THE SOUL REBELS

Soul Sundays Interview with Phonte of Foreign Exchange

If the name Phonte doesn’t strike you as familiar, his voice most certainly does.  As a rap artist and singer, Phonte Coleman is no stranger to SOUL SUNDAYS as his voice can be heard any given week when our DJs play his songs as member of the mighty Foreign Exchange and former Hip Hop group Little Brother, or one of the many verses he’s dropped on a song for Eric Roberson, Zo, Mint Condition or Darien Brockington.  In any case, Phonte’s artistry strikes to the heart of what we love about music: truthful expression and amazing talent.  He’s a futuristic throwback- channeling the songwriting and skill of a bygone era, yet so far ahead of the game. 

On a recent performance at Oakland’s New Parrish in support of his new solo album, Charity Starts At Home, Phonte shared some insights on his inspiration, personal truths, and fun about the art of his music, songwriting, musical family and having his own label: Foreign Exchange Music.

One thing that really stands out about your performance is how you interact with the crowd.  You are funny and really engage the audience as if to include them in the show.  Where did that process develop?

I think it’s just something that we had always had on stage starting with Little Brother. I was kind of the wildcard and Big Pooh was always the straight-man.  So I was the one who was all over the place and he was the anchor.  But our stage chemistry was just derived from our natural personalities, and also, for me personally, a lot of my performance may come from me going to church so much.  Going to church and just watching services and studying Pastors.  Pastors have to be able to do it all man.  They have to be able to sing, they got to give you a little humor, be able to preach the Word, conduct the choir sometimes- conducting a really good church service is a production. There is a lot of production involved in church. I know people go and listen for the Word, but church service … it’s pretty amazing from an entertainment standpoint. So for me, that’s where I took a lot of what I do on stage from. I mean, pastors are the originally MCs when you think about it.

Were you in the church choir?

Yeah definitely, I sang in the choir when I was young.  When I was real young I didn’t want to go to church at all, and then it came down to finding something that I wanted to get involved in if I have to be here every week.  Because I liked music I decided to sing and join the youth choir.  And I took it seriously.  Once I got into Hip Hop and started rhyming, singing became something I just did. Really just kind of on a lot of the hooks that I sang on [the Little Brother album] The Listening were kind of just demo hooks. We planned to have someone else sing them, but we just kept my versions on there. After that album that’s when I started getting requests to sing on other albums and so my embracing of my voice just kind of took off from there.

From Little Brother, Foreign Exchange to your solo album, your subject matter has always been so mature. I wasn’t shocked, but was surprised at the wide demographic of age more than race that showed up at the New Parrish when FE was here last fall. Has that become your niche or is being grown and writing about relationships just organic in your songrwriting?

I think it was definitely more of a conscious effort.  My goal is as a writer is to tell my truth.  So wherever I was in life at a particular time, whatever I was thinking or feeling, or whatever challenges I was going through as an artist and musician I would just speak on it.  I am a big believer in the kind of ideology that you should write something very specific and let that ring universal.  Like a song about your mother dying or a girl you fell in love with, you know, something very specific to you.  Nine times out of ten there are people who have been through that very same experience or can relate to it in some manner.  If you just write and it doesn’t really come from a personal space that music may not mean anything to anyone when you put it out there.   For me, I just figure that I am writing for people like me or people who understand where I am coming from.   So I just focus on that. I never tried to write for this audience or this demographic just to try and appease somebody.

It’s the way I feel, man.  And I’m sure there other people who feel the same way, so maybe I can be a voice for them or give voice to what their truths and challenges are.

How have you observed the growth of your celebrity from underground rap artist to the popularity yo have garnered worldwide with rap and singing?

It’s been a lot of fun. I am just now getting into that space of being able to do the things I’ve always wanted to do since I was young.  Not having the right people around, the right people in place or whatever.  Now, I’m in a space where I can truly control my own destiny from a creative aspect. Being signed to labels and working in the recording industry was helpful because it gave me a kind of hard-knock education as to what this business is all about. So for me, it has made me appreciate what I have even more.  I did it and tried it and found that it wasn’t for me.  So now, I have my own company with a great group of people and I am truly happy with where I am at.  A lot of independent artists who have never seen that other side, claim they are indie but really want more for less. So I am in a place that I can be happy for what I truly have and appreciate it for what it is because I have been on a major label and seen that side of the business and that experience is no comparison to what I have now.  This is the happiest I have ever been in my career.

