicated to films by Black filmmakers and stories centered on Black lives, culture, and identity. Why is it important for a festival like this to intentionally create space for stories like that?

Miss Shannan

I think often you end up back in that for us by us mentality, and so there's a lot of things. And I work with a variety of different organizations that really hyper-focus on making sure that we have content for us by us and making sure that that is available and that it's access to capital and those things. When you work with something like the Twin Cities Film Fest, I think it's important for them to also do that because it broadens the audience, it broadens the amount of eyes that can be on it, and it gives it a bigger megaphone. Because it's great to be able to say, "Sanni, I appreciate you as a Black woman, and you and I have this different commonality in our language and what we'll do." But to be in front of a bigger audience, to be in some place where they would not organically just stumble into our community, it's important for other platforms to do that, and I'm glad that the Twin Cities Film Fest does that. People like to have things mirrored to them organically. Some people wouldn't seek it out. Every year at the Twin Cities Film Fest, we have a wonderful collection of movies that end up Oscar candidates. So if you're that bougie person, the Twin Cities Film Fest is for you. So it's good to have those bougie people that like to go "Oh, I'm here because I want to know what's going to be next. What won at the Sundance Film Festival." To be able to have that pedigree, but then also go, "And then I saw this other film." Anytime you see a film festival, you know what it is? It's your Costco. And so you just need sometimes a giant place where everything's there, and then you found your new favorite brand because it was at the Costco. And that's why you're like, that's what you do, because otherwise you'll just pick the same thing you always picked.

Sanni Brown

Wow, that's a great example. I am super excited to go to this. Because I think the average person goes to streaming and go, "What can I find?" And it is, for the most part, the same stuff over and over. So this idea that you can go in real life, and people are always encouraging us to go in real life, to go learn about all these new movies that we wouldn't normally — that's really exciting.

Miss Shannan

We'll go back to the Costco analysis. When you go there on the weekends and somebody's giving you a sample. And so this is your opportunity to sit there and go, "Oh, you know what? I wouldn't necessarily, on my own, want a taste of that." And now you get a taste of it.

Sanni Brown

So where can we go to learn more about the Twin Cities Film Festival, explore the lineup, and get involved?

Miss Shannan

That is super easy. You go to twincitiesfilmfest.org, and so not only do we have everything going on during the festival itself, so there's all the films. You can also get a streaming pass. So if you're not able to attend everything, they're streaming. A lot of the films are available for streaming. So if you go to twincitiesfilmfest.org, you can do that. Also, what's great is we are continually looking for people to get involved. If you want to be one of the people that learns how to do ticket taking, if you have a kid that's interested in filmmaking, then we have different programs with a lot of the universities and the colleges in town, and even some of the high school programs that can sit there and put them with mentors, and we could talk about it. So there's content going on year-round. There's programs going on year-round, and you can get all that information by going to twincitiesfilmfest.org.

Sanni Brown

For those who want to keep up with Miss Shannan, how do we follow you?

Miss Shannan

Oh, that is easy. You can go to misshannan.com. So thank you, Sanni.

Sanni Brown

Thank you so much, Miss Shannan. I really enjoyed this interview. I feel like you just know the interview flow.

Miss Shannan

We needed to catch up. We needed to catch up anyway, sis. I got you.

Mati stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about his recent singles “baggu” and “summers don’t last,” his upcoming show at 7th St. Entry, and more.

Sanni Brown

Oh my God, y'all! This is one of the reasons I love the Minnesota music scene so much. It's so dope to see y'all drop, and then y'all grow, and then the people is feeling what I'm feeling. And this artist that we have in here today, I was able to interview them when we first started Carbon Sound. It was at the Minnesota State Fair, and now he's back with new music. He grown now. Minneapolis-based artist whose music blends different genres with melody, thoughtful lyricism, and vulnerable writing. He recently just dropped two songs, "baggu" and "summers don't last" at the end of August. The songs were met with a strong response from listeners and have continued to build momentum since their release. I just want to go ahead and welcome the Carbon Sound family to Mati. Yay!

Mati

How's it goin'? Grateful to be here.

Sanni Brown

Yay, I'm so happy you're here. First of all, from a fan point of view, it's been really dope to be able to have interviewed you at the State Fair and then to watch you drop all these songs, and I'm feeling them because I be playing them, but to know that the people is feeling it too. So how does that feel?

Mati

Feels good. First of all, I do like to say I got supporters, not fans. That's something I stand on because I feel like sometimes that word can get misconstrued. I don't like looking down on people. I may be overthinking it, but yeah.

Sanni Brown

No, I think the music consumer appreciates a artist who don't treat them like they the help. I think that's fair.

Mati

I'm grateful for every listener, you know?

Sanni Brown

So for those who may not know who you are, let us know: who is Mati? How do we understand you as an artist?

Mati

Always been a goal of mine to just be a better human, and then an artist. And I'm still striving to be a better artist and human. But that's who I would say represents me as an artist more. It's like I'm working on the human aspect of myself to show that growth in my music. You know?

Sanni Brown

Well, I can hear it. We talk a lot about diversity within the diaspora, but your story is rooted in both Ethiopia and South Minneapolis. How have those two places shaped you and the way you approach music?

Mati

That's a good question. I would say it's important to walk in a path where you just remember where you come from, because that shapes who you are. So I try to bring the listener or the viewer into my world like that, because it did shape who I am as an individual and as an artist. And people want to know who the artist is when they listening, because that's what creates the authenticity aspect of it. Nobody just wants to listen to artists they don't feel connected to. Sometimes you watch your favorite artists grow through projects or albums and stuff, and you feel like you know who they are because they tell — they give you bits and pieces through their music. So I think it's important for me to have people recognize who I am.

Sanni Brown

So you just dropped two tracks at the end of August, and it's going crazy. We got "baggu" and "summers don't last." Where were you at mentally, spiritually, physically when you created these tracks?

Mati

I want to say both of them was around the same time. The "summers don't last" it was last summer, this time of the year, and it was kind of just going through the emotion of understanding we got, you know, beautiful summers here in Minnesota, and then you realize it's coming to an end.

Sanni Brown

Oh, I hate that. I do. I hate it.

Mati

I try to be very much in the moment with the music. That was what I was feeling in that moment; I was like, "Damn, these summers don't last too long." And then I've been playing around with my voice a little bit, with some vocal pictures and whatnot. So that's kind of where that inspiration came from.

Sanni Brown

That's cool. I like that. I'm actually in class to learn how to produce music, and I just learned that producers aren't just making a sound. You're creating, you're using your voice to create your sound. Did you do that at the beginning of your career? Or this is something just, like you said just last summer, and how has that affected the response to your music?

Mati

It's been good. I feel like anytime you try something different from what people are used to hearing from you, I wouldn't say it's different in the musical world because I pull inspiration, we've heard it before. But when you do something different, and then it turns out well, like it sticks to the drawing board, like people are like, "Oh, I never heard this from you. I like this." But at the same time, that sound, it's not always who I am or the type of music I like to make, but I also enjoy doing it. I like the way we rolled these two songs out, where it was like a little two-pack of something similar. And then we give you some more seasoning on another two-pack, maybe a couple months from now, and it's like a little story behind it, instead of always rolling out an album or a project.

Sanni Brown

That's interesting. Where are you at creatively right now, though? And where do you plan on going creatively?

Mati

I don't know if my manager will like this response, but sometimes I be ready to just release music, obviously in communication, and he help me out and stuff with that. But then at some point, I just like to kind of just go ghost a little bit for a second, you know, reset. I love what I do, and I feel like it's my purpose, but I also like to move in a way where it can come off rebellious in a sense, where I'm not really looking to move in a path that's like "You have to do this to get to this place." I'ma do it comfortably, and if it don't happen the way someone else might imagine it, I'm just glad that I made that decision because that's where I felt comfortable in that moment. So I plan on releasing for sure soon. But at some point, I need that mental reset where I'm like, I just want to go be a human off social media and still create music because I'm always create music.

Sanni Brown

JAKI BLUE, we just had her in here, and she was talking about input and output, and as an artist, there's a lot of output, but you have to separate time for yourself for the input. And that's just been sticking with me. So to hear you say this after she said that — I hope y'all picking up the gems; I'm gonna just say that. So you are returning to the 7th St. Entry for a Carbon Sound sponsored show on October 22. Can you tell us about the way you approach live performances and what you hope people walk away with?

Mati

That's a good question. It's a great question. I'm thinking about it right now. But I think definitely, like I have so much respect for First Avenue and 7th Street, and I've played that room a couple times, and —

Sanni Brown

I played it a couple times. They look out for the little small artists. They do.

Mati

I just like the intimate setting, because it's a lower stage, and I like to be with the community, everybody together. I just like cultivating the audience where it's like I'm bringing people together from maybe different aspects of my life, or just listeners that haven't met yet, and I just want people to walk away just feeling positive, really, and just knowing that if you're having a bad day, you can pull up to a show like this and just a reminder that life is beautiful.

Sanni Brown

I like that you said that because whenever I go see a live show, messages are always coming to me. "Look at how they're up there, just being, just confident, living in they dream," like that. I'm always getting messages when I go to the show, so it's really wild to me to hear that that's a part of your intentions.

Mati

Yeah, cause like I go into complete autopilot once that first 30 seconds of the song. And I want people to be on autopilot with me.

Sanni Brown

So let's say we want to help you grab some more supporters. Supporters want to support Mati. How do we find you? How do we locate you? How do we support?

Mati

You can pull up to the show on October 22, if you local. Otherwise, my Instagram is matinames. You can find me on Spotify, Apple Music. Yeah, just grateful to be here.

Sanni Brown

Well, thank you, Mati. I appreciate you. You so chill. Thank you, Mati.

Mati

Thank you so much. I'm so grateful to be here, and Carbon Sound, obviously, us artists, especially in this community, we need more representation from the media, and what y'all are doing is amazing. So I'm grateful.

Sanni Brown

Well, good I'm glad. Y'all keep making music like this, baby, we gonna continue creating platforms like this.

Mati

For sure. Keep it coming.

Essjay TheAfrocentricRatchet stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about world-building as an artist and community member.

Sanni Brown

This is gonna be a really exciting class for me, y'all. I have been a fan of this woman for at least eight years. I remember the first time I heard your name; I was like, "I gotta find out more." I need to understand how we can mix up Afrocentric and Ratchet in the same mix, and you do it so effortlessly. So for those of you who don't know, because I had a fan out a little bit. is a Twin Cities-based MC, an artist whose work celebrates Black culture, confidence, creativity, and community. She got a single; it's called "Single 4 The Summer," and it's a Chicago dance-inspired track that's been making noise across the Twin Cities. After the single's release, Essjay brought together five women MCs from across the Twin Cities for a remix that celebrates Black women in the local scene while creating space for more collaboration, connection, and community. Y'all give it up, Carbon Sound Family. Give it up for Essjay TheAfrocentricRatchet. Welcome. I'm so glad you had time to come in here.

Essjay TheAfrocentricRatchet

I'm glad to be here. I've been excited to come up here and talk to you for a minute.

Sanni Brown

I just been fanned out about you.

Essjay TheAfrocentricRatchet

It's a mutual fandom.

Sanni Brown

So for those who don't know, because I know everything, but for those who don't know, let's go ahead and get the elevator pitch for Miss Essjay TheAfrocentricRatchet. Who are you? Talk about yourself, a little bit about yourself.

Essjay TheAfrocentricRatchet

I am a Chicago-born, Minneapolis transplant, rapper, singer, writer, world-builder, mother, wife, all-around thinker, mover, shaker. My focus has always been expressing myself through my art, using art as a form of healing and therapy, and it's just grown into me kicking in doors all around the city for eight years.

Sanni Brown

You got it, man. You released an album called A Masterpiece in September of last year. Can you tell us a little bit about the process of creating that project and what conversations you wanted to have through it?

Essjay TheAfrocentricRatchet

It was five years in the making. You know what? It wasn't even an intentional five years. In 2020, right after the pandemic hit, I'm like, I feel like I've done enough work where I could try to throw my hat in the ring as a real artist and make an album. And then the pandemic happened, and I was forced to kind of sit in that. It was perfect timing, so we really worked on, me, Zakariya Khan, Kwey, Ben Yoshihara. Those were my producers and homies at the time, and we just made a ton of stuff, over like 50 some songs I think at a point, and maybe at the end of like two years, I was ready to really hone in on what's going to be the finished product. And everybody was in different places at that time. Things had changed so much post-pandemic. And it took three years just to find an engineer, a team, a support system that would help me get that project out. And I found it last year, or like last maybe two, three years. But last year is when we finally were able to push it out. And the conversation is just like the fullness of what I am and who I am, and how that aligns with the fullness of Black women, of Blackness. We are dichotomous. We are not monolithic. We are Afrocentric, and we are ratchet, and we are educated, and we are striving, and we are struggling. We are doing all those things while still being magnificent, and that is the masterpiece of our existence.

Sanni Brown

You a year removed from dropping this. So where's your head at creatively now?

Essjay TheAfrocentricRatchet

World-building, structure building.

Sanni Brown

I heard you say world-building when you introduced yourself. What do you mean world-building?

Essjay TheAfrocentricRatchet

So I've recognized that in building myself up, I put myself in a position that I can now lead, and I can now project a bigger vision that maybe other folks haven't been able to see. Being a transplant coming here, I was always able to peep the disconnect, like the "why." Like, "Why is Minnesota not on," or "Why is no one—" or "There's no sound" or "No connectivity." I could always see the why, and it was just a lack of hometown pride. People aren't proud enough to say that they're from here, and I could get it. There's not enough connection between the things that you represent and the things that represent you. Even from our sports teams to our community leaders, like they're not — everyone's not in alignment. They don't even know each other exists. And so, as a person who's looking inward on this experience in world-building, I'm trying to connect the dots with the people who are already, you know, the dot. They are the thing. They are creating the systems in their communities. They just need more support, and that's more support is gonna come from across other lines of people working, and so that's where I'm at, connecting those dots.

Sanni Brown

That's incredible insight to know that — because I kind of felt like that when I moved here. Unless you've already made it. That was the people that I saw people being proud of, if they had already made it. I feel like there was hometown love. I don't want nobody to get mad at me. I also feel like in terms of the artist community and musicians, I heard it from people who grew up here; they got friends here. But in the artist creative community, and I do see that more now. I remember being in radio, being like "Why ain't nobody making no noise about these artists?" And then the more I saw, the more I saw.

Essjay TheAfrocentricRatchet

It's also not a part of the culture. Expression, although we are extremely artistic here, people just being expressive about what they actually feel and want to say is not super common. Like that "Minnesota nice" slash passive aggression, where it's like you're in a show and you're seeing something amazing, and everyone's just quiet and staring.

Sanni Brown

Oh my god! Thank you for saying that. That is a crazy phenomenon.

Essjay TheAfrocentricRatchet

That doesn't happen in other places. And that's just because there's a lack of connected identity. No one knows how to react because they don't know how a person should react. Whereas I'm from Chicago, you just react, you just feel, it is what it is. But here, people are trying to figure out who they are because there's no big uniform identity.

Sanni Brown

That said, "Single 4 The Summer" and the remix. What inspired "Single 4 The Summer?"

Essjay TheAfrocentricRatchet

Becoming single for the summer. A relationship ending and coming to a close. And it was like, "Yeah, you thought you was gonna have me down bad. I assure you, you will not." And funny enough, that song just started buzzing the moment I previewed it, just a preview, and I had to put it out. I was just kind of testing the waters to see, like, "Could I get this off? How y'all feel about it?" And everybody started going crazy, so I'm like, let me actually dig into it. Because that's how I really felt at the time.

Sanni Brown

And then that inspires the remix.

Essjay TheAfrocentricRatchet

And the remix, you know, like I said, me wanting to build the community and the systems. I realize that somebody's got to lead the charge, and I'm like, "Why not women?" We are the most talented, the most progressive, the most community-based usually, and so even despite the little issues and catty stuff we got going on, I feel like they'd be the easiest group to align.

Sanni Brown

Man, if we can just get that catty stuff out the way, man.

Essjay TheAfrocentricRatchet

I did it. It's done.

Sanni Brown

Oh, I'm sorry, and that's why we have Big Vinaa, Karson Blu, Quita Lashae, Vicky V, and Lettrish Betrish. I love that name, Trish.

Essjay TheAfrocentricRatchet

Yeah, I reached out to a lot of those young ladies because I wanted to put them in a room to do this thing, and I knew there was a lot of mess and conflict that was going on.

Sanni Brown

So you're having these thoughts like, "Somebody has to be the leader here." Did you have any reservations, any nervousness about getting these ladies together? Because sometimes when ladies get together —

Essjay TheAfrocentricRatchet

Constantly. But that's why I created "Girl, Link." I created a space that would be so positive and so neutral and so loving, like through that networking event and putting all those creative women in one space. How you gonna be on some Love & Hip Hop drink-throwing energy when everybody in here showing love and respect?

Sanni Brown

And if you do, you gonna stand out like a sore thumb, for sure.

Essjay TheAfrocentricRatchet

You're gonna feel silly. And so that alone, through also on the back end, having conversations like, "Hey, baby girl, bigger picture. You want to work?" And they all was like, "I want to work more than I want to beef." It's that simple. That simple of a conversation. It takes accountability. It takes some desire to lead. I don't necessarily desire to lead, but I understand the power in leading when you got some sense. And so, if I gotta do it until I can find a couple other folks that got the sense, and I can step back and do more support, then I'll take that lead for right now.

Sanni Brown

You also have a leader vibe. You got a real cool, calm aura. You got a "Let's do this. Don't be dumb."

Essjay TheAfrocentricRatchet

Yeah, get down and lay down. It's very simple because I don't think it's gotta be complex.

Sanni Brown

What do you think the Twin Cities music scene does really well? Because we talked about where some places that need help, but what do you think the Twin Cities music scene does really well? And what are some lessons that you've learned as an artist here?

Essjay TheAfrocentricRatchet

It does really well at continuation. I mean, we've seen big systems fall, big names, big entities.

Sanni Brown

Yes, ma'am.

Essjay TheAfrocentricRatchet

And every time they fall, people go, "Well, I think we could do it again." The resiliency, like nobody ever has quit in terms of like, Minnesota may not be in the public conversation all the time, but somebody's always got it in their heart to make it a part of the conversation. So the resiliency alone, I think that shows in the way we show up in community, the way we react to community tragedy. We need to react that same way in community success, but that's the thing right there. The fact that we not quitters here. That I do appreciate about Minnesotans. They will go there with you. They will keep going and get back up. And then musically, I would say specifically, we create from scratch. People say, "What's the Minnesota sound?" It's instrumentation. It's the fact that people are making music for real. It's not just computers and NPCs and samples. We do have that production, but people is really skilled in their crafts. My boy Zak make guitars from scratch. Like what? Who taught you how to make guitars from scratch? He invented new guitars. Who inventing new guitars? It's 2026. How many more guitars could there be? Zak said "A couple." So I think innovation is another thing. This is a breeding ground because there is no overall theme where people have to be one thing. People get to imagine anything, and I think that's limitless.

Sanni Brown

So you looking ahead.

Essjay TheAfrocentricRatchet

Oh, all the time.

Sanni Brown

So what are you most excited about building next? Both as an artist and as a part of the community, of the Twin Cities music scene?

Essjay TheAfrocentricRatchet

As an artist, I'm most excited about the next album pursuit. I'm ready to try again, and I have so much more knowledge and wisdom, and just resource to do it this time. I know what I want, so I'm excited to create new music from an intentional space. The summer stuff just be like microwave food, you know? A banquet meal, just something in between. But the album stuff is really when I get to sit down and dig into the meat and potatoes of what I've learned since I've last done a thing. So I'm really excited about that. In terms of community, Girl, Link. Girl, Link. every day, all day, like bringing all the women creatives in the cities and then eventually in the country and the world together, to be our own resource, to be our own systems, to build a gate around the gate. I'm not trying to abolish gatekeeping, because you need gates.

Sanni Brown

You do need a little bit of gatekeeping in some of these spaces, for sure.

Essjay TheAfrocentricRatchet

But we gonna build a gate around the gate, so you got to come through us to get whatever you're trying to go.

Sanni Brown

Can you tell us a little bit more about Girl, Link.? Because my thought process, you already went with you starting out small with just the creatives, then you're expanding. But what are you expanding? Give us a good picture with that.

Essjay TheAfrocentricRatchet

So one of our big driving focuses is artist development, taking women to the next level in their creative processes, bringing women together to see what tools and resources they have that can be built upon. If women are already doing events or organizations or just different work in community, how can Girl, Link. support you to make that thing bigger so that it has the power that it deserves? Right now, it's hard for a woman to go into a venue and book a space, but if 100 women can make a call and have a conversation, it ain't hard no more. And so it's really just about steel sharpening steel, and getting everybody to a point where we're now operating on a national level in terms of how we're competing, sound, look, sales, algorithm. Like we're in the big conversation, and I think that's due to systemizing and collectivizing how we get there and making it easier.

Sanni Brown

So first of all, thank you for pulling up today and letting us know, and building Girl, Link. and y'all don't know it, but Tai Way [Tailor Briann] is here. Tai Way is here. And apparently, you and Essjay TheAfrocentricRatchet, y'all got some music y'all working on.

Essjay TheAfrocentricRatchet

Tai got an album that she's working on. I got a mixtape I'm dropping pretty soon, and we got joint stuff. Me and Tai are like — this my right hand. We are literally always together. We're always working on things. Yeah, work wife for sure. Music twin. We are always just on that. So from music to Girl, Link. to just world-building, we're always in that space together.

Sanni Brown

I like that, because I got scared when you said Girl, Link. All women have a traumatic story of working with women, and I love that not only are you creating Girl, Link., but you're exemplifying it by working with other artists and your remixes and the work that y'all doing. So, I want to say thank you because working with women, I feel like not all of us have the tools to understand how to effectively work with women, and I can see that you got that. And so that's exciting to me, because I love working with women. How can we keep up with you?

Essjay TheAfrocentricRatchet

On all the socials, @theafrocentricratchet on everything. We got a couple shows coming up. We at Wave Fest for Water Wave at The Cabooze. Stay tuned, we about to have another show coming up. We got some special releases, so just tap in. You know, follow Girl, Link. on everything, @grllnk. We got Planted coming up. That's a series Tai's starting with Jibreel Khumas and his company. So they're doing all-female DJ sets.

Tailor Briann

Hey y'all. So it's an all-female DJ set, and it's a DJ series where four DJs will spin for four hours, one hour each, and it's basically to exemplify or expand or get the music of the local artist out. So a local artist will host every time, and it's just geared and centered towards that artist and their music and what they have, and it's just an activation, a part of a bigger rollout.

Sanni Brown

All right, ladies. Thank you, thank y'all for doing what you're doing for the ladies. I'm sure the ladies appreciate it, and I need Tai Way to come back. And Afrocentric, I need you to come back too.

Essjay TheAfrocentricRatchet

Of course.

Nur-D stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about his new single “Go To Hell” and more upcoming music and performances.

Sanni Brown

All right, y'all. I'm having a fangirl moment. Y'all know I be fanning out about some people. So, our next guest is a Minnesota-based rapper, performer, and community-minded artist known for their energetic music, humor, storytelling, and commitment to creating spaces where people can connect. Nur-D will be performing at Urban Lights Record Store during the Midway Music Festival in St. Paul on October 3 and will appear at the Carbon Sound Workshop on September 30. Carbon Sound family, welcome, Nur-D in the studio!

Nur-D

We here, Carbon Sound! Oh my goodness.

Sanni Brown

Thank you for being here.

Nur-D

Thank you for having me.

Sanni Brown

So, for those who are new to you and they haven't had a chance to really get to know you and learn about you, tell us about yourself.

Nur-D

Well, I'm a bit of a nerd. If you didn't catch by the name. I've been doing music now for about eight years as Nur-D. I just love doing hip-hop. I love hip hop, I love pop, I love R&B. I love a little glam rock, you know? My favorite song for the longest time was "Sister Christian" by Night Ranger. So I like a little bit of everything, and you find that in my music.

Sanni Brown

I can hear that. So you have built a career around music that can be fun and energetic, while still speaking on social issues and having an active presence in the community. I do remember when you dropped the track about George Floyd. I remember being in the studio like, "OK, Nur-D's gonna go there." How do you go about that, and why is that important to you?

Nur-D

Well, I think the Venn diagram of my nerd self and my activist mindset, it finds itself right in the middle of Spider-Man: Amazing Fantasy issue one. Uncle Ben says, "With great power comes great responsibility." And I feel like as an artist with the ability to reach so many people, I have a responsibility to make sure that when I talk, when I'm making music, when I'm making art, that you know where I stand on issues that are important to all of us. It is the driving force of almost everything I do.

Sanni Brown

I feel like that's why you stick out, because I feel like, as an artist, it is challenging because you may have developed your fan base. And I feel like your music's fun and comforting. So then when you're serious, Nur-D, I was like, "Is this it for Nur-D?" And no, people embraced you.

Nur-D

It was so such a blessing. So in 2020, I put out two records back-to-back, 38th and Chicago [Avenue] after the murder of George Floyd. And I was really struggling with that. I tell people all the time, like my first part of my career, everybody wants to love themselves. Everybody wants to talk about loving your body, loving yourself. It's real easy to do that. It's important, but it's easier to talk about that than talk about dismantling systematic oppression. And so I was like, I don't know if I'm gonna be able to make that work. And I struggled with it. I don't want anyone to think that it was a decision that I made; I didn't even think about it, I just walked into it. Some people are like that. I literally had to think about it because this is my career. What do I want to do? But I said, "This is more important than anything that I could put on a record." And I was at a Kmart parking lot with the Minneapolis Police Department bearing down on all of us, and I got hit.

Sanni Brown

And you were out there. You was out there.

Nur-D

I was out there. I got hit with a non-lethal round right to my hip. At the time, we didn't know that was what they were shooting at us. They were, yeah, yeah. And I remember getting hit. I remember feeling the pain, and I asked myself, "If I die right here in this Kmart parking lot, does Nur-D have the discography that lets people know why I was here today?" And the answer was no at the time. The answer was no, and I said I gotta rectify that, and so 38th and Chicago [Avenue] came out after that. And the thing is, I did lose some fans, but I gained so many more. It's kind of like pruning; you know what I mean? In order to grow, sometimes you have to cut off parts, even of like, the thing you built. You have to cut off the things that no longer serve you and no longer serve your community. If I had 1,000 people dancing to my music, but none of them will show up if I'm outside, then what am I doing? What am I actually doing?

Sanni Brown

Right. OK, you got new music.

Nur-D

I do, yeah.

Sanni Brown

"Go To Hell." Feels like a really direct statement, right? Nur-D likes to always throw some stuff in the game. Who or what were you talking about when you made that song? And is "Go To Hell" part of a larger project?

Nur-D

So yes, first of all, let me ask the second question first. Yes, it is a part of a larger project. We have a whole new record called Hell that drops on October 21. The reason that I wrote both this song and the rest of the record was everything that was happening with Metro Surge, and honestly, the runoff from 2020, and even before that, like this was all happening in our community, back-to-back to back-to-back to back. And you've been on social media; you've been online. I've posted a lot of clips about what I'm doing. I've been out there, and I get a lot of people telling me to "Go to hell," that I'm doing wrong. And saying stuff to us about our community, like we did it. Like we were the ones that were doing it. I'm like, "No, hell — we're already here. I don't have to go. I don't have to go anywhere. I'm already living in it." And not just here in our community, but our world at large. Look at what's happening. We look around the world, and we're just like, man, it feels like they're clicking all the lights off before they head out. And so I really wanted to express where I am right now, and that's where that song came out of.

Sanni Brown

So I feel like you've kind of touched on this a little bit, but I want to go deeper into what does your creative process look like? How much do you think about the message you want people to hear versus just letting people have fun with the music?

Nur-D

You have to be of two minds of it. It's a business. Nur-D is a brand. I sell things, so to a certain extent, I want to make sure that my stuff is marketable, so that people will buy it and so that I can get paid and pay my bills. But also, I'm an artist. I want to make sure that the art I make has an impact that is important. So when I make a record, or I make a song, I have to think about how do I make this fun? How do I make this catchy enough that people will want to hear it, but how do I not engulf the message in fun?

Sanni Brown

Yeah, because that's escapism too.

Nur-D

It is. I say that at my concerts all the time, "This is not an escape. This is a recharge." Don't use me to not think about what's going on. Use this time of the dance and the fun and hanging out, we shaking behind and we enjoying ourselves. That's a recharge, so that when we're out there, we have something in us to remind us of what we're fighting for.

Sanni Brown

Wow. I don't think I've ever heard a artist associate themselves with a recharge.

Nur-D

It feels like exactly what we are here for. We're at war, essentially. We're at war essentially with the powers that are trying to hold us back.

Sanni Brown

So what has the Twin Cities music community given you? And do you think what they've given you that you could have got it anywhere else?

Nur-D

Well, first of all, they've given me everything. I am profoundly honored and humbled to have gotten as far as I have in music. I was just a kid making weird jokes and songs in the back of the classroom. Like when we talk about class clown to like project, like that was me, like for real. And in a homogeneous community, Rosemount, Minnesota, mostly white people. And as I started doing hip-hop, as I started getting into this music, I have gotten everything. Not only just my house, my bills have been paid. I've had food on my table. I've been able to feed my family, put medicine in people's hands, like that is so amazing, and that's because the people have latched onto what I've been doing and support me. It's crazy, so it's been giving me absolutely everything I have, and that's why I constantly go like, "Yo, I'm gonna be as authentic as I can be because y'all giving it to me." And could I have gotten that anywhere else? Not this uniquely. I can say that there are many places around the country, around the world, that build great artists. I know that there is, but I don't think there is anything quite as unique as the Twin Cities. We are a melting pot, unlike any other place in the country, and you see it every time you walk outside. The type of energy I've received is so unique, so eclectic, that I don't think I would have been able to get that anywhere else.

Sanni Brown

And I love it because then you inspire other artists of what's possible. They can rely on their uniqueness. They can be thoughtful about their music. So I just appreciate what you're doing. And yes, keep doing it because I'm gonna get mad if you don't. So what's next for Nur-D? You're gonna be at Urban Lights performing. I'm seeing the promos, and you are gonna be at our next workshop. We have a Carbon Sound workshop. So what can people expect from the show at Urban Lights on October 3?

Nur-D

It is gonna be a blast. First of all, being in a place like Urban Lights is so important. We need places like that, Black-owned spaces that are providing music, and not just music, not just getting a record, getting a vinyl, getting a CD, but a literal bridge of history. This is where you're gonna find music from decades ago that can inspire you now, and it's important that we are jumping in. So, being able to be a part of that is just cool on its own. It's a new era of Nur-D. If you have never seen a Nur-D show before, coming to that show at Urban Lights, you're gonna be like, "Yo."

Sanni Brown

I feel like you have so much personality. I'm trying to figure out how Urban Lights is gonna look.

Nur-D

Oh, we about to go crazy. First of all, Urban Lights is really close to where our studio is. Me and DJ Hayes, we go down there. I've watched so many DJ battles there, which is a lot of fun. If you haven't been, you really should check it out. You really gotta go. If you love music, specifically if you love hip-hop and R&B, you gotta go to Urban Lights.

Sanni Brown

And so for the Carbon Sound Workshop on September 30, what are you hoping people take away from that conversation?

Nur-D

I hope that people can see that there are multiple ways to move in your field.

Sanni Brown

Oh, I love that!

Nur-D

And the best thing that you can do to do that is to get connected with like-minded people.

Sanni Brown

That's right.

Nur-D

And that's what I hope we really show in this workshop is that like, "Yo, I came through a different way than this person did. But look, we're both here at the table." You know what I mean? Like, where is your niche? Where is the thing that you do really well? How does my skills allow you to utilize what I have so you can grow, and then I can use what you have so I can grow? What do they say? A rising tide raises all ships. That's what I'm hoping that this workshop does, is raise all of our ships.

Sanni Brown

OK, Nur-D I like you. I want you to stay. So for those who just want to keep track with Nur-D, this their first time here, and they're like, "OK, well, you sound like you a vibe." How do we follow Nur-D?

Nur-D

Please check me out everywhere @nurdrocks on all the social medias. That's a great way to follow me. Also, just like come out to a show, please. I say this to everybody: robots can't replicate a live performance.

Sanni Brown

Come on.

Nur-D

So if you want to support music by human beings that are making it, and that's important to you, come out to an event. Come out to a show. Show them what you want with your dollar and your time.

Sanni Brown

There you go. You know what? I don't think I got nothing left to say. Nur-D, thank you so much for coming in today.

Nur-D

Thank you for having me.

Marla Etheridge stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about what Twin Cities Black Employee Network (@twincitiesben) has to offer, upcoming events, and more.

Sanni Brown

We about to work today. Carbon Sound Music Class: The Twin Cities Black Employee Network is in the building. They are focused on building sustainable connections among Black professionals in Minnesota. This organization centers around professional success being more than what happens in the workplace. It's also about providing spaces where Black professionals can connect and feel a sense of belonging, creating a thriving ecosystem in the Twin Cities, and to represent Twin Cities Black Employee Network, we have Marla Etheridge. Welcome, welcome, yay!

Marla Etheridge

Thank you, thank you. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

Sanni Brown

I'm glad you in here. A lot of people are talking about working, and I see a lot of young people being forced to understand the power of network now. Whereas I feel like it was just "Oh, if you got a social media account and you got some followers, you're good," and I think we getting back to the basics. So thank you for being here today to discuss this network.

Marla Etheridge

Absolutely, thanks for having me. Appreciate the platform.

Sanni Brown

So for people who may not be familiar, what is the Twin Cities Black Employee Network, and what does the network offer to Black professionals in Minnesota?

Marla Etheridge

TC-BEN is a professional community that connects Black professionals across the Twin Cities. We create opportunities for people to build relationships, grow professionally and personally, and feel connected to the broader community beyond the individual workplace. And we do that through networking events, social experiences, professional development, and partnerships with employers and community organizations. At the heart of it, TC-BEN is about sustainable connection. We want people to walk into a room, meet someone they might have never crossed paths with otherwise, and have the opportunity to build relationships, friendships, career connections, business opportunities, or simply meet someone who makes the Twin Cities feel more like home.

