In a biweekly series of features, we're inviting Minnesota artists to introduce themselves to our audience. Today: 

, a Minneapolis musician who's emerging as a solo artist; her band 

My name is Mike Kota. My start in music was probably when I was young; my parents put me on piano lessons, but I hated that. But I still messed with the piano and the guitar around the house. Every so often I would learn something, or my world would be opened to a new artist.  I had some friends in high school that made music and got me really inspired, as well as that envious, jealous side of it when you see your friends excelling at something that you also love. It fuels you. 

I think I always liked singing, but it wasn't until I met 

 that I had found somebody who actually encouraged me to sing and made it really fun and healthy competition. Friends throughout my school time helped out, too. They would be like, “Oh, you're really good, you should keep doing it.” Then meeting friends like Josie, another artist, and my friend Cho, those people who inspired me, and were always saying like, “This is really good,” or, “No, keep working on this.” It probably took a while of me hearing my voice and being like, “Ew.” But that's progress.

I don’t know how I would describe my music. If anybody knows, let me know. I take inspiration from people like Dev Hynes, he doesn't need to fit himself into a label because he has his foot in so many different realms. Not just genres, but also scoring, composing and stuff. To [label myself] would be a disservice... There are just different emotions that need to get out or different ideas. It's nice to not hold yourself to a specific thing and try to recreate that if one thing works for you. Leaning into that limitless, abundant feeling.

There are two songs I recorded recently that are really meaningful to me. One is called, “Rift,” it's the title track of my [forthcoming] EP.  I wrote it as a poem very restless at 4 a.m. in my alley. I knew I needed to write an inner loop for this project that tied all the concepts together. I didn't put any pressure on myself and it came together effortlessly. I had so much fun producing it and adding wind chimes. It feels so heavy. To me, it feels like one of the best things that I've created in Ableton.

Another song is called “Corner.” On that song I delved into a new style of writing where I say one thing that is partially true, and then I'll double back on it either at the end of the verse, or in the next verse, just so that I can talk about things that make me sad or frustrated, but are inherently toxic ideas, and then correct myself in the same song. That's something that's not going to be out for a while. But I'm super proud of that one and excited to share that with other people, because I think they'll relate to it. It's about friends and a pity party that you throw for yourself. 

I was frustrated with being a part of a band in some ways, especially with being perceived as just the singer instead of getting credit where I was writing a lot. As well as the ability to just, I don't know... I like writing music alone. I think it's very healing and it helps me get through a lot of things. I don't know, maybe I'm a control freak. I just wanted to be able to do something on my own and really control all the aspects of the music. 

Being a woman in music is frustrating, because you think that people are reaching out to you for the right reasons, but then you show up at their house in the suburbs at 10 p.m. and they don't want to make music with you. But they want to ask you, “Do you have a boyfriend? Oh, you do? Well, he doesn't have to know.” There’s also the presumed lack of knowledge that gives men the audacity or entitlement to take liberties without explaining to you or asking you if that's what you want in your music. All these experiences have led me towards hyper independence, which is bad, because it makes me think that I need to do and know everything by myself so that I don't have to rely on other people in the industry, which are often men. 

It's hilarious and sad to listen to some of the stories that my female or femme presenting friends in the industry have. My hope is that I can get myself to the level of knowledge, skill and networking that I don't have to work around toxic, misogynistic people in the future. I strive to work with predominantly women or non-binary artists, whether that be within music or like photographers and videographers. 

Honesty and multiplicity are important to me. Many things can be true, people can relate to different things in their own ways. Learning about myself through writing my music allows other people to learn about themselves through listening to my music. I think I'm going through a period of deconstructing everything I've ever wanted for myself, because our ideas don't come out of nowhere. Our goals don't come out of nowhere. They come from the movies that we watched as children, from the stories that our parents told us or warned us about. I'm asking myself; do I want success in music for the clout or do I want success in music because this is the only thing that I want to do with my life? Standing up for women and using my whiteness and white platform to give the mic to people of color, women of color, Indigenous women, and make sure that I can have a platform that's powerful enough so that the right people can be heard is also important to me.

My debut EP is releasing towards the end of October and the title track will come out Oct. 13. I've been doing pretty much everything this whole release myself, so I haven't had any time to think beyond l what needs to be submitted as soon as possible this week for the release next month. I'm excited. I have so much work, but I kind of have to get tunnel vision and get the job done right now.

Julian Green built and manages the music library for Carbon Sound and oversees content creation.  


