Talib Kweli has recently released a trailor for the upcoming Talib Kweli Documentary, which is supposed to have a crazy amount of guest appearances from people like Kanye West, Mos Def, The Beastie Boys, Dave Chappelle, The Roots, Jay-Z, De La Soul, Common, Hi-Tek, Jean Grae, Pharrell, Killer Mike, Fat Lip, Damon Dash, Rosario Dawson, Pete Rock, Marc Ecko, Mad Lib Bobbito, Black Sheep, Cee-Lo, and The Dungeon Family. I’m really excited to see the finished product, it’s about time this man got the recognition he deserved, from the people who know him best.

Stephanie’s got soul. So much soul that it moves through her lyrics, erupts uncontrollably with the unique alto in her voice, and leaves a deep resonance in the minds of listeners. Her soul is fresh and according to her, marks a “reincarnation for the new generation.”

This Bronx-born native makes no mistake when it comes to producing lasting music. With influences from greats such as Betty Wright, Lyn Collins, Margie Joseph, Roberta Flack, Candi Staton and Mavis Staples, it’s only expected that the rasp-jazz songstress bring music back to its feel-good roots.

July 21st marks the expedition back home, with the release of her forthcoming album Tell It Like It Is. When asked about the hiatus between this album and her 2003 self-titled debut, Stephanie McKay responded with a quote from Q-Tip: “Record company people are shady.”

Fortunately, she’s worked through the industry struggles to put forth a solid album. With its distinct title, Tell It Like It Is speaks to the people on their own level. Her latest single “Jackson Avenue” is a hip revival of the classic ‘day on my block’ theme and brings listeners on a journey of what she says focuses “good times, good friends, and Sergio Valente’s.” Stephanie describes this album as “more organic, less electronic” than her debut.

With inspiration stemming from family, life and love Stephanie indulges in the art of storytelling, and she’s had the opportunity to work with some of our times most acclaimed storytellers — Mos Def and Talib Kweli. She describes the two as “poets and masters of their craft. Dedicated to the betterment of their community and proud of their culture. These are things I aspire to do as an artist.”

With her ability to grasp an audience with her music, Stephanie has set herself in the right path to achieve this goal, and been marked her as an artist to be reckoned with.

With the UK music scene growing tired of the same old indie bands, KOJO seems destined to fill the void for those looking about in search of something new. The band’s unique blend of funk, rock, soul and electro conjures up a cocktail of influences from Sly and the Family Stone to Prince and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, all encapsulated in a slick set full of energy and instantly memorable melodies.

Formed and based in West London, the band’s music is a mix of all their influences, cultivated in a rehearsal studio off Portobello Road. Lyrics cover everything from getting out of London’s rat race in “ Let’s Go,” to the superb reflection on their 80s childhood name-dropping Thundercats and Super Mario with some original computer samples in “8 Years old.”

KOJO is currently working with Grammy Award winning producer Simon Gogerly (U2, Gwen Stefani) whilst finishing the writing on their debut album. Mates Duffy, Estelle and DJ Yoda regularly come to see them play and you can check out their video blogs on Nokia’s Royal Artist Club.

Catch KOJO at their Summer Party this Friday June 20 at DEX, where they’ll be laying on a fantastic set as well as DJ’s all night, a BBQ and hot tub action.

For more info and a sample of KOJO’s tracks, click here

DEX

476 Brixton Road

London SW9

Doors 7pm to 4am £5 Before 9pm £10 after

Dearly Beloved,

We are gathering tonight and tomorrow night to get through this show called Shockadelica: Celebrating 50 years of his Royal Badness. The sirens from Brown Girls Burlesque are at it again bringing power to the purple people and that indescribable feminine mystique that could make Prince, himself, blush.

If you live in Erotic City, ever made a plea about how things would be if you were his Girlfriend, sang the Ballad of Dorothy Parker, or been concerned by the Sign O the Times, there is no other place you need to be tonight and tomorrow night.

Audience come quick! Audience come in a hurry. Tickets will sell out. $25 for general admission. $40 for the Royal Court.

The show starts at 11pm at the Zipper Factory, 336 west 37th street (in between 8th and 9th avenues).

And while you wait to cleanse yourself in the waters of the Brown Girls Burlesque, czech out our TRACE Insider video of BGB in action at their last nyc performance “Itches Brew…Sheroes Unleashed.”

Something has the canucks excited. Across the blogosphere they are getting hot and bothered and they want more of this all-natural brew of sundry flavor. That brew is Zaki Ibrahim.