Sanni Brown

I think this is important because I hear a lot of criticism around the next generation not having the skills that you learn from having a network. So again, this is really imperative work you're doing. So TC-BEN is 15 years deep. What inspired this organization, and how has that vision evolved in the last 15 years?

Marla Etheridge

TC-BEN grew out of a very simple need. Black professionals wanted more opportunities to find and connect with each other. I came into this work through my own desire to build community. I was involved with the National Black MBA Association and started helping to create programming and opportunities for professionals to connect. So what began as something that was very grassroots continued to grow because there was clearly a need for it. More than 15 years later, that need hasn't changed. It hasn't disappeared. The conversation has expanded. We're not only talking about networking, but it's belonging, it's well-being, it's professional growth, it's retention of Black talent.

Sanni Brown

What I do keep hearing you say is that it's important to build relationships outside of the workplace. As you create these opportunities for Black professionals to build these relationships outside of the workplace, what's driving that? Why is it so important to have that community outside of the workplace? It's good to have it inside the workplace, but why additionally outside of the workplace?

Marla Etheridge

Because we're more than our jobs. Your workplace is a part of your life and a part of what you do, but community gives you something different. It's where you can exchange ideas, hear about opportunities, find mentors, build friendships, discover businesses and resources, and sometimes just be around people who understand your experience without requiring an explanation. I think we sometimes underestimate the career value of genuine relationships. Some of the best opportunities don't begin with asking someone, "What can you do for me?" They begin with people knowing each other, trusting each other, and staying connected to each other. That's the kind of networking TC-BEN tries to create. It's not transactional networking; it's relationship building.

Sanni Brown

So there's a summer social that's supposed to be coming up on September 25th. For people who don't know about the organization, what can they expect from that event this year?

Marla Etheridge

People can expect a really good evening, a really good time. We're bringing everyone together Friday, September 25, at Mezzo Mezzo, which is inside the Lofton Hotel downtown Minneapolis, which is across from the Target Center. This social is an intentional mix of connection, conversation, and just enjoying yourself. You have plenty of time to meet people, reconnect with people you already know, enjoy some music and the space. And then we're featuring a conversation called "Wellness Wins: Sustaining Success Without Burnout." That's an important conversation because we're often talking about how to achieve more professionally, but not enough about how to sustain ourselves while we're doing it. And then another dynamic which we're excited about is Carbon Sound will be joining us for this as a featured community partner. So we'll have the opportunity to spotlight you all, and we're looking forward to that. This is not a conference event. It's not heavy programming, but it's a great social experience for people to come out and join and be in community.

Sanni Brown

It's such an interesting topic too. Why did you choose “Wellness Wins: Sustaining Success Without Burnout?” Why discuss that? And amongst Black folks too. I'm intrigued.

Marla Etheridge

Well, because honestly, I have experienced it myself. When you're passionate about something, whether it's your career, your business, your community, it's very easy to keep giving and keep giving because it's work that matters to you. I've certainly experienced it with TC-BEN, but I've learned that purpose doesn't automatically protect you from burnout. You can love what you're doing and still become exhausted doing it. So I wanted us to have a conversation that acknowledges ambition and success, but also asks: how do we sustain the person behind the success? And that's why we're bringing in Nicole Tabor and Dr. Kahlil Permenter into the conversation. We're approaching wellness from different perspectives: workplace, leadership, health, movement, prevention, and personal well-being. I think it's a conversation that a lot of professionals need right now.

Sanni Brown

I think it's a very pertinent conversation, and they don't tell you — they say chase your dreams, and you out there chasing, and then you kind of slowing down, and you're not at full capacity because you never anticipated the effects of burnout. So I really appreciate that you guys are having this conversation. One more time, what's the date, and where can we get information if we wanna show up to this date? How can we locate Twin Cities Black Employee Network?

Marla Etheridge

Yeah, so it's Friday, September 25th. It's happening downtown Minneapolis at Mezzo Mezzo inside of the Lofton Hotel across from the Target Center. The best place to get information about the event is going to our social media channels. You can find us on Instagram @twincitiesben. We're also on Facebook; Twin Cities Black Employee Network is our business page. We also have a community page on Facebook as well, called just TC-BEN, and the link can be found on those different platforms. So definitely tap in and come check us out.

Sanni Brown

For sure, Marla, thank you so much for coming in. I'll see you on the 25th.

Marla Etheridge

See you then.

Resmaa Menakem stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about Mothership, an Afro-futuristic parable premiering at Penumbra Theatre.

Sanni Brown

All right, y'all. We're gonna take a break from our regularly scheduled music class activities because we got a guest in the class today, y'all, with a name that sounds like music. So we know that the music and the name is gonna give us life. So we have Resmaa Menakem, a Minneapolis-based healer, best-selling author, and cultural worker whose work explores race, trauma, the body, healing, and the ways communities carry and transform generational experiences. His work includes the best-selling book “My Grandmother's Hands,” and he is now bringing those ideas to theater through the Afrofuturistic parable Mothership, running from Sept. 10th through Oct. 4th at the legendary Penumbra Theatre. Carbon Sound family, welcome Resmaa Menakem.

Resmaa Menakem

It's good to be here with you, sibling.

Sanni Brown

I'm glad you're here, man. Menakem. It's some tea on the name. For those who don't know, tell us about yourself.

Resmaa Menakem

First off, I'm originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I moved up here — I used to have long hair, by the way. I thought I was gonna be the next Prince, but you know, there's only one Prince. Blessed ancestor. But what ended up happening was I got up here, I had a degree in social work and sociology when I moved up here. And I was doing some playing and stuff like that but needed to actually eat. So I needed to find a job, and so I started doing stuff in social work and stuff like that, and just took off, and then went back and got my master's, got an honorary PhD. I'm actually trained as a clinical social worker, and so I was in private practice for a year. For 15 years I was a clinical director for Harriet Tubman Center. And that's when I kinda got the bug around writing and stuff like that, the Oprah show and all that stuff.

Sanni Brown

How did you first get into writing, and what drew you into writing to explore the ideas and the questions that you touched on?

Resmaa Menakem

Yeah, I thought I was dumb for a long time.

Sanni Brown

What do you mean?

Resmaa Menakem

I think in a society where the Black body is rendered something that is only useful to white folks, I think you can dampen your own creativity and your own intelligence before anybody else does it. And for a long time, when people would talk to me about writing, I would reject it. I'd be like, "I ain't no writer." Even though I did music and all stuff, I would push back on that because to me that was something too far away, too far afield. A special type of person wrote, and a friend of mine named Scott, who's actually my literary agent, Scott Edelstein. One day, I was doing some workshops, and when I do workshops and things like that, I'm very engaging. It is like music for me. It's very much like jazz, like there's a frame, but all of the stuff you do in between that. The flavor of it. So he saw me doing that one day, and he said, "You got a book in you." And he's like, "No, seriously, there's a book in you. You are a writer." And I was rejecting, rejecting him. And then he said, "Write up something and send it to me." So I wrote something up, and I sent it to him, and he sent me an email back. He goes, "What the hell is this?"

Sanni Brown

I love that.

Resmaa Menakem

I was mad.

Sanni Brown

I know you were.

Resmaa Menakem

I called him back. I said, "See dude —." This is public radio, so I can't say exactly what I said. And he goes, "No, no, no. I wasn't saying that as a critique." He said, "What you wrote to me doesn't sound like what I saw." He said, "Come over my house." I said OK. So a couple days later, I went over to his house. He's not a therapist, and he's a white man, so he was asking me some questions, and so I started talking. Talking about racialized trauma, all these different types of pieces. He recorded it. Then he took the recorder and gave it to a transcriptionist. He took the transcriptionist, brought it back. He called me over two weeks later. He said, "Read that. Is that what you think?" And I said, "Yeah, but I would tweak that. I'd move that around. I would do that." He goes, "You just wrote a first chapter."

Sanni Brown

Oh wow.

Resmaa Menakem

And so that's how I write my books now. I write my books by speaking into something, transcribing it, and then editing it. That's how I write. I can't write by typing, because when I type, it comes off mechanical. So I have to talk it. That's why when you read my books, it sounds like I'm talking to you, because that's the way I do it.

Sanni Brown

It's so interesting you said you work in music, because music is hard to capture on technological devices as well. Like you gotta be able to write it.

Resmaa Menakem

I think it has something to do with the organic-ness of it.

Sanni Brown

I hear you.

Resmaa Menakem

At least for me, and I think it's true for auditory people, that we need the movement. And I need somebody else, like having him and now other people in my life, where I'll say something, they won't say anything, or they'll hum, or they'll grunt, or they'll do something, and to me, that's part of it. Because the grunting will make me go "OK," and then inquire deeper. So that's why I say it's like jazz. The writing for me is a emergent process, not a end result of something.

Sanni Brown

Oh wow. So we getting into writing. We feeling writing. So can you give us a brief synopsis of Mothership and what it represents to you personally?

Resmaa Menakem

So Mothership for me, I co-wrote Mothership with my sister Kristen Adele [Calhoun]. And she was down with doing this process with me. So I had the seeds of it, and then I would talk to her about it. So Kristen would do this thing, she'd go, "Ooh!" And then that'd get me going. And then she goes, "Brotha," like that, and so it would just make me go deeper. The seed of Mothership — I can't remember the name of it, but it was an old story, old children's story where Black people grew wings and flew away. It's an old parable. It's an old parable. It's related to the parable where Black people were never slaves. We were enslaved, which means somebody did something. There's a old parable where there was this one ship where they had enslaved our people, and for a particular place that they had gone, these people would not allow themselves to be enslaved. So halfway through, they just start throwing themselves overboard. And the story was that they threw themselves overboard. When the white folks wrote it, that's what happened. But years later, when you would talk to Africans from that area, they said they grew wings and flew away. Because the oppressors' view should have no room in what happens and what you say. Because what you understand is that what you say will be imparted to your children; the way that you frame it will be imparted to your children. And does what you impart to them, does that limit them or give them more room? Does that speak to their imagination? Does that speak to what's possible, or does it speak to a finality, a end, and stuff like that? And so, for me, Mothership was my idea around — I don't know how your audience is going to hear this, but it is what it is. It speaks to the idea that white bodies have been doing this stuff to us for at least 500 years. It's going to take at least another five to 700 years for them to even understand what it is that they're doing. And in that time, if you look at what "progress" has done, it has poisoned the bloodstream of this planet, which is a living entity. It has grafted and taken and used things to the point to where it is so flat that it has no sustenance left to it. Our air is acrid. You eat lettuce and it makes you poop all over the place. You can't eat anything now with seeds in it. So my thing was that eventually, we're gonna get to a place to where these white folks are gonna create a rocket ship and leave us with this.

Sanni Brown

That's what Mothership is about?

Resmaa Menakem

Yeah, and that once they leave us with it, what do we do? What are the things that we have ingested in this system, in this structure, that we need to tend to? How do we need to tend to each other in a way that allows the sicknesses that we've ingested to be purged, to be moved through? And Mothership is about what needs to happen along the way, along that journey.

Sanni Brown

That's deep. They all gonna fly away, and Black folks, what you gonna do? That is deep. That's a big question for Black people across the diaspora, if we're being completely honest. That's a huge question.

Resmaa Menakem

Exactly right. And what have you ingested that, if something else is going to be different, that you have to get rid of, that you have to tend to? We always talk about confronting — not confronting in a way to where it's like "You need to get your stuff together," but there is a level of tending that we have not been able to do with each other because we still are being brutalized by a structure that has no use for us.

Sanni Brown

Wow, this is a heck of a production. Penumbra Theatre Season 50 — I mean, you really trying to make an impression here. [Penumbra Theatre] Sacred Fire: it's marking 50 years as one of the nation's premier legacy Black theatres. What does it mean to have this particularly deep story open such a significant season for Penumbra? That's huge.

Resmaa Menakem

So for me, as a young playwright, to be able to do something like this at a place where August Wilson got his chops, I can't tell you how mind-blowing this is. Like to be working with such talented people over at Penumbra. Sarah Bellamy is the one that came to me with this like three years ago. She goes, "Brother, you ever thought about writing a play?" I was like, "No, I can't write no play." And then she goes, "No, brother. Just think about it." I said, "I do have an idea about something, though." And she goes, "What is it?" And I told her. She goes, "OK, OK, let's do it. Let's figure it out." And I think we did that. I think we came to the conclusion that we were gonna do it in that moment. She started working, and then she called me back up. She goes, "You still want to do it?" I said, "Yeah, let's do it." And this is what this is.

Sanni Brown

I'm just hoping young people are hearing you. The trauma, the hope.

Resmaa Menakem

All of it.

Sanni Brown

And then the Afrofuturism of it. And then how you're connecting the past to Afrofuturism. How can we get down with the play?

Resmaa Menakem

You know, go to Penumbra Theatre. Get the tickets, it starts September 10. A couple of the days after the play is over, people can talk with me and Sarah. And here's another thing. I don't know if we were able to do it, but me and Tiffany were talking about this. George Clinton is still alive, and he's doing painting, and you know, he's not just doing music anymore, he's painting. And I was talking with Tiffany, I was like, "I'd love to have George Clinton in the audience to see Mothership." The idea of leaving this place, the idea of having something else that is representative of us is important. The idea of Afrofuturism, that is a very long, old —

Sanni Brown

A very long history.

Resmaa Menakem

Yeah, and people don't understand that. People think it's just, you know, anime or cosplay. But it's a very long history and varied history. A lot of branches. If you're talking about Black Punk, you're talking about Afrofuturism. If you're talking about Blaxploitation movies, all of that stuff has elements of something else, something beyond what our current state is.

Sanni Brown

Yeah, and it lends to what you said about us tending to each other, and having the art influence us, and us being able to influence the circles that we in. Resmaa, how can we get in contact with you, if we got another play we want you to write us?

Resmaa Menakem

resmaa.com. That's where all my stuff is. I wrote a television pilot that we're showing; I'll make sure y'all know. I did a movie on Netflix; I was a cultural consultant on a movie called “Night Always Comes.” I'm trying to do some things.

Sanni Brown

Thank you so much for coming in today, cause you're clearly busy. You're clearly booked. We'll make sure we get out to see Mothership because that's deep.

Resmaa Menakem

Thank you sister.

Sanni Brown

Sept. 10th through Oct. 4, y'all. Details at?

Resmaa Menakem

penumbratheatre.org.

Sanni Brown

Thank you, Resmaa.

Resmaa Menakem

Thank you.

Toussaint Morrison stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about his upcoming album SHPSHFTR Vol. 1, how Minneapolis has shaped his artistic career, and more.

Sanni Brown

We have Minneapolis-based artist, activist, poet, writer, educator, and musician whose work explores identity, community, history, and the power of messaging. And I remember the last time we talked; you talked about how your relationship with your dad affected your project. Before I get into this, Carbon Sound family, y'all welcome Toussaint Morrison. Welcome back. If y'all are lifers, y'all know too, this ain't the first time Toussaint been here. December

Toussaint Morrison

No, December 2023.

Sanni Brown

The first time we interviewed you, you were here to talk about your project, The Very Best of Ricky & Jane. And I promise you, the relationship you had with your dad and how you kind of fell out with him, and you went down to New Orleans, and your dad was like, "Yeah, what's up?" And so I'm truly interested to find out information, like the inspiration behind your new project, SHPSHFTR [Vol. 1]. But before we get into that, for those who don't know, could you give us a little, you know, a backstory on who is Toussaint Morrison? For first timers.

Toussaint Morrison

Oh goodness. So for me, I would say the best way to like concisely put that is: my sophomore year in high school, I was told by my swim coach to go to the school counselor because I was basically having a lot of emotional things happen at swim practice, and I had a panic attack while I was swimming, and so I went to the school counselor, and she was like, "You know what? I think you should come to the student group." And I was like, "What's this group?" And she was like, "It's the group for highly sensitive students." And I was like, "I'm not highly sensitive! Don't do that! Why would you say that?" And so you have a highly sensitive reaction. And so for me, the best way to explain me is: being a highly sensitive person navigating through a world that doesn't necessarily have spaces or places where people can fully be highly sensitive. And so that's been a journey, being a musician, being a community organizer — if I could even call it that. I usually just, honestly, follow in the footsteps of whatever Black woman is leading a march or a press conference, and I say "Cool, I'll help out." Which is actually literally what happened in 2020. But to put it concisely, I traveled with a band for about 10 years throughout the 2000s and 2010s. That ended, and then I knew that I still wanted to do music, and I had to find a way to do it, and here I am.

Sanni Brown

Wow. So, as I mentioned before, the first time you were here, you talked about your project, The Very Best of Ricky & Jane. You talked about your family, your history in New Orleans, your traveling to Minnesota, how that affected you, your childhood. How does SHPSHFTR fit into that story? Is it completely separate? Is it an extension?

Toussaint Morrison

It's an extension. The Very Best of Ricky & Jane is me between the ages of zero and four, growing up in New Orleans. It's world-constructing; you're learning who you are and what to be a human means, because those are critical times in your life. SHPSHFTR Vol. 1 is me from five to about like 10 or 11, and so basically, if it's a timeline, it's like me in middle school. I went to, at the time it was called Jefferson, but I went there for two years, kindergarten, first grade, and then went to Windom Open School from second to eighth. So this album is kind of like, who is this adolescent? You know, like the anti-authoritarian kid running around recess and feeling all the feels and not understanding why.

Sanni Brown

What does this album mean to you? Is it simply "This is just an extension of the story I've been telling," or is it more?

Toussaint Morrison

I mean, it's more to me because the idea of SHPSHFTR is: our hearts never have the same shape after they've been broken or after they've gone through a transformation or a moment. Everything changes shape after that, and that's OK. So for me, it's more because it's a little more cerebral and inner work than it is "Let me describe New Orleans and things on fire in 2020." There's some songs that I'll start like 10 years ago, like I think the song "Ricky," which is for my father, that song came up in 2020. And the original beginning of it was "May 27, still haven't paid rent yet / Whole city's on fire, and them boys haven't seen hell yet." Where that came from, the idea of, not me as a kid in New Orleans, but it's more so this cerebral inner thing. If I were to tell you the story of what I saw as a kid in New Orleans, that album's gonna look different. But if I told you the story of how I felt between five and 10 when I was brought to Minnesota, that's gonna sound entirely different as well. It might be a little more enraged. It might be a little more manic, you know, it is chaotic. It's referential to things that people would never understand, and it's just pulling from all sorts of pop culture and things that I hold in my head of archives of music and pop references.

Sanni Brown

No, I like that, and I like how you broke it down because when I write bars, they be all over the place too. But it's nice for the listener to be like, "Oh, you went there." So that said, how has Minneapolis and the Twin Cities played a role in your artistic development?

Toussaint Morrison

Well, it's played a significant role in that — I remember, I think his name is Tarik Moody, of Milwaukee Radio, and we would tour to Milwaukee consistently while I was in a touring band, because we just loved it there. Milwaukee would just roll out the carpet for musicians. And people that open up for you, they'd be like, "Man, don't worry about paying me, man. We’ll call it all square, thanks for coming." But Tarik Moody said, they would say it in Radio Milwaukee; they'd be like, "Man, we get these artists from Minneapolis, and we're like, 'Brother, what's in the water over there?'"

Sanni Brown

I ask the same question.

Toussaint Morrison

Given that was like 10 years ago, it still happens to this day. So for me, the way that Minneapolis has shaped my career is that it's given me the opportunity to — not do whatever I want, but it's like, whenever you ask the universe a question, the universe is like, "Yeah, sure." Minneapolis has always been that universal answer where it's like, "Man, I think I wanna play with a live band now. I think I'm done with doing one tracks on laptops.” And Minneapolis is like, "Cool, gotchu." And then out of nowhere —

Sanni Brown

People start coming out of nowhere.

Toussaint Morrison

Come on, and the opportunities have been endless because there are so many people that do so many different things, and they also have the grace and openness to be like, "Yeah, yeah, I'll try man, I'll help you out. Let's try to make that happen. I'm not quite sure what you're talking about, but let's see what it does."

Sanni Brown

So this year we saw Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis. As someone deeply involved in activism and community work here, how did that moment resonate with you personally, and did it change how you think about creating music?

Toussaint Morrison

Whenever you have a moment of state-sanctioned violence outside of, you know — you're experiencing it in the external, you're seeing it happen. Yes, it's gonna affect the way you do anything. And the way I was writing at the time, it all changed. I remember I was at Flava Cafe, get a call from certain activists and comrades around the city, and they were like, "Somebody's been shot and killed." So I sat at Flava and just kept running through research for like two hours, and then I made a video. What artistically happens, is that for me, in 2020 it became a thing of shame. Like, "How dare I write when this is going on." In 2022, after Amir Locke was killed by the Minneapolis Police Department, it became "I have to write about this." Because I know what happens if I don't. It just gets lost in the shuffle, and it changes, kind of like the SHPSHFTR idea. Your heart changes as time goes on, and so with this, I knew that it was different. So for me, being outside was like the main thing. For this one, I was not going to be outside, because if any ICE agent put hands on me or somebody around me, I don't know what I would do, and it wouldn't be good. So for me, it was finding one or two spaces I could sit and write and do mundane tasks without possibly being rolled up on by federal paramilitary. The only times I would really go out, are when I believe Nikema [Levy Armstrong] would call me and say, "Hey, we have a press conference. Can you attend it?" I would say yes every time, as long as I could make it. And so that was really the only time that I would go out and engage. And even from that, there was writing to be done before and after. And so things kind of changed as time went on, but what happened was this album was supposed to be out in October of last year, and it's like, this can all just go on the back burner because none of this is normal right now, and none of it should be normalized at all. So the idea was to write as much as I could, and at the same time provide as much information for people as they try to navigate what the heck is going on.

Sanni Brown

There's so much stuff that's tied to the SHPSHFTR theme. Is that intentional, or is this just synergy?

Toussaint Morrison

It's intentional in the way that it happens because, had 2020 never happened, and this federal occupation earlier this year happened, I would have been an entirely different person in that moment. I would have processed it entirely differently, but because it happened the way it happened with the timeline that it happened, to be an artist in times of exigent circumstance, it's tough. But it's also to be a Black artist in America is kind of that same calling as well, because there is a litany of code-switching. The more that your star, grows, the more that it becomes attacked; the more that your name gets out there, the more it gets scrutinized. The way that I've always looked at it is, somebody explained it as "The higher you go, the higher your integrity has to be." So if I throw a paper plane off the Foshay Tower, I mean it's gonna — but if I throw something that has a little more weight or something, it's gonna — an airplane, you have to make sure everything is airtight. Otherwise, it's gonna disassemble in midair. So for me, it's been more a thing of, I'm on my P's and Q's. Yes, I code-switch when I'm talking to people. And the thing that I usually do is kind of like what my counselor did in high school, which is like, "Oh, how does that make you feel?" When people approach me, or they have something that's rivaling what I said, or they're pissed off with it. And really, I'm not here to tell people how to feel or what to do with themselves. It's just, "Hey, this is what happened, and this is me giving you an unapologetic way of saying it." Like the way that one of my aunts from Detroit would say it. And I think everybody deserves to be told that every now and then.

Sanni Brown

As you look ahead, what are you the most excited about building next? Be it musically, creatively, or community-wise?

Toussaint Morrison

So I put together a free show, November 27 at the Green Room. And I'm excited about that because it dawned on me that there was always this idea when we were on the road that "We gotta make gas money." And we had to make it, gotta make it happen. But the thing I'm excited about was I thought to myself, I was like, "How can we create something where people don't feel that there's an economic barrier between them and the show?" And so I just said, "Let's make it for free." You know, I pay all the artists anyway. I hope at some point, when it's all said and done, you know, like when you win a Super Mario game, they roll all the statistics at the end. When it's all said and done, God is like, "You spent this much money on music, brother, and you made this much back. You actually owe money." For me, I was like, I'm not making rent here, so save up some money, pay the musicians, and do a free show, and then we're ordering all this merch, and it’ll be a donation-based thing. And also the Green Room is such a special place because it's independently owned. So I'm looking forward to that, working with everybody and seeing what can be made of something that has no economic ties to it.

Sanni Brown

If we want to support you and follow you around while you tour, how do we follow you?

Toussaint Morrison

I think the best places are Substack and Instagram. And so Substack: toussaintmorrison.substack.com. That just has all of the music and me explaining what I have in my notebook and all this really intricate, mundane stuff. It's just like, "Hey, this is what I'm writing. This is how I write it." And then on Instagram, there's a lot of — actually, I would say YouTube. YouTube is actually the best. That has all the information and ins and outs of my books and what I'm writing and why I'm writing it. And then the music videos that pop up.

Sanni Brown

I appreciate you, Toussaint.

Toussaint Morrison

Appreciate you too, thanks for having me.

Sanni Brown

And good luck with SHPSHFTR. I love that a part of your introduction is that you focus on messaging, and I don't know if you did it on purpose, but SHPSHFTR was all throughout this entire interview. I love that. On a show called The Message, we need stuff like that. So, thank you.

Toussaint Morrison

Thanks for having me.

Obi Original stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about building community through his Icehouse residency AFRODISIA, his hit song “Sorry Oga!,” and more.

Sanni Brown

All right music class, let's go.

Obi Original

Yeah yeah.

Sanni Brown

We have a Nigerian-born, baby, Minneapolis-based artist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer whose music blends Afrobeats, highlife, funk, soul, and rock into a sound that is both deeply rooted in West African traditions and uniquely his own. Carbon Sound family, welcome Obi Original.

Obi Original

Yeah yeah, everybody say "Yeah yeah!"

Sanni Brown

Yeah yeah!

Obi Original

So happy to be here this morning.

Sanni Brown

Welcome welcome welcome.

Obi Original

Thank you.

Sanni Brown

I am half Nigerian. My dad's Nigerian — Lagos. And your music reminds me of a Saturday morning with Mama or Daddy at the market. Getting plantains, getting the ingredients for soup and fufu. And so that's what your music sounds like to me, but for someone who doesn't know you, who is Obi Original?

Obi Original

Obi Original is a multi-hyphenate creative based in Minneapolis with roots from Nigeria. The one thing about my brand is if you were to ask somebody that knows me, every single person will tell you, "I know Obi from videography, for photography, I know him from producing my record, from producing my album," or "I know Obi from a night at Afrodisia, where I've seen him perform." So I've always tried my best to be a telling presence in my city. Anyway, any form I can help, then it has to be done that way.

Sanni Brown

That's that Nigerian upbringing, that's what it is.

Obi Original

Yes, ma'am. So when you say taking it back to a time where you go back to the family and you're family-oriented, and the family's together, a lot of the music that I make now is really inspired from that soundtrack that I had in my past, for sure.

Sanni Brown

How would you describe your sound, knowing you blend multiple genres? Because what we specifically just talked about was the African and Nigerian upbringing. But you mix pop and rock, and so how would you describe your sound?

Obi Original

I would describe my sound, at a current moment, as highlife music. Highlife music has humble beginnings from Ghana and Nigeria; the independence of these countries maybe around the 1950s. Now I've evolved it into a sound with my influences from — everybody talks about Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Prince, Stokley [Williams], really inspired by what they were able to do in the city at their time. And now I'm running this Afro-rock scene, I would like to say. Afro-rock, in this term, is a double entendre, because even in the case of the source of rock music, where does rock come from?

Sanni Brown

Soul, it comes from Black sounds.

Obi Original

And African rhythms. So it is the rethinking and the re-education of us reaffirming where rock comes from, so it's Afro-rock.

Sanni Brown

I like that. So you got a new song. It's hitting. People is feeling it, and this is the song for me that I immediately thought of the market. But this song, "Sorry Oga!" has been gaining a lot of traction. What inspired it, and what does Sorry Oga mean?

Obi Original

When I listen to music, I usually have periods where I'll listen to a lot of Bob Marley, a lot of Lucky Dube. But about four years ago, there was a time I was listening to a lot of old school Ghana and Nigerian highlife music, and I was very encaptured by the chord progressions that they were using. So there was one night I just was in my studio, and then I just made a demo to it. There was no words to it at the time, but we had an event where they called me to perform, and I had this song, and I freestyled it, and I'm like, "OK, they're responding with the Sorry Oga." So Sorry Oga in itself has been a composition for at least three, four years.

Sanni Brown

Wow, and you kind of taste tested it at one of your performances. I hope y'all taking notes.

Obi Original

That's another tip, you gotta A&R your tracks. Use the live opportunity to A&R your tracks, to see what people like, so now you can put it out in the world.

Sanni Brown

That's a gem. It's music class for a reason.

Obi Original

But even in the context of what does Sorry Oga mean, Oga in itself, in Pidgin English, just means like brother, boss, sir. "I apologize, sir. Sorry, Oga. I didn't mean to come and ruffle feathers."

Sanni Brown

You've spoken about creating spaces where African culture can be celebrated openly. What does representation through music mean to you?

Obi Original

It is essential. It is the nucleus. Because now, if there's no representation with the style of one's music, then it's very difficult for one to walk in purpose or for people to follow one's purpose. Meaning that you can have a song, somebody can make a song, it can sound good, sonically, but —

Sanni Brown

Where's the connection.

Obi Original

There it is, and I say that in all respect to any music style, even people in my own field. So, yes, representation is knowing that you come from somewhere, and you want to share with those around you. Minneapolis is the best city when it comes to having the opportunity to do such thing.

Sanni Brown

I agree with you. What excites you the most about where the Minnesota music scene is headed?

Obi Original

You asking me some dangerous questions. The most exciting thing right now is that we have a lot of people that are in their bag. We have a lot of people that are really realizing what it means to build community and community spaces, whether that be myself with my Afrodisia residency, my brother Bakarii Jackson with Ozone Creations.

Sanni Brown

He is cold

Obi Original

He has the Well Off series he's rocking right now where people are going and really doing the yoga, working with mental health in the community. Brother Kwey, Sister Effy with Samambo, what Essjay has been doing for the past couple of years. She's like twin in this space right now, for real.

Sanni Brown

I love Essjay.

Obi Original

Yeah so, I mean, it's beautiful to see that everybody is understanding that the power of independence is in our hands. If I would just kind of wrap it up in a simple sentence. Reason I say that is because some people might ask me, "Obi, why haven't you left Minneapolis?" And then I'm like, "My job is not done." I haven't spoken to everybody that I want to speak to in Minneapolis. I haven't performed in front of all the people that I want to perform in front of in Minneapolis. So it would be ignorant for me to come and think in my head that my job is done here.

Sanni Brown

Wow, what a mindset! I really like when you said, "The power of independence is in our hands." I want to expand on that and say what I've seen from the artists who've come in here is, it seems like the power of independence is in community, too. Because I think when you're at a label, it's all their decision. And I feel like when it's independent, it's you and the audience. And your ability to build community, that's what you need to be independent. So, it's just amazing to watch y'all lean on community to create this independent essence or experience for everybody here. That's powerful. I say this all the time, I'm like, "Look, y'all gotta appreciate these artists because somebody from the coasts is gonna come snatch them up." And I love your mentality of, "Nah, y'all gonna have to come here." You do the check-ins in L.A., y'all gotta do the check-ins in Minneapolis.

Obi Original

Because my people that did well before me, that's how they did it, and it worked. If it ain’t broke, don't fix it.

Sanni Brown

I heard that. OK, so let's get to your Afrodisia residency at Icehouse. What does it mean to have a consistent home for your music here in Minneapolis, and why was it important to create a recurring series rather than just book occasional shows?

Obi Original

Yeah, and that's a very good question. It comes from knowing that there is a void in the relationship between the African community and the Minneapolis community at large.

Sanni Brown

That's dangerous.

Obi Original

It is dangerous, but like Fela Kuti said, "You might say something dangerous and they might try to knock you down. But you have to say what is true." The reason I say that is because now, I know there was a time in African American history where James Brown went to Congo during The Rumble in the Jungle, attesting to the end of the day, one of the most enlightening moments in his life when he was able to go to the Congo. James Brown was able to go to Nigeria, play with Tony Allen. Tony Allen changed Fela's sound. How can you tell me we're not twinnin'?

Sanni Brown

I love this.

Obi Original

And I really say it, and I will say it in all respects, I refuse to have a narrative where there are people that are in the ground right now, that fought so hard to keep us together, for one person to not know what they're saying out of their mouths. To say what they fought for was not right. So, Afrodisia is that in the action. The same way L.A. Buckner, my "BiG HOMiE." I tell you, I watched Sound Field all the time in college. It's when he did his Fela Kuti episode, I was like, "It's feasible, it's possible."

So, even in that case, with what he's doing with his own residency, with what I'm doing with my own residency, it is not there to just to play music. It is there to really heal what needs to be healed, to exhale what needs to be exhaled, to decrease depression. At least going into your week. I'll be honest with you, the Saturday when [Alex] Pretti, unfortunately, died, JT Bates was the booking agent that time. He called me; he said, "We can't do this Afrodisia, I heard shots just ring out."

Sanni Brown

Oh, my goodness, wow.

Obi Original

So, what I said to myself, I said, "The next Afrodisia will be free. Everybody come in." Try our best to realize what's going on in the situation and the dynamic in our city right now. Because now, even in my case, I'm an immigrant as well. I have these thoughts in my head. But many times in history, there have been so many creatives that have come up to the plate to at least give space, and that is all Afrodisia is. Space for us.

Sanni Brown

I want to be clear and say why I say it's dangerous. It's not dangerous for Black people from all of the diaspora to come together, but I know that that's such a touchy conversation online and offline, and for you to just go headfirst into it like, "Nah, bloodline-wise, historically wise, you my twin." And to put on a show like this and it be free at Icehouse, it's dangerous. I love it. I love when music is dangerous. I love it so much. So, for us who are just excited about your music and your movement and the show Afrodisia, how do we keep up with you?

Obi Original

The easiest way to keep up with me would be going to Instagram @obi_original, or I have a website, obioriginal.com, where people can be up to date with my shows, if they want to come and support the mission in which I'm leading here, they can come and buy merchandise, and it's a really great space maybe if you want to listen to some music that's not out yet. You might find it there, too.

Sanni Brown

OK, I like that. That little drop. I heard that. Obi, thank you so much for coming in. I love what you're doing. I love your show, and I'm really excited to hear more dangerous music from you.

JAKI BLUE stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about the journey behind her upcoming EP The Love You’ve Been Given, as well as her release show at 7th St. Entry.