Julian Green

In a biweekly series of features, we’re inviting Minnesota artists to introduce themselves to our audience. Today: Mike Kota, a Minneapolis musician who’s emerging as a solo artist; her band Good Luck Finding Iris is on hiatus. My name is Mike Kota. My start in music was probably when I was young; my parents put me…


Mike Kota standing in blue-lit portraits, tree tops in background.

Rhianna Hajduch, courtesy Mike Kota

Meet Mike Kota, a Minneapolis artist striving for ‘that limitless, abundant feeling’

In a regular series of features, we’re inviting Minnesota artists to introduce themselves to our audience. Today: 

, a Minneapolis-based rapper whose experience as a poet and singer shine in his emotive music. Check out his latest release 

My name is Haroon Rasheed. I got started as an artist by doing slam poetry and spoken word when I was 16, and I joined my school’s spoken word club. I always wanted to make music, but I didn't have the tools or the resources. I knew that if I was to start making music, I didn't want to make mid music. I wanted to be around people who could help elevate me and make what I had in my head sound better.

There was no music being played in my household at all when I was growing up. We practically lived at the mosque until I was age 12 or 13. Regular American kids have their weekends to themselves, but in our household, it was like Saturday 8 a.m. dropped off at the mosque, pick-up at 9 p.m.

Since I couldn’t listen to music or have anything playing in the house, I'd go to the library and get a bunch of different albums that I wanted to listen to. 

 was probably the first hip-hop album I ever listened to. I was just blown away. Like, how was he making his voice sound like that, you know? And then there was T-Pain and Bon Iver and all types of different artists who would make their voice sound as not human as possible. I always thought that was a cool thing. I'm also super inspired by music from different countries.

I went to the Lightbox Showcase event in February of 2018, and Kwey was DJing. At that show I did some spoken word poetry and a capella songs. Afterwards he was like, “Your stuff was really dope, man. Have you ever made any music?” I hadn’t yet, so Kwey invited me to the studio in Ferguson Hall at the University of Minnesota where he made music with Ben Yoshihara. Zak Khan is somebody else who I met in those studio sessions. My first song [“Happy Birthday Haroon”] came from that. I made it with Ben, and Kwey made the beat. We dropped that on my 19th birthday.

I felt like I always could sing. When I was a kid, I used to be super heavy in the mosques, and my mom kept me at the masjid all Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. During that time there was this reciter whose voice I imitated a lot. He would basically almost sing the Quran in a very beautiful, super melodic way.

At the mosque, I would lead prayers and do different competitions to showcase my work. That was the first time I ever realized that I had a good voice. When I started making music, I was only rapping, because of my influences at the time. It was dope, and I love that music and believe there's still a place for it, but as I've been making more stuff and experimenting with different vocal effects, I’ve been mixing it in with the rap music. I hate categorizing it, but I would describe my sound as alternative hip-hop. I just try to be as creative as possible and do whatever it is I feel that day.

I'm almost vulnerable to a fault when it comes to making music. A lot of the different themes that I try to address come from lived experiences. Making music started off as an escape from reality. I've used it as a happy escape, a trauma response, all types of different things.

I made a song in 2019 called “Runaway,” and I think it's probably my best piece of songwriting. I have one lyric where I’m talking to my therapist: “She said I need to let it go/ She said my thoughts is detrimental/ I told her that I f—ing know/ Went toe to toe with hubris, tackle tension with the blow/ Ran away from flaky weather, now nose-deep up in the snow.” At the time I was abusing different substances and just trying to escape my reality. I was doing anything I could to distance myself from anybody who seemed to care about me, because I felt like I was gonna hurt them... The only place I truly felt safe was when I was writing music. I felt like I could say whatever and there would be no judgment. That song is super heavy, and it's still not done, but it will definitely make it onto my first full-length project.

To be honest, one of the biggest challenges in making music is just myself. Sometimes I struggle with social spaces and just being around other people. The only times I really feel carefree is when I'm around my close friends; it just so happens to be that my close friends are the people who I make all my music with. The challenge is working with other people... That's something I've been trying to do more often. There are a lot of talented artists here: 6RIPS, Magz, Zodiak, and Maki are all artists I’d love to work with.

My first project is still in its infancy. I don't want to put an expected date on it. Hopefully we can get it done by this year, and it’d end up being an early 2022 project. I'm still brainstorming with my producers and friends... But I think right now we're in a good place.

