Jesse Boykins III and MeLo-X are about forward movement; the singer/songwriter and rapper/producer make every song a journey. Collaborating together previously on solo projects, the two have joined forces to present Zulu Guru, a rumbling, floating, passionate trip inside the mind of a man, the space-age blues of romance and the complication of life’s issues.
The name Mara Hruby flows off your tongue like a beautiful melody, so it’s only fitting that she chose music as her career. Starting early — singing in class and listening to music constantly at home with family - it was her natural path.
The conversation had with a musically inquisitive, 20-something friend from Italy shortly before writing this feature [scrutinous but open minded, we regularly harass each other for musical recommendations]:
Have you listened to The Internet’s new album Purple Naked Ladies?
No, never heard of them.
Give it a listen.
I will.
Best songs on it are “Cunt” and “Cocaine.”
Love it already.
Welcome to The Internet...
Mustafa, better known as MeLo-X, hails from Brooklyn, New York “by way of Jamaica.”
An emcee, DJ, music producer and laptop musician, all we know of him so far is what he’s chosen to share with us through his music; mixtapes the likes of More Merch and Mustafa The GodKing: Rise of the Merch Album (his two most recent releases) as well as a multitude of remixes.
Although growing up listening to a lot of Hip Hop, the likes of Nas, Biggie Smalls and Tupac, his taste became more eclectic with the rise of MTV - “I started listening to Nirvana, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Oasis...”; evident in his music today. There was no particular moment through which his love for music grew; it was more the fact that he grew up surrounded by it.
25TH AUGUST 2009
Eight years to the day after the tragic passing of Aaliyah Dana Haughton, the original princess of R&B, ten of today’s progressively soulful artists have recorded interpretations of their favourite Aaliyah songs for Aaliyah Revisited - a 2009 tribute EP internationally curated by urban-music-and-culture online magazine SoulCulture.
Available immediately as a free download package, Aaliyah Revisited contains eight songs featuring indie soul artist and occasional Brand New Heavies vocalist Sy Smith (currently providing backing vocals for American Idol), Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Marsha Ambrosius, rising London soul talents Tawiah and Baby Sol, NYC-based beauty creator Jesse Boykins III, Danish R&B/Soul sensation Jonas, saccharine Basement Jaxx vocalist Vula, London-based producer Black Einstein, plus international future starlet Nikko Gray with California’s ‘cosmic conductor’ AFTA-1.