I had spent most of a beautiful, sunny Saturday morning shuffling back and forth between Charlotte and Lake Norman. Enjoying the warm glow of Carolina sunshine and the breeze of a windows down and wind in my face kind of day. I love music. I mean love it the way a hippy loves love, hemp and patchouli. So there’s is no genre that I will shy away from.But lately, maybe the past year really, the Charlotte hip hop scene and I haven’t been seeing eye-to-eye. There will be the occasional show that pops up and a few open mics that entertain at best but the true hip hop savvy scene from years ago seemed to truly be lost. Lost in the fog of commercial one-hit-wonders and Charlotte’s incessant need to be trendy, which in my humble opinion, picked the bare bones of an already incredibly thin hip hop scene. Now when I say Charlotte hip hop scene, I’m talking the days of Fat City, the Room, The Graduate, Jeff’s Bucket Shop and the like. So there I am, basking in the comfort of my playlist. It was full of cool-out music, Esthero, Sweetback and the most recent addition, The Foreign Exchange, and Im askin myself why doesn’t Charlotte get more live music like this? No sooner than that question popped in my head, I got phone call from Shutter 16 photographer, Matt Pock, informing me that we were going to cover the Foreign Exchange show that night. I would have my question answered that night in a way I have not experienced in years.
The NoDa district was buzzing. All the bars were packed, music pouring into the streets, the air was thick with smiles and the smells of delicious food. I waded through the sights, sounds and smells to find my way to the Neighborhood Theater, a historic venue that has played Talib Kweli, Nelly, Parliament, Nas, Gil Scot Heron and tonight, The Foreign Exchange. The group has a strong following, which was made apparent by the unexpectedly large crowd of suit and tie corporate uptowners, hipsters, B-boys, B-girls and cool college kids of all races that jammed packed the Neighborhood Theater until it was standing room only. The pre-show was carefully crafted through with classic grooves spun by super producer and DJ extraordinaire, DJ DR, who is a stickler for the rules of old school hip hop and played his entire opening set from vinyl. The night soon kicked off when poet and show host JC took the stage and whipped the crowd into show-ready shape by doing a little call and response. The crowd, more than eager, obliged him and would soon give even more of their energy as The Foreign Exchange emerged from backstage.
The band, consisting of keyboardist ZO!, guitarist Chris Boerner, bass guitarist Kush El-Amin, two beautiful backup singers Sy Smith and Jeanne Jolly, drummer and Charlotte-native Tim Scott Jr and of course, the founders of the Grammy nominated group Phonte and Nicolay took the stage and sent the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd in roar of cheers. To give you a quick background on what makes the group so different aside from natural talent, the music connection of North Carolina’s own Phonte (of Little Borther) and Nicolay, from Holland, happened virally. They traded files for over a year and recorded an entire album before actually meeting each other in person, hence the name. Now this soul-grooving juggernaut is pushing its way across the country and making no apologies for it.