In a regular series of features, we’re inviting Minnesota artists to introduce themselves to our audience. Today: Huhroon, a Minneapolis-based rapper whose experience as a poet and singer shine in his emotive music. Check out his latest release ICEPACK. My name is Haroon Rasheed. I got started as an artist by doing slam poetry and spoken word when I was…


Sawyer Brice

Meet Huhroon, a Minneapolis poet-turned-rapper who reaches for creativity

Before I took off for Mexico in October, I was fortunate enough to sit down with St. Paul rapper Destiny Roberts, aka Moon Melanin Mami, a nickname acquired from a previous album. We met at a coffee shop near the University of Minnesota to talk about the color theme that collectively makes up her 

When we sat down to chat, the Moon Melanin Mami had not yet released her 

, but we took time to talk about the previous five tapes; 

, reminding us of how quickly summer faded away, 

 that examines Destiny's faith and spiritual side, and her support for renewable and sustainable energy to combat climate change, and lastly, 

, which prepped listeners for the coldness of winter.

The interview below was transcribed and edited. To listen to the full interview, hit play on the audio player above!

JEFFREY BISSOY: You've had a very busy last year. You released 

. And then you were like, you know what, let's add some more colors. We had a 

. What has been your creative process and thinking behind these albums?

: it was November of 2018, when I've been sitting on a prior album for about a minute. And I had been meaning to put out music … And so I started brainstorming what I can do for next year, which is AKA this year, 2019. And so, [it's] November, I got one two months to figure it out for next year … Roy G Biv is a term actually learned in elementary school, and that term popped in my head during my brainstorm randomly and I'm like Roy G Biv, I should make the album.

My art teacher taught me it. It's an acronym used to remember the colors of the rainbow. So, Roy is red, orange and yellow. G, Green, and Biv is Blue, Indigo and Violet. And so [I thought], I should drop an album and have seven songs on it. And each song could be after a color in order of Roy G Biv. And then I was like, "Wait!" that's only seven songs. I have so many more songs than that … So I came up with the idea and that same day, I pretty much started organizing songs by mood. So, every song has been very intentional, as far as what I chose for each EP. But then as time got closer to the drop, which started in March of 2019, I came up with the idea … Instead of using what I thought I would, put out the old songs I've been waiting to put out for a while, it ended up being a whole different creative process where it pretty much was from scratch.

Surely you still have some songs in a vault, but what made you want to switch it up? 

I just wanted to write what was relevant for me now within each color … I was so intentional with what I wanted the result to be, and it felt only right to start fresh. Just start from whole new experiences and start from where I'm at now, instead of going to where I was, whenever I wrote those other songs that I been sitting.

As a listener, when you listen to each tape, one by one, there are a lot of similarities, right? In your own words, how are these tapes kind of different and how did that impact the lyricism? How did that impact your sound when you were working on them? 

I really went all in with this whole Roy G Biv thing … I dyed my dreads each color, I've dropped the tapes. I'm pretty much fully immersed myself within each color. I literally have like the colors hung up where I write my music. So, I'll just be staring at each color and thinking about like, what it means to me, what it represents for me, what it feels to me.

Red represents, for example, passion, love, different things like that. So, I have a song called "Bounce Back" and then I have like "Special," which is a love song. Red is a very dominant color, so I really wanted the first products to smack [listeners], like, "Oh, that's Moon Melanin Mami?" I really wanted to hit him on the head with the 

Orange is in between red and yellow. So, it's not as punchy, but it's not all the way happy yet. It's like a happy medium between those two colors… Yellow to me is like sunshine, happiness, joy… I want you to listen to that and feel happier or feel like your spirit's been lifted a little bit higher.

Destiny Roberts -- "Plenty" Official Video

: "Yes, darling." "Plenty" "Sugar, honey. Ice tea," which I loved because you threw that one back and then added your twang to it, "Sunshine." "Cumthrough," I mean, it was definitely vibrant and very summery. 

I really wanted you to feel summer in the songs and feel it in your spirit … and then Green, that's like the middle color of everything. It's not necessarily a warm color like red, orange, and yellow, but it's not necessarily a cool color like blue, indigo and violet. It's kind of its own kind of thing. That's why the 

 had one extra song, because the G in Roy G B has that dot, so I took that as being extra, so I put an extra song on the green tape.