Sanni Brown

I'm gonna try my best not to fan out during this interview, because I saw this artist two years ago perform, and she just really set the tone. So I'm really excited to see that she's back and she's doing more music, and I'm seeing more about her. OK, that's my fangirling out the way. This is Minneapolis-based singer-songwriter whose music blends R&B, soul, funk, and pop, and invites listeners to slow down and reflect. As she prepares to release her debut EP, The Love You've Been Given, JAKI BLUE continues building her voice as an independent artist while sharing music rooted in honesty, vulnerability, and human connection. Carbon Sound Family, welcome, JAKI BLUE.

JAKI BLUE

Thank you, great to be here.

Sanni Brown

It's so cool to see you in person.

JAKI BLUE

Love it. This is amazing.

Sanni Brown

Thank you for coming in. The first time I saw you, you were just this artist, and I remember the lights was low, and you just really set the tone. It wasn't just like, "I'm someone who can sing," but you understood atmosphere and ambiance. And I just want to tell you thank you for that.

JAKI BLUE

No, that means a lot. Honestly, for me, that's huge. It's not just about singing; it's about emotions, it's about connecting with the self, it's about all of that.

Sanni Brown

Yeah, and I was picking up what you was putting down. So for the people who may not know, who have not had the opportunity to fangirl about you, tell us, who is JAKI BLUE?

JAKI BLUE

I am an artist, local artist based out of Minneapolis, and I'm a writer as well. My music is very intimate; it is a lot of emotional processing. I have this whole concept called the Blue Dream, which is this inner world that I have. And for me, music is integral to who I am. I'm working through a lot of different things and growing and building. I tend to gravitate towards more folk-like lyrics, it seems. I oftentimes reflect on what I do in post rather than planning it out. Upon reflection, very soulful vocals, sometimes folk-like lyrics. I'm just really excited about everything and sharing.

Sanni Brown

So I have this thing about music: artists that stick with me is when I'm hearing your music, and I don't know what's happening, but I know I like it. And I'm glad that you put words to that. How has Minneapolis and Minnesota at large shaped you as an artist?

JAKI BLUE

I think there's so many dimensions to that question. There's one really easy, obvious answer, and I think that's the seasons. As brutal as winters can be here, I think that it's kind of beautiful in a sense. You have to kinda go within. You kinda hibernate in all ways, and you kind of have to reflect, and it gives you maybe some uncomfortable emotions sometimes. So I think that's really cool. I love the seasons here. It kind of is a refreshing palette for an artist to go through that evolution of "I'm in a different season, I'm in a different world, I'm in a different headspace, even." And I think that evolves you as a person and as an artist because those two things are like so interconnected, of course.

Sanni Brown

I love that. Because for the most part I hear people complain about the weather here, but for you to take that in, reflect it like, "You know what, when we're transitioning, even in our seasons in our lives, it can be difficult." I wonder if that is a reflection of that, wow.

JAKI BLUE

Absolutely, yeah. Because it is very difficult. You wouldn't appreciate the beauty of spring if it wasn't for the winter, you know? I think that evolves an artist in a really beautiful way. I honestly love a snowy night in the dead of winter, recording at home. You have candles going, you have a fire going, or whatever. You're drinking whatever you're drinking, something warm, and you're just locked in. I actually really love that.

Sanni Brown

Also, I don't think it's the snowy nights. It's the snowy mornings.

JAKI BLUE

I have no rebuttal there. Sorry, I tried.

Sanni Brown

No, you did wonderful. Every artist has a moment where music stopped being something they enjoyed and became something they knew they had to do. What was that moment for you?

JAKI BLUE

I can't really answer that without kind of getting into my whole story, which I will proceed to do. When I was a very young child, I did gravitate towards music and all things creative and loved to sing when I was very, very young. But I am adopted, and so I struggled with identity, and I pushed a lot of parts of myself away growing up, and music was one of those things. So I did not make music at all for the majority of my life; as a tween, a teen, and a young adult, it was just not part of the equation. And I just buried it very deep because now I understand it's something that is so vulnerable and it's so special and it's part of me, and I don't think I was ready to face that. But I met my birth mom about nine years ago, and I found out she's a musician. So when I met her, she came here, and we met for the first time, and it unlocked something in me. She bought me a ukulele, and I started to like play around on it. And I was already writing before, but nothing structured really, not songs. But I just started — these songs just started coming out of me. It's kind of a blur; it all happened kind of fast. But I just knew after a short period of time, this is who I am, and it is a part of me, and that's something that I have known this whole time, on this whole journey, ever since having that unlocked for me. This isn't something I just do for fun or do as a hobby. It is a part of what I feel in my soul, in my spirit, and I feel like it's a part of me, and I feel so blessed to have that. And obviously, it can be hard, and you can have doubts and things like that, but when I have the clarity that I always come back to, I know music is a part of who I am.

Sanni Brown

Oh, I love that you got that awakening from reconnecting with your mom. So you are getting ready to release your EP, The Love You've Been Given. There's something about your music. It just reminds me of like a blueberry muffin or something. I don't know what it is.

JAKI BLUE

JAKI BLUE-berry muffin.

Sanni Brown

I like that, yeah. So tell us about this project. What can we expect from the project?

JAKI BLUE

For sure, I'm very excited to release it. I like to say The Love You've Been Given is kind of the emotional thesis. This project, I made over the course of the last few years, so it's a bit older. It's not something that I've been making right now, but it's a beautiful testament to this journey that I kind of mentioned briefly of unlocking myself and discovering myself, and facing myself. And a lot of the lyrics in many of the songs seem like they would be about maybe a relationship with someone else, but they're actually about myself, like conversations with the self. I think there is a lot of beauty and pain in the project, and a lot of processing. And I'm really excited to release it. I feel like it's like a testament to this woman or this girl that was sorting it all out. I'm so excited to finally drop it; I've had these songs for a while now. The Love You've Been Given is — we all have this intangible worthiness to us that gets lost, and it's easy to lose it within yourself. But it's real, and it's been given. I have a lot of spiritual and philosophical questioning as well in my journey of life, and I think that comes out in the music. I would say even more so now, tangibly in what I'm creating right now, but this project as well. I think those undertones are there. There's a lot of questioning; there's a lot of processing. There's a lot of wondering, yearning.

Sanni Brown

I feel like I've felt some of those themes in the songs that I've heard from you before. So, what makes this project different than the work you've done before?

JAKI BLUE

I would say it's all interconnected. I think it's just different parts of the journey. When I create a song, I like to channel and freestyle. So whatever comes out from what I'm making is kind of where I'm at, at the time. So I think there's variations of those same themes because those are things that I'm going through in life and that we all go through in life.

Sanni Brown

Not gonna lie, I love when artists make different projects, but they're all connected. Because that's like you said, the seasons. Even though they're different, they're still connected.

JAKI BLUE

Yes, it's still the same world, different seasons.

Sanni Brown

Same city, y'all. Same state. What kind of space were you in creatively while making this EP?

JAKI BLUE

Yeah, so again, I made it over the course of a longer period of time. Even though I was going [through] this as I might call like awakening or whatever the word would be, since I've done so much healing since then, I can recognize that I was still blocked in a lot of ways and still am, again, on this journey. But I can look back and see — there's a song called "Lonely," and I can see in the lyrics and what I was emitting there, the loneliness I was feeling and the isolation I was feeling because of my confusion and my lack of identity or my lack of confidence in myself. The song "If You Ever Come Back Home," there is this kind of cool — not to psychoanalyze myself, but I was talking to Braden, my manager, and he noted that the song does have like a hopeful note to it, but it's not happy. Happy songs are great, but I don't really typically make happy, cheerful music. But it kind of goes back and forth between this fearful self, this unknowing self, and this hopeful self of "Well, I'm gonna get there someday," Or "I'm gonna understand this, and I'm gonna leave these patterns behind that are holding me back so much." So I think there's a lot of that dynamic going on in the project because I was so much so in that state of fluctuation, of waking up to myself and what I feel is my purpose, but also while waking up, still feeling really trapped in a lot of ways.

Sanni Brown

I love projects like this because it communicates that you can have two very different emotions at the same time, and sometimes the message is buried in between that.

JAKI BLUE

Ooh, I like that.

Sanni Brown

I mean that's what I'm gathering from you. I'm getting that from you. But no, I love when music allows for both of these very different emotions to exist, because oftentimes that's how we feel, and we don't have musicians like JAKI BLUE to come out and let the sounds and the vibes and everything make us understand those complex emotions.

JAKI BLUE

Oh I love that, because you do get a lot of very dark melancholic music and a lot of very happy music — and of course there's so much beautiful music. There's everything in between, but you don't have to live in one space or the other. It's so complex how we feel.

Sanni Brown

So what excites you the most about finally sharing these songs live?

JAKI BLUE

I'm very excited. I'm really, really, really excited — come to the show. I am so excited because I am just ready to be so vulnerable, and I want to create a space where we can all be in that together. And I don't want to perform — I think this is something that I've done in the past — where I get all worked up, my nervous system gets worked up, and I'm like, "Oh, I need to be great," or "I need to be this thing. I need to like show people who I am." Because I've always been very worried about being understood or being seen for who I am, because it's very easy to be misunderstood as a woman, as an artist. But I think that the worry and the fear that came along with that actually inhibited me from actually being seen and sharing myself without fear, without being perfect or without being this or that, so I'm just so ready to be in the space of just existing and sharing this emotion, this art. I almost want it to be like a portal where we all heal together and just feel together. And I want it to be a really special moment in time. And I think it kind of just marks the beginning of something. It feels like the end of something, in a beautiful way, and a testament to the end of something and a giving that girl her flowers. But I think it's the beginning of a journey.

Sanni Brown

I want to say before we wrap up the interview, you are a very beautiful woman. You have a very good vibe, and I think it's really important that we have women who are beautiful, externally and internally, but then talking about the messy stuff of life, because it gives women — because you know we all want to be beautiful and look perfect, and like you said, show up perfect, and it's like no, you can be vulnerable, you can feel scared. It's OK, it's normal, it's a very human thing. So again, I appreciate you leaning into your vulnerability and putting it in the lyrics and in your music, and then doing the show like what you did. I trust everything you're describing about the show because I saw you perform before. So how can we follow you? How can we stay in touch? How can we support JAKI BLUE?

JAKI BLUE

Yes, thank you for asking. I am on all socials. I'm on all streaming platforms, so you can catch me on Insta, YouTube, Spotify, all the things. And yeah, come out to see the live show. I know artists always say like, "Big things ahead." I mean, big things right now. I'm dropping a project in a week, a show in a couple weeks. So lots of lovely, amazing things, but truly, I'm so excited for this journey and all the things to come. So just stay tuned if you're interested. And I also really think that the emotional residency of what I'm trying to build is so important alongside the music. That space for this music to exist in, for anyone who wants to emotionally process this journey, is also for anyone who feels that way.

Sanni Brown

What's the handle on socials?

JAKI BLUE

@jakiblue

Sanni Brown

I love it. Thank you so much for coming in today JAKI.

JAKI BLUE

Thanks for having me.

Se’Anna. on da Mic stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about finding her voice as a hip-hop artist and community builder, her new album No Vacancy, and more.

Sanni Brown

Oh, we got an animated one in here today, y'all. Twin Cities emcee, spoken word artist, educator, and community builder who uses poetry and storytelling to create spaces for reflection, restoration, and connection through performances, workshops, and curated events. Her work encourages audiences to engage with themselves and each other in meaningful ways. Carbon Sound family, welcome Se'Anna. on da Mic. Welcome, thank you for coming in here, Se'Anna. Thank you so much.

Se'Anna. on da Mic

Thank you for having me. I'm happy to be here. I'm excited to be here.

Sanni Brown

So we gonna get down to the nitty gritty about it. So first of all, for those who may not be familiar, like myself, who is Se'Anna. on da Mic?

Se'Anna. on da Mic

Se'Anna. on da Mic is a Minneapolis-born femcee using conversational rap, rhythm and poetry, to spark transformative dialogue that ushers more life, truth, and light into the world. I'm big stickler for narrative-led system change, and hip-hop is really my modality. So I mean, I'm a mic controller and a minister to community, as my uncle would say. And I'm also currently leading a restorative initiative called Beyond the Mic. So again, using hip-hop as that modality to create restorative community experiences through storytelling and fellowship. So hip-hop is my weapon of choice.

Sanni Brown

So what is it specifically about writing poetry and performance that made you say, "This is how I want to tell my story?"

Se'Anna. on da Mic

Oh man, it gave me freedom at a time that I felt very confined and restricted. I started writing when I was 13, so it's been about two decades, going on two decades. And at the time, I was just dealing with a lot of mental health issues. I didn't have the language for it, but it was depression. And so I was going through a lot of things, and I feel like I was trying to find solutions for problems I didn't make. That's a lot for a kid. And so I've always had a love for music, and I think I was just getting into poetry itself, so I just decided to try my hand at it, and I just started writing. I was writing what I was feeling, what I was experiencing, things I couldn't really say out loud, and feel like I was being received and taken seriously. That's how it started, and pretty much it became my way of escaping my current reality, but also an empowering way for me to create the reality that I wanted to live. And as I wrote it, I could see it for myself, and I feel like my identity started to shift; my idea of the world around me started to shift. It's really that freedom that nobody can take from you.

Sanni Brown

Yeah, my goodness. I'm always telling the Carbon Sound family, the pen is mightier than the sword. I don't hear people say that as much as I used to hear.

Se'Anna. on da Mic

Let me make note of that. The pen is mightier than the sword.

Sanni Brown

The pen is mightier than the sword. I grew up hearing that. So when I hear you describe all that, that's pretty mighty of all the things that that pen did for you.

Se'Anna. on da Mic

Absolutely.

Sanni Brown

When did you realize your voice, outside of your pen, could create spaces for other people?

Se'Anna. on da Mic

Oh man, I have one moment in my life that I feel like is the strongest catalyst. When I started writing, I was writing for myself. I didn't have dreams of becoming a performing artist or anything like that. I was like, "This just my little thing." I go home, I had a bad day, I'm about to write in my notebook and put a little flow to it. I should note that I want to say, like a year or two after I was doing poetry, is when I started getting more into classic hip-hop. One of my earliest moments of influence was hearing Queen Latifah, “Wrath of My Madness,” and I was like, "I could do this." Like, learned it word for word. That is like the birth of Se'Anna. on da Mic. But again, it wasn't a thing that I wanted to do for everybody else. It's something I wanted to do for myself. This life-changing moment was when I was back in college. I was a big part of our Pan-Afrikan Student Union at Augsburg College, and we have an annual event called African Night, and so it's like celebrating all facets of the Pan-African diaspora, and so there was a cypher. And they're like, "We want people to come up and show us what you're working with." And all the guys — first to the stage. And somebody was like, "There are too many guys up here. Where the female rappers at?" And at the time, like maybe two or three people knew that I was writing on the low. And so they're like, "Where the females at? Se'Anna, get up here!" I was like, "Who? What?" I was like, "Maybe if I just ignore them, this will all go away." But then that person and another classmate came up and grabbed me by my arms, and pulled me on stage. And at that moment, it's fight or flight. Like, I'm on the stage, people see me. So I was like, "OK, I could be a punk and walk off this stage right now, or I could pull this back pocket 16 and just let the moment make itself." Cause I ain't no punk. So I sucked it up. There's footage of this out there in the world. I sucked it up, I was like, "You know what? I'm gonna just kick this flow. They're not ready." And the response that I got to that was like a group of people who were like, "Oh, we've been waiting on this." So in that moment, it was well received, and I was like, "You know, maybe I should do more of this." And I will also say, a follow-up of that was with that encouragement, I started trying to put myself out there more, and the opportunities that ensued that year alone — I got to open for Pete Rock for Twin Cities Dilla Day. Mind you, Pete Rock and CL Smooth as a duo — in my top five music influences, and I had a lot of the Pete Rock beats in my first mixtape, Riverside Ave.

Sanni Brown

That's all Carbon Sound is Pete Rock beats. That's all I play.

Se'Anna. on da Mic

So everything that transpired in that season was confirmation that I'm like, "Maybe I can do this. Maybe I should do this." So that was the starting point where I was like, "OK Se'Anna, as selfish and as hidden as you want to be, you've been given this gift for a reason, and maybe it's time to use it."

Sanni Brown

Oh gosh, I love that. I love your story. OK, so fast forward, you're dropping albums. We passed the "Should I do it?" Now you're dropping albums, now you know. And the name of the album is called No Vacancy, and it's dope because you dropped it on even.biz. If you're a local artist, I need you to pull up and listen real, real, real closely, OK? What inspired this particular project, and why did you choose to release it through that platform?

Se'Anna. on da Mic

I mean, I'll start with the project. I actually wrote that album in the summer of 2021, so I was going through a lot of life changes at that time. I went through a very devastating breakup. It was like my first adult breakup, so it was a lot. I was not happy in my career; I was having like some health issues at the time, and so I feel like I didn't have anything to turn to except that pen in that season. And so I had found this random guy who does beats on YouTube. He made really cool beats. I found him on Instagram, found his BeatStars, bought a bunch of beats, and was like, "You know what? I need to get this out. I need to process this. This is a lot, and I don't really feel like I have anything else." And so the title didn't come until like two years ago. But really, what it was, and all that process that I realized, was it was time to take inventory. I felt like I was carrying a lot of things that were not serving me. I was holding to them for whatever reason, maybe just because I still didn't know how to process the grief of all the change and things of that nature, and so I mean No Vacancy pretty much was like me telling those things like, "You can't live here anymore. I got stuff to do. I got a calling on my life; it's time to go. Pack up; this the eviction notice. And so the concept of No Vacancy is essentially ridding of the things that no longer serve you, so you can make room for the things that do.

Sanni Brown

And I want to point out that you said, "I don't really have anything left else to say," and that is so huge, because even that was a no vacancy; there's nothing left to say. So a lot of your work centers around community. What does building community look like to you beyond bringing people in the same room?

Se'Anna. on da Mic

I think for me, community looks like collective purpose and interdependence. I feel like a big foundation of that is alignment, but I also realize a lot of people want to be around people that are just like them, which is fine. It's healthy. I think the more that I grow in life, the more that I realize how healthy it is to have all of those complementary pieces that may not exactly reflect who you are exactly, but also play into a larger purpose, a larger meaningful thing. For me, I work best with analogies. So I'll give you the analogy. I say it like this: I got the buns, you got the hamburger meat, you got the lettuce. Let's make burgers. Because I can't do nothing with these buns, it's just no substance. I mean, it's not to say there's no substance; they all serve an individual purpose that works together for a larger purpose. And so the older I get, the more I mature, the more I realize the importance of having community that can be interdependent, that isn't just like, "Oh, we're here for the fun of it." But when we get to the thick of it, especially in this socio-political climate, we can all pull some stuff together and create a more powerful blow.

Sanni Brown

I love that. So as you continue to grow your work, what kind of impact do you hope to leave on the Twin Cities creative community?

Se'Anna. on da Mic

Oh man, I guess the impact that I want to leave is: it all has a use, use it all. I talked a bit about my initiative with Beyond the Mic, and I feel like at some point was like, it's either going to be this or this. And Beyond the Mic is really empowering, because it's allowing me to find ways to utilize all my gifts, skills, and talents for something great. And so I think sometimes, especially when it comes to hip-hop, because there's a lot of proving that you gotta do. And sometimes that's hard because I'm like, "Yeah, I can do this, but I can also do so many other things." And I don't want my rep to be questioned because I'm expanding in so many different areas.

Sanni Brown

I hear you.

Se'Anna. on da Mic

So I feel like that's the biggest thing: use it all, whatever you got, use it all. And I hope people will see my works and they'll be like, "You know what? I can get creative about bringing these things together and making something shake."

Sanni Brown

You have two opportunities for people to experience your work this month. Can you tell us about each one of them?

Se'Anna. on da Mic

Yes. So on August 14, I will be at the Icehouse hosting CandiSoul, which is first of all, Candi is an amazing live band led by Traiveon, who's an amazing singer.

Sanni Brown

Oh, I know them vocals.

Se'Anna. on da Mic

Yeah, somebody who I also went to school with, who was a witness to the process and provided a lot of opportunities for me back then. And so I'll be hosting CandiSoul on August 14 at the Icehouse, and be able to have a little set in there as well. But then I will be returning to the Icehouse on August 24 during L.A.'s Monday Nights to do my own show, which is called The Relic, and that is a hip-hop soul synthesis, presenting my original works, but also paying homage to all of the works that inspired it, all of the foundational pieces that have existed throughout time, and really it's just a celebration of what has informed my craft, but also continues to form music in the present and in the future, all the people that unfortunately are getting lost in the sauce. So, I mean, I know for me, it's going to have a lot of Isaac Hayes, Isley Brothers, some Outkast, some Robert Glasper. So really, it's just gonna be this nice big amalgamation of Black music, past, present, and future.

Sanni Brown

I was just listening to Isley Brothers' “Voyage to Atlantis” today. That intro is insane.

Se'Anna. on da Mic

And the message, the message stands, because what does he say? I'll always come back to you. This is me coming back to my roots. This is me coming back to my roots and also giving people the opportunity to learn more about the history of Black music.

Sanni Brown

My gosh. So for the future fans, for the crazy fans, how do we keep up with you? For the young girls who want to be inspired, who are scared, and they want to watch you do your thing, and they want to be inspired. How do we keep up with you?

Se'Anna. on da Mic

So I'm most prominent on Instagram. You can follow me @seanna.ondamic. I did recently get a TikTok. It's not super active. I'm learning how to navigate social media.

Sanni Brown

You're expanding, like you said earlier.

Se'Anna. on da Mic

And I'm gonna keep it a buck, I just don't know how to work TikTok. And I recently returned to Facebook as well. So again, Instagram is the most prominent one, but I am on Facebook, and I am on TikTok. Just don't be surprised if you follow me on either of those and there's nothing cracking.

Sanni Brown

Se'Anna, thank you so much for coming in today. I appreciate the work that you do. I look forward to seeing you host and taking your music to other spaces that are representing the past, present, and the future. Thank you so much for coming in today.

Se'Anna. on da Mic

Thank you, thank you.

Chadwick “Niles” Phillips stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about this year’s On The One Music Festival.

Sanni Brown

I am so excited to start this interview today. Carbon Sound, dream chasers, dream chasers, everybody pull up. I have a literal dream chaser I've been watching for the last, maybe a decade. His name is Chadwick "Niles" Phillips. He's been here before, when we started Carbon Sound. He's been here before, but he doing big things, y'all. See, this is what we worried about, is they start off small, and then they start working with the famous folks. Chadwick "Niles" Phillips has created On The One Music Festival. It's a free community music festival celebrating Black music, culture, and creativity in Minnesota. It's produced by his company, The Avant Garde, and the festival brings together national recording artists alongside Minnesota talent. Carbon Sound family, y'all welcome Chadwick "Niles" Phillips, welcome in the studio!

Chadwick "Niles" Phillips

Peace and love, Carbon Sound, Twin Cities. Sanni Brown — Sanni Brown rhymes with Carbon Sound.

Sanni Brown

Yes it does, yes it does. I feel like that's alignment. So first of all, you know I've been watching. We've been working together for at least 10 years, and I gotta say, it's so dope for you to be in here because I use my show to talk to dream chasers and people who are chasing their dreams. And to watch you go from where you were to now, it just really verifies what I'm talking about to the audience. So first of all, I want to thank you for taking the time out, for coming in today.

Chadwick "Niles" Phillips

It means a lot coming from you, Sanni. You gave me my first interview.

Sanni Brown

Of course, we cut from the same cloth.

Chadwick "Niles" Phillips

So from then to now, it's just a beautiful thing.

Sanni Brown

Yeah, it really is. So last time you was here, we talked about your vision for the Avant Garde, as well as the On The One Music Festival, which both have continued to grow. How does it feel returning to Carbon Sound with this new chapter?

Chadwick "Niles" Phillips

It feels amazing. I always say when it's people that you know from back then, every time you see them, always have good news about what's going on now. If you ain't see them in like three years, it's like "So, how have you been?" It's like, have some good news, you know? So I put myself through that avenue. So us being here at Carbon Sound now, I have amazing news because it's been almost like a year. So I'm glad I have good news to bring about my evolution back to Carbon Sound.

Sanni Brown

And what you doing for the Twin Cities music community is so dope.

Chadwick "Niles" Phillips

Thank you, thank you. I love the Twin Cities. This is where we at.

Sanni Brown

It's a gang of creative people here, man. But some of these people don't know about On The One Music Festival. So for people who are just hearing about this for the first time, what inspired you to create it?

Chadwick "Niles" Phillips

I'm big on festivals.

Sanni Brown

I can see.

Chadwick "Niles" Phillips

From Coachella to the Montreux Jazz Festival to the ESSENCE Fest, cause festivals brings us all together, and to me, it feels like utopia. Utopia means just everyone coming together, everyone's at peace. We're not thinking about our differences. We're just enjoying life and enjoying music. So for me to produce a festival as a lover of festivals is a dream come true.

Sanni Brown

And it's free. I just can't get over that. This a free music festival that you putting on for the community. Niles, that's insane. Especially with everything being so high-priced, that's beautiful.

Chadwick "Niles" Phillips

As a person in marketing and promotion, and business and entertainment, you have to see the cusp of where things are at. So the event is one thing, but the price is one thing too. And we didn't want to jump the gun with charging too soon. Because you start feeling yourself, "We charging." And that filter-out process happen. So it's gradually growing. We'll get to that level, but I'm so glad that it's free and we have our first national recording artist. So we have so many people who can be able to experience that when it's a paid experience, usually. So I'm just glad we're able to give this to the people.

Sanni Brown

You setting the bar is what it sounds like.

Chadwick "Niles" Phillips

I'm glad you saying it. You know, if other people saying it, then that's what it is. I'm just thankful.

Sanni Brown

I mean for yourself, for the Avant Garde, you're setting a standard for what we can expect when we go to see the events that Avant Garde puts on.

Chadwick "Niles" Phillips

It is a bar being set for sure. I just try to do as much as I can to make it the best that it could be. Because of my resume, I've worked at BET, New York City Fashion Week, I was on a major label, so adding those components to what I bring is very important. Being in those rooms, I was able to get some game and some experience. So when I do my thing, it's put on at the highest level.

Sanni Brown

Why is it important that On The One feature Minnesota artists, alongside the nationally recognized ones?

Chadwick "Niles" Phillips

Because I mean, Minnesota, seriously speaking, we have some of the best artists in the world. The thing about the artists here is their passion about everything they talk about. There's always this nucleus of passion and honesty with what's created, and then it's so diverse. And you look at the history of it: Prince, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Bob Dylan, Next, Mint Condition, the Minneapolis sound, and so to be in the modern day of that is absolutely amazing. So to connect the local artists, and then you bring national artists, still about networking, it's still about exposure, so you never know what could come out of this for the local artists. It's a pipeline of national, international, and local, so we can really get opportunities for these local artists to actually blow up and actually take it to where they need to take it.

Sanni Brown

You mentioned diversity in the artists. How do you approach curating a lineup that reflects that diversity of Black music while still feeling like one smooth experience?

Chadwick "Niles" Phillips

Well, music to me is universal. And the thing about Black music, everybody loves our music. No matter where you go in the world, it makes people dance. It makes people heal. And we have such a phenomenal element to us genetically; with whatever we touch, it just turns into gold. No matter what happens to us, we still push forward. So, using that within what I'm radiating is very important because beyond it being our music, we're givers to everybody. And everybody can experience it, and everybody can love it, and they can leave back home inspired, motivated, and just ready to groove.

Sanni Brown

What helped you prepare to organize a festival of this magnitude?

Chadwick "Niles" Phillips

I would say, well, shout out to my brother Segrin, my older brother Segrin, and my younger brother Zack. So Zack was a 40 under 40 businessperson in Michigan, business tycoon. He's worked out here too, with the Timberwolves, Twins. And then my brother Segrin, he was rapping before me. He was that older brother that was like Superman, in the crib with his turntables. And so he inspired me to want to even get into hip-hop, period. So he's evolved into one of the top film and editing programs in the South. He's located in Miami. He's worked with T-Pain, all types of people. So he is working with me with this, and he had experience before I did. So he drops game on me, and then I work with my brother from the business standpoint. And I've learned to relinquish and just let people who are great at what they do, do their thing. And it just adds to the whole thing, and it's enhanced the whole experience. So shout outs to my brothers, and just the city of Bloomington for providing this opportunity — it's amazing.

Sanni Brown

What can people expect when they come to the On The One Music Festival this year?

Chadwick "Niles" Phillips

They can expect just the best experience, like ever, for real. We have Carl Thomas. Grammy-nominated, had three banging hits back in the day, number one album, and he's just changed R&B from the time he started to now, and he's our first national act. And plus, 80% of our people is from Chicago.

Sanni Brown

Oh, OK, baby! Chi-Town, stand up!

Chadwick "Niles" Phillips

Carl is from the Chi-Town area. So from that to the local artists, you have L. A. Buckner & BiG HOMiE, Jhadiya Steele, BdotCroc, Bakarii, who's a part of Ozone Creations, the Normandale Jazz alumni from the Bloomington community; they bring that flavor, and then Generation Now DJs. That's the DJ program for the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx, DJ Miss Brit, DJ Sota, and Mickey Breeze. And then hosted by the one and only, Sanni Brown.

Sanni Brown

Well, hey y'all, what's up?

Chadwick "Niles" Phillips

Cherry on top.

Sanni Brown

I be doing my hosting thing, you know what I'm saying.

Chadwick "Niles" Phillips

So it's going to be amazing, people.

Sanni Brown

It's crazy how you've just brought all this talent, DJs and musicians and photographers, and media people. Young people and dream chasers, listen to that. That network is so important. And you are a masterclass in showing the young folks, the next generation, about how to network.

Chadwick "Niles" Phillips

Sanni, that means so much to me. Thank you.

Sanni Brown

I mean, but the proof is in the pudding.

Chadwick "Niles" Phillips

And to me, all forms of art are relative to each other, whether it's music, fashion, photography, film, visual art. And the things I'm doing now are things I've had endeavors for, while I was in the forefront as an artist. But I was like, let me put my hand in the bag and see what I come out with. And now they're all illuminating. That's what I tell artists: diversify, evolve, and try everything that you have a talent in, and you never know. You never know what it could become.

Sanni Brown

Last time I told you to come, you're gonna have to come for a third one, baby. You're dropping the gems, baby. You're dropping the gems. And then finally, looking ahead, everything you're doing sounds so exciting. It sounds so exciting. But what excites you most about the future of On The One Music Festival and the impact that you hope it continues to have on the Minnesota music community?

Chadwick "Niles" Phillips

I just wanna, to be honest, use my art to heal as many people as humanly possible. However far it radiates, On The One Music Festival is a part of a bigger foundation and endeavor to just utilize music and art to heal, uplift, and inspire. Because this is a part of a lineage of people that came before us. So I want to make my ancestors and my elders proud with this, but I want to set a foundation for the future. And so I want it to grow as much as possible. And I'm just thankful for the opportunity to even do this.

Sanni Brown

Niles, I have to say, and I know we're peers, but I'm so proud of you. I'm so proud to watch you, because I remember you were from out of town. And when I first started my radio career, you — I don't even know how we gravitated to each other.

Chadwick "Niles" Phillips

I know, right? It's just "Poof." The stars aligned.

Sanni Brown

You, Mickey Breeze, just watching people from around the way, and watching y'all. First, you're chasing your own dream, and then you create opportunities like this for other people. You're gonna make me cry, but thank you so much for being in here. Thank you for doing what you're doing, and thank you for the Avant Garde so much. How can we keep in contact with you, though? How can we keep in contact?

Chadwick "Niles" Phillips

So y'all can follow me on Instagram, very easy: @nilesgotyou.

Sanni Brown

And he do got you.

Chadwick "Niles" Phillips

Exactly. And then @the.avantg, so that's the Avant Garde page, and then @nilesgotyou is my page on Instagram. Follow me, and I'll follow you back, and we'll just continue to grow.

Sanni Brown

Thank you so much, Niles.

Chadwick "Niles" Phillips

Thanks, Sanni. This is an honor to be here at Carbon Sound.

Sanni Brown

You just affirm everything I say about dream chasing. It just feels so good.

Chadwick "Niles" Phillips

Thank you. That means a lot.

Cameron Wright stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about the ebbs and flows as a singer in the music industry, singing backup for Beyoncé and Mary J. Blige, their upcoming releases, and more.

Sanni Brown

Carbon Sound community interviews, we got somebody up next. Dream catchers gather round, baby. Cameron Wright is a Minneapolis genre-defying and defining artist whose journey has taken them from the Twin Cities to national stages, including performing with some of music's biggest names. I hope we can get into that today. Welcome, Cameron Wright, yay!

Cameron Wright

Thank you so much for having me.

Sanni Brown

Welcome, welcome, welcome. I'm happy for you to come in here. I just know the name; the streets been saying your name. I hear your name, and folks, yeah, they be talking. And so this is new for me too. But can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about who you are and what you be doing? Why the streets is talking about Cameron?

Cameron Wright

My name is Cameron. I'm from Minneapolis; I was raised here. I moved here in 1995 with my mother, who is a local gem to the Twin Cities, Tonia Hughes, gospel singer, theater extraordinaire. My journey began singing here immediately at five years old in 1995. My mom was in a group, and through her artistry and journey, and calling me on the stage every time they had an opportunity, I kind of cemented an identity here.

Sanni Brown

Oh, so Mama was calling you up.

Cameron Wright

Baby, at five years old, I'll never forget, "Get up here and sing, 'Yes Jesus Loves Me.'" But I wanted to, you know? So yeah, I began to develop an identity here very young, and then I started getting asked to do things by myself without my mom.

Sanni Brown

How has that shaped you, both as a person and as an artist?

Cameron Wright

It definitely eliminated fear. Well, I would say in that stage. Because then you go through puberty and blah blah. But it dissolved all fear for the time being, and it allowed me to be very, very bold in my gift.

Sanni Brown

Oh, I love that, and I love that your mom introduced that to you. I love that. I love my mom. I'm a mama's girl. So every artist has seasons, you kind of touched on that just now, where they're putting in work that nobody really sees them. What were some of these moments like for you?