Born in Vancouver to a South African father and a Scottish/English mother, Ibrahim lived alternately in Vancouver and Cape Town before landing in Toronto in 2001. Since then the transnational songstress has developed a sound that melds the bits and pieces that make up her life into the smooth composite for her current EP, Eclectica (Episodes in Purple).

Ibrahim’s vocals can be lush and Sade-esque, light and smooth like Ladysmith Black Mambazo or float over electronic arias like Beth Gibbons. Although she stays far from the internet, Canadian press and bloggers have been showing much love for her music which is steeped just right in eclectic creativity.

Currently promoting the Eclectica EP and preparing for a set of UK tour dates, Ibrahim chat briefly with me about the album, her influences and the frustrations she has with technology.

For more info on Zaki Ibrahim and two free downloads off Eclectica, click here and stay tuned for her full-length album debut later this year.

Trace: You have a wide range of musical styles on Eclectica — what influenced you to go in the directions that you did?
Zaki Ibrahim: There isn’t one specific influence — I definitely just try to keep it open. I don’t like to think too hard about it. I started off thinking how am I going to bring it all together and how to fit one song with the next or the next. Then I just said forget it.

I got a lot of questions like “what is this?” and “where are you going?” It’s just everything though, old soul, R&B, folk and influences like Edith Piaf, Roberta Flack, Fela Kuti…I just went digging.

T: Your music defies labels, how do you feel then about being called a neo-soul star?
ZI: Neo-Soul is a fairly new title, created out of not being able to describe what that music is. My album is somewhere between urban, folk, something eclectic. You could call it whatever if it fits I suppose. If it fits there, it fits there.

T: You’ve lived in Cape Town, Vancouver and Toronto. I read that you consider all of these places home. Could you have made this album anywhere?
ZI: Yes and Yes, except for Cape Town. In Cape Town I am surrounded by family and I am dedicated to them when I am there. Toronto now is the best place though — it is where I’ve been able to do my music. I’m looking to spend more time in New York and on the West Coast [of Canada] and London. I have a lot of old friends, like, from teenagerdom in New York now saying come down, Brooklyn is where it’s at so, who knows?

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Some people just know how to bring the vibes, to put you at ease and make you feel all right. A good song or a talented musician could do the same, but of the many talented musicians, there are few whose music you can also feel coming straight from the heart.

Nneka falls into the latter category, expounding on the pain, joy and suffering of the people and things she has seen during her life, growing up in Warri Oil City in the Nigerian Delta and her solo journey at 19 to Germany, where she still resides.

Nneka’s blend of ragga, soul, hip hop and acoustic rhythms have brought about comparisons to Lauryn Hill, which is understandable as both women approach their music with an ethereal kind of passion, seriousness and devotion. But Nneka is no imitation of Ms. Hill — she stands on her own with the music that extends from her spirit.

Currently on tour in Europe promoting her second album, “No Longer at Ease“, Nneka’s single “Heartbeat” is heating up the charts with its staccato rhythms and pleading refrain. Nneka also expresses herself on “No Longer at Ease” in pidgin-english, bearing her soul and pain with social commentary depicting the plight of her people. And like her first album, “Victim of Truth”, it’s not devoid of drama.

Staving off the flu, she spoke with me about her inspirations and one day coming to New York with her guitar to spread the love. Good vibes indeed.

For more on Nneka, click here and buy her album here.

Trace: How do you think your journeys have affected your music?
Nneka: The journey here was a big step because I never planned to go to Germany — it happened suddenly and I had to deal with it by myself and I became a fighter. I was born in Nigeria and there the crime, the corruption, and everything — I saw it and I have to talk about it. Every day of my life inspires me and it 100% influences what I write.

T: Has language helped or hindered what you want to say or express in your music?
N: I have my way of expressing myself and I don’t think it changed that much through my experiences. Although I moved, I didn’t have to change the words I used but what I speak about has changed. I am a very protective person but I learned to be very straightforward with my music. I have more courage to speak my mind.

T: Your album titles, “Victim of Truth” and “No Longer at Ease” seems to hint at a loss of innocence and many of your songs, at a sadness. What do the album titles mean to you? What influenced them?
N: I dedicated my album to my family in Nigeria and their struggles influenced the album titles. Shell [the gas company] has exploited the Nigerian Delta for the past 60-70 years. The area is now an environmental concern; they have a lot of pollution and sicknesses such as asthma. People are dying and losing their lives.

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Thinking outside the box usually represents a paradigm with the ability to slay with conformity all those who try to embrace it. Within the music industry, many feign standing out but instead, like lepers, swiftly jump into a box they cannot escape. Not so for Natty, whose acute understanding of diverse musical forms has him acting as welder, fusing the sounds with a fiery guitar strum.