Green means growth. I think about sustainability. I think about like money. You can go real basic with it with different things, trees, you know, smoking, whatever. Like my rendition of my smoking song is "Push the limit." So, so everything that Green represents … I actually have water bottles for the green tape. I'm very intentional on my lyrics. So, I have a song in their called "Plastic Planet." It talks about recycling and sustainability.

We're currently living in a world where climate change is impacting a lot of what we're doing. And it's looking like it will be the major issue of our time. Not just the U.S. or the world, but especially our generation. So, to hear you on 

 talking about sustainable and renewable energy. And to be completely honest with you, I'm not sure I've heard a rapper or singing about it. Was it impossible to leave this topic off the 

That was literally it. It was hard to pick a song for [the 

] because I had so many songs that could represent Green. But I'm like, how am going to make a green tape and not put anything that has to do with the planet? First and foremost, it's like we're supposed to love each other and love the place that God put us together in. And so, how could I have the nerve to put out something that's so big and missed the whole point. For me, 

 kind of showcases my spiritual journey a little bit. I started off the whole with a song called, "Truth." To sum it up is up in a line, truth is, God is the truth. I've been on my own spiritual journey. Both my parents are ministers, I grew up in a very spiritual household.

You also work in a ministry as well, right? 

Yeah, literally … and I'm at a point now where I'm seeking it for myself. Religion alone and then having a relationship with God are two different things … Religion is hitting me so different because I have that relationship part. It means something different to me now. Going back to "Plastic Planet," I recently discovered something in the Bible that talks about leaving the Earth better than how you were born into it. We're literally here to love each other and love the place that God put us to be. "Plastic Planet," literally, is me relearning something that I discovered in the Bible and then like, "Wow. This is serious." Like, recycling is prophetic, it's even talked about in the Bible. The little things that we do matter because the world is the result of our daily actions.

I look at past projects of yours like "Moon Melanin Mami" and your spiritual journey led you to outer space and you're out there with living in your mind and imagination, and in Roy G Biv, you come back to Earth. I find that a lot of young folks right now, some of us, many of us maybe, grew up with some type of religious background. And some of us have left those institutions. So, as you're on this journey to find yourself whole again, what does that look like outside of just rapping about it? 

It's been literally a day to day journey. I can't necessarily describe it, but what I can tell you is that it's like any other relationship — it has to be built. It has to be maintained. It has to be nourished for it to happen and be. So, it takes a lot of discipline. And, being a good person takes a lot. It's not easy to be disciplined and be a good person. It's really hard. It's so easy to react and so easy to get in your flesh and just go there.

, the last song is called, "Rent's Due," that is based on literal stories that just happened between this year and last year with me dealing with roommates, other local artists here, that pretty much still owe me money … It's funny because I had a promo for this song. I made a parody video with wanted sign with their faces on — I went in … The time came and I had my things organized and I hear a voice like, "You're good, don't post it. It ain't worth it." I know that voice is God telling me, "Just chill out." I feel like everyone hears that voice, but it's hard to catch it sometimes because when he does speak to us, it's in a small voice — it's like, really subtle. And if you're not there, you're gonna miss it.

How has this spiritual awareness influenced the other tapes in the Roy G Biv series? 

. I'm talking about like spiritual warfare. I'm talking about self-reflection. That's the whole basis of it. The biggest thing that shifted my journey is … I work at a school program with Union Gospel Mission, and it's a Christian base and we've done a lot of Bible studies on different things and book studies and we're all reading different books. I literally learned different ways of finding evidence and from then on, I just started listening to Joyce Meyers for the first time. And then, she started speaking to me and it just kept coming in different ways.

In Hip-Hop, you have artists like Lecrae, who raps very openly about Christianity and then you have someone like Kendrick Lamar, who is a lot more cryptic about his spiritual journey. How are you thinking about your Christianity as it comes to your lyricism in your music moving forward as you're on this journey? 

I'd say as God keeps showing up in my life, that's my evidence. And that's always something that I could write about. He just shows up in so many different ways and you just be like so surprised. Like, I had a goal this year that I wanted to have at least three placements on a movie or something, and I recently got my second placement on a movie — it's called "Paper Friends" on BET. And I'm like, how do these people keep finding me like this, it's crazy.

There's two things that I learned that kind of altered some things for me. The first thing is the story of Lucifer and how the devil used to be Lucifer. And he was the angel of music in heaven. He was the most beautiful angel and then he kind of got his ego turned on and wanted to take God's spot … God pretty much kicked him out of heaven before he could. [The Devil] manipulated other angels and everyone that believed him got kicked out too. So those who followed him became demons and he became the devil. And what is crazy is that music is such a tool, like a powerful tool in this world. But is it powerful because rewinding the story behind, Lucifer was the angel of music and now he's down here? … That story had me really stuck.

