Life spins people, bouncing them here and there, back and forth, knocking them up against the cold and the hunger, over and over again. And all we can hope is that, while in its grip, while being spun, we somehow smash into our purpose. 25 year-old, Zimbabwean-English musician, Tinashe seemed to collide with his, heart first.

Born in Harare, Zimbabwe, Tinashe’s mother left him in Highfield with relatives, while she fled to England to try to provide some sort of refuge [...]

It’s Friday. Thursday wasn’t kind to me. I’m laying on my girlfriend’s futon, exhausted after three hours of sleep. My head is pounding. My mouth is dry. But it’s 2:20pm, and I can’t catch a nap because I have to conduct a short interview with Bobby Creekwater in ten minutes. The phone rings. Then stops. Then it starts to ring again, this time from a different number. I answer. The voice coming from the other side of the [...]

Ten young men spill into a Brooklyn bound A train late one evening. It’s a normal night in Bed-Stuy and train passengers do “normal” things when they see a mob of rowdy teenagers board -  yank their children to their bosoms, hold their bags like they possess gold, and look everywhere that’s not in the direction of the noise. Normal. After all, those kids could be gang members. I mean, some are wearing red, and some blue. Don’t want anyone [...]

American music, before hip-hop, and even before jazz, has always, somehow been painted white. And that which has not been, like hip-hop and jazz, is often times not even seen as American, but rather seen as black. But the forgotten truth is, black music is American music. It’s the very crux of American music. So when three young, black kids in North Carolina decided to reach deep down into the black experience to revitalize, and evolve a fleeting musical style [...]