Cameron Wright

Those seasons, I'll tell people all the time, jokingly, my grandfather — I also love my grandparents. My papa, my grandma, both my grandmothers. Papa used to always say, "You would sing all day to the point where you would drive us crazy." That is the season you're talking about. A lot of people feel like when you're not active, when you're not gigging, when you're not getting offers, when you're not where you want to be, when you don't have the connections — what I was doing was refining my craft. I was singing all day. I was journaling and writing poetry, which was really music. And I didn't realize at the time what I was doing was finding my sound. You know, through at the time imitation. That imitation turned to innovation. So that was what I was doing. It never felt like downtime to me because I was always singing — just all day.

Sanni Brown

I love your perspective of that. I don't want to skip past that, because I guess I want the community to really sit with that moment. Sometimes the kids are singing too much, or talking too much, playing too much. They really letting you know what's really going down in their heart. So I really love that you just expressed that like that. You had opportunities to work with incredible artists like the Beyoncé and the Mary J. Blige. Can you reflect on those experiences and walk us through how those opportunities came about?

Cameron Wright

Absolutely. So to connect it to the question before, actually, in those moments of being around the house and just like singing, and of course going from being a child to a teenager to an adult, then you have moments like, "Ok, where's the work?" But I would turn what I was doing at home into content. I would just sing something around the house and just post it on my story. And through that, I was living in L.A. at the time. Through people seeing me on social media, somebody reached out to me and said, "Hey, is it okay if I send this to —?" I can't even remember the person, but he was doing lighting for Beyoncé. That's literally what happened. I was singing in my apartment. I was singing "I Wanna Dance with Somebody." It was on my story, and somebody called me and was like, "I want to send this video to —" and then that got to her music director, and then the next thing you know, she had a private audition in Los Angeles for Coachella, which I didn't know what I was auditioning for. And I went in, and that day I got the job. But everything happened so differently. So that was in 2018. Now you fast forward to 2026, which is eight years later, where I now am semi-known — I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but I'm known enough for people to just call me. And I got a call from Mary's vocal coach, and he was like, "What you doing for the next six weeks?"

Sanni Brown

The coach called you?

Cameron Wright

Yeah, because we know each other. We came up together in L.A.; we were both doing auditions and stuff. And now, honey, he's a vocal contractor. He vocal contracts all the big tours.

Sanni Brown

I don't even know what that is.

Cameron Wright

So he finds the singers to go on tour with people, to do residencies, to do sessions for people's album. I just did a session with him for Zac Brown Band. Yeah, I'm on their new album. So he called me, and he was like, "What you doing for the next six weeks?" And I was like, I said, "Who is it for?" Cause I kinda knew, you know? And I just wanted him to say it. He was like, "I can't say. Just let me know." I said, "I'm free." Literally, I sent him a video. An hour later, he called me that night. He said, "All right you gonna get a call. They need you to come out quick." I literally flew to Vegas the next morning.

Sanni Brown

Oh my God, I love this! I love these stories! This is so inspiring. I use this show to talk to dream chasers and people who have a small little dream, and sometimes they don't think they can achieve it, because of whatever the dynamic. They may not have the support system. So I oh my God, I love your story. I love your story so much. And so that's how you got linked with Beyonce, and that's how you got linked with Mary J. Blige. What helped you keep going during periods with less creative opportunities? So it's always fun to talk about "I got linked up with Beyonce. I got linked up with Mary." But what about them down times?

Cameron Wright

Honey, you gotta really be intentional with your attention, because living in L.A. particularly, when I would have seasons of gigging with major artists or creating my own work, because I'm a recording artist myself, there's definitely times where you're not doing a thing. And there were seasons where I would feel overwhelmed with sadness or "I should be further along," but what I discovered is my creative practice to help me get back into momentum. I love documentaries. I will sit and watch a documentary and watch somebody's story, an artist. And just hearing how they push through it, or just hearing their journey, it just inspires me to be like, "Cameron, shut up. This is a part of it, and while you're doing this, do something creative." So write, sing, post —

Sanni Brown

Study your craft.

Cameron Wright

Yeah. Documentaries — I just got done watching the Earth, Wind & Fire one the other day because, again, I just came from this huge time of momentum. I was in Vegas for five weeks with Mary J . Blige, went straight into rehearsal with Kelly Rowland for a festival in Chicago, and then came right back to Minnesota. Don't have a clue what I'm doing for the next — I don't know what's next.

Sanni Brown

It seems like there'll be some downtime, no?

Cameron Wright

Yes and. So again, you got to be intentional with your attention, because sometimes you're sitting with your thoughts. When you have a routine every day, and you're rehearsing with Mary, and you getting paid real good. And then you're home and you're kind of like, "Ok, well, I got a gig in a month." That documentary put so much life in me. Just watching Maurice White and just the perseverance, and also just self-belief. Like child, I got this.

Sanni Brown

I love this. I love watching documentaries, and I'm always telling dream chasers, study the people. Listen, when I got into radio, I was getting rejected so bad. I had to start studying the process of people getting rejected. That's a part of the process. So I love that you're saying get into the documentaries because I feel like that is just as good. Your career has grown quickly over the last few years. How do you stay grounded while embracing new opportunities?

Cameron Wright

Well, this is my perspective. It's easy for me to stay grounded because there's so much more that I want to do. Even if I was where I wanted to be, I wouldn't be super inflated. But I can't have this inflated ego because my journey, to me, has just begun. You know, being with Kelly and being with Mary or whoever — that's awesome. I'm so grateful, and I really have to sit in those moments like, "Wow, God, look at this. I used to have a poster of Destiny's Child, and now I'm sitting up here in the Four Seasons in Kelly's hotel room, eating a piece of cake." But that's not the end-all, be-all. So I'm still very grounded and very focused, and I got work to do.

Sanni Brown

What projects are you most excited about right now, and what can people expect from you next?

Cameron Wright

I'm most excited about my project. So I am releasing an album. Ok, so let me just take you down memory lane. Out there, everybody who's ever followed me, I've had multiple little EPs that I've released, but I took everything down. So all y'all harassing me about putting them back up, please stop, because they're not coming back. No, I'm kidding. At some point, I'm gonna do this archive thing, probably on SoundCloud or something. But those projects probably will never be on streaming again. But there is a new project that I'm working on that does have some of that music, and I'm really excited about it, because I have not released an EP since the pandemic, literally since 2020. So I'm really excited about that. I released a single, which is kind of like a preview into what's to come.

Sanni Brown

And what's the name?

Cameron Wright

"Hot and Heavy," which is perfect for this hot and heavy summer. So yeah, I'm really, really excited. I'm working with one of my favorite — first of all, not just one of my favorite, one of my biggest influences, James Fauntleroy. Also a Taurus, so we just have so much chemistry. But when I was in L.A., there would be seasons where I was like up, up. I'm doing Coachella. I had a song placed on Star, that Lee Daniels show.

Sanni Brown

Oh, for real?

Cameron Wright

Baby, was making the coin. Baby I was up. But all artists know, there are ebbs and flows. So with that being said, I'm not acting proud and acting ashamed. There were seasons where I was working, the savings done got low, baby. I don't know what I'm gonna eat today. So during one of those seasons, I went and got a job at Barneys New York. I don't know if y'all remember Barneys; it was a department store. I worked on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, so I was strategic because I was like I could make good commission here, it's high-end retail, but I also could make connections with people in my industry. And one day, James Fauntleroy came in. Soon as that elevator door opened, of course nobody knew who he was, but I did.

Sanni Brown

Did you scream? Did you lose it?

Cameron Wright

I'm not starstruck either, at all. But James Fauntleroy, for me, as a writer and a singer, I walked over to him quietly while he was going through the rack. I said, "All I'm gonna say is Cocaine 80s." And that's his group, like his little underground group, and he was like, "Oh, you digging deep." So we immediately just started talking, and he shopped with me, and he gave me his number because we just immediately clicked. And I never texted him or did anything. This was back in 2019, maybe the beginning of 2020. I think a year ago, I was on a plane going from D.C. leaving a gig to L.A., and I was in one of these transition periods. I was leaving a gig, right? But it was a season where things were just kind of slow. I had just wrapped up a season of The Voice, and I had all these expectations of what the show would have done for me, and I was like, "Ok, Cameron, what do you want to do? How are you going to activate the people that you've met? How are you going to activate all your dormant gifts?" Blah blah blah blah blah. And thank God for Delta and their Wi-Fi. I was going through my phone, and I came across James's number. I said, "I'm texting him."

Sanni Brown

Ooh, I love this!

Cameron Wright

I sent him a song, "You and Me," which is a part of the project Revelations that I took down. But that song will be on the new album. It's my favorite song that I've ever written, and I sent it to James. And I actually was intentional because sonically it sounds like something that — it's in his world. I didn't know what was gonna happen. Within 10 minutes, I got a text message. It said, "Yo" with about 150 O's. And I was like, "He replied!" I'm up in the air, like, "Oh my God, ok, you gotta calm down. You on a plane." So then, get another message. He said, "Is this you singing?" And I said, "Yes." He said, "Who wrote it?" I said, "Me." He said, "I'm scheduling a meeting." I was shaking, just shaking, shaking. So I get to L.A. I'm telling my partner. I'm like, "James replied! He wants to meet." So then weeks go by, I don't hear a thing. Don't hear a thing, and I'm like, "Oh Lord Jesus, what's going on? Do I follow up?" I was like, "No, don't aggravate the man. Just trust." And my partner told me, "Let it go. Just let the universe bring it to you. Just let it be." Literally, after I accepted that, the next day his assistant reached out and he was like, "Can you come to the studio this weekend?" And from that moment on, me and James have been just good friends. Good friends, and we're working together now.

Sanni Brown

What's the name of the whole entire project?

Cameron Wright

I can't tell you the upcoming name. Stay tuned.

Sanni Brown

Ok, all right. How do we stay tuned? How do we keep up with Cameron Wright? Because based off the itinerary flight you just gave us, we don't know when we gonna see you.

Cameron Wright

I always direct people to Instagram, it's @iamcameronwright. I also have a Twitter. I just got back on Twitter a month ago because of my single “Hot and Heavy,” and I haven't tweeted a thing — or X.

Sanni Brown

It's an interesting place. Cameron, I'm so happy you came in here and shared your story. Your story, it's just what I talk about. It's what I talk about. I love the trusting what's meant for you, coming to you. That is the hardest thing about this stuff. Your vibration is gonna bring something back. Something's gonna respond. I appreciate you coming in and telling us your story, and we will definitely be keeping up.

Cameron Wright

Thank you.

Keith Baker stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about ReConnect Rondo’s work of transitioning the Rondo neighborhood’s history of pain into new possibilities for the community.

Sanni Brown

Hey y'all, we are back with another interview. You know how we say "around the way?” Well, I'm sitting with someone who actually helps design "around the way." ReConnect Rondo is a St. Paul-based organization dedicated to repairing the generational harm caused by the construction of I-94 through the historic Rondo neighborhood. Now, through storytelling, advocacy, and community-centered development, ReConnect Rondo works to restore connectivity, preserve culture, and build economic opportunity for the Black community in Rondo and beyond. And here with me, Carbon Sound family, is Executive Director of ReConnect Rondo, Keith Baker. Welcome, welcome, welcome.

Keith Baker

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Sanni Brown

I'm a fan of all you guys around the way. My mom taught me the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker, so to see y'all come in here and tell us y'all ingredients is super dope. But first of all, just for me personally, I've been hearing about ReConnect Rondo and the project to make peace with what's happened with the Rondo community. So I'm really a fan of this, and I've been following it. So first of all, I want to thank you for what you're doing. And then second of all, for those who don't know you, can you introduce yourself and your role at ReConnect Rondo?

Keith Baker

Well, I'm excited to be here with you. I'm the executive director for ReConnect Rondo, and I have a bit of a transportation background, kind of an eclectic background, but I was saying to a few folks a little bit earlier, I started in the music business. So I don't know how you make a straight line from music to now leading an effort to restore a community.

Sanni Brown

How'd you get here?

Keith Baker

Well, I'm a believer of curiosity, imagination, and knowledge. And I think the pursuit over time just introduced to a wide range of things over the course of my personal life and my professional life, certainly working in the nonprofit field, working in the public sector field, working along private sector as well. I acquired just a curiosity about how things function and how things work. And so I find my way to this project with an understanding of how knobs, tools, systems, processes, those things function in all of these various arenas. I just happen to be in a place where an opportunity surfaces to reconnect a community.

Sanni Brown

I guess it makes sense the way a musical mind is, you do question the world around you. So I can see how you found yourself in this space. For listeners who may not be familiar with Rondo's history, can you explain to us why the neighborhood remains such an important component to Black history in Minnesota, and can you help it paint the picture of what was actually lost in the Rondo community when it was divided?

Keith Baker

I mean it's a heavy subject. No doubt about it. But there's also a possibility. So when we think about 150 years, the Rondo community, the African American community, has emerged from as early as the mid 1800s, establishing their social, cultural, economic, civic, spiritual fabric, then the freeway comes through, clearly, and devastates that cohesiveness, that sense of community. Rondo's story is like 950 communities across the country, quite frankly. And when we think about the loss, what we really wanted to do is make sure we quantified the loss, so even though more than 1,000 structures — and when we say homes, 700 homes, 300 businesses were devastated along the corridor of Rondo, after again, that social, cultural, economic, civic fabric had already began to form, and to really be a full expression of what the Rondo community is. It also has an incredible history, too, because a lot of the thought leaders in the early 1800s met in Rondo, and really conceived civil rights activities, advocacy activities, and so it has a long history of contributing nationally to a larger movement. And that's why it's so significant that we pay attention to Rondo's history today.

Sanni Brown

And I'm glad you're here today, because I feel like I've only gotten a surface level understanding of, "Oh, this was a Black neighborhood, and construction went through it." To know that the early minds of the 1800s were coming up with ideas, to link up that would affect us nationally. That's why that's important. We don't want to lose that. When people hear ReConnect Rondo, what do you hope they understand about the mission right away?

Keith Baker

It's a very complicated project, but when I think about it right off the bat, is the transition from pain to possibility. When we think about reflecting on history, certainly it's an emotional lived experience that community members have been a part of. But how do we set conditions for possibilities into the future? How do we see those things happening? And so for me, it really is that transition from pain to possibility.

Sanni Brown

That's so powerful. I don't want to move past that too fast, because I think in our own lives when we look back, it's hard to get caught up in the pain, but when you look forward, it's like, "Well, how can I possibly navigate around this again?" The proposed Rondo Land Bridge, this is the project that I've heard about. It's become a major part of the conversation. Can you tell us about this, and what makes the project so significant, beyond it just being infrastructure?

Keith Baker

Let me establish this idea of connecting past, present, and future. When we talk about the past, certainly the African American community in the Rondo community today is about 30%. It's a very diverse community today.

Sanni Brown

When you say 30%, what do you mean?

Keith Baker

30% population of African Americans. 80% of the population historically in Rondo were African Americans. And so you can see a great shift, but it's important for us to be fundamentally grounded in the current state of things, but also you have a lot of new immigrants moving into the community, establishing their own sense of place, but while those things often happen, the African American experience begins to disappear, because new experiences begin to surface. So we think about establishing 21 acres of brand-new land over the freeway to connect both sides and use that as the platform for making sure that the African American experience doesn't disappear, because it reflects an African American cultural enterprise district, which was Rondo before the freeway went through.

Sanni Brown

That's so bold and so courageous, to go be like, "Nope, we're gonna put this right back." What role does music, art, and community events play in healing and reconnecting communities?

Keith Baker

As a musician myself, and you did reference art — I see this as an art project, because it's fundamentally about creating something new from something that was. So it's acknowledging what was, but it's also visualizing, again, the possibility into the future, and that's really essentially what art is. So I see this, and I've always seen this as an arts movement, but we've got to get through some of the technical pieces in order to realize what might this built environment on top of this newly created structure reflect. How does it smell? How does it look? Are all very, very important, and arts are fundamentally important to that.

Sanni Brown

Wow, so dream chasers, listen. I told you the voices from the community are coming in, and they're telling us the secrets. It just seems like such a big project, and to say it like, "It's art" or like, "It's an album," I love how the interconnectedness of process, regardless of the practice, that's dope, that's huge. I don't want to skip past that.

Keith Baker

I often think about systems, processes, tools, and resources. When people think about an art project, they've got tools, they've got a flow, they understand how they create. I think this is the same, except again, there are a lot of levers that are oftentimes invisible to community, and what we're trying to do is make sure, "No, these are the levers that actually move a creative project like a land bridge." Because you're dealing with architects, you're dealing with engineers, you're dealing with all kinds of folks who contribute to it, but you've got to set the right tone for it.

Sanni Brown

What gives you hope when you think about the future of Rondo and Black communities across the Twin Cities?

Keith Baker

Wow, that's a deep question. I think about it fundamentally — cultural preservation, economic benefits, and ultimately a way of creating this sense of cohesiveness in our common aspiration and benefit.

Sanni Brown

You just did this interview so smooth, just so smooth. I appreciate you coming in. And if we wanted to find out more about your work with ReConnect Rondo, how can we connect with you? How can we research you? How can we stan?

Keith Baker

Absolutely, reconnectrondo.com. Certainly want you to go there. We've got all of our studies that we've done from a technical approach, but also you'll get a feel for who we are. Also, our social media is really a marvelous way of clipping in.

Sanni Brown

What's that handle?

Keith Baker

reconnect_rondo.

Sanni Brown

Okay, and we could probably find that information on the website, right?

Keith Baker

There's no doubt about it.

Sanni Brown

Thank you so much, Keith Baker, for coming in, and thank you for what you're doing to preserve the Black community, Black culture, and that connectiveness, that connective tissue that keeps us together and helps our image. So, thank you again so much for pulling up.

Keith Baker

Thank you.

Nakara Forjé stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about her most recent project Healed Hoochie: Sacred Pack, her Sacred Advisory tour, and more.

Sanni Brown

All right, class, settle down, settle down. We got a new community voice in the studio. Based in Minneapolis, a rapper, songwriter, and creative, whose work explores healing, identity, sensuality, spirituality, and Black womanhood through storytelling — Carbon Sound family, let's welcome Nakara Forjé. Welcome!

Nakara Forjé

Thank you.

Sanni Brown

I'm so happy to have you in here; I have so many questions about your projects. But we gonna keep it concise. So, you have a project called Healed Hoochie, and it's like a series, and you just released [Healed Hoochie:] Sacred Pack; that's the latest in your series. I remember when you dropped the Healed Hoochie series, and now you're touring it. So, first of all, congratulations; that's super dope. And in this project, you've brought other Black artists into the fold, and you are gonna have your final show at the Icehouse in Minneapolis on July 11. I'm fanned out, so I know you, but for the folks that don't know you, can you introduce yourself and talk a bit about who Nakara Forjé is, for the people who may be discovering you for the first time?

Nakara Forjé

Yes, my name is Nakara Forjé. I am a hip-hop artist, God MC, visionary, event curator, workshop facilitator. I'm a mother, I'm a sister, I'm a community leader, and I take pride in that.

Sanni Brown

How has Minneapolis shaped you as a person, artist, and storyteller?

Nakara Forjé

Man, Minneapolis is home. I've gone a lot of places, but the older and wiser I get, I just appreciate Minneapolis, the Twin Cities, really, more and more. The Twin Cities is so diverse; it's so cultured, the nonprofit sector here and the grants that we have and just all the things that kind of make this place great — I think when we're from here, when we're experiencing it, we take it for granted, and so I'm just so grateful to be from here. I think the diversity of this place, the community that we have here, it's so fire. It's grounded me, it's molded me, it's made me the leader I am.

Sanni Brown

I love that. I love your commentary. I'm from Chicago, and so I'm an outsider, and I'm constantly talking about how the creative scene here is insane.

Nakara Forjé

It's elite.

Sanni Brown

It is elite level, and so it's really nice to hear. I think I feel like I hear negativity about Minnesota, so I love when y'all come in and y'all like, "Nah, y'all need to —"

Nakara Forjé

Be grateful.

Sanni Brown

Be grateful. I feel like I'm more like, "Y'all need to put some respect on y'all own name." Because the talent here is insane. So, again, you released Healed Hoochie: Sacred Pack in February. What does this project and the phrase "Healed Hoochie" mean to you, and especially to Black women?

Nakara Forjé

Healed Hoochie is about the duality of working on yourself and becoming the highest version of yourself, while still navigating the lowest version of yourself. I think we're constantly living in that tension, and so healed hoochie is about embracing that tension and understanding that I'm perfectly imperfect. I'm a constant work in progress, and that deserves to be celebrated.

Sanni Brown

Sheesh, I gotta pause. You said embracing the tension — ma'am, when did you get that enlightenment for that?

Nakara Forjé

I think I've always been working towards that enlightenment. So often I fought it, or I've been fearful of it, or I've been made to feel that I want too much, or I am too much. And it's like, no, actually, I deserve the most.

Sanni Brown

Such a subtle flip.

Nakara Forjé

Man, perspective is everything.

Sanni Brown

Oh my goodness.

Nakara Forjé

My daughter, shout out to Eshay, she's taught me so much about reframing, and now I'm just like, the queen of the reframe.

Sanni Brown

I do appreciate that about younger people. I think the older you get, you get more stuck in your ways, and I think when you're younger, you're like, "You know what, let me look at it this way."

Nakara Forjé

For sure.

Sanni Brown

I love that. What was the creative process behind this project? I remember the first time you dropped it, I was just like, I've never heard anything like this before, Healed Hoochie. Because you see healed and you think, you know, evolved, and then you like hoochie, and you're like, woah.

Nakara Forjé

And you know what, it's like I'm actively healing, I'm constantly healing. There are some things that I've healed, that I've grown from, that I've outgrown, but there are still some ways that I'm raggedy. And you might not see it, but I know it, and I own it. So it's about being accountable to the parts of me that are not yet healed.

Sanni Brown

Nakara, you coming in here spitting — I'm sorry. What kind of emotional, spiritual, or artistic space were you in while creating this project?

Nakara Forjé

So it's a series of projects, like you said, and they all kind of have their own flavor. And so the first one is the Rare Pack, and that's me leaning into "I'm really her." I'm owning that, and that was also the transition period of me moving to Atlanta, getting away from Minnesota, healing from some things that really tried to set out to break me. And it's like, no, I'm gonna use those things, and I'm going to let them propel me. And so the Rare Pack is just kind of owning that bravado. The Jada Pack is about the demonizing of Black women.

Sanni Brown

Please get into that.

Nakara Forjé

And so, shout out to Jada Pinkett Smith.

Sanni Brown

I was gonna say, why Jada, ma'am? Why Jada?

Nakara Forjé

Because they was on Jada head, and I think they forgot that when Jayda entered the game, Jada was that girl. Jayda didn't look like nobody, she didn't sound like nobody, her acting was elite, her aura was sought after. And when somebody makes a mistake or you don't like the way that they're moving, you forget all that they've brought to the table. And so, just being a person who's been deeply misunderstood, I felt like I wanted to present an ode to Jada Pinkett.

Sanni Brown

Your success and your growth from this series, I can tell, it's just the way that you're approaching this. You are touching on topics that I feel like are taboo, or that I feel like maybe the manosphere kind of runs with, without having a deep understanding of womanhood. And so, oh my God, thank you.

Nakara Forjé

Thank you.

Sanni Brown

So, back to this four-city tour, because obviously the girls need to hear this. I notice that you're intentionally bringing Black artists into the fold. Why is that important for this tour?

Nakara Forjé

I'm a Black woman; I take that with me everywhere that I go. That's the first thing people see; that's who God made me to be. I got to take pride in that, and so centering that in everything, but more importantly, centering God in everything. So all of the artists that I chose all have a spiritual element; they know God, and you hear it in their music. Their music is touching; it makes you feel something, and so that was really important in curating this tour.

Sanni Brown

That seems dangerous to do that now.

Nakara Forjé

That's why you gotta do it.

Sanni Brown

It seems so dangerous in that you intentionally are putting that — I tell my listeners I'm a believer, but it's such a dangerous territory, with religion and politics intersecting. How did you feel about adding that in?

Nakara Forjé

I don't feel no way about it. It's just what it is. It has to be intentional. It has to be done. That's part of the call on my life. God gave me this gift. He's the reason I rap. The Sacred Pack is about my spiritual journey, and so I'm centering that message, and that vision, and that mission with this tour.

Sanni Brown

Why is it important for this tour to feel so community-centered?

Nakara Forjé

You don't get to be a large artist without community. And so community is at the core of everything, and some of us, we have smaller or larger communities, but it's a community, nonetheless. And so I just really want to do something that makes all of us feel good, and feel seen, and feel heard. Community is at the heart of a fanbase. We want to be big artists, but you got to build community.

Sanni Brown

Your tour wraps up at Icehouse on July 11. What can we expect from the final show? Without giving away too much, obviously.

Nakara Forjé

Oh my gosh, you can expect to not leave the way you came, you can expect worship, you can expect elite lyricism, you can expect to feel God in a space. Feel God and feel community.

Sanni Brown

How has this project changed you?

Nakara Forjé

It's stretching me, it's edifying me. I'm finna cry.

Sanni Brown

Because you have a very peaceful vibe in here, and that's why I want to know, because again, I've been fanned out about you since a long time ago, and to watch you drop this project, and to see people respond to it, it speaks to the magic that I talk about in music all the time. You have a very strong aura about you, and it's pleasant, and it's strong, and it's healing, and I just want to thank you for doing this, for you dropping this series, for you embracing the tension that you obviously have felt to get to this space, because you don't get to this space without the bumps and the lumps. And so I just want to thank you for being who you are, for allowing yourself to evolve in front of us the way you have, and then for providing us a product. Because you could have just twirled away into Healed Hoochie heaven, and you would have still had this vibe and this peace about you, but the fact that you was like, "Nah, let me come back and tell y'all what I learned."

Nakara Forjé

Yeah, you don't get to this peace without the turmoil, and so part of my assignment is to share the journey of how you get there. I still wrestle with it. I had a hell of a morning. I got a six-year-old who think he know everything, and so I'm in constant tension and turmoil. But I choose to be well, and that's just me using my free will in the best way I know how by making that choice to be well. So, thank you, because my aura has always been strong, but it hasn't always been peaceful.

Sanni Brown

Oh, wow.

Nakara Forjé

And so that's the journey.

Sanni Brown

You did done some work, I can feel it.

Nakara Forjé

Thank you.

Sanni Brown

Well thank you, Nakara. Thank you so much for coming in. And shout out to the babies, because the babies help us stretch too.

Nakara Forjé

Yes, absolutely. He raising me, so shout out to Carter.

Jamar Diggs stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about community building through basketball and what to expect at this summer’s Twin Cities Pro-Am.

Sanni Brown

Woo, dream chasers! I got somebody here for you today. The Twin Cities Pro-Am is a Minnesota summer hoops destination. It brings together professional athletes, locals, college players, and the community through competition. The Pro-Am has grown into a gathering space that celebrates community through basketball. And here to talk about the program is Jamar Diggs. Welcome, yay!

Jamar Diggs

Thanks for having me. Happy to be here.

Sanni Brown

First of all, thank you for what you do in the community. I love highlighting anybody who is building up the community, inspiring the next generation. So, first of all, thank you.

Jamar Diggs

I appreciate it.

Sanni Brown

Can you introduce yourself to the audience that doesn't know about you and talk a little bit about your role with the Twin Cities Pro-Am?

Jamar Diggs

My name is Jamar Diggs. Grew up here in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Went to high school right in downtown Minneapolis, DeLaSalle High School. With school and basketball, my career took off, went to go play Division I college basketball, ended up playing professionally in Europe. So I've been playing professional basketball in Europe for the last 15 years. That's a little story about me, just grew up here, always wanted to find a way to make an impact in what I knew, and sports was kind of my thing. So, when I would come back home in the summers, I wanted to create something — selfishly for me and my friends, a place to play. And then when I started to do that — there's a track record of similar leagues and similar Pro-Ams in other cities, and there's also one here that I played in when I was younger, so I wanted to recreate that, because it was gone. I have somewhat of a business acumen, and I wanted to use some of my skill set and some of my relationships, and I said, "Well, let me start there." So I just kind of wanted to start small and just have a place for people to play basketball, but then I realized it could be a lot bigger than that, so I wanted to just involve people in the community and find a way I can tie it all together and kind of take what my predecessors, what their leagues have done, and take it to my version of it or a different level. And that's kind of what I did with that.

Sanni Brown

What makes your vision for your version of Pro-Am different from the other Pro-Ams?

Jamar Diggs

I think first I want to give a shout out to the guy who kind of took me under his wing, his name was Rene Pulley, he was kind of a basketball legend here in the Twin Cities, St. Paul area, and he had something called the Howard Pulley Pro-Am, and I played in that, participated in that as a player, as a high school guy, and for multiple reasons that fell out, and I just said, "Well, pass the torch to me, and I can take that on." I feel like the basketball community is extremely strong in Minnesota, as you see a lot of people, younger guys making it to the NBA and all that, and sometimes we don't get the national recognition from around other places, and I kind of wanted to create our space for us to highlight ourself. And within that I was like, well, since our community is so strong, we need to take the people that love basketball and the people that are here in the cities and just bring them all together in a safe, fun environment, and that's kind of what I wanted the vision to be. And then from that, step by step, I just started thinking of other things: how to implement camps or implement mentorship programs and things of that nature within the basketball event; we're now highlighting local artists or DJs, or things of that nature. Just little things — or local businesses, let's say — just finding small ways to continue to make it a community-based thing, not just a basketball event.

Sanni Brown

Before we go any further, what does Pro-Am mean?

Jamar Diggs

Pro, like professional, and amateur. So, there's professional basketball players and amateur basketball players. There's high school players, there's some guys, the local kid that may go to Tartan or may go to Johnson or may go to Minneapolis. Some high school players, which are amateurs because they don't get paid to play basketball, and now that college basketball has changed, and they start making money as well, they're still considered amateurs, but that's what it is. Guys that play in the NBA, or guys that play internationally, who play basketball for a job, those are professionals. So it's a mix of professionals and amateurs. Or the guy who may not have had the career, let's say with a resume, but can play, he's considered an amateur basketball player. So it's a mix of those players.

Sanni Brown

That's so welcoming. Why do you think the Pro-Am has resonated so strongly with the Twin Cities community?

Jamar Diggs

I think I would just have to highlight again, like basketball — it is a hockey state, Minnesota, they say, but in our neighborhoods and people that we know, we love basketball. So from that standpoint, I just think it's special, because again, people want to come out and see a guy that they may have not seen in a few years, or their stories of somebody's son, a father and son playing together, like Khalid El-Amin and his son Ishmael El-Amin, these are legendary — you would never really get that opportunity to see these guys play. Or you can see brothers playing, or somebody who graduated from your local high school playing against a professional NBA guy, a Timberwolf might come in town, so all of this is just like unique format, which I think it brings a level of excitement, and you know, level of fun, and again, the stakes aren't high, it's not your college team, have to win for a championship, but also it's pride. It's pride in the city, like I get a bunch of my friends together, and we're gonna beat a bunch of your friends — competition. It's nothing serious, but just a competition, and I think that's why I think it's resonated, in my opinion. Selfishly, as a basketball player, one thing I've learned that resonates with basketball is you can see people's emotions and face when you play basketball. Like football, people wear helmets, you may know of a player, but you don't see their face. In basketball, you can really resonate emotionally with them, even from excitement or frustration. I think that is one thing with the sport of basketball, in particular, it's special. And then also, Minnesota, again, it's not that big, so if you don't know somebody, you know one person who knows that person, especially in the sporting world. And I think the combination of those things, coming together and friendships, and again, little small banters, maybe a little St. Paul Minneapolis rivalry, little things like that. It's not intense, but little things like that play a role.

Sanni Brown

Healthy competition.

Jamar Diggs

Exactly.

Sanni Brown

I've heard you mention safe space. It's just so interesting to hear basketball and safe space in the same sentence. But again, I'm an outsider. Is that what makes it so special to you? Is that it's providing that safe space?

Jamar Diggs

I just think that's something that I want to have happen, you know? A majority of the year through work, I'm out of the country; I'm not home. And when I come home, I want to enjoy myself. Growing up as a kid, there were spaces in the community for me that I felt safe, and being from the community, outsiders may have not felt that it was safe, but that's where I grew up, I was like, "Oh no, this is not a problem." So I wanted to make sure that whatever we created, to outsiders and people involved, felt safe. I don't want to keep highlighting safe, but it's just more like fun, healthy competition. I want to re-shift it to there's a level of mentorship, there's a level of networking, there's a level of community. There's a level of I come here, and I have a clothing brand, and maybe not a lot of people know about my clothing brand, but they know this athlete. Well, if I come here and support this athlete, and this athlete supports my clothing brand, and this fan that comes to see this athlete sees my clothing brand, there's a healthy space and environment for those interactions to happen naturally. Obviously, there's a social media aspect; there's obviously marketing, but just, "Oh, this is here at this event? Oh, let me check that out, I never heard about that. And little things like "Oh, I sell healthy juice," "I'm a financial advisor," or "I'm a content creator." It's just bringing all these into one location on top of, "Oh, there's a game happening." It's just one thing to go see a game, but it's another thing to have a network and a community and opportunity, and that's where some of these symposiums that we have and some of these camps, just try to have these things happen at the same time.

Sanni Brown

What can people expect from this year's Twin Cities Pro-Am?

Jamar Diggs

If you've never been, you never know who's gonna be there. So you come there on a Tuesday night, you show up, you don't know who's gonna play, and it might shock you, it might surprise you. It might be a guy that flew in from the Lakers, end up playing. It's a good place to just enjoy basketball, enjoy your neighbor, meet some new people, maybe see somebody you haven't seen in a long time. And again, it's free, so that's what I've always prioritized. I will never charge anything, because it's not about making a dollar; it's about how can we give back, how can we show, how can we create a space that everybody's intertwined and having a good time. This is summertime; you can go to the lake, you can go to the park, but it's like, hey, I want to go check a game out on a Thursday night, I go check a game out. I could come in for an hour, or I could stay and watch both games and be there three hours, and I'll be there next week.

Sanni Brown

For someone who's never been to the Pro-Am, what makes that experience different from experiencing a traditional basketball game?