When you look at how hip hop for so long has been seen as the Devil's music. Not just in the white community, even in the black community. When parents would hear their children listening to Hip-Hop, they'd often be like, "Turn down this anti-Christ music." Yet, you're saying, "I can do this music and still be a good Christian." How do you how do you make that balance when the Bible says the music maker was the Devil?

How am I going to reach people in the world, if I'm not in a world with them to reach them? … So, I don't want to be considered a Christian rapper, although I am a Christian and I am a rapper, and I do rap about that. I don't want to put myself in that box, because I feel like the people I need to reach aren't people who listen to Christian music. They're people who listen to hip hop and they may hear my song and it may change their perspective … just tryna be positive and also have substance and try to have truth … I try to do that and sound cool at the same time so people can catch on.

Sonically, you really switched up your style in the 

 Series. My first reaction from listening to the red tape was, "Oh, no, wait a minute … is this Destiny?" How did you get to this point where you're really flexing with the vocals?

Moon Melanin Mami, that was an experience I wanted to create of just taking people into my world and letting them explore in it. Moon Melanin Mami is actually the third or fourth album that I dropped. Before that, I made other a few other albums. My first album was called 

, and is very mixtape-ish … I been making a lot of music since I was 10 years old. So, I actually have so many styles that I haven't even presented to the world yet.

Moon Melanin Mami Deluxe by Destiny Roberts

You've said before that you typically worked solo on your projects, what's it like to collab with multiple producers and artists for Roy G Biv? 

I'm used to being by myself with this music stuff — my brother, Tommy, taught me growing up. He recorded himself. He made his own beats. He was an everything renaissance man. So, here I am being a Renaissance woman now … I feel like J.Cole feels a lot. I'm so specific, I'm so intentional in my lyrics. You have to kind of be somewhere there with me mentally. But the people that I've worked with this year are people who I do admire that are local artists.

What was it like working with Twin Cities' Asia Divine and Daddy Dinero?

The only song that actually sat there with for the most part and vibe with was the with Asia Divine and Daddy Dinero. How that came about was actually super crazy. First of all, that was not even my song. The guy who produced — it is his song. He made the beat. He invited some of his favorite local artists to come into the studio session from late 9 p.m. to 2 in the morning … It was my first time in the studio, like actually in the studio with them … We all felt certain beats … and then [my producer started playing the "I do this" beat] and me and Asia were talking to each other, and then Dinero started freestyling the hook, "I told you, I do this," and I'm like, "Ayy!! I'm feeling this."

I told them I was only going to be there for like two hours, so that two-hour mark was starting to come and I was scared to leave. When I was gone, they finished their verses and recorded it and they sent it to me that night … The next morning I woke up, wrote something and recorded it and sent it back. And both of them had open spaces on their verses. And I was like, did they do this on purpose? I don't know, but I'm about to write on both of their verses.

With technology, we're seeing more and more collaborations, especially among mainstream artist done remotely. What's your preference between collaborating from a distance and experiences like the one with Asia Divine and Daddy Dinero, where an idea for hit is sparked instantaneously just by being in the same studio?

I like both, but I think I think I still prefer to be in my own world. That's what I'm used to and that's where I've always made the best stuff. That's where I'm not interrupted in my thought process, although sometimes that could be a good thing. But sometimes you need to sit in whatever you're feeling is set in, whatever you're going through and really be present with it to really write the best. I just like to get sh*t done. Me and my boyfriend live together. I learned that I do better writing songs when he's just not home, it's just me.

Are there any local artists and national artists that you would love to collab with that you haven't with already? 

I still have a few local artists I plan to collab with, but I've been wanting to do a song with Cashinova for a long time. I don't know why and I don't even remember when I became a fan. I'd say The Liones, and BDot Croc, we definitely gotta get something in.

I'd be remiss if I sat here with you and I didn't ask you about 3ME, your crew, and the app that you've all been working on?

We're we're working on this app, and it's gonna be called Morph. It's pretty much a way to experience music through augmented reality and it's pretty much taking everyday things and turning them into something you can have fun with and experience at the same time with music specifically. We actually do have an app that's currently out right now. It's called the Roy G Biv Tape Series App. You can only download it on the Apple Store, currently.