A lot of rap artists struggle just to maintain a presence.  As Little Brother it seemed like you and Big Pooh struggled with to make a better mark if you will, and it has led to where you are now with Foreign Exchange and as a solo act.

It was a long process and real gradual.  In this era of music, for these kids, everything happens so fast and it seems that no one really has a chance to develop as an artist because everything moves so fast these days.   A friend of mine made a great observation a few days ago saying, “if Jay-Z would have came out as a new artist today, he would never have been able to make an album like Reasonable Doubt.”  The way the climate is now… if Jay was a new rapper in 2012 and he would have blown up off “In My Lifetime,” “I Can’t Go For That” or any songs in the style he did with Original Flavor or Jaz-O, Jay-Z may have blown up, he might have got a couple singles out, but his buzz would have came and went before he never would have been able to make his landmark album. Let alone had a healthy career twenty years down the line because the game moves so fast today and so much focus is on just putting shit out to the market.  Artists don’t really get a chance to develop and just burn out before they get a chance to show you their best.  I just always knew that I wanted for us- myself and whoever I was working with- to have a slower approach and earn it the hard way.  If I am in control of what I earn, no one can take that from me. Nobody can come and just start upheaval or have that kind of power over my career.

One of the hallmarks of your art is that you collaborate and surround yourself with amazingly talented people.  Nicolay, Yahzarah, Carliita Durand, 9^th Wonder, Joe Scudda, and so on.

I appreciate that.  I was always taught that you are only as strong as the weakest person in your crew.  My uncle used to say, “If you hang with nine broke niggas, you are gonna be the tenth.”  Basically, whatever you are around is what you are gonna become in some way, shape or form.  So I saw early on that I needed to surround myself with people who strived to work harder, rhyme better, write better songs, become better singers or producers.  It’s like that iron sharpening iron kind of thing.  If you are the sharpest cat in your crew… then you need a new crew.  I’ve been fortunate to have been around some really amazing people.

What has been the response from Charity Starts At Home and how have audiences received you as a solo performer?

It’s been wonderful.  It’s moving.  I think that people have been asking what took me so long to go solo, and it’s weird because that wasn’t something I had ever felt the need for.  I feel like I do my best work when I have something to say.  I really don’t believe in just rapping or doing records for the hell of it.  Some artists write everyday and treat this art like a job:  Write a verse a day or go in the studio and record a song a day, and that may work for them.  More power to them.  For me, I always felt my best work came when I had something to say so for Charity Starts At Home, this is the first time I felt I had something to say as a solo artist.  Up until this point, I didn’t have anything to say on this level outside of the Little Brother records and Foreign Exchange records.  So when me and Big Pooh decided to bring an end to Little Brother and I was doing Foreign Exchange, the one thing I hadn’t done was a solo album.  That was one challenge I hadn’t accomplished.

And there is something to be said for the freedom that owning your label and creativity brings.

With Foreign Exchange Music, me and Nicolay just felt that no one in the recording industry was going to understand our records better than us.  Both of had been on all labels: indie, small, major- between the two of us we had played the game on every level imaginable and seen the business on all sides.  We did take a few meetings with different labels, looked at the numbers and came away thinking that we could really do this and maintain on our own.  Nicolay agreed and was like let’s just give it a chance and take a shot at it.  Thank God it paid off and became a profitable move for us.  That’s what it all started as. We just wanted a platform to market our music as we saw fit, and also for our extended family to have a home to work their records.  Just build a family and musical collective.

I want to call out names of artists we play at SOUL SUNDAYS and tell me about your appreciation of their gifts as artists. Darien Brockington.

Darien actually was the person who gave me the confidence to sing.  Back in 2003, me and Nic produced his first album and it was really just kind of a dress rehearsal.  We were writing songs for him, I was writing songs while working at the bank, and when he would leave for work I would just record the backgrounds to be sung over later. When he heard them he thought they were sick and wanted to keep those backgrounds, and that kind of became my thing.  He gave me that confidence to explore that ability and sing more. I learned a lot from him. Darien is an incredible talent.

Yahzarah

Yahz is probably one of the best singers if not the best singer on a technical level that I know.  She is pitch perfect.  She’s another person that gave me a lot of confidence.  When we first started touring as Foreign Exchange it really took me a while to find my own voice.  I’ve been writing songs for awhile, but it took me a minute to understand how to perform as a singer.  That wasn’t something I was used to.   When I was insecure about performing as a singer, Yahz and Darien picked up my slack and instilled that confidence in me and took me out of that shell as a singer when we took them on the road with us that first Foreign Exchange tour.  They helped me come into my own, and Yahzrah played a big part in that.