Jamar Diggs

Multiple things. One thing I would say is the access to the athletes. So you go to a Timberwolves game, unless you have a special relationship, there's no way that you're going to be able to see Anthony Edwards, or there's no way you're going to be able to touch a player or be around. My gym, or our gym, the Pro-Am kids are sitting on the baseline within arm’s reach of the players with photographs, autographs, things like that. Chet Holmgren or Jalen Suggs, they may not be playing, but they'll be in the crowd, and they're right there. We tried to create that space so everybody understand, we're all here for a good time, and also to meet and connect and go from there. And it's not a "brand" or anything that's highlighted; it's like, this is us, this is Minnesota, this is Minneapolis, this is St. Paul, this is the community, this is who we are. So we try to highlight that part of it, and I think that's what's different than you go to a Timberwolves game, it's like, "I'm going to see LeBron James." But you're in the nosebleeds — there's barriers, and you're spending $20 to have a meal; it's just a lot. That's a part of the entertainment; that's not what we want to do. It's healthy competition, access —

Sanni Brown

Community, togetherness.

Jamar Diggs

Exactly, see you putting the words — I should be interviewing you, you should be speaking for me.

Sanni Brown

What excites you about where the Twin Cities Pro-Am is going?

Jamar Diggs

I love it. I love the growth that it's had. Me and my staff, me and the team, we're so excited about how we've been intentional about the little incremental growth that we've had; we didn't want to go too big too fast. But the things that we're doing, like in August 5, we're doing a free camp for kids; we want to bring in some players and guest speakers, and things are finalized from that, but just little things like that. We have a shoe drive; we have a book bag drive that we're doing, like charitable events that we're tying in. Some of our sponsors are doing things within the community that we're funneling. The growth that we have from just five guys or five girls playing basketball together, we're beyond that. It’s just those little things, and I may not be the best at articulating it all, but that's why I try to tell people, just experience it.

Sanni Brown

So, for those who want to experience the Twin Cities Pro-Am, how do we contact you? How do we find out information about that?

Jamar Diggs

So we have our website, twincitiesproam.com, and most of that information is there, and on there we have a schedule, and we keep up to date. Social media as well, we have a Instagram account and a Twitter (X) account as well, @twincitiesproam, is on all our social media. I think that would be the best way, because again, this is rare for us, because we don't market our league. There's a reason we don't market our league.

Sanni Brown

And yet it's this successful.

Jamar Diggs

It's kind of like, if you know, you know.

Sanni Brown

I appreciate you so much, Jamar Diggs from Twin Cities Pro-Am. Thank you. I'm always excited when you guys come in and tell us about summer stuff. So, thank you so much for coming in.

Jamar Diggs

Thank you for having me.

Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about Griot Arts and collaborating with Carbon Sound.

Sanni Brown

Oh, baby, we got a colorful one in here today. Carbon Sound Community Voices would like to welcome the owner and founder of Griot Arts, which is a Black-owned community arts and resistance space in Rochester, dedicated to uplifting Black artists, culture, storytelling, and creative expression through its bookstore, exhibitions, events, workshops, and community programming. Griot Arts has become an important gathering space for artists and creatives in Southeast Minnesota. And here to talk about Griot Arts is the founder and owner, Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara. Welcome, you're so colorful. Welcome, thank you for coming in today.

Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara

Thank you so much for having me.

Sanni Brown

Yay! Ok, so right off the bat, I have heard a lot about Griot Arts, and that's just from around the way, just hearing people talk about it, so that's good, they talk about it. So, for the people who may not be familiar, maybe new to town, or just want to know, what is Griot Arts, and how would you describe the space?

Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara

Griot Arts is a community art space and a bookstore that celebrates Black voices, and it's located in downtown Rochester, Minnesota. I actually feel like to really understand the ethos and the soul of Griot Arts, you also need to understand what the Griot is, and what I named it after. And so I always tell people the Griot was a storyteller in the West African tradition, and not only that, but they were artists, right? They were part of keeping the memory alive and the history of the people through poetry and art objects and dance and music, and so I always like to connect to that historical part of it, and that living tradition, but then also be like, "This is a call for all of us to think about what the arts can do in the community." And then the actual space of Griot Arts was really inspired, I think, by these intimate living rooms, like bell hooks has this thing where she talks about how the first museums and galleries in Black communities were in our homes. And so I thought a lot about, like, ok, in a predominantly white space like Rochester, Minnesota, what does a Black space actually look like? And I wanted to kind of create this living room, so it's kind of giving like, your abolitionist auntie who kind of likes to read romance, it's giving Black intellectual, it's giving Black joy, it's super colorful, you see me dressed here, it's very colorful, it's like candy colored homes from the South and the Caribbean. It's got the wax print and Ankara from West Africa. It's got like the rattan and the wicker from the stoops. So I'm just trying to bring all of that in.

Sanni Brown

What does it mean to you to operate as a Black-owned community and resistance space? Heavy on the resistance space, because how is the living room resistance?

Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara

The living room is resistance because it holds us, right? It holds who we are, and the fullness of who we are, with the history steeped in the tradition of Black bookstores and art spaces and third spaces, and all those spaces were resistant, because they were centering certain narratives and stories that weren't part of the mainstream culture, and so that was already resistant. And at the same time, though, I'm always trying to think about, like, ok, how do we think about how these spaces can also be incubators for a radical imagination? How can we continue to think about what's possible in these spaces? And we already know that that's part of the work that those spaces did, as classrooms, as political mobilization centers, as knowledge centers, as art spaces.

Sanni Brown

Just by you describing the living room, there's a comfort there. Black comfort, I feel like that's a resistance.

Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara

Absolutely. And joy, absolutely.

Sanni Brown

What has it been like to help build and support the creative community in Rochester?

Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara

It's been really beautiful. Full disclosure, not from Rochester originally, didn't grow up in Minnesota, I'm from New York. I made Rochester my home 10 years ago, and one of the first things I went in there was like, "Ok, I do see Black people here, but where is the cultural infrastructure to hold us?" And that's what I was looking for, and that's what I wanted to build within our wider arts and cultural ecosystem. There is arts and culture in Rochester, but the question is who's getting represented, who's being held in those spaces? And Griot Arts was kind of my invitation to be like, ok, how do we build that cultural infrastructure to hold who we are as Black people in that city?

Sanni Brown

Aside from what I just said about Black comfort, why do you think spaces that intentionally center Black creativity, culture, and community are especially important right now?

Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara

It is so urgent, it's always been important, but it's super urgent. I think about the ways in which Black art and culture have been some of our most powerful archives of possibility, right? They really have shown us, the blueprints — I like to call them the Blackprints — for how we thrive, how we survive, and how we move forward. And right now, we're being conditioned to not be able to think outside the box, and I'm like, we can think outside the box, and we could work toward our collective liberation and freedom, and we have the blueprints and the Blackprints for that, not just for us as Black people, for everybody. So like, let's get to it.

Sanni Brown

I mean, everybody like Black culture. On June 27, Carbon Sound will be hosting a networking event at Griot Arts for local artists and creatives. What can we expect?

Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara

We can expect a time to come together as community to connect with one another to share resources. We need these resources. So, what are the resources out there in our region, in our community, and statewide for artists and creatives? And just a place to be. I'm really excited that it's being hosted at Griot Arts, because it's really part of what I built it for, for that connection and that sharing of resources.

Sanni Brown

What do you hope artists and community members take away from this event?

Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara

I hope that they recognize that there are resources; we're not alone. We out here, and that we can support each other, and that there's ways and opportunities for us to lift each other up and be lifted up and continue to do the work we want to do as creatives.

Sanni Brown

I love that you're from New York, and you came here and you did this. I love this, because I talk to young dream chasers, my show specifically, I talk to dream chasers. This is a great example for young people who need to know that the resources are around them and where to tap in. So, how can we find out more about Griot Arts? How can the young kids tap in?

Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara

Well, we out here on the social media, so you can follow us @griotartsmn. Come visit us, Rochester is not that far away. Get a group, come down and see what it's all about.

Sanni Brown

Especially on June 27. All you local artists and creatives, I be talking to you every day to chase your dreams. So make sure you're out at Griot Arts in Rochester, and go say hello to Nicole, or Cole, that's what she said off the mic, we can call her Cole. Thank you for coming in.

Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara

Thank you so much.

Jared Hemming stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about The Cedar Cultural Center and what the vibrant, historic, all-ages venue brings to Minneapolis.

Sanni Brown

Yeah, baby! We in Music Class for another Carbon Sound Community Voices Interview. And in studio today, we have a representative from The Cedar, which is a non-profit all-ages music venue located in the heart of Cedar Riverside, and has been presenting the world's music since 1989. And here to talk about it today, because we need to know, because y'all chasing y'all dreams, Jared Hemming. Welcome, yay!

Jared Hemming

Well hello Sanni, thank you for having me.

Sanni Brown

Thank you for pulling up. So, before we get into The Cedar and what you do with The Cedar, can you give us a pitch about who you are?

Jared Hemming

My name is Jared Hemming, I am a musician, and I work at The Cedar Cultural Center, so I'm a big-time music guy, love live music. I've been working at The Cedar for about 10 years, and in my spare time, I play drums in various bands in the Twin Cities. I just try to live, sleep, eat, breathe music, all the time.

Sanni Brown

I feel like people who chose drums to play, y'all got a little wild child in you. Is that true?

Jared Hemming

Yeah, kind of think Animal from the Muppets. I feel like that's representation for me when I see him on screen.

Sanni Brown

For those like myself who may not be familiar with everything that The Cedar does, what role do you feel like it serves in the Twin Cities?

Jared Hemming

You know, what really sets us apart, I would say — actually, it's a few things. First of all, we are a global music venue, so we love to present music from all across the world. We really try to emphasize bringing international artists into the Twin Cities, especially if it's an artist who might be touring North America for the first time, The Cedar is gonna be one of their first stops. We really try to host a lot of different artists, sort of national debuts here at the Cedar, and stuff like that, but I think obviously just with the way things are in the economy and politically, it has become harder for international artists to tour, so we do obviously supplement our calendar with a healthy amount of national touring artists and local shows as well. But what sets us apart from other venues in the Twin Cities, who we love, our venue is not designed simply just to make money; that's not the only business we're in. We're also a nonprofit, which means that we are able to take more of a risk presenting international artists who might not have a foothold in the Twin Cities market yet, debuting them live on The Cedar stage. We also do more than just host shows. We have a huge focus on support for emerging artists locally and internationally, and we also just love to present live music and dance from all different cultures, and we do a lot of different fun community outreach events as well, so we try to present free music as much as we can.

Sanni Brown

I heard you talk about the local scene. I'm always for the local scene. First of all, I think it's super dope that you create a platform for global artists, and I do think that feeds into the amazingness that is the music scene here. But what are you doing for the local artists? What's happening in Minneapolis?

Jared Hemming

In addition to hiring local artists pretty regularly to open up for headliners at The Cedar, that's often a spot that we reserve for different local artists across the board. Sometimes artists bring their own support acts, but for the most part, we try to hire local artists to be openers at our headlining shows. Honestly, for me, the biggest thing that we do to support local artists that I love is a project we have called The Cedar Commissions. It's this really amazing thing we do every year in partnership with the Jerome Foundation, where we give six different Minnesota-based musicians a grant, and then they have about six months to work on an original piece of music that they debut live on The Cedar stage.

Sanni Brown

Well, dang! That's for the local? I know y'all heard that, y'all better tap in! Music has a unique ability to bring people together across different backgrounds and experiences. How have you seen that happen through The Cedar's work?

Jared Hemming

One way I've seen people from different backgrounds and communities come together is the Cedar Commissions event. One thing that's kind of cool about it is, like I said, it's six different Minnesota musicians who each get this grant.

Sanni Brown

Is this yearly?

Jared Hemming

It's yearly, yep. And actually, it's just about to open up again. So make sure to check out thecedar.org if you're a Minnesota-based musician and you're looking to level up in your live music career or make something new, come work with us. But it's cool because we try to give it to a diverse set of artists, so it's a show that happens every February, it's like a weekend of shows, so we do three artists on Friday night, three artists on Saturday night, and we add two rappers, two different sort of folk-adjacent artists of very different disciplines, and then two sort of wild indie rock, weird art pop kind of experimental artists, as well. And each one of them brought a totally different vibe, totally different sound to The Cedar. So if one of them wasn't your vibe, there were two other artists performing who had a completely different style for you to listen to. One other thing, this is just kind of my go-to little snapshot of what The Cedar is like. We have a program called Global Roots, which is a series that goes on all year long, where we present different shows for free at The Cedar that are being performed by international artists. So that used to take form in something called the Global Roots Fest that we did a few years ago, and in 2022 we had a co-headlining set from two different artists, this folk, quirky, sort of They Might Be Giants-esque folk duo from Estonia called Puuluup, and this Ethiopian, sort of dance party band called QWANQWA. So they each performed at The Cedar on the same night and for the same audience, two totally different sounds. And I remember walking into the green room before we opened up doors, just to let the artists know, like, "Hey, we're gonna open up doors to the public and get the show started pretty soon." And when I walked in, I saw the two guys from Puuluup with their instruments, you know, they have just kind of handmade acoustic weird folk instruments, and they were jamming with members of QWANQWA. These are artists from Estonia, artists from Ethiopia, they don't necessarily speak the same language —

Sanni Brown

But the music speaks the same language. That's fabulous.

Jared Hemming

Yeah, that's the kind of connection you can only see at The Cedar.

Sanni Brown

How do you pick the artists? Somebody got they ear to the streets? How do you select the artists?

Jared Hemming

Artists come to us through all kinds of different ways. We have a lot of different series that we try to book regularly, so for a while, we were doing something called Minneapolis Afrobeats with this artist named Fanaka Nation, who's amazing. We love Fanaka Nation. And that was a really cool series that we did for a while. Currently, we're doing a sort of drone-adjacent series called Noise Party. It's fun, I highly recommend Noise Party. We just did Volume 14 this last week, and Volume 15 is coming up soon. But basically, it's seven or so different local artists, each doing a set, and the kind of hook of it is that we try not to have any break time between acts, so as one act is sort of winding down, the next act will set up and start up right away, so just trying to eliminate transitions between artists, so we can fit more music into our regularly scheduled programming. And that's actually kind of reminiscent of my single favorite show we do every year, called Drone Not Drones. It's kind of one of the things that makes Minneapolis and Minnesota unique, in my opinion. We love Drone Not Drones. It's a 28-hour nonstop drone music festival on The Cedar Stage. So, we start music at 7 pm on a Friday night, usually in January or February, and then the music goes all night long. You can come in and out anytime you want, and we wrap things up at 11 pm the next Saturday night.

Sanni Brown

That's insane, I love that.

Jared Hemming

Yeah, and with the post-pandemic society that we live in, there's not a lot of special events like that anymore, where you can be in a space after hours. People bring their sleeping bags and sleep at the Cedar and spend all 28 hours there. It's incredible.

Sanni Brown

A musical lock-in.

Jared Hemming

Yeah, and it's a benefit for Doctors Without Borders, and it's a celebration of both local music and national music. Some past headliners include Nels Cline of Wilco, Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Haley Fohr of Circuit des Yeux. They've all done amazing sets at the Drone Not Drones, and often we have between like 30 to 60 different local drone artists just making noise on stage. And like I was mentioning with Noise Party, what kind of makes Drone Not Drones unique is that the drone never stops, so once that first artist gets the music started at 7 pm we have two stage setups, and you know, as one person's sort of winding down their set, the next person will start making a little bit of noise, and the music truly never stops for 28 hours.

Sanni Brown

Wow. Ok, so Juneteenth, word on the street is y'all got Hot 8 Brass Band playing. And first of all, for those of us who may not be well-versed in music language, what's a Hot 8 Brass Band?

Jared Hemming

I feel like what kind of makes a good brass band a good brass band is if they have brass in their name, you know what I mean? Like, I almost feel like the plainer the name, the better the band is gonna be. They just call themselves Hot 8 Brass Band; you know exactly what that is. It's gonna be hot players, hot brass, eight of them on stage, blowing the roof off the sucker, I'm pretty sure.

Sanni Brown

Aside from some hot brass, what else can we expect from this Juneteenth celebration?

Jared Hemming

I think it'll just be joy. If you enjoy music on any level, The Cedar's Juneteenth celebration with Hot 8 Brass Band will probably be the most joyous event in the cities. I mean, really, who doesn't love a hot brass band?

Sanni Brown

I love that. So, Juneteenth is both a celebration of freedom and an opportunity to reflect on Black history and culture. What does it mean for The Cedar to host events that intentionally center Black artistic expression?

Jared Hemming

Well, as music fans and Americans, I think we know how important it is to shine a light on different cultures and how representation matters, especially when it comes to live performance, media, etc. Minnesota is a much more diverse place than people give us credit for, and you can really look no further than The Cedar's calendar to see that mixing pot in action, in my opinion. Black Americans have basically been at the center of every single American musical art form's birth, right? Jazz, rock, country, folk, funk, punk, and these are all genres that we love hosting at The Cedar. None of these genres exist without the Black community in America, and we're proud of that. That's just something we want to highlight.

Sanni Brown

In case we just pulled up, and we like, "I want some hot brass!" How do we locate you? How do we find out and keep up with the events that you guys are putting on at The Cedar?

Jared Hemming

All of our events are on our website, thecedar.org. We're named after our home on Cedar Avenue and Riverside Avenue, right on the corner there in West Bank, Minneapolis. Come on by, we've got hundreds of shows every year. We're a volunteer-run organization, so I didn't mention that. So part of my role at the Cedar is that I'm the volunteer coordinator, and literally every single show we've done at The Cedar since 1989 has been run by volunteers. People who are just like you, just normal folks who are based in the Twin Cities or greater Minnesota, who just maybe want to experience live music, maybe they want to volunteer a little bit, maybe they just want to skip paying for a ticket and just serve a few drinks instead and then come enjoy the live music. I think a lot of people don't necessarily know about The Cedar, or maybe they've been to The Cedar once, but if you are craving live music and you don't necessarily — you're not sure, you're genre agnostic, you're like, "I want to try something new," The Cedar is really the best place for it. We love venues like First Avenue and, obviously, Live Nation; they've got your famous people covered, right? We try to shine a light on the more middle-class scene within the musical community, so try something new. Even if it's an artist you've never heard of, just come by, see a show at The Cedar, you're going to be pleasantly surprised.

Sanni Brown

Again, it's thecedar.org. Jared, thank you so much for coming in and putting me on, because I got some questions, we might have to link up after the fact.

Jared Hemming

Absolutely, please.

Sanni Brown

Thank you again, Jared.

Jared Hemming

Thank you.

Mike Bishop stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about all things Public Functionary — including its free event, The Function “Block Party” on June 13.

Sanni Brown

Hey y'all, we back with another community voice. This person is the director of operations and a lead producer at Public Functionary. But before I get into this, Public Functionary is an artist-led space in Northeast Minneapolis to dream and live in a world where multifaceted identities are celebrated and centered. Young people, I'm talking about this all the time. Their mission is to support the expression of art and culture through studios, galleries, and performance space, and here to talk about that is Mike Bishop. Yay, welcome!

Mike Bishop

Thank you, thank you for having me.

Sanni Brown

For those of us who don't know about you, because I've heard of your name before, and I've heard of Public Functionary, but just give us an elevator pitch about who you are and what you do around town.

Mike Bishop

Yeah, absolutely. With many small organizations, you wear a lot of hats. So what I do would probably, at a larger organization, be like three or four people's jobs. So I am the director of operations at Public Functionary, which on that side of my work, is really kind of like behind the scenes, admin, making sure that things run smoothly, financial management, planning strategy. The stuff you gotta do to make it work, but you know, the things that I used to honestly procrastinate a lot on, but now over the years have gotten better at putting those things first on my to-do list to get out of the way, so that I can then get to the things that feed me a little bit more in the creative work with Public Functionary. But also with the Director of Operations position, I'm really kind of managing how we do things on a day-to-day basis in the space, and also making sure that that aligns with our vision and our mission as an organization. And then the other part of my job, which is really kind of what I consider to be more of my artistic practice, is the lead production role, which is working in space with artists of all disciplines, so from musicians to performers, dancers, visual artists, to help them take their ideas and their visions and materialize them and turn them into something that can happen, and to help them kind of think those things through.

Sanni Brown

Specifically in the Twin Cities, what gap do you feel like the Public Functionary is filling?

Mike Bishop

Yeah, so we started Public Functionary in 2012, that is just crazy to go back to. But prior to starting Public Functionary, my co-director, co-founder, and myself, Tricia Heuring, who I've been working with for that entire time, were working in two other art spaces, XY&Z Gallery, which was leaning more of like a commercial gallery space, and CO exhibitions, which was a little bit more of like a project-oriented space. And so between the work that we were doing in those spaces, we were both still relatively young and kind of figuring out where we fit into the ecosystem in Minneapolis, and it was bringing up more questions than really answers or necessarily us being able to say like, "Let's fill this hole," but it was kind of like, "Why are we not seeing particular artists shown more, particularly artists of color? Why are we not seeing more young people in spaces? Why are people not feeling comfortable in art spaces?" Like, all of these things were kind of percolating for us in our work, and Tricia, who is Thai, was kind of also like, "Where do I fit in as a curator of color in this scene, and where is the space for me?" We kind of created this space, but then I would say the community really kind of started to fill in the holes and help us understand what was really needed, and the more we saw the overlap between these different creatives working together, we started to see what ultimately would become Public Functionary in terms of this multidisciplinary production space, where we really support artists in whatever their visions may be. I've been reading a book recently called ‘The Land Knows the Way' by Ricardo Levins Morales, who is an artist, educator, activist, organizer in the Twin Cities, has been all over the place; he just published this book recently. He's like a gem to the city, the work that he does. You've probably actually seen a poster of his or something somewhere, if you look it up, you're like, "Oh, I've seen that" or heard that quote, you know. And so the book is kind of connecting ecological systems to organizing, and how the two kind of inform each other. One of the chapters is about the importance of soil, and as I was reading this, I had to go back and reread it, actually, because it started to bring up feelings for me and thoughts around what is Public Functionary in this creative ecosystem, and I feel like our role is kind of like being the soil. So, if you have a seed, healthy seed, and you plant it in bad soil, you're not going to yield the results that you're looking for. But if you have healthy soil and you plant that seed, all of a sudden it becomes something that is nourished and becomes something that then evolves and grows out of that. But the cycle of that, then, which I think is so beautiful, and where I think we really fit in, too, is that then what is nourished in that soil becomes something that then nourishes community. So if you're growing food, you're literally nourishing your body. If you're growing flowers, you're providing something that's aesthetically beautiful and something for bees to pollinate. And so I really think of what we do is like being the healthy soil. So part of the goal then is how do we create healthy soil? What does that mean in terms of our values, our beliefs, the culture that we create to foster these artists to help them nourish and grow?

Sanni Brown

What makes the creative ecosystem where music is and where visual art is, and fashion, what makes all of that special to you, in particular, not necessarily Public Functionary, but to you?

Mike Bishop

I mean, I don't know what I would do with my life without that, right? It's what's kept me in the Twin Cities for my life, it's what's gonna keep me here, and it's also something that I feel an obligation to, because of the way that it has nourished and fed me, to continue to nourish and feed it, so that it continues to grow and build into something for the next generation. I think a lot about that within my personal position in the work that I do. The space that is Public Functionary, I don't feel like really existed when I was a kid, so I didn't have that space to go to, and I think about that a lot, about how do we create the space for someone. When I see a young person walk into our space and their eyes light up, and something just clicked for them, of like, "Oh, this is a thing. This is real. I can develop a space, or work in a space like this, or I can just be part of community in a space like this." That's the value to me of what this is, and so I continue to keep trying to just push that further and further and further through the work that I do, and that, again, nourishes community, but that nourishes me as well.

Sanni Brown

Public Functionary got a function going on. It's called The Function Block Party, it's happening on June 13, and it is being described as a "Celebration of what makes our city so special, the resolve and creativity of our neighbors." Hear, hear to that. What inspired the vision?

Mike Bishop

It's particularly potent right now, and I think the reason why it tells you, and why you feel that when you hear it, is because of what the Twin Cities has been through to start this year. And so this is now the third year that we've done The Function. The first two years that we did it, it was definitely still celebration of creative community, bringing the people together that make Public Functionary happen, and just also an introduction to people who have never been to Public Functionary to learn more about what it is that we do. We've done it as a ticketed event in the past, as a way to fundraise for the organization, which is obviously still important, and I don't want to make it seem like we have the funds to just disregard that, because we don't — we're always like, every day trying to figure out where is it coming from, and that's just part of the process of doing this. But after the beginning of this year, it felt inauthentic to us to be pushing a ticket, when everything that was happening in the Twin Cities. And you didn't know what was going to be posted or seen on your feed next, so we just didn't feel okay about that as a team. So, as a team, we really sat with that and thought about, "Ok, we still want to hold The Function. The Function is still important. Joy, pushing back as a form of resistance is still very much needed. How do we do that?" My teammate and co-director, Tricia, had the idea of applying for some grants to look for funding to be able to offset what usually would be covered by the ticket cost. We applied for a grant through the City of Minneapolis; we were lucky enough to get that. Thank you so much to the City of Minneapolis, that, like, I think fulfills some grant requirements. Just use that as a sound bite. But that allowed us to then rethink how do we frame the function this year, and instead of it being just a way to support Public Functionary and a celebration of the work that we do, this year it felt like what we need is really a celebration of the community that showed up to fight back for their neighbors, to push back against what was happening here, and also we want to expand the footprint of the function, we want our neighbors, like our immediate neighbors in Northeast Minneapolis, who maybe don't always come to our events, or know much about what we do, to feel comfortable coming to this and just enjoying and having fun. So that was really where the kind of impetus of the conversation around what the function this year was going to be.

Sanni Brown

So we know the inspiration for why you're doing it. What can we expect the day of?

Mike Bishop

You can expect food, music, art, games. And I'll tell you a little bit more about each of those things. So food, we have an amazing food truck, the Angry Line Cook, coming. We have Beignet Queen coming, they're fantastic, amazing food, both of those. So you can get your food there. We'll have some beverages and other things as well to make sure that you're nourished and feeling good. And then, as far as music, which is kind of what The Function really is for us in the past, we really develop a lot around the musical programming. The artists this year are MMYYKK, so super excited to have him on the stage this year. M. Ada Jamison, who is a producer, does a lot of work behind the scenes, but M. is incredibly talented. She has been making music for film scores and doing production work with Kamilla Love and a lot of local artists, and so very excited to see what she brings to the stage. That's gonna be an incredible set. And then papa mbye, who you had in a couple weeks ago.

Sanni Brown

Yeah! He is a great personality.

Mike Bishop

He is a personality, absolutely. papa coming back is actually kind of a full circle moment. papa is a visual artist as well, very talented visual artist. And when papa was like 17 or 18, him and a group of friends pitched this idea of doing an overnight weekend kind of like residency at the old Public Functionary space, so they like slept in the gallery, and created work, and then turned that into an art show, and so now as papa steps into music and really pushes that medium forward, it's exciting to kind of have him come back into the fold to make things with us, and then a couple of DJs, Alexis Rose and Awa Mally, aka the Mayor, and then our hosts for the day are Lenora Magee and Fanaka Nation.

Sanni Brown

How can we find out more about this? Because you know, we might just be listening to this in passing. Where do we need to find out about Public Functionary, as well as The Function Block Party.

Mike Bishop

Absolutely, publicfunctionary.org, our website has a lot of the information about The Function Block Party, how to register, it is free with registration, but we are asking for registrations just so we have an idea of what to expect, so we know who's coming. Also our Instagram is always a great place to keep up with us too, @pfunctionary, information about the block party as well, and then also future programming, we have a lot of other amazing things coming up. We do The Function, and then we give our team a little break, but then coming back, like July, August, we've got some great programs as well.

Sanni Brown

Awesome. Well, thank you, Mike Bishop, and thank you, Public Functionary, for what y'all doing.

Mike Bishop

Thank you so much.

Angel Beloved of MPLS HOUSE and Shardae Robinson of Power 104.7 stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about Urban Lights’ DJ Night & Fundraiser, the importance of preserving Black creative spaces, and more.

Sanni Brown

Hey y'all, Carbon Sound Community Voices Interviews. We got some folks in here, and they are in here for a wonderful cause. We have Shardae from Power 104.7 as well as Angel from MPLS HOUSE, and they are here to talk about a fundraiser for Urban Lights, which is a historical community Black-owned record store, and we got a fundraiser going on. So, first of all, thank y'all for coming in, especially on the back of something like this. This is dope, thank you. So we're gonna get right to it. Shardae, tell us about the work that you are doing in the community with Power 104.7.

Shardae

I am the morning host, Monday through Friday, from 8am to 10am at Power 104.7. It's called The Wake Up, so we wake the city up, you know what I'm saying. We give y'all your Minnesota updates, because you know, this is home, so we gotta keep everybody updated with what's going on in our backyard. And then a little bit of Hollywood tea, not too messy, just a little bit. And, of course, U.S. World news, so we are up to date on what's happening in our world. So we're in the community because we're giving back in the best way that we can, at least the best way I can, by keeping our community updated on things that's going on around us. Whether if it's fun, whether if it's political, whether if it's important, we want to make sure that those who don't listen to traditional news on the TV, or whatever, that they can tune in via radio, or even on our website, and get those daily updates. And then we're in the community, we have events that we do in the summer all the time. I'm sure we'll get into it, but yeah, that's how we kind of stay included.

Sanni Brown

Awesome. Angel, run the script. What do you do over at MPLS HOUSE?

Angel

We're a collective, so I have two other colleagues in MPLS HOUSE, so mainly DJ gigs around the Twin Cities, corporate DJing, producing some music. I established it in 2017 with one of my co-partners, and now I'm just the founder and running it just around the Twin Cities. I DJ a lot, and I also work with young people in the community, which is very important. I'm involved in the community, and I'm a youth organizer.

Sanni Brown

I love that. I always talk during the week, and let young people know, hey, these people are living out realities that back in the '90s they said this was impossible. So these are the people that y'all need to be pulling up to and listening to. Let's talk about Urban Lights and why this fundraiser matters. I am a super-duper fan of Urban Lights, you do not have to tell me. I want you to tell the young people who do not know. I love Tim Wilson. I love what he's doing. I am fascinated by all of the Twin Cities music history that he has, but I would like to hear it from y'all in particular. Why is the Urban Lights fundraiser so important?

Shardae

So the whole idea of it came — outside of doing radio, I also do a lot of content curation and curating, and I met Andre at Urban Lights through a mutual friend, and I was just like, "Yo, we should do some kind of like DJ fundraiser to help out Tim and all that he's gotten on, preserving the history of Urban Lights." And Andre was like, "Yeah, let's do it. My people will talk with your people, we'll figure this out." So, just coming together and doing that, and it's important because believe it or not, I actually did not know that Urban Lights had the history that it had. I didn't. I'm gonna be honest. So when I first stepped foot in that place, every day you're hearing a new story about something that has happened in hip-hop history and R&B history, all of that. I just go there and I leave with so much knowledge. So I think it's important because this is one of the few safe places that we have to preserve that history, to hear, like I said, different stories, and to even get a little bit of barbershop talk, which is beautiful. It's beautiful. So I think it's important because we got to keep that history strong, especially in Minnesota.

Sanni Brown

And Tim Wilson is one of the few Black record store owners in the country. So that's why this is extremely important. Ok Angel, let us know on the DJ tip, because I know Tim be having DJs in there.

Angel

Yeah, so this will be my first time DJing there, but I've been going to Urban Lights since the '90s. I went to Central High School, that's where a lot of hip-hop shows were popping off, met a lot of cool artists, emcees, DJs, community members, and just looking at the store, when you walk in, there's this warmth of posters, vinyl, CDs. So it's very important to have these sanctuary spaces for Black and brown folks, and just keeping the culture alive — the realness, the soulfulness. Yeah, it just makes me happy.

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Sanni Brown

What are you hoping to happen on the day of the fundraiser? What are you going to be doing? What is it gonna look like? Can you paint it for us? Or that's exclusive, you can't tell us yet?

Angel

For me, my hour vinyl set, I'm pulling out some funk, I'm pulling out disco records, I'm pulling out some early '90s, 2000s house music, so you're gonna get a little flavor of everything, of the soulful culture. So that's what I'm gonna bring. Some fun, come hang out, buy records, come on, we gotta get some support out there, people, come through.

Sanni Brown

Is there anything else that you feel like needs to be added to that, so we can color it and sprinkle it, and make sure the community's pulling up and showing up?

Shardae

I mean, vibing with the vibe that he brings. Bringing the excitement, making people happy to be there, making sure people know that, hey, we're here to have fun, but we're also here to preserve this history, like you said, fundraising, right? So, whether it's $1 — I don't know exactly how they're setting it up, but whether it's $1 or buying vinyl. We are doing a vinyl giveaway, I don't know which one, but yeah, just coming out to not just enjoy the music, but fellowship. So I'm there to make sure that that's happening.

Sanni Brown

You're gonna be hosting, right? So you're bringing your own set of vibes. What date is this happening? What are the details that we all need to know, so we can come pull up and support?

Shardae

June 12, that's a Friday.

Sanni Brown

If we missed this interview, and somebody was like, "Hey, they got a fundraiser for Tim Wilson and them over at Urban Lights." Where can we find all this information?

Shardae

Social media, Carbon Sound has posted the flyer. We're in collaboration on that flyer, so you can find it on my personal social.

Angel

Yeah, my personal social, @mplshouse, Facebook and Instagram.

Shardae

Oh, I didn't even give mine, @allthings_dae. And then, of course, go to Urban Lights, go to their social, you'll see it plastered all over theirs too.

Sanni Brown

Shardae and Angel Beloved, thank you so much for what you're doing. Thank you for being an inspiration, because the young people got to see y'all doing this. And they're also watching you come together and show support for community, so I just really appreciate what you're doing. It supports what we're doing here at Carbon Sound, so absolutely, we want to support you. Thank you so much for coming in today.

Shardae

Thank you.