Hailing from North London, the 24-year-old singer, songwriter and performer is prepped to deliver his signature blend of “mix up” music to the masses and so far, the response has been pretty good in his native UK. Without the ordinary boundaries of genre, Natty has room to do what he wants and what listeners get in the end are solid tunes that span the breadth of afrobeat, hip-hop, reggae, folk and rock.

Natty steps to the mic with a number of grievances about the realities of urban life; anger accompanied by a cool older brother’s sense of reflection and understanding. His star rose last year after quitting work as a studio engineer to pursue his own music. Since then, he signed to Atlantic Records and his “intelligent words on racial issues” have also led to involvement with Love Music Hate Racism and a track, “If Is” on their benefit album.

Working toward social change and setting up youth workshops, Natty hopes “will be something else to talk about when the music is done talking.”

I had a chance to speak with Natty on the day his “Cold Town” EP dropped and — even if he will hesitate to call himself a star — it is safe to say the charismatic performer has star power.

Natty’s full-length debut, “Man Like I” will be released on July 14. Until then, check him out on MySpace or at one of his many shows in the UK through the summer.

TRACE: You started out engineering at Sphere Studios in London’s Battersea; could you describe how you got from behind the production boards to creating your own music?
Natty: I was creating music while I was at Battersea. I was kind of working there to have free studio time. I’d just be there, trying to do what I could early in the morning or after everyone went home. Even before I got there, I was writing music. I didn’t make the transition by working behind the boards and then one day deciding to go into the booth. I just stopped working in the studio and started doing open mics and everything kind of went from there.

T: You have mentioned Lee “Scratch” Perry as one of your musical influences, who are some others?
N: Fela Kuti and Neil Young. Common is a big contemporary one too. I also like Miles Davis for the space he creates with his music.

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Donnis sounds a little bit like old school Atlanta with a slick coat of disco glitter. If you are searching for clean beats and candy-coated lyrics to accompany summer’s heat, look no further. Donnis’ sound is young, but stylish, and his backing by two severely talented DJ’s (Genre and Benzi) makes for a great tour with geeky-digital flair of international proportions.

I caught up Donnis while he drove through the outskirts of Toronto and had just passed the original site of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. His crew listens to a Pharell mix-tape created by DJ Genre, an artist Donnis refers to as his “Big Brother.” His tour accomplice is DJ Benzi; the love shown towards DJs like Benzi and Kool Kid on previous engagements will take the team through several gigs in Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway) before returning to the states for performances in Ohio, Florida, and New York.

The 22-year-old Atlanta native’s career took off while emceeing in Japan at the age of 19 where he was stationed by the U.S. military. Japan greatly influenced his dancehall sound and the country’s stance on the cutting-edge of futuristic music and fashion gave Donnis’ presence a style that is tailored but not contrived.

After conquering the English-speaking club market in Japan, Donnis returned home to look for new challenges, booking a spot on the AKA Tour — a hip hop conglomerate featuring the likes of Lil’ John and T-Pain. Although conflicts kept the tour short-lived, Donnis’ block-rocking aspirations remain undaunted. Check for him on his myspace page here or while he makes mischief in Manhattan this week.

May, 12 2008
Donnis and Dj Benzi @ Sway, NYC
305 Spring Street

May, 15 2008
Donnis, DJ Benzi and Mickey Factz @ Love
179 Macdougal Street and 8th Street

Alex Cuba’s “Agua Del Ponzo” has been making the rounds since it released last year, but unlike most albums that have weathered being a summer iPod staple, it’s showing few signs of wear. Even now, listening to the teasingly soulful “Si Pero No” still makes folks groove like they’re beachside in the mid-30s C.

Cuba left Cuba and a respectable bass career to find his, well, voice as a vocalist in Canada. Along the way, he also found a hip pair of bellbottoms and a banging afro, which have become like a trademark to his ’70s-inflected sound.

Now, Cuba has left Canada for the U.S., at least temporarily. Check him out on tour now with a stop in New York tonight at Joe’s Pub or catch him back in Toronto mid-June.

Tickets here and more tour stops and sounds here.

TRACE: Coming from a family of Cuban musicians and then finding your own voice in Canada, have you found different ideas of music — and what it should do — in different countries?
Alex Cuba: Maybe people are more open to experimenting than what I remember from Cuba. There, everybody knows what a trio is and what it should sound like. Here, people will experiment with different instruments and genres.

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