It's a video game with seven different levels. What we're doing with that we're starting in space and each level is slowly coming down to earth and it's basically taking us from 

. Each level gets closer and closer to earth. I think the 

 is a level that we actually land on earth. And from then on for the rest of the tapes, the rest of levels are on earth. It's a different game you could play and it's a different mission for each level that you play.

Since this interview, Destiny has released all the color tapes in the Roy G Biv Series, which you can stream any time on 

. Born in Yaoundé, Cameroon, raised in The Twin Cities and now based in Mexico City, Jeffrey has grown a passion for representation and identity, Hip-Hop, and the impact of sports on society. He's also the host of the podcast — 

 — which stays current with the weekly drama of the NBA.

{"type":"doc","content":[{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"text":"","type":"text"}]}]}

Jeffrey Bissoy-Mattis

St. Paul rapper Destiny Roberts, aka Moon Melanin Mami, talks to correspondent Jeffrey Bissoy about her ambitious 'Roy G. Biv' series of releases, which looks at different themes gathered under each color in the rainbow.


Destiny Roberts on the lessons of Roy G. Biv (full interview with Jeffrey Bissoy)

via Facebook

courtesy the artist via Facebook

Destiny Roberts on the hidden lessons from 'Roy G Biv'

Listening to the deep, funky groove of Thundercat's latest, "Them Changes" it's not hard to pick up on a few influences like 70s jazz fusion, George Clinton and Yacht Rock.  Here, Thundercat, aka bassist Stephen Bruner lays out his favorite all-purpose picks — drawing heavily from those influences — for your next little gathering.

 Hey, this is Stephen "Thundercat" Bruner. And I'm going to ruin your dinner party with this dinner party soundtrack, which you should've never given me power over.

No. 1 would be Kenny Loggins "Heart to Heart." Because I think every man needs to understand this level of 

I mean, he just kind of tells the truth in his songs a lot, you know? What this song, I feel, is about, is the crossroads that you come to in a relationship oh so often, where you don't know what the hell is going on. You don't know why you like this person… you don't know why you can't leave… you're just lost [

Kenny Loggins plays a genre of music we like to call "

." And the reason why I'm a fan of it is because I'm a fan of debauchery, and I would think that debauchery happens on yachts on a consistent basis, that we cannot account for. Because there's no cellphone service… there's no accounting for the amount of money and drugs you can carry with you on a yacht… and I would think that that equates to PARTY. So, yacht rock, we love you.

The next song that I choose is Seal, "Crazy." It's got that real weird, ethereal kind of feel to it, and you have to read between the lines a bit. He's kind of letting us know that he 

 crazy. You know, it's like, we can all relate on some level.

It's mellow enough to where, if you guys want to two-step and shake your shoulders to it? That's cool. If you also want to run and jump through your neighbor's windowpane, naked? Totally goes with 

 of those. There's not really a "medium" to how crazy you can get with this song.

, you know what I'm saying? "Thought It Was a Drought," by Future.

This is a new song by Future; it just came out. I was listening to it with Flying Lotus on the way back from 

 on his show "Why?" on Comedy Central. And me and Lotus are sitting in the car… and you feel like a million bucks when you do something that feels like it's worth something. You put Future on, and it's like, "Yes! This is 

 what's needed right now." You can hear the raspiness, but I mean, that's 

This [song] is happening when you're, like, so drunk that you can't talk over the music, and you don't want to get close enough that your friends smell your breath. So, you just pat them on the back and say, "Yeah," anytime they seem like they're coming at you to say something serious. They're not paying attention, either. You're kind of like, "What? What? Yeah! Yeah."

We're going to close this party with one of my own songs. It's called "Them Changes."

You know, everybody goes through relationship issues, and ups and downs, and this was a therapeutic way for me to deal with things that had been going on with me. That's just me being honest. Here's where Kenny Loggins comes back in as an inspiration.

Subscribe to their excellent podcast here

Listening to the deep, funky groove of Thundercat's latest, "Them Changes" it's not hard to pick up on a few influences. Here, Thundercat, aka bassist Stephen Bruner lays out his favorite all-purpose picks for your next little gathering.


Stories

Meet Mike Kota, a Minneapolis artist striving for ‘that limitless, abundant feeling’

Meet Huhroon, a Minneapolis poet-turned-rapper who reaches for creativity

Destiny Roberts on the hidden lessons from 'Roy G Biv'

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Thundercat provides music to ruin your next dinner party

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