Angel

Appreciate you.

papa mbye stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about his newest EP JAAKARLO, the Minnesota music scene, and more.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Sanni Brown

Hey y'all, we back at it. It's Carbon Sound Music for Life. We have another guest in here for our Carbon Sound Community Voices. I like it because when I pulled up on him, I was like, "How do I say your name?" He was like, "papa." But before I get to that, he's an artist from Senegal and Gambia, raised in North Minneapolis, and you have a new project called JAAKARLO, and it released on April 24, it's out on all platforms. Carbon Sound Family, welcome, papa mbye. Yay, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome. Okay, so a pitch, I like everybody to do their pitch, and I think it's good because then young people who are listening, you gotta have a pitch. So, for those of us who don't know you, tell us about your background from Senegal. How'd you get here from Senegal? And you were raised in North Minneapolis, and now you got this project, give us the backup.

papa mbye

I was born in Gambia, and my dad won a green card lottery, so we came here with my mom and my big sister and my dad to Memphis when I was two, and then we moved to Minnesota when I was like three or four.

Sanni Brown

Wow, and been here since then. How does your background in Senegal and North Minneapolis, how do those influences come through into your sound and your work?

papa mbye

I feel like, my Senegalese influences come through at first very subconsciously, just because it's the music I listened to when I was a child. The name of the project is JAKAARLO, which is the name of my favorite song from a N'dongo Lo album. N'dongo Lo is one of my favorite Senegalese artists that I listened to when I was a kid, and he made a project called Adouna, which basically means life in Wolof, the tribal language in Senegal and Gambia I speak. And the fifth track, I think, is called “Jakaarlo,” which means 'to be close to,' and the lyrics basically translate there's nothing better than being close to someone, talking, laughing, and dancing. And the whole project is just him giving reverence to the people he loves. So I was really inspired by that.

Sanni Brown

Why is that important to you right now? It's one thing to feel that, but why is that important to communicate that with this EP?

papa mbye

I liked this girl when I started making it. And then we ended up dating, and the relationship ended kind of as soon as the project got finished, but it felt like my first time trying to write love songs, and then it also felt like a time capsule of the relationship, so even though it ended, I feel like I have that moment forever. Which was a more positive outlook at something ending for me.

Sanni Brown

Have you approached your previous projects like that?

papa mbye

All my previous projects have been premonitions for breakups, sadly.

Sanni Brown

Wow, so the previous projects have been premonitions for a breakup, and this most recent one, JAKAARLO, that was about this time.

papa mbye

Yeah, I was making it while it's happening, like while I was courting her, or whatever you want to call it.

Sanni Brown

What was your process of capturing your ideas? Because you're feeling it, but then how are you also creating the art that's expressing it?

papa mbye

At that time, me and my homies, Zak Khan, aka Young Dervish, Ben Farmer, FruitPunchLoverBoy, now Christian Music, and Huhroon, we all had a studio together on North Washington, and I was more intentionally going in during the daytime and just trying to get into that flow of work, really treat like a job, I guess. And I honestly didn't make that many songs for this project. It wasn't like, "Oh, I made 30 songs and I picked six," like I just kept going. The title track “JAKAARLO” on this project, I actually made after like a six month musical hiatus, like two years ago, and I remember I just made it on my computer, and I had like all the vocals are on my phone, and I think that was kind of the genesis for this project, that was kind of my north star. And after that, all the songs kind of just came.

Sanni Brown

I like that you said you treated it like it was a job, because again, if you're having this experience with somebody, and then you're feeling it, you're experiencing it. How do you capture that? Do you feel like you that you successfully captured that moment in time on this project?

papa mbye

I think, yeah. After we broke up, I literally could not listen to the project for like a month.

Sanni Brown

Like, listen back to it?

papa mbye

Yeah, I couldn't.

Sanni Brown

Oh, wow, why? It must have been too real.

papa mbye

Yeah it was way too real. Because I feel like I never meant to have music be my thing, I used to draw first. So that's kind of how North Minneapolis ties into me making music, because I was, and I still am, a visual artist, and I feel like that's what informs my music. I like to make music like how I draw, which is just like starting with a line.

Sanni Brown

That's what I wanted to know, what inspires you to really commit to whatever that moment is? Like what inspires you, and it's your drawing and your visual art.

papa mbye

Yeah, just like a commitment to feeling, and a commitment to relinquishing control.

Sanni Brown

That's scary.

papa mbye

Yeah, it is.

Sanni Brown

It's terrifying.

papa mbye

But it's also therapeutic. I make music because it helps me understand more about myself and the world around me, and I'm lucky that it has become what it has become.

Sanni Brown

That's perfect. So you have been a part of a wave of Twin Cities artists who are building community across music, visual art, fashion, and creative spaces. I've been watching you since I've been at Carbon Sound, and my question to you is, I get on the mic and I'm always talking about why y'all are dope. It's because it's the quality of the work that you guys — and when I say you guys, I mean musicians, the visual quality, the production, the audio production. What does the Minnesota music scene mean to you?

papa mbye

Oh, it means everything to me. It means more than music, it's like family, you know? I feel like, specifically with dudes per se, I feel like there's not a lot of spaces for us to be emotionally vulnerable, and so it's been really cool with me and my friends we're making music, I'm hearing their lyrics, we're singing in front of each other, and that gives us a space to be vulnerable, and it opens us up more. And I feel like that's just better for the world, you know?

Sanni Brown

I like that, y'all creating emotionally intelligent spaces.

papa mbye

We trying to.

Sanni Brown

I'm wondering if that's why the music, and if the things that you're producing is hitting so hard, because it's coming from a real place.

papa mbye

Yeah we're some crybabies, for real.

Sanni Brown

Don't call it that!

papa mbye

It's not a bad thing! I don't think it's bad.

Sanni Brown

I think the use of the term crybaby is bad, but I think it's important that young people see grown men like you, and other men who are — you guys are working together and coming together, and it's healthy, and you're creating art that helps people. My favorite song by you is "Pixel," by the way.

papa mbye

Oh, thank you.

Sanni Brown

So this community that you just talked about, do you feel like it creates the freedom for artists to experiment in ways that maybe you might not see in other cities?

papa mbye

Oh, 100%.

Sanni Brown

How so?

papa mbye

Since we're not a huge industry city, I feel like we're not really tied to a bunch of trends that we feel like we have to do to be seen. I feel like people really just be doing their own thing.

Sanni Brown

And yet it intertwines, though.

papa mbye

It intertwines, yeah. But then it's like, if I go to L.A. or New York or anywhere else, I'm playing music from Minneapolis, the thing I get all the time is like, "Where is this from? How do you guys get these sounds?" And I'm like, "We're doing everything that you don't want us to do." You're like, "Oh, record it this way." I'm like, "No, we finna record it on our phones, then record from our phone to our laptop, and then put it in Ableton, and then just go with it.

Sanni Brown

I love that. I have this invisible puzzle piece to help me understand the Minnesota Music scene, and I like that, everybody is kind of doing their own thing, but it works. It does work, and it does create an original sound. So, how can we keep up with your original sound? How can we follow you, if we want to work with you, if we want to support you, how can we do so?

papa mbye

Well, I be in Uptown, I be walking a lot, so you can see me. But also, you can just follow me on Instagram, papambye_. TikTok, same thing, I think it's the same thing on Twitter, I don't know, but I be around.

Sanni Brown

Well, we'll just start with the IG, you seem the most confident in that.

papa mbye

Yes.

Sanni Brown

We're gonna get back to the music, y'all. Thank you, papa mbye, thank you again for stopping by at Carbon Sound. It's The Message, Carbon Sound, Music for Life.

James “Midwest James” Gavins stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about youth arts education through his work at Juxtaposition Arts, his music career as Midwest James, and more.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Sanni Brown

Carbon Sound Community Voices. We are in with another voice. We have interdisciplinary artist, educator, leader, and director of programs at Juxtaposition [Arts]. We have James Gavins, also known as Midwest James. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Nice to meet you.

James Gavins

Nice to meet you as well.

Sanni Brown

Ok so first of all, before we get into what you do, tell us about who Midwest James is.

James Gavins

I've gone by a few names in the past, but I've also done a lot of moving around, and I pretty much stayed in the Midwest, so it got to a point where I was just like, "Imma just call myself Midwest James." Because I've lived here, I lived in Chicago —

Sanni Brown

You've moved that much? To where you're like, "Just call me this region."

James Gavins

And you know what, I've also left and worked on cruise ships, and moved to Atlanta, I've been to like all over the country, and I've realized that the Midwest is for me. I used to think, like, "Oh, I need to go there, I need to go to L.A.," but then the Midwest is just so my speed. So that's really where the name — just me kind of honing in on the fact that this is home to me, no matter where it is in this region, it feels like home.

Sanni Brown

I like that you said that, because there is sort of a push of, "If you want to make it in anything entertainment, you gotta go to the coasts, you gotta go to the east or the west coast. So I do appreciate that when people are like, "Nah, this coast is good for here, for me."

James Gavins

You got the internet, social media, most of them people leaving L.A. and moving to Texas, you know?

Sanni Brown

So you work at, and I'm new to this organization as well, Juxtaposition Arts. What is the work that you do over there? Because if I'm reading right, what y'all do is dope, you work with teens, you have spaces for them to learn, and then I read that you guys take the process of going from idea to actual prototype, and you guys are bringing that to the young kids, because that's what you basically need in life. So tell me about what you do over there.

James Gavins

I'm the director of programs at Juxtaposition Arts. I'm also an alum. I lived here for about three years, I went to North High School, somebody put me on a JXTA, and I was going to JXTA pretty much every day, every day that I could. I've done a lot of work in nonprofit leadership, and the call came for me to come up here and do what I do as a director of programs. JXTA is actually like way more than just a youth program; it's like an art and design hub. It's workforce development. We do apprenticeships where young adults and emerging artists, they come and work within our design labs, environmental design, graphic design, contemporary design, and they're able to get paid and also get a lot of experience. If you think about a person who's gone to JXTA, they've designed a mural that's in the city, they've designed seating or a bench that's in a building, they’ve designed structures, they've designed pocket parks. It's a lot of really great work, and there's a lot of alumni that's out in the world doing some amazing things, going to prestigious art schools, getting scholarships. And it's a really, really great place. So I'm honored to come back and serve, especially in a leadership capacity as far as programming is concerned, so yeah, JXTA is amazing.

Sanni Brown

So I'm a young person around the way, and I want to know more about this art world than I'm hearing people talking about. How would you pitch? Because you made it sound really big, and it might sound intimidating for young folks. So how would you pitch that to me? Like, "Hey, we cover that."

James Gavins

Oh yeah, and I mean, JXTA’s been around for 30 years, you know what I mean?

Sanni Brown

That's why y'all out here stomping with the big dogs.

James Gavins

Shout out to Roger Cummings and DeAnna Cummings. Yeah, JXTA’s been around for a while. I would tell them, like, hey, if you actually want to be trained and also led to a pipeline that could lead to a creative career, this is what you do. First off, you sign up for VALT, which is our visual arts literacy training. It's a free program, college-level drawing course, take it from 12 to 21. And then once you do that, you take that class, you build a portfolio. Then, at a point within that session, they interview with the labs, and you take that portfolio to the labs, and then by the end of that session, they make a choice of who they're want to hire as an apprentice, a paid apprentice, within that lab.

Sanni Brown

So you guys are putting the artists in front of the people who are booking them, or who need their work.

James Gavins

Oh yeah, and JXTA does a lot of in-house projects, but also a lot of client work outside, so it's like they're getting the real experience of doing this work, and they're getting their reps in. And it's invaluable, the amount of mentorship, and also just learning and skill building that's happening if you're there from 14, because you have to be 14 to be an apprentice. So if you're there from 14 to where you graduate, your resume looks insane, like your portfolio looks crazy. It's like "You built what? You did what? And you researched that and did what?"

Sanni Brown

And you take young people as young as 12, so the 12-year-olds got something to look up to when they turn 14. I love that.

James Gavins

We have a summer program called Free Wall, which is like our aerosol arts graffiti program. It's two weeks at a time, and there's about five of them running programmatically during the summer.

Sanni Brown

How do you even pull off something like that? I've just always seen aerosol as something illegal.

James Gavins

And it's more than that, right? It's not like a place where we have our artists spraying on the building, it's not that kind of thing. It's programmatic, it's constructive.

Sanni Brown

The work that you personally do at Juxtaposition, does that affect any of the work that you personally do as Midwest James?

James Gavins

You know, it's really interesting. I was on Facebook, and I got a flashback from like 11 years ago. And I was basically saying that I wanted to get into youth arts education because I want youth to feel as free as I do to do and make whatever they want, and that was such a crazy thing to hear young me say, because it's what I've been doing pretty much most of my career, no matter where I've been, is letting people know that their dreams are tangible, and I think even when I used to go to JXTA, you know, to see artists, they've built their own careers, like they have nice cars, they look nice, they dress nice. It's not this whole starving artist thing. Like, there is a way you can build a career in what you enjoy. And I learned that before I graduated, before I graduated high school, was like, this is real, it's not just a lucky thing, like, no, there's a process to how you can make this work, and there's so many different avenues. Because you could be the artist, you could be the artist administrator, you could be the facilitator, you could be the person that funds the arts, you can be the person that gives away the grants for artists. There's so many different vantage points.

Sanni Brown

Wow, that's so valuable what you're doing. I say this frequently on this stream that our Carbon Sound Community Voices are just people who are courageous enough to chase their dreams. I think when we think of dreams as this like, cloudy thing that's gonna happen off in the future, versus you can strategize and set this up, and then you putting it in a space like art, that's insane. Because a lot of us may still be dealing with the generation who said you can't do art as a career, and you guys are laying it out in front of the young folks. Do you have any events that are coming up, any projects we need to be watching? The young folks need to keep their eyeball on?

James Gavins

I would say follow juxta_arts on Instagram. This is probably gonna be out afterwards, but we're actually creating some adult engagements. We have an event called VALT for Adults, which is basically that drawing level course, but for 21 plus. It's on May 15.

Sanni Brown

I know some people that been wanting to get into drawing, and they feel like it's too late.

James Gavins

It's never too late. So we're jumping into creating some more engagements and furthering the reach. When it comes to the summer, summers get packed. So if anybody's looking to sign up for VALT at JXTA or looking to join any program in the summer, I believe there's some spaces left for the two-week sessions, but summer's packed, it gets busy. But always, you know, if people are looking to sign up for fall, fall is a good time to sign up too, it's never too late.

Sanni Brown

And the site for us to learn about Juxtaposition?

James Gavins

juxtapositionarts.org

Sanni Brown

And then before we go, you dropped music, you gotta project ILK, can you talk about it? Because I don't wanna miss out on that.

James Gavins

So ILK is the third project I've dropped since I moved here. I moved here like a year and a half ago. But I was already tapped in, I went to high school with L.A. Buckner, that's my guy. So when I moved here, most of the people on the album I knew already, I went to church with Jackson Hurst. I know Maya [Marchelle] because of L.A. —

Sanni Brown

Three projects and you just got here?

James Gavins

Oh yeah, I dropped, I got a project called Dante's Inertia, produced by hvlf, also somebody I went to high school with here. That was kind of like my intro to the city. And people just kind of know my writing style, how I get down. And then worked with hvlf again about, I want to say, like six months ago, and made READY UP. READY UP was more of like, "Ok, I can also make commercial stuff too, like I could do that too." And then I just recently linked up with Bushido.chop, and we created ILK, and ILK is kind of me standing in what I believe about myself, what I believe about the level of work that I do.

Sanni Brown

How can we keep up with Midwest James, the music that you're doing, the work that you're doing? Because you're a dream chaser, and I talk about dream chasers. How can the young future dream chasers keep up with Midwest James?

James Gavins

Just follow me @midwestjames on Instagram. Also, I co-host L.A.'s Monday Night at Icehouse every Monday night. Really great live music, plus jam session. I'll probably be there on the mic, so every Monday night at Icehouse, seven to around 11, slide through. It's a great time. Me and L.A. are also doing a residency, a two-day residency at Berlin, One-Man Shows & Immaculate Flows. So I directed a one-man show on him called Things You Can't See, and I'm doing my one-man show, Cicada. And then we're gonna end it with some music, so that's May 27th and 28th at Berlin, so tap into that. Very limited seating, make sure to get some seats. That's how you can get in touch with me now. Music's out on all DSPs. ILK is out.

Sanni Brown

Thank you for stopping in and chatting with us. And yeah, we'll holla at you on the flip side for that directorial. Alright, Carbon Sound, we got to get back to Music class. It's The Message, Carbon Sound, Music for Life. Peace.

Rah Fyah stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about the Minnesota Hip-Hop Street dance community, building experiences like the SOTA Movement, and more.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Sanni Brown

Carbon Sound Community Voices interview, I kind of feel like I get to brag today, because I know you, so this is kind of cool, but Carbon Sound family, Maia Maiden — well I know as Rah Fyah, is a South Minneapolis native who has been a leader in the dance community for over 20 years, representing Hip-Hop culture. Background includes being a dancer and a choreographer. Carbon Sound family, welcome Maia Maiden, who I know, who we all probably affectionately know as Rah Fyah.

Rah Fyah

Thanks for having me. I'm so glad to be here. Good to see you, live in person. It's been a minute, right? But we go way back, so it's ok.

Sanni Brown

It's so dope to watch you become, and I'm really glad that we have this platform here, but I don't want to be selfish and act like this conversation between me and you. So introduce yourself to people who may not know you.

Rah Fyah

Absolutely, absolutely. Hey, what's up? My name is Maia Maiden, but you can and should call me Rah Fyah. I've been in the dance community scene for a long, long time, over 20 years, and just been doing the things and doing them well, and I'm still here doing the things and doing them well. And I'm so excited to talk to you today about our illustrious, fantastic Hip-Hop Street dance community, because we make the thing rock, and I'm super proud of us.

Sanni Brown

Who inspires you?

Rah Fyah

I get a lot of inspiration from my elders, people that poured into me when I was younger, Patricia Brown, Cheles Rhynes, Gesel Mason, Roxanne Wallace, Morris Johnson, those types of folks who were around in the beginning, because I've been doing this since I was in high school. When I say doing this, I mean creating platforms to elevate folks and styles that are underappreciated. So when we talk about the longevity of somebody or something, mine really stems back for creating spaces since high school. But I was a dancer, and dancing since I was young. I am Hip-Hop. I didn't grow into this, I grew up in this. So this means no dance studio Hip-Hop. This means we were dancing in the streets, in the clubs, and battle each other in schools. That's the Hip-Hop that I came from. Affectionately, my era is Golden Era Hip-Hop. So whenever I introduce myself, I say, "My name is Rah Fyah, and I come from Golden Era Hip-Hop." Because that is important to me.

Sanni Brown

I see now, I see Hip-Hop dancing all over the place, and there wasn't spaces like that. It was in the street. It was at the park up the street. Maybe the rec center if the rec center was cool like that.

Rah Fyah

Right, mostly cheerleading, though. We can get into that.

Sanni Brown

So those experiences is what inspired you for the SOTA Movement. Does that stand for anything?

Rah Fyah

Absolutely. We're in the SOTA, Minnesota. The SOTA Movement is something that I'm super proud of and super excited to talk to you about today.

Sanni Brown

Well, how did the vision get started? Tell us about the SOTA.

Rah Fyah

Imma tell y'all a little story. I like to tell stories. So basically, I have been doing ROOTED: Hip-Hop Choreographers Evening, where we highlight all the styles under the Hip-Hop umbrella, as I say, and the roots. And there was, at the time, this battle called Uprizing. We have an illustrious, fantastic, nationally and internationally renowned Krump community here. The Krumpers man, they have taken over, and they are fantastic. So the Uprizing is created by Ololade Gbadamosi, who is known as “Gambit,” and Herb Johnson, aka "Fair Warning." So they created the Uprizing. And I know them, of course, we've been interacting. I've known them for years. They've both been in ROOTED several times. They were in some other shows of mine, Sistah Solo | Being Brothas, all that kind of stuff. So they weren't gonna do it anymore, Uprizing, which is this Krump battle created by two Black men, and I said, "Oh no." So we had a meeting one day, I said, "Guess what we're gonna do?" And they're like, "What?" And said, "I need y'all to come on board and bring back Uprizing." Because they had decided either to put it on pause in perpetuity, or not do it anymore. But I felt that it was so important to our dance community. And in terms of dance community, I'm talking about Minnesota, nationally, internationally, like, this thing keeps going. So I was like, "And I will pay for everything. Because this is important." So we started off the first SOTA Movement, the prequel, it was just the SOTA Movement and IE ROOTED and Uprizing together. I should specify, these are really two separate events under one umbrella. Because we're not in competition with each other either. So we did it one time, that was in 2021, and the krumpers came down, and we had a fantastic time. It was all outside. ROOTED actually was at Park Square Theatre at that time with no audience, because we couldn't have an audience, it was during COVID and things like that. So ROOTED really was supposed to be in 2020. 2020 my mom passed away, and COVID hit, so there was no ROOTED in 2020, so we transitioned to 2021. We did ROOTED online for the first time ever, because this is a live event, live show, and streamed it to like over four or 500 households. And then we had Uprizing, which they did their thing outside. But one of the best parts of that whole experience is that we went to George Floyd Square, and they had a session there, and we started the session with Tamiko French. Tamiko French is a phenomenal dance instructor that has worked in several Minneapolis Public Schools, such as North High School, such as Southwest High School, and she's also a sound bath artist. So we opened the space up with the sound bath. And I said, "Yo, Tamiko, I need you to come through here, because this is about to be a powerful session." Because, again, this is the next year after George Floyd died, and the krumpers came out. And again, they had came out from all parts of the nation to come to this event. So they came out, and it was just such a powerful session, as they call it.

Sanni Brown

I was wondering, because you keep saying session.

Rah Fyah

It's a lab or a session in Krump language. That means they get together and they dance against each other, and they uplift each other. That's what a session or a lab is. I'm not a krumper, they won't accept me. They refuse to train me. That's okay, I still got love for them. I still work with them all the time. Imma stay in my lane. I'm over 40, and so some things you just gotta know. But the krumpers came, and it was such a beautiful experience for all the participants of ROOTED and Uprizing. So from then on, I transitioned it to the SOTA Movement: Minnesota Street Dance Festival. So again, that was the prequel to see if we this could work. Like, "Let's just try this one time. We don't have to do anything beyond this." But again, then it has elevated or grown to the SOTA Movement: Minnesota's Street Dance Festival. And again, we are highlighting all types of Street. We are not dancing in the street per se, but Street dance is a lot of art forms. It's Krump, it's Hip-Hop, it's House, it could be anything, any style created in the street. We all know, or we should know, that Hip-Hop first and foremost, created by Black people, elevated and architected by Black and brown people, but it was called Street dance. So when we're talking about Street, everything that I say has meaning or a connection to something. So Street dance, that's what Hip-Hop was known as, before we had a name to it. And it was in the street. It supposedly started at a house party. We always haven't been on the stage. We were in house parties doing this before it got any names or classifications. So now we incorporate all different types of street styles, including street styles, not only in Minnesota, but nationally and internationally. So it's really been fun.

Sanni Brown

That sounds so exciting. So what can we specifically expect from y'all? Because you done got me all hype.

Rah Fyah

You can expect a fantastic time. The first thing we rock out with the SOTA Movement is something called The Gathering, where we come together and we gather in the name of Street dance and just elevation and just getting together. So the first time we did The Gathering, we had the almighty, who has just been named a McKnight Fellow, Tish Jones, we had TruArtSpeaks in the building. And we had just a lovely, lovely time. And she cultivated a space, and we were there. The second time we had, The Gathering was focused on uplifting women in Hip-Hop and all the generations and all the styles. So that was fun. And now this third time, when we come back, I'm gonna tell y'all a secret. This is breaking news. For 2027, don't call me about this this year, we talking about 2027 because that's when the next one is. We are focused on the Golden Era of Hip-Hop, so we gonna have some surprises in there. But if you are Golden Era Hip-Hop, everybody's influenced by Golden Era Hip-Hop. So y'all all should be there for the elevation and celebration and honoring of Golden Era Hip-Hop. So that's the vibe for the SOTA Movement 2027 in June. So mark your calendar now. We sell out all shows. When I tell you this, I kid you not. This is something that some people say, but we actually do it. We have sold out every single show, every single time for the past 16 years. Every single show, every single time for the past 16 years. So let that resonate in your spirit. Big up Herb and O, big up my squad, Karina and Ashuna. And big up DJ Digie, because he is in the space too, and he is part of the SOTA Movement, and is the DJ for ROOTED, and is the DJ for Uprizing, and just an all around fantastic artist, DJ, and nationally known photographer.

Sanni Brown

So how do we keep up with all that? Because you talking about stop playing with the sold-out show. So how do we follow and keep up with that?

Rah Fyah

So you can go to two websites. You can go to my website Maia Maiden Productions. We are a performing arts presenter. You can go to maiamaiden.com, or you can go to sotamove.com. So either one of those websites will keep you informed about when the next SOTA Movement is going to hit, and you do not want to miss it, and you gonna see us all over the place. You heard it here at Carbon Sound first in 2026, that this is coming in 2027 and we play no games, and we're super excited to welcome everybody.

Sanni Brown

Thank you, Maia Maiden. Thank you, Rah Fyah.

Rah Fyah

Thank you for having me.

Maija García stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about all things The Capri: a historic cultural arts center and vibrant community hub in North Minneapolis.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Sanni Brown

Carbon Sound Community Voices, I am so excited. Carbon Sound family, in studio, we have a visionary artist. I mean, this lady got a resume, I know I got a little, you know, a little list to go by. She's recognized for her dynamic work across theater, film and television, music, dance and live installations. The Capri is a historic and beloved theater located in the North Minneapolis Community and situated on the popular West Broadway Street. And Maija García is going to come in and talk to us about all the work, or at least her most recent projects, because you got a lot of stuff going on. So Maija García, welcome to Carbon Sound studios, yay!

Maija García

Thank you so much. It's good to be here.

Sanni Brown

Thank you. Okay, so just real quick, can you familiarize us with the Capri and its role in North Minneapolis?

Maija García

Come on through. So like you said, it's right on West Broadway in the West Broadway corridor, and the Capri is about to celebrate 100 years in 2027. Which also happens to be our address, 2027 West Broadway, which I found wildly beautiful.

Sanni Brown

I don't ignore stuff like that at all.

Maija García

So the Capri is an historic space. It's an historic theater that has stood the test of time. It is the last of 13 theaters in the Northside. So there used to be 13 theaters in North Minneapolis, and now there's one. So we really hold an important space in our community. And in the last five years, the Capri was renovated and expanded. So it's a 250-seat house, which, you know, we present film, music, theater, dance, community convenings, panels, forums, all of the above, and now we have an open space with a black box theater. We can hold conferences, we can hold parties, we can do performance spaces in our black box. But we also have a Best Buy Teen Tech Center, so free for teens to come and interact with all kinds of technology, film, music. We have a podcast studio, recording studio, a film and TV studio. They can do 3D printing, they can do editing, etc. And then we also have classrooms and a rehearsal studio. So everything is possible at the Capri, and we serve people across the life cycle: youth, adults, elders, families. I just like to say, when people come to the Capri they get lit up, and they connect and they convene.

The Capri renovations

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Sanni Brown

My next question was gonna be, what makes the Capri unique from other theater spaces, but I feel like you already said. Could you be specific? Because I grew up in theater, so just hearing that you can do all that at the theater is crazy to me, but for people who may not know, they may have a young ear, they may not know what to expect from theaters. What would make Capri different from regular theater spaces?

Maija García

For a couple of reasons, I think we're distinct. One is that we are intergenerational. We serve youth, we have youth development programs for middle school and high school students. But then we also have apprenticeship programs for young professionals to learn all areas of production, sound, lighting, projection. And then we have programs for adults, like our Capri Glee, which is 100-person choir led by J.D. Steele. We also have the MacPhail Community Youth Choir, also led by J.D. Steele. We have a big band, a Capri big band, where musicians come to practice big band jazz. So we really have an intergenerational community. We have a multicultural community. It is a space that centers Black life and Black culture, and everyone is welcome. And it's also an interdisciplinary space. And so musicians know the Capri, and it's really a gateway for a lot of, especially Black musicians in the Twin Cities. You know, you better come through the Capri at least once, it's kind of a gateway for a lot of early careers. But we also celebrate musicians at the height of their careers, and celebrate musicians who have made an impact in the Twin Cities and across the globe. But we also present theater. We present film. We have a partnership with the Minneapolis Film Society, and so we present first Thursday films, the popcorn is popping. And then after the show, after the film, we have a community conversation. And that's really something that we thread throughout our programming, is that we're really about creating inspiring experiences for folks, but then also giving people a chance to talk, to connect.

Sanni Brown

That's awesome. I grew up in the theater, and I felt like the theater was just where you go to see performances, versus it sounds like, yes, you can come see performances, but you could also come here to learn. You can also come here to study. You can also come here to network.

Maija García

That's right, and finally, we're also a production house, so a lot of organizations and advocacy groups, they book our space to do their own thing. So we kind of lean in, and meet people where they are and bring our creative services, if you will, to whatever your vision is. You want to have a fundraiser — you want to do a Carbon Sound fundraiser, any number of events, educational events, networking events, marketplace events. We can do it all. We have a beautiful lobby space. We have a gorgeous art gallery, so we're also supporting visual artists as well.

Sanni Brown

I see why you've been open for 100 years. I mean, it sounds like you're really understanding the theater needs, not just performance, but also, we can also help you learn about the theater world. The Capri often pairs film centering Black stories and history with community conversation, like you just said, why is that important to have the conversation piece versus just going in there, seeing the show and going about your business?

Maija García

Yeah, it's such a great question. You know, when any of us have an experience where we're inside of a theater, we see a film, so much gets lifted within us, right? It's almost like our cells start to regenerate more quickly, you know, like we become more alive. That's what art does for us. We become more alive, as we were saying, we become more present, and then we become more available to one another. And so to engage in conversation, a community conversation, a dialog, to ask big questions, to dig in, to disagree. This is the practice of democracy in action, as far as I'm concerned. It's a civic engagement, but it's also an opportunity for people to really voice their opinions and their real feelings, their responses to what they're seeing on stage or on screen, and it's enlightening because it allows people to amplify their worldview by hearing the voices and the opinions of others, and it creates connections in our community that I think are so vital. We need to know one another, even if we don't know each other's names, our hearts have beat at the same pace next to one another in a theater, and when we see each other on the street, we nod, we smile, we connect, right? So that's just how we, I think, how we weave and embed culture in our community.

Sanni Brown

How does that help, in terms of feedback for the people who are putting on the programs, or the people who are the actors, everybody that's behind the curtain, how does the conversations help you guys?

Maija García

You know, when I first started out, I started this organization called Organic Magnetics. I named it Organic Magnetics because I see art as a natural way that we bring people together. And I had this big vision, "Oh, we're going to create transformative experiences for audiences." And after about five years, I had an epiphany, and I realized the transformation is happening among those involved in the art making, more than anything.

Sanni Brown

I think that's so hard to grasp, because I think we go into it like, I'm gonna help everybody, and then you find out, you get help.

Maija García

It's like being the change we want to see in the world, right? And the beautiful thing about theater, or any sort of collaborative endeavor, creative endeavor, is that collaboration is at the heart of it. And that transformative experience for everybody involved is the gift that you give, that you offer your audience, and they get a taste of it, but we are getting the real meal when we engage in creative endeavor. To answer your question, we want to fly the doors open for people to get more involved behind the scenes, right? Whether that's an apprentice getting involved in the tech booth, learning how to run a light board or a sound board, building real skills that they can bring into any corporate world. You know, production skills are life skills and transferable skills, but also just to have the experience of building something greater than yourself, right? Building something you couldn't do on your own, and you learn how to do it with other people. And anybody can learn that at any stage of life, right? So we like to fly the doors open and say, "Come create with us. Co-create with us."

Sanni Brown

I like that playfulness. There's a playfulness to it. How can we engage in the play? How can we support? How can we, well, number one, find out more about The Capri? Because somebody might just be listening and be like, "I wanna play too!" And then, how can we support?

Maija García

Well, I would say, first things first, just come by. You know, check out our calendar, thecapri.org. We have all kinds of events happening all the time. And so, you know, tap in. There are free events, there are really low cost events. We don't turn anybody away. So come tap in and check it out if you haven't been to the Capri or you haven't been in a while, if you haven't seen it since the renovation, you're definitely gonna wanna check out our gallery and our black box. And then if you sign up on our newsletter, you'll get regular updates. We promise not to blast you too often, but, you know, get involved, also. There are a lot of opportunities to volunteer, there's a lot of opportunities to sort of dig in on some community forums. We have a lot of town halls. Al McFarlane from Insight News hosts regular town halls about sort of the economic resurgence and renaissance in North Minneapolis. So there's a lot of beautiful things happening. Northside Forward, you know, African American Leadership Forum, there's a lot of organizations that are working concurrently to build North Minneapolis' wealth and well-being.

Sanni Brown

Website or any socials that we need to know about?

Maija García

Everything is @thecapri. @thecaprinorthmpls on Instagram. But if you check out our website, www.thecapri.org, you can find everything from there. Also, if you're interested in booking a space or rehearsal —

Sanni Brown

Dream chasers, I be telling you, there's opportunity sitting right in your face, right up the street, around the way.

Maija García

We got you!

Sanni Brown

thecapri.org. Thank you. Thank you so much for stopping by.

Maija García

Y'all rock.

Terresa Hardaway stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about building community through Black Garnet Books, the importance of Black and brown storytelling, and more.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Sanni Brown

Carbon Sound family, we are in with another interview. I'm so excited to meet people from the community. It's the little girl in me. It's just so cool. But in studio, we have an abolitionist — it's so crazy how you look, because I feel like your reputation, I would be terrified to meet you because you look like you about that business. Abolitionist, design researcher, author, anti-racist facilitator, creative director, organizer, educator, and more. She's dedicated to the liberation, and I like liberation, of Black and brown people through art and design, from Black Garnet Books, Terresa Hardaway, welcome, welcome, welcome, yay!

Terresa Hardaway

Thank you so much for having me.

Sanni Brown

You look like you about that business on paper, baby.

Terresa Hardaway

I am, I am about that business. I am about that in person, if I need to be.