Sy Smith

Sy is the coolest, ride or die person.  She is the most down for whatever, sweetest people you ever want to meet.  She is very loyal, very compassionate and really exemplifies the concept of teamwork.  She was always somebody that worked with Zo, which is how we met.  We worked with her as Foreign Exchange and we toured together and I always enjoyed having her around.  But you never know how devoted people are to your stuff because it is the business. It’s a revolving door, always a different cast of characters that either record or tour with you. Its six people in a ten piece band, so you have got to have substitute fill-ins and all that.  People come and go and you never know how people take this gig as serious or just as a check or whatever.  The thing that really turned me on to Sy was when she turned down a gig to perform with Prince because she was on the road touring with Foreign Exchange.  Sheila E called her and Sy turned it down. Me and Nicolay were like, “Girl, you better go on and take that Prince gig.”  The fact that she was willing to do that for us meant a lot to us.  Sy Smith is family all day.  Not to mention, Sy is an incredible singer.

Carlitta Durand

Carlitta was a surprise find.  We met in 2006 when she was a student at North Carolina Central and we were working on a Little Brother song called “Life of The Party.”  It was for a compilation that my former manager Big Doh was putting out called Hall of Justus, and I written the hook for Yahzarah to sing, but she was out of town when we were recording.  So, my manager called his friend and said he had someone who could do it, and it was Carlitta and her sister that showed up.  Carlitta came in and she nailed it.  So from that point on, we started writing songs together and we took her on the road with us a few times.  She is one of my favorite singers.  There is just something in her voice and I like when we would write songs together.

Zo

That’s another ride or die person right there.  That’s my codefendant right there.  Me and Zo met back in 2005 and it was very much like meeting an old friend.  Most of our conversation was about music and old records and that is how our relationship evolved.  Zo is one of the hardest working musicians that I know, and his discipline has been a real inspiration for me and helps keep me on track.  For the past six years, Zo has been a school teacher.  He taught music in Washington DC at a school that was literally like East Side High [from the movie Lean On Me].  He was like the musical Joe Clark, teach school then off to the studio until 2a.m. then back to the classroom at 7a.m.  That discipline was exciting to me, and now that he is pursuing his musical career full time and watching how hard he is working I’m even more inspired.  I’m really happy to be working with him in whatever he needs.

O.K., last one. It’s called FourPlay. You have a time machine and you can work with any artist from the 1970s as a producer, band member or duo. Who would you want to work with four artists you would want to work with?

Marvin Gaye, even though he would have sung me under the table.  I have a theory that if Marvin Gaye would have lived he would have rapped at some point… and nailed it.  If you listen to “Ego Trippin Out” on the In Our Lifetime album he was kind of rapping. Let’s see, the whole Parliament Funkadelic collective. Man, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell,  and I was a big Glen Goins fan. I just want to sit in the Mothership circa 1976 and record with them. I don’t think I could have made it through the drugs, though. Third, without question Stevie Wonder and all the magic he made on those records in the 1970s. Then I would have to say Freddie Mercury [lead singer of Queen].  Queen is always seen as a campy rock group, but Freddie Mercury was a singing muthaf——.  He had so much power in his voice and could literally sing everything in every form of music very well.

Phonte’s album Charity Starts At Home can be purchased on iTunes, at your local record store or on Amazon.com.  Check him and his movement out at www.theforeignexchancemusic.com

Come party this MLK weekend!

Hey it’s another soulful weekend as we celebrate the Martin Luther King Holiday. Big parties and great times! SOUL SUNDAYS is be the destination to “release yourself” and let loose with the best in Soul music @ the sexy Arsimona Ultra Lounge. Every Sunday from 7 p.m. until midnight (561 11th St. in Old Oakland behind the Marriott Hotel).

The Soul Sundays Massive will be out and about on the town to see a number of live performances, most notably: Mint Condition at the Warfield in San Francisco 1/27/2012, Martin Luther Jan 16th at Yoshi’s Oakland, Kenny Latimore on Feb. 18-19th at Yoshi’s SF, and DJ Quik at Yoshi’s SF Dec. 2/21/2012.

Also, SOUL SUNDAYS will be celebrating its 7th Anniversary on Feb 19th, 2012. More details to come.