Music to Our Ears: Black Stax

The Black Stax are well-known on the Seattle hip-hop scene. These purveyors of avante garde hip-hop make music that appeals to hip-hop fans who also happen to be grown folks. The Black Stax evoke memories of the best of 70s soul. Their sound is bluesy and soulful – punctuated by trumpet and drums. Their raw, meaningful lyrics are laid over a tight beat enhanced by rich, lush vocals. The result is a winning combination that is music to our ears. Meet the Black Stax.

Introduce us to Black Stax. Tell us a little about each of your backgrounds.

BS: BlackStax is a group of three distinct voices that come together to build on the tradition of Black Music. In honor of the Stax record label in Memphis, Tennessee and the artists who recorded with the label we found our sound similar in the essence of raw meaningful soul music. In using the word Black, we identify with the positive nature of the word, we are black people with an understanding of our ancestral contributions to the world and our own communal contribution to art, families, youth, friends, and our culture.

Your styles are so complementary. How did you come together as a group?

Jace: We all met through an Performing Arts Center in Seattle called Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center. Silas Blak and I had formed a group in 1996 called Silent Lambs Project, after we met in 93 at a show at Langston. Felicia Loud, the Seattle songbird, also did shows at Langston. So, we were fans of her and her of us. We recorded a song, Writing Rhymes Drivin, for Silas Blak’s solo LP, Silas Sentinel, and decided to sit and talk about doing work together. Since we always push and challenge each other, it makes for complimentary music. Plus, the repect we have for each other’s talent.

Was music your first love, or did you dabble in other arts first?

Jace: Music was my first Love at the time I started doing it. But, I played basketball and have always loved to create stories. But, you know growing up in a liberating, soulful house, music was always apart of that.

Felicia: My first love was drawing. I got involved in performing arts at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Theatre and the Madrona Youth Theatre in the early 80′s. I was given the role of Reggae in the original play Musical Tracks by playwright Malcolm West and I have been on this Musical Train.

Your style has been described as avante garde hip-hop. Your sound is reminiscent of The Fugees and The Roots. How would you describe your music?

Jace: Soulfully creative. We speak in parables and riddles with the soothing sounds of the songbird. We use our voices as instruments like the live element we include from the talented Owour Arunga.

Your lyrics feature very personal experiences that listeners can easily identify with – from foreclosure to absentee fathers. Tell us a little about your writing process. What do you want listeners to take away from your music?

Felicia: I believe music has a message to everyone whether it’s instrumental or lyrically heavy. Only you can take from that message what appeals to you. When I sing I personally want people to listen to what I have sung and make and active choice to identify with it to some degree.

We all have musical heroes. Which musicians have influenced you? Whose music inspires you now?

Felicia: My musical heroes and heroines are Marvin Gaye, Billie Holiday, Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Curtis Mayfield, Black Moses, and Stevie Wonder. Now I enjoy Jaguar Wright, India.Arie, Erykah Badu, Gnarls Barkley, Tiffany Wilson, Kim, Ledesi, Natalie Cole, Eric Bishop aka Jamie Foxx, Mos Def, Jennifer Hudson and Prince. I have to say there are many more musical artists who I admire but these names stand strong in my life.

What projects are on the horizon for Black Stax?

Jace: BlackStax stays in the stuido creating. We are working on a Producers Series with four different producers. We are also working on another project for SRDC called Re-education of the Negro, and deciding what single we will use for our next music video. There are other things, such as tours and showcases that we’re working on too. Our goal is to continue our work with Flava News, Blue Shoes Media, Heidi Jackson Presents, Maria Kang, Fashion Network-Seattle, SPC TV and Vervesplash. Eventually, we want everyone to hear our work that we made prior to Talking Buildings.

When you’re not making your own music what tunes are cranking out of your iPod?

Jace: I’m listening to the F.E.A.R Crew (Fleeta Partee, Lady Tasz, Delton Son, Yirim Seck. Thats the crew we work with out here. I also like John Green, Sr out of Detriot, Kamilean out of Sweden, Sophia May out of the UK, Monica Monet out of Florida, Delon White out of Texas, Ken Lawson out of California and AMA(All Media Artist) artist. I listen to a lot of independent artists, but I like some of the popular artists, too.

Where can we find you on the web, on social networks, etc?

Jace: We are all over the web. We have a website: BlackStax.com. We have a facebook [page]: Facebook.com/blackstax, a twitter [account]: @BlackStax, a myspace [page]: www.myspace.com/blackstax and a youtube account: www.youtube.com/user/blackstaxmusic. Our album, Talking Buildings is also available on iTunes.

All Things Girl, We would like to thank you for noticing our sound and asking us to give a part of what we stand for in our own words.

Check out Black Stax in their video for I Love My Life or visit them at one of their social media outlets listed above.