Sanni Brown

I gathered that, but you so pretty, so it's off-putting. So for people who may not be familiar, what is Black Garnet Books, and how would you describe it?

Terresa Hardaway

Black Garnet Books is a bookstore. We are a bookstore that I would describe as a place of imagination, creativity, abolition, a place where Black and brown people are centered, queer folks are centered, and it becomes this third space that people can really see themselves on the shelves.

Sanni Brown

Was that intentional? That it be a third space?

Terresa Hardaway

I don't know if it was intentional, necessarily, you know, it was founded by a completely different person. And so when I acquired it, I have always created like these organizing spaces that do become third spaces, where people are coming there to build community, build friendships, build relationships. And so for me, naturally, Black Garnet Books becomes a third space.

Sanni Brown

I like that. No, because I hear about adults needing a third space, shout out to y'all for that.

Terresa Hardaway

Thank you.

Sanni Brown

What inspired the creation of Black Garnet Books, and why was it important to build a space like this one?

Terresa Hardaway

So this space was started by a dear friend and fellow community organizer, Dionne Sims in 2020. She saw a need, she saw that the community needed to fight back and be able to expand and uplift the narratives of Black and brown people, especially during that time. And so she saw that need, and that's why it was created. And then when I acquired it in 2024, I continued on with that same mission, we have, I think, the same vision for what we'd see that bookstore being in community. It's to disrupt anti-blackness, it's to disrupt the racism that is prevalent in our publishing and book industries. It is for us to be able to bring folks together and hear new authors, hear folks who are speaking about our stories and telling the counter-story, frankly.

Sanni Brown

I like that. That sounds like storytelling, and when I was in school, I learned how important storytelling is to the human experience. So right now, we in a moment where people feeling overwhelmed and restless and angry. What role do you feel like storytelling and literature play in helping people to stay grounded during this time?

Terresa Hardaway

Oh, wow. Well, as an educator as well, I think it is super important for us to be able to talk about our stories, or talk about the narratives I think that especially underrepresented. When I was thinking about this question, I was thinking about this in the framing of like past, present, future. And so storytelling plays a role in those three areas. We have to understand the past, right? We have to understand the counter-histories that aren't being told so that we can understand what's happening today. So in order for us to get from that past piece, we have to then see authors who are talking about the real systemic oppression that is happening in this moment, and be able to help us define that and put words to it. Because when we begin to understand it, we can start to call it out, and we can start to actively move forward in changing that present-day reality. And then we move into future, I just think about the imaginations of Black and brown people and how we are constantly holding on to hope. We have to, in order for us to even be in this — to live a life —

Sanni Brown

Exist.

Terresa Hardaway

Exist, you know, we have to hold on to that hope and that future piece. And so when I think about the future with regard to storytelling, I think about all the authors who are giving us abolitionist futures, who are giving us what collective liberation could look like, who are giving us ways to build relationship and overcome all of these things. And so I think about storytelling in that way, that past, that present, that future being really highlighted so that we can understand where we came from, understand where we're living in now, and understand the future that we all should be trying to fight for.

Sanni Brown

I love that. That's a great segue into my next question. So how are you painting the future with the work that you're doing? What are the initiatives that you're taking? Any events? Anything we need to keep an eye peeled out, in case we want to get involved, we want to support.

Terresa Hardaway

We are constantly doing a ton of events at Black Garnet Books, we have a book club that we have every single month that is a different topic.

Sanni Brown

How do you join the book club? I've been talking about book club since I was a little girl. I've always wanted to join.

Terresa Hardaway

Well, at Black Garnet Books, it's the most accessible thing. Just show up. The book is going to be posted on our website. We also make a post about it on our social media. But you get the book for 15% off, and you just show up to the book club. You can show up having read a chapter, having read the whole book, but just show up and you build community and have conversation about that. So we have a fantasy genre book club. We have an abolitionist genre book club, and we have a graphic novel book club. So we have these kind of three separate areas that folks can join one of, they can join all three of them, but you would get that book for 15% off and build community. All the events that I'm talking about are going to be at the bookstore.

Sanni Brown

How can we support you? People who are listening, how can we support? How can we get the word out about you? Where can we follow you?

Terresa Hardaway

Yeah, you can follow us on all platforms, at Black Garnet Books, and you can support us by attending events, subscribing to our newsletter, shopping in-store or online, attending things that we're doing in community, because we're oftentimes, for instance, we'll be at Pride this year, and so, stopping by our table and supporting us there. There are many ways I think that folks can engage with us if you just pay attention to what we're posting on social and show up to the things that we're doing around community.

Sanni Brown

Terresa, thank you so much for coming in today. You're awesome, and I love your look!

Terresa Hardaway

Thank you!

Mamé Bioh stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about all things Believe In What’s Possible: from community-forward events to youth-centered political activations and fellowships.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Sanni Brown

Carbon Sound family, we have another Carbon Sound Community Voices interview. I'm so excited about these, because I get to actually see the faces that create the Minnesota creative scene, the Minnesota music scene, and everything beyond. Mamé Bioh is a community organizer, creative, and co-founder of Believe In What's Possible. And we gonna get down to why we is believing in what is possible. So Mamé Bioh welcome, welcome, welcome. Ok, so just straight to it. What is Believe In What's Possible? How did it start?

Mamé Bioh

Believe In What's Possible is a youth-led and youth centered nonprofit based in the Twin Cities and outside of the Twin Cities a little bit. We are a collective of amazing young leaders, specifically in the realm of politics, who've been either doing campaign work for the past few years, who've either been doing city work for the past few years, government work to some capacities, or who have been doing really great community work within the community for the past, like three to four years. I'll give a little bit of like my entry into the team. It's a team of, including me, four beautiful women. It was around end of '22, early '23, we had just had a really big state election. I was doing some really, really awesome community work with other organizations, and I had met my other co-founder, Chelsea, and we were in this position where a lot of the spaces that politics runs, that nonprofit spaces run, that just really heavy institutional community spaces operate, have very little young people in them. Very little BIPOC communities, very little marginalized communities, and so we were at a point where the work I was doing wasn't speaking to anybody in my generation. I had just did a voting turnout event where I had brought a bunch of my college friends with me, and afterwards, they're like, "Oh, that was fun. But I wouldn't do that again. I wouldn't really want to engage in that type of work." And also, I think specifically within past, like, five to six years, it's been a lot of just disillusionment around the ways people engage in politics, and around the trust that we have with the government, locally and nationally. But specifically nationally, I think it has really shifted and jaded a lot of the communities that really need —

Sanni Brown

Politics.

Mamé Bioh

You know what I mean? And so we all came together at a mentor's house, and we were just kind of ranting, like just talking the talk. I think we got to a point where we're like, "We don't want to be put in a position where it's so difficult for young people to come into these spaces." Whether it's leading a campaign, whether it's speaking at a hearing, whether it's showcasing artwork, whether it's even building your own campaign. And specifically, one of the things to know about the way politics works, is specifically when it comes to voting, voting operates off a reliability resource. So a lot of the databases that come into voting rely heavily on your consistency. And so, you become a reliable constituent based off of your consistency engaging with the system. Now, to the understanding, who definitely is not going to be the most reliable?

Sanni Brown

Young people.

Mamé Bioh

Young people, single mothers, Black people —

Sanni Brown

Disabled people.

Mamé Bioh

Do you see what I mean? Who's going to be the most reliable? Older white people. And it became this thing where the minute you didn't engage in the system, the minute you didn't engage in voting, it was another reason to just say, "Okay, we don't need to listen to you. We don't need to go into your neighborhood and actually speak to you." It's systemically utilized in that way. It's a cycle. They make it difficult, you back out, they use that exact reason to make it more difficult.

Sanni Brown

Okay, so gaslighting, political gaslighting.

Mamé Bioh

Oh, absolutely.

Sanni Brown

Gotcha. So, y'all got together, y'all having this conversation. You like, "Ok, we need to do something." And so you are now in this conversation, you're realizing certain trends that are used in politics and what's holding these communities back. So then who decides, "Look, we got to put boots on the ground. We got to get this moving."?

Mamé Bioh

So what happened was we wanted to do something extremely different. We really wanted to create a bridge for young people to have a level of connection building, community building, but do it in a way that brought them to the polls. We launched our kind of first year programming. Did a couple events, we did a sip and paint, we did a day party, which was really beautiful.

Sanni Brown

And what age group do you work with the most?

Mamé Bioh

So currently, the age group that we work with is 14 to 29.

Sanni Brown

Because you said sip and paint. I want to be clear.

Mamé Bioh

It's like matcha. You know what I mean?

Sanni Brown

Ok, cocoa. Talking about cocoa.

Mamé Bioh

So it's 14 to 29, specifically because until you turn 30, you are not deemed reliable yet.

Sanni Brown

Wow, I didn't know that.

Mamé Bioh

It's much more complicated than that, but in that retrospect. Even when my co-founders has been voting since they were able to, has been engaging, has been going to polls with their parents, but is not seen as a reliable constituent. Has been working campaigns, but isn't fully looked at from that —

Sanni Brown

It's also interesting that that data is being collected, and analyzed in that way I should say.

Mamé Bioh

It's specifically analyzed because, again, candidates want to — I don't say take the easy way, but they want to make sure that they're getting a bang for their buck. And so like, majority of the work that they're doing when it comes to young people, is going to college campuses, maybe a couple weeks, maybe not even the last week before voting, and saying, "Hey, here's my pamphlet. You should come." Not doing anything. And so we wanted to create more of a nonpartisan, very much community-centered way of operating where we hosted events. So since then, we were able to kind of launch Believe In What's Possible through a variety of programming, one called Scheme Space that created kind of like a thought space, and a thought space and a building space for young people to come share their thoughts, share resources, share understanding and grow as a collective. Then we had Turn Up to Turn Out, which was our community-led, community-forward, kind of like event program where we hosted drag shows, we hosted day parties, and we're doing some really cool stuff this year. I can't say yet, but just some really fun event spaces for people to just feel like a political space is actually for them. And then the other thing that we currently just launched, it's going to be coming in our second year, is the People's Studio.

Sanni Brown

What's the People's Studio?

Mamé Bioh

The People's Studio is one of my favorite things. It is a fellowship program for young creatives and aspiring community organizers —

Sanni Brown

To get involved in the political process?

Mamé Bioh

So what we want to do is we want to bring in the two worlds of creative curation and political action and civic engagement and community organizing and bring them together. So we had a great group of around like eight to nine young people who joined our fellowship and became fellows. And we taught them the fundamentals of what it means to be a community organizer, from understanding mobilizing, from understanding influence to understanding power, really, and understanding what does that what does that power look like? How do you understand it? How do you understand it from the power that you haven't used yet? How do you understand it from the power that someone actually has? And how do you understand the power from how you influence in the spaces that you have, the social settings that you have. Cool, you're a musician and you have a fan base, you can easily create art that pushes that fan base, you know what I mean? And so really creating young leaders in the city who can truly start utilizing their voices a lot more strongly.

Sanni Brown

And the tools that they naturally have.

Mamé Bioh

Exactly, exactly. So it was a beautiful program, and I'm really excited to launch it this year.

Sanni Brown

If other young people want to be a part of this, this sounds really exciting — to me, because I'm nosy. I got a nosiness, and I know that there are young people who are listening, who are also nosy, and they have their ear to the ground, but they might feel like, "I don't know, I didn't grow up around that dynamic." How could they get in touch with you? How can they follow you?

Mamé Bioh

Follow the Believe In What's Possible page, @believinwhatspossible.

Sanni Brown

When you say page, what social media?

Mamé Bioh

Instagram, go to our Instagram. We have our website there as well. You can join our email list. You'll always get the emails from us. We're always posting on Instagram, always reposting stuff. You can even DM the Instagram page and we'll respond back. And then also, I'm a community organizer, so if you want to have coffee, want to sit down, talk more, get to understand how to do that, hit me up. Heyitsmame on Instagram.

Sanni Brown

It's such a big undertaking that you're doing with this, so I'm glad that we can use our platform to support you, and I'm hoping you can come back out here and tell us more about the events that you're doing.

Mamé Bioh

Of course.

Sanni Brown

Mamé Bioh in studio, Carbon Sound. Thank you so much.

Mamé Bioh

Thank you.

Duol Chut of Diesel J's and Smokin on the Runway stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about starting his own business, his upcoming events, and more.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Sanni Brown

In studio, I've been talking about it all week, organizer of Diesel J's, a rolling paper company that hosts community events based around business education, fashion shows, and artist showcases — and honestly, I just met you last year, and you was hustling, Carbon Sound family, Duol Chut.

Duol Chut

Thank you for the introduction, Sanni, and it's a pleasure.

Sanni Brown

So first and foremost, what is Diesel J and how did that come to be?

Duol Chut

So there was a time where my nickname was Diesel. I have, like especially in college, I was just known to have good bud. I'm a connoisseur. I'm just very connoisseur minded.

Sanni Brown

When he say bud, he mean weed?

Duol Chut

Yeah, cannabis. I don't know, what terminology should we be using?

Sanni Brown

I mean, it's legal.

Duol Chut

Yeah, exactly, right? That's what we trying to preach. But that's where the name Diesel J's came from. So we're an organic, all-natural rolling paper brand, and we host community events, mainly cannabis inspired, but we also do a few other ones too.

Sanni Brown

How do you put on community events? Because I feel like marijuana is legalized now, but I just grew up most of my life it was illegal. I don't know, I feel like I'm still in the dark ages of it being illegal, and I'm even still scared to say it on air.

Duol Chut

Honestly, it was like right after COVID, I just stopped drinking. So I just went California sober. So it's been about, really, five years.

Sanni Brown

Pause. What is California sober?

Duol Chut

California sober just means that I don't drink alcohol, or if it's just a special occasion, I'll have a glass of champagne. But for the most part, I just consume cannabis.

Sanni Brown

What was the thing that made you decide to do that?

Duol Chut

Honestly, I had a drinking problem. It was college, but just for a small town and things like that, I just saw what it really did to me and did to like, friends and family. And it was just one of those situations I saw how I was doing without it, and I'm like, "I can't go back." And so that's why I've been California sober for so long. And I just felt like cannabis has helped me be more creative, be more disciplined, and really just kind of figure out what I want to do, and I'm just going at it.

Sanni Brown

You just said that was what you was doing as a part of college life. And then you pivot into Diesel J's, into this company, what was the moment in COVID that made you be like, you want to go from consuming it, to "I want the community to be able to consume, as well as the culture" and coming together and creating this whole experience around it?

Duol Chut

Honestly, it was for representation. In 2020 when COVID happened, I lost my job. So I was figuring out a lot of different things, I started doing reselling of electronics, and I wanted to get into business for sure, 100%. And by 2022, I wasn't drinking, I stopped smoking backwoods, I got the tobacco out of my system, and I just went through all the rolling papers that's out there, all the major brands, and I just didn't really like the experience with them. And I'm like, "Okay, let me just start my own." But what really made me go full out on it was, I have a best friend, he passed away in 2020, and it was kind of due to alcohol. I stopped drinking before that, but after that, I'm like, "Okay, I'm just gonna launch it." I can't really think on it. I'm a person who likes to plan so I had everything written out. It's like, "Okay, I just have to do it, and I'm gonna figure it out. I'm just gonna really apply what I know in business and really figure this out." Because that's the only thing I could do.

Sanni Brown

What does ownership and Black entrepreneurship mean to you, and how did that tie into you creating this business?

Duol Chut

Ownership is huge to me. Have you heard of Earn Your Leisure?

Sanni Brown

I have heard of that, yeah.

Duol Chut

So 2020, 2021 is when they launched, I watched one of their first three episodes on YouTube, and so I literally have been following their story since then. From what they were doing and who they were bringing on, and watching them literally start off a podcast just like this, using their phones just like this to kind of get where they're at now, I took that as inspiration and really watched them and took that into consideration with what I'm doing.

Sanni Brown

Okay, so when does the fashion show come in? How did you tie this in to that? Because I feel like a fashion show is so formal and everybody's got to be on they point, and this seems more like laid back and relaxed. How do you merge them two vibes?

Duol Chut

I guess I'm kind of both. I'm from the military background, I've been doing sports since like sixth grade, so I'm very disciplined, detailed-oriented. I also like to smoke weed and kick back. Before I started even doing our own fashion show, I was a photographer for Black Fashion Week, so I was doing fashion shows, helping them put it together. We'd do seven shows a season, so I did that for a full year. One thing I always recommend to people, if you're really trying to get into a space, and if you're really trying to grow your skills, I just gave my photography for free. Like, this is a great way for me to step in, I was able to do that, they loved the work, I was able to meet a lot of people from there, really able to connect with a lot of different models, different artists. And they called me back the next season. Like, "Hey, we want you to do photography again, and this time we'll pay you. We really loved what you did last time." And plus, I was setting up, still kind of getting my name out there, and so I appreciate Black Fashion Week and Natalie Morrow for that. It was her, Shamika and Ambers Foundation. So that's kind of how I got started into fashion, like, actually working there. But my cousin, she's actually a designer, she was involved in New York Fashion Week. She was the very first fashion show I went to back in like, 2017. I just went out there with my cousins, one of my homies from high school, he was a model. So I'm like, "Okay, cool, this is pretty dope." I just came back from the military, so I was just chilling. Like, I'm about to go to college, it wasn't really anything I was in tune with, but that was my first experience with that. I came back to it once I started my business, because I'm like, "Let me do photography, because it'll save me money, I'll learn the skill, and I could use that as well." And that's kind of where it took me from there, and kind of seeing the lack of it, because I was going to fashion shows and I was going to cannabis events, a lot of them were still underground feel, even though it's kind of legal. And so what came to be was Smokin on the Runway, which was the fact that I have a cannabis brand, mainly rolling papers, but we have some apparel. People didn't really look at cannabis apparel, except for drug rugs, or Cookies, that was like the only major brand people know.

Sanni Brown

I'm telling you, I'm trying to figure out, where does the fashion come in? I have never thought of the cannabis community being known for fashion.

Duol Chut

But there is designers, because guess what? All these same designers, artists, and models love cannabis. They never actually got to experience the actual events because —

Sanni Brown

It was illegal, too.

Duol Chut

They just, "I'm trying to just smoke weed. I'm not trying to get locked up." And so that's still that same stigma. So we're just trying to change that by bringing those two things together, and really showcasing these designers and these people who are cannabis advocates, and some of these designers, they don't have to be a cannabis brand. They're just incorporating cannabis themes into their designs, if that's symbolism, if that's materials like hemp and sustainability. So we do upcycle, so sustainability is a huge part of that. And then we also add a lot of color.

Sanni Brown

So you got a fashion show coming up on May 3. Is the hemp folks gonna be in the building?

Duol Chut

You know it's going to be, you're gonna see some great designs. And additionally, from the fashion show, we're gonna have a limited-edition collaboration with KelsTheGawd. It's going to be his album release as well. Keep that on the hush. I'm just kidding, tell everybody! We trying to have you guys come out. So it's gonna be a limited-edition release of the cones, they're going to be available there. We're gonna have some preorders, so I'm excited for that. This has been one of our goals, and there was just so much synergy coming up for it, and it just felt great.

Sanni Brown

I know you got your show on May 3, but do you have anything else that you could give us like a Carbon Sound exclusive about?

Duol Chut

So we have the NECANN afterparty May 14. And so NECANN, they are the Northeastern Cannabis Association. They do conferences like CHAMPS Trade Show, they do that all across the country, and they came to emerging markets. What I love about NECANN is they're very socially focused, so they work with the community to put this together. They have a percentage of their booth space set aside for social equity applicants. And then additionally, they try to make sure to highlight a lot of the different artists that are coming through. They have like an art basil. So we're doing the official afterparty for them. And it's just another way for us to really kind of grow, connect with different professionals across the country, and also kind of just introduce them to what Minnesota is about. So we're gonna do what we do already, and kind of do that for the conference afterparty, and show them what to expect of our Minnesota cannabis. And the teaser right here is we're trying to put together a free community event at the end of May and early June, and have it become a running series. Because one thing that we've talked about is during all this time and isolation with the cold, with Metro Surge and everything going on, there's a lot of trauma. Psychologically speaking, you need at least four to six positive experiences to kind of get over that negative experience in all relationships. And when I say relationships, I mean community as well. We're trying to put together these free community events, and these events in general, it's just kind of bringing back joy, like you need that so much, especially during this time. And the best way people feel that is through the arts. So we're definitely trying to bring that together.

Sanni Brown

How can we follow you? How can we keep up with you and support what you're doing, so that you can further continue to support the community with your projects.

Duol Chut

You can find us on IG at smokinontherunway, and you can find us on Instagram at chief.diesel for our rolling papers. You can also find us at www.dieseljpapers.com, and at www.sotrmn.org, which is abbreviations for smokinontherunwaymn.org.

Sanni Brown

Thank you so much Duol, thank you for coming out. What makes your rolling papers different than other people's rolling papers?

Duol Chut

I'm glad you asked. So what makes our papers different from most of the papers that you see, is ours is not made out of hemp, it's not made out of rice paper, which is predominantly what's used. We use wood pulp. So ours are called brown paper, so they have a browner tint to them, so it's still all organic, all natural, wood pulp is. But it has like, thicker fibers, so it just burns slower, less likely to canoe. And I enjoy that texture and that consistency better, because if it's dry, or if it's kind of a little bit more moist, it still burns well, and it doesn't just flame out or burn unevenly.

Sanni Brown

Well, thank you. I really appreciate you coming into Carbon Sound fasho.

Duol Chut

I appreciate it, Sanni.

Righteous Emcee stopped by to talk Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about his new album, A Legendary Run.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Sanni Brown

It's The Message, Carbon Sound Music for Life. An independent hip-hop artist, curator, community builder rooted in the Twin Cities, and just recently came out with one of the dopest hip-hop albums I've heard in 2026 so far. The name of the album is called A Legendary Run, Carbon Sound family, please welcome Righteous Emcee. Thank you so much for coming in, man.

Righteous Emcee

Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

Sanni Brown

So just straight out the gate, this album, A Legendary Run. Where did that come from? It dropped February 23, 2026, we ain't too far removed.

Righteous Emcee

So initially, I started recording another album. I started recording that, maybe, like, two years ago. And the producer of that album, he had a baby. So he was like, "Yo, I ain't gonna be able to really move around and do a lot of things." So, you know, I kind of took that opportunity just to create something new. And I started making songs, and literally, it just start forming itself, and it turned into A Legendary Run. And as independent artists, a lot of times, we don't look at our journeys as careers, right? We tend to think it's just something that we do, and we love it or whatever, but no, this is a career. And you put a lot of time and effort and energy and money into this craft. It's a career. So I had to take a step back and kind of look at all of the things that I've done, and really just give myself a round of applause. We don't tend to do that so often. A lot of times, we just so stuck in like, survival mode, and I just gotta get it, I gotta get it. But sometimes it's cool to celebrate the wins, and look back at all of the things that you've gone through and say, "Wow, look where I'm at." I think about all of the times when I was a kid, and I would stand on the front porch of my mama's house in Chicago and pretend like I was on a stage and be rapping and doing all the things. And to look at my life now, I've touched all the stages that you can probably touch in this city. So yeah, that's a beautiful thing. I look at A Legendary Run as me looking at it from the standpoint of like, "Wow, I've done a lot," but also, "I got more to do."

Sanni Brown

What would you say are the top three things, real things, that make up Righteous Emcee that you poured into this album?

Righteous Emcee

I would say vulnerability is probably the number one thing that I put into it, just being okay with saying certain things, right? Being ok with talking about what you've been through, being ok with telling your best friends that you love them. Just being ok with certain things because we live in a society where, especially for Black men, we're taught, "Hey, all that crying, check that at the door." But it's like, nah, it's okay to deal with things and go through emotions and feel certain things. So vulnerability was definitely one of them, I would say just knowing who you are. And I know for me personally, I won't speak for anybody else, but for me, I've always kind of been ok with playing the background, because I look at it as everybody has a role to play, right? Everybody has a position. And I've always just said, "Hey, y'all go to the front. I'm cool with playing it back. I'll work on this, and y'all be the stars." But it's like, I'm a star; I can shine bright too. So a lot of it is really about just me saying, "You know what, I know who I am."

Sanni Brown

I'm really glad you said that, because we have a lot of young people listening, and I need them to hear that. They have that star quality as well. Okay, what's the third thing you put in?

Righteous Emcee

I would say just love. Love for the craft, love for the people in my life, love for my kids. It's kind of like how they talk about when your grandma or somebody would make a dish. They would say they put the love in it, measured everything and everything was delicious. And that's how I looked at this album, like, "I'm not gonna rush it." It took a while, it took a year and a half to complete, but it's like, "I'm gonna take my time, I'm gonna put my all into it, and I'm gonna really give everybody just all of me."

Sanni Brown

You can tell. There was a lot of rawness on the album. What does legendary mean to you?

Righteous Emcee

I think that's for whoever is dealing with that, that's for them to decide. I don't think legendary comes with boxes to check off. I think it's however you look at it. Maybe you've overcome an addiction, "I'm legendary," right? Because I did something that so many people couldn't do or still struggling with, right? It could be anything, really. It could be anything that makes you feel like you're legendary. And I know for me personally, what makes me feel like I'm legendary is that when I look back in my life and look back at all of the things that I've been through and where I've come, I never knew that I would be married with children. I never thought that I would be on these stages, like I couldn't see past a year for a long time. But it's like now I'm here, I'm sitting with y'all, and I'm talking about this album, that's legendary to me. So it's whatever you want it to be.

Sanni Brown

How else are you gonna show us Righteous Emcee? What other events you got going on to show us the culture?

Righteous Emcee

April 17, I'll be performing at Acadia. It's for a show for a brother of mine who's out of New Orleans, he's coming here. So that's like the first performance that I'm having post the album. I'm kind of still in that creative mode right now, so I recently just dropped a three-piece special. And basically what that is, is for anybody who actually went to EVEN to purchase the album, I gave them access to three songs, three original songs that I created just for them to have. So I sent that to them, and everybody really enjoyed it. They really loved it. Somebody even said, "Hey, man, I'm loving this with the album, this is crazy." So I'm kind of in this space where I like giving out these small EPs that really pack a punch, so to speak. So I'm putting out another one very soon, but I'm gonna make that available to everybody, and that's gonna be coming soon. So yeah, I'm just really in creative mode right now. Got another album coming out, my brother Bushido.Chop. who's one of the dopest emcees, producers in the city, he's producing my next album that's gonna be coming out sometime in May, and that's gonna be called Subs No Dubs. Hope everybody appreciate that when it come out, and we gonna do it again.

Sanni Brown

We missed this question, but please tell us more about your EVEN account.

Righteous Emcee

EVEN is basically a platform where you can sell your music direct to consumer. And I've been kind of on that for a while and just trying to navigate, like, what's the best way to do that? Because sometimes you put something out and you put a price tag on it, some people feel a way about that, because things are so readily available now. I tell people all the time, streaming to me ain't nothing but a utility at this point. You pay your bill, you get it for the month, and you just pay it again. So you lose a sense of value when it comes to the music, right? It's just like it's always there. But when you actually have to go somewhere, pay for it, do the whole process, download it, all these type of things, you kind of appreciate it just a little bit more through that process. So I wanted people to really appreciate the music and sit with the music. You pay $10 for it, so, "Hey, I'm gonna actually sit with this and listen to it." And then also, you put a lot into the music. Studio time and mixing and mastering and all of these type of things, that ain't free, that costs money. So you want to see some type of return. But for me, it's really not about making the money off of the album. It's just about creating the space where the album can live and breathe. And it's just not something that you can just, "Oh, here it go right here, and I can skip through the songs," and "Oh, it got a little dot by the song, I guess that means that's the best song, let me listen to it." So it eliminates that, and you can just love and sit with the album.

Sanni Brown

Is there a handle we're supposed to follow you on?

Righteous Emcee

Yeah, you can go to Even.biz, and then type in Righteous Emcee, and you'll find me.

Sanni Brown

How can we just keep up with you? What if we're new to town and we just happen to pull into the Twin Cities and we heard this interview, how do we keep up with Righteous Emcee?

Righteous Emcee

Just follow me on Instagram. That's where I'm at, that's the hub for everything. Go to Instagram, righteousemcee on Instagram. Anything new is happening with me, that's where you will probably see it.

Sanni Brown

I gotta follow you. A Legendary Run by Righteous Emcee. If you like lyricism, you like people talking that spit, okay, this is the album for you. In my opinion, no skips. Thank you for doing what you're doing. Thank you for being who you are, and thank you for coming in to Carbon Sound studios.

Righteous Emcee

Thank you for having me.

Sanni Brown

I appreciate you so much. I cannot wait to get that song in here. I already made somebody cry. What is it called?

Righteous Emcee

“'95 Regal.”

Sanni Brown

“'95 Regal,” I knew it was a Buick! That Regal baby, that Regal done got me through some things. Thank you Righteous Emcee, thank you so much.

Righteous Emcee

Appreciate it.

Students from High School for Recording Arts (HSRA) sat down with Carbon Sound’s host Sanni and talked about the impact HSRA has had on their personal, educational, and creative growth.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Sanni Brown 

It's The Message, Carbon Sound Music for Life. I love the kids. Y'all know I love the kids, and y'all know I love these interviews. We had this group in before, but it was just like the makers and the co-creators and the leaders of this group, but now we got the young folks coming in, and I appreciate that, because I love the kids. I love to listen to what the next generation is going through. In studio, we have High School for Recording Arts, Jahai and I'yani, and they will be coming in today, just to give us a little bit of understanding about the projects that they're working on. But let me just go ahead and run down the receipts. For over two decades, High School for Recording Arts has been a beacon of creativity and empowerment for young artists, providing a platform for students to explore their passion for music and expression. And the mission of High School for Recording Arts is to provide youth the opportunity to achieve a high school diploma through exploration and operation of the music business and other creative endeavors. Carbon Sound family, please welcome from High School for Recording Arts, Jahai and I'yani.

Jahai 

Hello hello!

I'yani 

Hi!

Sanni Brown 

First of all, I love kids. I worked with kids for 25 years before I pivoted into media. I'm just happy to have y'all in and have y'all young energy in today. So thank you for taking time out, because I know y'all could be ripping and running with projects y'all got going.

I'yani 

Thank you for having us.

Jahai 

Yeah, thank you so much.

Sanni Brown 

So tell me about what y'all do over at High School for Recording Arts. Are you both seniors?

Jahai 

I'm a senior.

I'yani 

I'm a senior as well.

Sanni Brown 

That's so exciting. Your senior year, I remember my senior year. Are y'all excited?

Jahai 

I'm excited, but a little scared. I feel old.

Sanni Brown 

What??

I'yani 

That's how I feel like. This is my last February as a teenager, I'll be 20 in June. So, like, I'm literally counting down the months. I will never be a teenager in the month of February ever again.

Sanni Brown  

I hear you. I like that you guys are paying attention, though. So what do you what are you scared of?

Jahai 

Just the unknown. I mean, we stay in the unknown all the time.

Sanni Brown 

Yeah, if you're a creative.

Jahai 

Yeah, that's for sure. It's a new step, not being in school.

Sanni Brown

And it's the end of another step.

Jahai 

Yep, new beginnings and new endings. But it's pretty awesome, but a little scary.

Sanni Brown 

How would you describe your whole high school career? Did you guys go to High School for Recording Arts your whole high school? Is that your whole high school experience?

Jahai 

Yeah, I did.

I'yani 

I did not. My high school experience goes like this. I have never really been a school person, like I love learning, but it's just something about sitting in a classroom under white light for hours and hours and hours at a time, and then you want me to go home and then keep doing the work. I've just never been that kind of learner. So that eventually led me to dropping out my junior year. I would go to the library during the school day and I would read all day. I would get tons of books, and I would just read at the library.

Sanni Brown 

This was after you dropped out?

I'yani 

Yes, this is like, what would have been my junior year. Because my mom — she didn't know that I dropped out. Because I love learning. So that's what I would do. I would just read all day. And then I started making music on my phone, on this app called BandLab, and I posted one of my songs that I made on Snapchat, and a student that used to go to the school, he slid up and was like, "Hey, I like your song." We became friends, and then he was telling me about it [HSRA], and what caught me at first was that school started at 9, because I'm used to, like, 7:40. So I'm like, "Ok, I'm kinda interested." And now I am still here. I was supposed to graduate from HSRA class of 2024, but I chose to stay because of how amazing the school is. Like they really put life into a person — they're not paying me to say this. On everything I love, if it was not for this school, I probably would not have anything going for myself, honestly.

Sanni Brown 

Thank you for sharing your story. That's beautiful how you was like "I ain't feeling this," and it navigated you to where you were supposed to be. That's brave, first of all. That's brave, and you're gonna need that when you graduate. So I hope you grab that. So Jahai, tell us your story.

Jahai 

I went to HSRA for my whole entire school year, but before that, I was homeschooled all my life. We moved around a lot, doing homeschooling because my mom knew that the school system isn't like, it's not all the way there. You know, the bullying, just like the unstructured, the systemic racism that goes through it. And I think at a point, me and my brother, we were like, "Ok, we're doing home schooling. We're getting into high school. I think it's time for us to kinda change what we're doing and go into high school." Not exactly for the learning experience, in like a typical school-related learning, but more of a socially and being around people our age. We were like, "Ok, this is our next step." Me and him had like, a whole meeting together. Like, "Ok, this is gonna be uncomfortable for us. We're kind of stagnant right now, and I think it's best for us to go into high school." And my brother's friend, he actually went to HSRA, but he was like, "Yo, this school is really dope. You should check it out. It's really musical, just check it out for like, one day." And we went up there and it was just like, day one, we were like, "Oh my god."

Sanni Brown 

What grabbed you on that day? When you went, what grabbed you? Like, "Nah, I gotta go here."

Jahai 

When we went, I was wearing a top hat, and a whole, like, suit. And everyone was just like, "Yo, I love what you're wearing. It's unusual, but it's dope." Everyone was so nice. 

Sanni Brown 

It was the energy.

Jahai 

Yeah, it was the energy.

Sanni Brown 

And probably the affirmative vibes. 

Jahai

I was like, "Ok, this is for me." I think HSRA, the way it's structured, kind of reminds me of homeschooling. How it's like, personal. It feels like I'm actually growing instead of doing the work, and that's it. We've had so many different like, life experience. I feel like it teaches you how to be human.

Sanni Brown 

Wow. Can you explain that more? Is it because they care about how the day is structured? What is happening, that it makes you feel like you're human? Is it the curriculum?

I'yani 

A mix of everything.

Jahai 

Yeah, it's a mix of everything. I think, instead of just like, "Ok, this is math for math, you're like, really learning how to apply this in a living situation.

Sanni Brown 

So they relate it to real life situations, versus "You need to know five plus five, and if you don't, you gonna fail."

Jahai 

Right, they make you use your brain. Critical thinking. So I think that's definitely one of the beautiful things about HSRA.

Sanni Brown 

You said that you got on your first plane, you shot a music video, what opportunities have come about since going to the school now?

Jahai 

Yeah, I mean, I've gotten to interview Mayor Carter. I've gotten to do many podcasts and learn how to economically use my creativity in a use. Like, I could start my own business; they've taught me things like that. Which I think is absolutely amazing. I've gotten to go out of state to meet with other schools and do projects and try so many things. It's a lot of dope opportunities.

Sanni Brown  

So based off what I'm hearing from both of you, somebody pitched the school to y'all. How would you all, now, after you've been there, you've experienced it, you're about to graduate, how would you pitch it to young people who may need what you guys are receiving? How would you pitch it?

I'yani 

Man, from the heart, the average school system, in my opinion, is just not built for success in everybody's life. And that does not mean that it's it for you, that it's just wraps. If you're one of those people who is like, "Man, school is really bugging me, I'm just not getting with this," whether it's hard, whether it's the people, the environment, whatever it is, I feel like HSRA offers something different because of how family-like it is. For example, the founder, T.C. Ellis, his sister works there, and everybody calls her "Mama Chi." And that's one of our values. We have four values: family, community, education, and respect. And keeping those values in mind, I really think changes the vibe of the school. It's very little that it's ever violent there. I feel like everybody is just like, "Hey, what's up? How are you doing?" Like I said, you want to be there. It's very welcoming. It's easy to make friends; it's easy to keep friends. And the teachers actually go above and beyond. Like, they'll connect with you one-on-one. They're not just gonna expect you to do the stuff. They will meet you where you're at. They will get very versatile, how they approach things. If one thing's not working for you, they're not just gonna give up on you and say, "Well, it's my way or the highway." I feel like the teachers there are not just there for the paycheck at the end of the day. They really put their hearts in it, and they go above and beyond for all the students, all the same.

Sanni Brown 

Thank you, I'yani. Alright, Jahai.

Jahai 

Couldn't have said it any better. It's a place for the weirdos. It teaches you that you should be weird. HSRA is the place where we accept your weirdness. We want you to thrive off your weirdness.

Sanni Brown 

I like that. It sounds like you guys are free to express yourself as humans. That's what it sounds like. And I know in the larger world, in the cool kids, they say that's weird, but the way I run my thing here is I lean into my own self-expression. So it's really exciting to see you guys have that, because I kind of had to find that, and I'm glad that you guys are receiving that in your youth, because I'm expecting to see some wild creativity in your future. You have a couple of mental health projects. It's called Tune in Speak Out. We're gonna take a break right now, but I wanna talk about that. Ok, so in studio, y'all, we got High School for Recording Arts, Jahai and I'yani. But when we come back, we're going to get into this Tune in Speak Out mental health project that you guys got going on for the youth. So we'll be back on The Message, Carbon Sound Music for Life.

Sanni Brown 

We are back with High School for Recording Arts seniors, Jahai and I'yani, and they are in today. We've gotten kind of a taste test of their high school career. They're in their senior year. They've discussed with us how, I would say, affirming High School for Recording Arts is. It's a space for the weirdos and for creatives, and a place where you can express yourself as a young person, and just giving us a contrast about a regular school setting and the setting of that High School for Recording Arts provides them. So first of all, thank you again for y'all being in. Let's get into this mental health here, because everything you guys are describing, it sounds so mentally soothing for a educational space. Not only does it sound like they're providing that, but you guys are actually creating more projects to put out here into the ether. So you have a project called Tune in Speak Out. What's that about?

Jahai 

I mean, I am the album cover. It was a long project, I'd say. It took a lot out of us.

Sanni Brown 

When did it start?

Jahai 

It might have been 2023.

I'yani 

I think that's maybe when it started. Because I remember sitting down with our advisor at the time, and she was like, "We need a project to get going for our advisory. What do you guys wanna do?” And a group of us just decided, of course, we want to make music. That's what that advisor is leaning towards. And we're like, "What about?" And we're like, "Let's just talk about how we feel. Let's just be vulnerable." So that's what we did. Some people on there curated the beats, there's vocals, there's rapping, there's spoken word, I'm pretty sure. But it is very honest, very vulnerable.

Sanni Brown 

So what is it? Is it a podcast? Is it an album?

Jahai and I'yani 

Both.

Sanni Brown 

Wait, what?

Jahai 

Yeah, I think between different songs, there's a podcast segment where I'm the host.

Sanni Brown 

So wait, is it a show? Or is it a —

I'yani 

It's an album. So like, if you go on Spotify and you play like, track one, it's gonna start off with, like, somebody starts speaking, and then the song starts playing, and then the next song will come on, somebody's talking, and then the song will come on. But you kinda correlate each different podcast segment together to kind of like, build that story, and then the music is kind of like, what gets you thinking and just feeling and then understanding, like, "Oh, this is how that correlates," if that makes sense.

Sanni Brown 

And it's you and your other classmates making this music?

Jahai and I'yani 

Yes.

Sanni Brown 

Oh, wow, and doing the podcast. What is the subject matter? How are you addressing your feelings on these podcasts and this project?

I'yani 

Well, me personally, I talked about feeling just heavy. Like my head's in the clouds — that's actually one of my lyrics. Feeling like my head is in the clouds, like I just can't lock in, and being vulnerable and just admitting that I feel that way, because I feel like that's a hard step for some people, and to just say like it's okay to feel how you feel, it's okay to not be okay. You don't always have to be good all the time. But also raising awareness on not dwelling in that feeling for too long, and patting your own self on the back and getting up and just trying again the next day.

Sanni Brown  

And so you're on the cover of this project.

Jahai 

Yes.

Sanni Brown 

Why are you the cover, poster child?

Jahai 

I think it was my willingness. We didn't really know what the cover was gonna be, and someone pulled me aside and was like, "Hey, I'm gonna take a picture of you." I was like, "Ok, dope. Let's do it." And then I see my face on the cover. I'm like, "Ok, this is cool."

I'yani 

Isn't that a recreation of Michael Jackson?

Jahai 

Yeah, it's a recreation of one of his albums. Not sure which one. But it just happened.

Sanni Brown 

What else is your contribution to the project? Are you speaking on the podcast?

Jahai 

Yeah, I'm mainly talking about, of course, like it's okay to be sad, depressed. It happens to all of us. And I think a lot of people would say, like, "No, you gotta do this. You gotta do that. You gotta smoke, you gotta drink." All these inhibitors, when really, it's you gotta just sit with yourself.

Sanni Brown 

Oh, my goodness, young people, it's hard though. It is hard, though. And I will tell you something as grown up, it gets harder, it gets harder. So is this student led? Outside of the adults going, "Hey, we gotta do a project," how hands-on are they? Or do they just let y'all take the reins?

I'yani 

They say "This is the rubric," basically, and then "go, just do it." Like we know how to make the beats. We know how to find a beat, we know how to record all of it. We know how to play the instruments. We know how to write our own stuff. They're like, "We're here if you need us," but they pretty much just, "This is the stuff that y'all need to hit. This is what we're expecting. Go work your magic."

Sanni Brown 

And y'all scared to step outside this? I mean, you just explained a regular adult day. I gotta figure out how to get food. I gotta figure out how to get to work. Y'all have the skill set. I want to ask you about, "And We're Back on the Ground." Is that from you guys?

Jahai and I'yani 

Yeah!

Sanni Brown 

I love that song so much. And we just put it in the system, maybe like in the last six months or something like that, and I be trying not to play it all the time. Is that connected to any project? Or what's that about?

I'yani  

I don't know, I feel like Marcus is really the person for that question. I hope Marcus hears this, either right now or at some point.

Sanni Brown 

That song cold, man!

I'yani 

Literally! He is so talented, and this man just came out of nowhere. We've been friends, classmates for months, and I did not know that this man can make music, let alone rap. And then he just comes, just trailblazing, just on fire.

Sanni Brown 

The cadence, the word play. And just want to confirm, y'all are teenagers?

Jahai 

Yeah, he was 15 making that song.

Sanni Brown 

He was 15?? Woah. I love that song so much. I love that song. I host Carbon Sound on two platforms, Minnesota Public Radio [The Current] and Carbon Sound. And I be trying my best not to play it. It's such a good song, there's so much soul, there's so much in there packed in that song so I'm like, "Dang, what y'all doin over there?? What y'all putting in the gumbo?"

I'yani 

I really hope that Stone and Marcus hear this. I can genuinely say that I had some of the most talented friends ever. I don't know if I'm biased, but you know when somebody shows you something and it's just not —

Sanni Brown 

Listen, I work in radio, ok. I work in radio so —

I'yani 

But my friends are genuinely talented. And it just makes me so proud and so happy. I'm seeing Yellow Roses do their thing, and then you giving Stone and Marcus that compliment, I want them to hear that so they know people see you and you're doing your spill.

Sanni Brown 

What message do you want to leave for the seniors behind you?

Jahai 

I think, at least for me, that it's important to take that role as a leader. To be a leader is to be uncomfortable, but it gives you so many opportunities and teaches you so much. Don't be scared, take that opportunity, even if it's not like "your thing." It's important to get out your comfort zone. It's so important. I think that's the main thing I want to leave when I graduate.

I'yani 

I will piggyback off Jahai and say being a leader in your own life is really important. It's up to you. I wouldn't be where I was if I didn't speak up and advocate for myself, if I didn't share my likes and my dislikes. And I think that it's really important to ask for help. Don't be afraid to depend on people. Don't be afraid to collaborate. Do not gatekeep stuff and keep stuff hidden. Collaborate with your friends, share your talents and your input, and get theirs on yours. Constructive criticism is very, very helpful. To conclude, my last words for the seniors after me: you can do it, believe in yourself, know in yourself, trust in yourself, all is good. It may get hard, but everything in life is hard. Just pick which one you'd rather deal with.

Sanni Brown 

Pick your hard.

I'yani 

Exactly. Pick your hard.

Sanni Brown  

You said that — don't be afraid to ask for help. So I'm gonna ask you to help me. How can Carbon Sound help young folks like y'all?

Jahai 

I think just more opportunities like this. I always love to preach that having young people come into a space like this, opportunities like this, kinda helps them be like, "Okay, I can be someone. I can do something."

I'yani 

Yeah, I would agree. Literally, opportunities like this are so monumental, because this is like, really professional. It's like, real, it's legit. This is an actual station, and you guys take us serious. You're treating us like adults and taking us serious. And I think that's really important, because a lot of young people are looked over just because they're a young person. And I feel like if more young people were given opportunities to be themselves and to be great, then it's contagious. It'll feed off.

Sanni Brown 

I asked what Carbon Sound can do for you. Now, what I need y'all to do for Carbon Sound is I need y'all to keep that spark inside. For real, for real. I appreciate y'all coming in and inspiring the young folks. And congratulations on your senior year. Take pictures. Just really lean in and enjoy this year, because you only get to be a senior once. Unless you know, you keep educating yourself. Really lock in on the moment and make those memories.

Jahai 

Can I give a shout-out?

Sanni Brown  

Absolutely!

Jahai 

Shout out to my band, Yellow Roses. We have a show on March 13, we just won the first round of Battle of the Bands.

Sanni Brown 

Oh, wow, congratulations!

Jahai 

Thank you. So please check us out on Instagram.

Sanni Brown 

Yellow Roses. What music?

Jahai 

I'd say a hardcore punk band. Be on the lookout.

Sanni Brown 

Well, congratulations. I'yani, anything you want to let us know about? Any projects we need to know about?

I'yani 

I'm just gonna say stay tuned for my foot in the door, because it's coming. Just be patient, because I'm working on some stuff, and my heart is in it. So if my heart is in it, it's true.

Sanni Brown 

I'yani, Jahai, thank y'all for coming in today.

Jahai and I'yani 

Thank you.

Sanni Brown 

Alright, Carbon Sound, we're gonna get back to the music. Y'all, we in Music Class. It's The Message, Carbon Sound, Music for Life. Thank y'all.

Tish Jones stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about all things TruArtSpeaks: from their origin story to all the ways they’re celebrating 20 years of their service in 2026.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Sanni Brown 

Carbon Sound Music Class, I got an interview for you. Poet, MC, Hip-Hop Theater Artist and Founding Executive Director of TruArtSpeaks — now entering their 20th year of operation. Carbon Sound family, welcome Tish Jones in the building.

Tish Jones 

Hey, what up. Thank you for having me. Glad to be here.

Sanni Brown 

I'm glad you here. For those who don't know, let's give a elevator pitch for people who don't know who Tish Jones is, and then we'll get into what TruArtSpeaks is.

Tish Jones 

The bio really said it all, kind of succinctly. I'm a poet, I'm an MC, I'm a hip-hop theater artist, organizer, educator. Some people call me an activist. I don't know if I would call myself that, but I do organize and activate people. But really, I'm a Black Auntie at the core, like I show up as a Black Auntie in life.

Sanni Brown 

I love that, I'm an Auntie. When I first started Carbon Sound, they called me the Auntie. So TruArtSpeaks, you've been doing this — as I was doing my radio journey, I would hear about TruArtSpeaks. And you're gonna be entering your 20th year in January. First of all, congratulations.

Tish Jones 

Thank you.

Sanni Brown 

First and foremost, to me as somebody that grew up in the 90s and always heard "You can't do nothing with art. You can't make a living out of art." You're doing rebellious work — 20 years!

Tish Jones 

I appreciate that.

Sanni Brown 

I've seen open mics, I've seen workshops, I think I've seen you give out a couple of scholarships. I believe we worked with a set of students, I think when we first started another show that I host here, that they worked with you. So you're like in the background in these art spaces. So again, congratulations.

Tish Jones 

Thank you.

Sanni Brown 

But first of all, what is TruArtSpeaks? Before we get into longevity and what are you doing to carry the mantle for creatives.

Tish Jones 

We are an arts and culture organization based here in St. Paul. Our mission is to cultivate literacy, leadership and social justice through the study and application of spoken word and hip-hop culture. So really, what it means is we are a cultural preservation institution and we are a cultural exhibition organization. What we are thinking about is how can we utilize spoken word and hip-hop culture to think about transformative, positive social impact. That's our goal. That's our work. How do we keep the tradition? How do we nod back? We really think about Sankofa, right? Like, how do we reach back to the roots of hip-hop culture around the Black genius that created hip-hop culture, the social, political, economic circumstances in which it was birthed, and really highlight, uplift, study and think about those things as we chart a future for ourselves, using hip-hop, which is like one of the most widely recognized languages on the planet. It's a global culture, right? So if you can speak through dance, but you can't speak Japanese, you can go to Japan, do your thing through movement, and still communicate and tell a story. The sort of political activation and narrative storytelling that happens in art here in the U.S., you can see that happening in South Africa when we talk about The Afrikaans Movement and the ways in which hip-hop was speaking to that situation in South Africa. So, you know, we out here. We're trying to train people up. We're working in schools, working in prisons, working in shelters, putting on arts events.

Sanni Brown 

Oh my goodness. You just said a mouthful. Let me run it back. You said cultural preservation and cultural exhibition. That sticks out to me so big, because I see a running theme on social media where they say, "We losing recipes." And you're talking about exhibition. What is the importance of cultural preservation in terms of hip-hop? Because I feel like hip-hop has been exploited so much. So in your words, in your opinion, from your viewpoint, what is the importance of cultural preservation in terms of hip-hop?

Tish Jones 

I think for me, hip-hop is an example of Black ingenuity, and what I think people really want to get at when they say things like Black Excellence. So hip-hop, for us, that was the spirit of our innovation coalescing through multiple different elements. For folks who are not familiar with hip-hop, there are four core elements in hip-hop, and there's an expansive nine, if you are sort of in the community. But when hip-hop started, it started with a party. And it was because of our ingenuity, it was because of our entrepreneurialism, it was because of just cultural things, that if you wasn't 'bout it, you ain't 'bout it, you don't know about it. It was time to go back to school, cats was like, "You know what? Let's throw this party. We can charge at the door, get some fly threads for school." Make it shake, right? And that's the ingenuity. That's the preservation. The preservation piece is like, "Yo, we're actually brilliant. We're innovative, we're resourceful. We create culture." Even DJ Kool Herc, sort of bringing this style from Jamaica. So it's also a diasporic Black ingenuity. Like we are creative, brilliant people in a global context. So even him coming through and changing the way that folks DJ, the way folks listen to and experience music, that's the stuff we're kind of trying to preserve. The history, but also what's behind the history. Especially as the world says hip-hop isn't genius. The world says hip-hop is all bad. And the commercialization, the infiltration of the culture, of the community, the way capitalism came in, you know, quote: "And that's word to Sprite and the millions that they paying me" right? Drake. When people can put the lines in their music so boldly like that, we know that someone else has come into our culture and infiltrated our culture. So we're about like, how do we still teach those skills? Because to DJ is to understand math skills. To be a good, quality dope, fly MC, you have to understand literature. You have to understand poetry, right? There's athleticism, rhythm, math that goes into dancing, right? Being able to catch a beat, or being able to move your body on 1/16 of a beat. Some of those things we don't think about that come naturally, and we can sharpen those skills. And then there's a whole political exploration, if you get into that fifth element, that knowledge of self-peace. There's a social, political and economic history to the etymology of hip-hop that rests in the Black Power Movement, that rests in America's deep intent to destabilize Black communities by building freeways through them, not unlike the Rondo community here in Minnesota. So there's a lot to do. It's a lot to play with.

Sanni Brown 

Wow, the digging. It's a lot of crate digging, but intellectual crate digging. And I feel like this work is so important right now, because I've also been hearing people, I've been looking at videos and stuff — and you got to be careful. Sometimes one person says something, and they turn it into, "Oh, this is a trend." Like, nah, just one person said it. But I've been hearing people say they're tired of rap. And I've even mentioned it on the air, like, "Y'all ain't tired of rap. Y'all tired of that surface level rap." Because humans want to hear stories. Humans are never gonna get tired of storytelling. And so that's what I want to know. How does your cultural exhibition help with that? Because I feel like people saying they're tired of rap, they're tired of what's been exhibited. So what part of your work makes that cultural exhibition so important? Because this conversation is happening while you're doing this work. So are you addressing that? Or this is just what y'all been doing for 20 years?

Tish Jones 

Both and. So for example, to celebrate our 20th-year anniversary, we have an event series coming up. We have a residency at Icehouse for the entirety of 2026, we'll be there once a month. It's beautiful.

Sanni Brown 

That is beautiful. The whole entire year — that's crazy!

Tish Jones  

Yeah, it's gonna be a beautiful thing.

Sanni Brown 

I don't even think I've ever heard of a residency that long. But this is poetry we're talking about, this is hip-hop we're talking about. And you're taking up that much space. Tell us about it, please!

Tish Jones 

Yeah, I got you. So to your question about how are we pushing back against that, and how are we keeping the culture, the series is called the Urgent Emergent Performance Art Series. It's very intentionally curated. Every month there's a different theme. So we're showcasing different types of artists. We're speaking back to different themes in our community, uplifting different folks who are really trying to tell a pressing story based on their craft or their medium. We're launching this series by bringing some sisters in from South Africa who are part of the 29:11 project.

Sanni Brown 

What is the 29:11 project?

Tish Jones 

I'm gonna tell you right now. Go YouTube it, go Google it, because the first time I heard the 29:11 project, when I heard the full group sing —

Sanni Brown 

Is that a choir? I think I've seen them perform.

Tish Jones 

I wept the first time. I mean, like I was on a zoom call. So the way we structure our meetings at our organization is they always start with sharing art. We had a board meeting, and one of my board members that was the art piece that they chose to share that meeting, and the rest of us had to turn our cameras off. Because we were weeping. So we're bringing a small portion of the 29:11 project here, so that these sisters can give us an offering. And the idea, because you know, a lot of the music with the 29:11 project, some of their work is thinking about colonialism and speaking back to colonialism. So we're kicking off this residency like, how do we move from the continent to this place, to a radical Black future? How do we think about colonialism, racism, liberation? What does that look like, and how do we honor, again, Black genius and Black expression? So we're using body, movement, voice, and dance — our people, in this conversation between the continent and where we are right now.

Sanni Brown 

That's so healing. It's just crazy, how you can go from an idea, to these healing practices, to song to movement to sound — everything's incredible.

Tish Jones 

I appreciate you. It's gonna be dope. So we've got the sisters from the 29:11 project. Nomvula, she's headlining. We've got PaviElle French, we've got a voice of culture, DJ Kenna, Blu Bone. And then we got a house band that's gonna be rocking with us throughout the entire series. That's Kevin Washington, Ryan Bynum, and Chris Walah. Every month, y'all. We out here every month. It's gonna be a good time.

Sanni Brown 

If you just pulled up, this gonna be a really exciting year. Poet, MC, hip-hop theater artist, and founding executive director of TruArtSpeaks. All the art baddies, I need you to pull up to the front. If you've been hearing that you can't do nothing with art, I need you to go ahead and throw that out. You are entering your 20th year of TruArtSpeaks and baby, it's gonna be speaking all year. So we're gonna dig into that on this next break. It is The Message, Carbon Sound Music For Life. You are in Music Class, and we'll be right back.

Sanni Brown 

It's The Message, Carbon Sound Music For Life. We are in Music Class. I am super overwhelmed with the energy and essence of Tish Jones. Tish is a poet, a MC, a hip-hop theater artist, and the founding executive director of TruArtSpeaks. We are on part two of this interview. I'm ticked off, because we really need, like, a part three and a part Four. But you are entering your 20th year of TruArtSpeaks, and apparently you have a residency at Icehouse — I've never heard of anything like this before — for an entire year.

Tish Jones 

Shout out to Icehouse. Y'all are fantastic partners. You already know what it is. We've been locked in with Icehouse for years. I appreciate them.

Sanni Brown 

Okay, so if you missed it this last break, we were talking Ryan Bynum, Blu Bone, PaviElle French, the 29:11 project. This is just month one! And I love it, because these are people who believe in what you're doing, so you have clearly proven yourself.

Tish Jones 

The other piece, I'm gonna say — I believe in them. Yeah, they believe in what we do, but I also believe in them. I've known Blu since he was a young person, and I've been watching Blu. It feels like a privilege to be able to invite Blu to participate in this way. Blu actually went through one of our programs. They participated in the Be Heard Minnesota Youth Poetry Slam Series, which is probably like our flagship program, one of the biggest things that we do. And that's back when they were still in high school. I love Blu's Mama, fellow poet, sistren poet in this community. So it's a really full circle moment, because this adult, genius, creative person who I used to just watch paint and be in awe of their painting, and the way they express in that way. Now I'm seeing them express themselves in other ways, and it's beautiful, healing, ritual-based Black work.

Sanni Brown  

Blu Bone is unapologetically Black. That. But I do feel like that's also a testament to the work that you're doing, that this young person came into a space that you created for them, and now they're like, "Yeah, it's on." Now they're performing for you. How did TruArtSpeaks start? How did that start out?

Tish Jones 

I'm gonna try to be as succinct as possible. There are three things that happened that sort of coalesced. And I was like, "Maybe we need a safer space for creatives to be paid equitably and to be safe from financial predators, sexual predators, and be platformed."

Sanni Brown 

I just want to shout out to you and everybody that focuses on that. When y'all come in here and say, "Artists need to be paid equitably." That's huge. That's so huge. When y'all make that a part of your mission, that's so important.

Tish Jones 

I wish we could all get aligned on it. This is such an aside, but I really want to have a conversation with us, you know, actual artist practitioners, about what equitable payment looks like, what equitable pricing looks like, so that we don't sell the culture short, or sell each other out unintentionally. You know what I'm saying? And I think that happens a lot. So if y'all want to holler at me, though, we can have a conversation about it.

Sanni Brown 

That's how I know you doing the work, man. Back to how did TruArtSpeaks start, you were talking about equitable pay for the artists.

Tish Jones 

So there were three things that happened. One, I went to the International Brave New Voices Youth Poetry Slam Festival; I was a young person at that time. The first time I went, I think I was 17, and it was awe-inspiring and eye-opening. There were other 13 to 19-year-olds from all around the world. I'm talking South Africa, Guam, Trinidad and Tobago, New York, Chicago, Idaho, all these places. 600 young people convening to dance, rap. The focus was poetry, but hip-hop was like the cultural container for this festival, and we were speaking truth to power. Most of the writing was political writing. Most of the writing was based on social issues. And it was really a brave new generation of writers and speakers and hip-hop practitioners, learning from the generation before us. Sonia Sanchez, Amiri Baraka and then your hip-hop cast: Queen Latifah, Mos Def, Dead Prez. And I was like, "What this is possible?" You know, "How do I bring this energy back here? How do I make sure that Minnesota has this kind of energy for young people?" At that time, I was 17. Then I was a part of the first B-Girl Be Summit, which was an international celebration of women in hip-hop that happened here, and these women that I love, respect, and served as my mentors. They are the founders of that, right? So being really close to these people who created the first international summit for women in hip-hop, I'm like, "Oh, also, women are brilliant and smart, and we do this, and it's all hip-hop, and I met all these wonderful people." And then there was this tertiary thing around a sadness for me, and an understanding that people didn't necessarily know how to engage with young artists at the time, didn't know how to utilize art towards positive social transformation in a way that was also healthy and healing. So there were some ways I wanted to think about it, like, how do we skill-build? How do we platform? How do we keep folks safe? And then there's all the background stuff, like I said, the inequitable payment, sexual predators, preying on young folks, preying on women in the community. But this tertiary thing was, I worked for this organization, and part of my job in the year that I founded TruArtSpeaks was to catalog the murders that took place in North Minneapolis.

Sanni Brown 

Oh my gosh.

Tish Jones 

Yeah, it was tough.

Sanni Brown  

And how old were you in this position?

Tish Jones 

When I started I was 18, and when I ended, I was 19. So it was a transitional year for me. So I was still very young, and also didn't know. But when I did know, it was like, "Okay, we can't do this anymore." Because part of cataloging it also meant that I had to speak at the vigils of these young people, or of anyone. They weren't all young people, but of people who were murdered. And that year, I knew three of the brothers who were murdered. They were peers. They were my age. We had interfaced in community and in work. And it became very clear, because I had these experiences at Brave New Voices, because I had these experiences with B-Girl Be, that standing on a blood-stained slab of concrete might not be the healthiest way to use my voice. I feel honored to have met with those families. I feel honored to have been able to pay homage to someone's life. But it was very, very tough. So it was this whole thing of like, how can I be a part of ensuring that when we are creating art for social transformation, we're doing it thoughtfully? How can I ensure that we are emotionally safe? Or do my part to create a container where we're emotionally safe, physically safe, paid equitably, because also at that time, as a young person, there was definitely inequity in pay. You platform young people, they could be on stage for an hour. They could teach a workshop with absolutely no training, and be handed 50 bucks. Meanwhile, the person who brought them in —

Sanni Brown 

They got five racks.

Tish Jones 

That's exactly what it is. And it's like, even though they're young, that's inequitable, and we're not teaching them financial literacy by doing that. And I was a victim of that. So yeah, all those pieces are the pieces that made TruArtSpeaks sort of coalesce. We started as a collective. There were a few of us who were like, "Let's do something different. We want to do this art. We want to do guerrilla theater. We want to do hip-hop theater." So we created pieces, we performed publicly everywhere that we could, and it sort of began to take shape into what it is now.

Sanni Brown 

That's powerful, to say that I could do more than stand on this blood-soaked block of cement, wow. And you were so young, but you're a poet too. So you see the world differently. Wow, you were just so young. What do you feel has contributed to the longevity? I feel like that's what you just said. Like how it all started, where it started, the reality of where it started.

Tish Jones 

My answer might be different from other people's answer. And what I appreciate about TruArtSpeaks and even, again, going back to folks like Blu, we have alumni that — people who have been impacted or touched by the work, make the work. I might put an idea out, but people make it happen. It's the people, it's the artists. It's the people all day. That's what did it. It's that I can call PaviElle and be like, "Sis, we celebrating 20 years. I would love to work with you this year." And she — "Say less." It's the power of manifestation. It's like, how intentional we wanted to be this year in our art form. My board chair, he showed the video. I'm like, "Hey, we need them here." And he's like, "Alright, I'm gonna reach out." And then immediately they're like, "Yeah, we know TruArtSpeaks, we down, we coming." It's the people. I just feel thankful and blessed and excited to just be a part of it.

Sanni Brown 

So you said it's the people. Okay, so who is on the TruArtSpeaks team? Let us know who we need to be applauding and clapping it up for.

Tish Jones 

That's what's up. I appreciate that. Got a big shout out to the board, yo. The board of directors is impeccable. So contextually, one of the ways I need to say this, because I say it's the people, right? I have to start by saying, to me, our staff is dope. Y'all know I love y'all. Board is dope. Y'all know I love y'all. But the alumni, I got a sweet spot for the alumni. Because I watched them go and come back and go and come back. I watched them volunteer. I see them make donations. It's such an interesting thing to me to see a person who is 18 years old be like, "Yo, I'm gonna give y'all $50 this year." That's a big deal to me. When you ain't got no job, you in your senior year of high school, you're trying to figure it out, sort it out. Or you go off to college, you come back and you're like, "Here's where I want to be." So I appreciate those folks, because even to do our biggest program, it takes 100 volunteers annually. That's the team that is TruArtSpeaks. Yes, it's Desdamona, yes, it's Aisha, yes, it's MaLLy, yes, it's Danez, yes, it's Anthony. Like, it's all of those people, Ryan, it's us as a core group. But it's also every person who has volunteered for the last 20 years. It's every artist that we've amplified. It's every person we've contracted. It's the videographers we work with, the photographers we work with, the DJs we work with. We have a list of artists on our roster. So there's 60 plus artists who are on this roster who are family. That's who we work with.

Sanni Brown 

Y'all got 60 Minnesota music scene artists in the chamber? What?

Tish Jones 

Oh, for sure. We got this project rolling out. It's a partnership. I can't talk about it yet. I want to so bad, it launches on MLK Day, but we got some artists who are doing some hip-hop facilitation for the littles. And there's a bunch of artists that we working with who are about to make that happen, and it's gonna be beautiful. It's hip-hop education for the small ones, the five and ups. It's gonna be a good time.

Sanni Brown 

I love this. I love the work you're doing. I've always been a fan and to have you in the building, you're just so casually talking about this powerful work. First of all, thank you for not running from that challenge when you were young and you had to catalog those deaths. And you could have ran, and you didn't. You looked deeper, and then you took that real moment of, "You know something? I think I can do something." And just the fact that you were just so young. So now we're here. TruArtSpeaks is here, we are showing that community works, you're giving back to the folks before you, and their wisdom is now being passed down. I feel like y'all in the clutch! Like y'all got it. So what does the future look like? What is 2026 and beyond look like?

Tish Jones 

So this is the thing I was talking about. I was so excited about this little card. My staff, they was like, "This is great." They just weren't excited enough. So 2026 we are celebrating the people who have gotten us here. Again, I'm so clear that TruArtSpeaks wouldn't be here without this community, without the people who make donations, without parents and schools and partners and artists, I'm clear. So this is one way we can celebrate them. We have a member donor base. It's called The Village. The members of The Village, they sustain our work generously. They make a donation to TruArtSpeaks every month, every quarter, annually, they get to choose. And so what we did, I'm gonna say me, because this my idea. I love this idea.

Sanni Brown 

I mean, you have been giving everybody credit, it's alright.

Tish Jones 

This one's my baby. Because I'm like, "Yo, how do I say thank you to these people?" Because when funding dips, when the gig falls through, these are the folks who make sure we still good. And so I created this donor punch card. It's kind of like a coffee card, where you go into a coffee shop, you punch it 10 times and you get a discount, or you get your next one free. So this one, it also honors the people we've worked with for 20 years who are for-profit businesses. So this little punch card has 20 different business logos on it. You go to any one of these businesses, from now until the end of 2026, I'm talking December 31, 2026, present them with this card and you get a 20% discount. So that's what 2026 looks like for us. We celebrating our people.

Sanni Brown 

I hear so much of, "Oh, we need community." And you doing it, man!

Tish Jones 

I appreciate you.

Sanni Brown 

You're doing it on the people level. You're doing it on the business level. This is what art can do people!

Tish Jones 

That's what I'm saying! So you know, (referencing the card) our partners at Flava Cafe, that's where we host our weekly open mic. We've got Moon Palace books on here, we partner with Moon Palace books for our programming. Griot Arts, that's a new partner in our community. There's printing presses on here that we work with all the time. Icehouse is here. Heal Mpls is here, Tongue In Cheek Restaurant. There's 20 businesses on this card. You present this card one time, 20% discount, they'll knock out the logo. Card-carrying members, you can also get it outright if you want to, via our website. But created this for the people, y'all.

Sanni Brown 

I feel like that's your longevity. You so effortlessly pull in people. And I know you believe in them, but they believe in you too. So it's something in there, Tish! It's something in there. So I just want to say thank you. You are inspiring a whole ‘nother generation of artists and creatives. And my goodness to know that this all just started with poetry. Where can we find all this information? How can we keep up with TruArtSpeaks so that we can support too?

Tish Jones 

Got you — www.truartspeaks.org. We are also TruArtSpeaks on all social media platforms. We also outside, holla at us.

Sanni Brown 

I see y'all outside! I'm just floored, because I hear the questions of, "How can we do it?" And you're just out here doing it.

Tish Jones 

They say ask and you shall receive, I just be asking.

Sanni Brown 

Carbon Sound family, get out there and start asking! Thank you, Tish. Thank you for being you. Thank you for what you're doing. And shout out to everybody that has been supporting this. This is community. This is the Minnesota music scene. I want to say, I love you. I don't even know you like that, but — I got love for you Tish.

Tish Jones 

Hey, the love is there! It's mutual, I appreciate you.