Classical music and hip-hop aren’t two music genres that usually go together, but violinist Kev Marcus and viola player Wil Baptiste have found the sweet spot.
The two met at their Florida high school during orchestra class and a few years later started Black Violin. Since then, the band has opened for Aerosmith, Tom Petty and Kanye West. Along the way, they’ve played the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem and one of President Obama’s inaugural parties.
The Frame's John Horn talks with Kevin Marcus and Wil Baptiste about their major label debut album "Stereotypes," how they fell in love with playing the violin and viola and how the Apollo Theater changed their lives:
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS:
Do you guys remember when you recognized that your instruments could be used to play a different kind of music than you were trained to play?
WB: I think the moment of genius is when we were in high school and there's one particular song -- very popular song on the radio -- had a very distinctive violin and Kev came to school and he learned it and started playing with it. He taught everybody in the class how to play it. I just remember going to competitions and we were always playing that song and every kid in that competition was just like, Oh my goodness. Look what they're playing.' And actually, we were just having fun.
Do you remember the song?
WB: Busta Rhymes' 'Gimme Some More'.
Busta Rhymes - Gimme Some More
[Laughs] I mean, it was a very, very popular song back in the day, ten years ago.
KM: Yeah, it was in the 90's and playing that song and walking to competition with it, all of the other orchestra students around would be blown away by it. I think that was kind of the moment of genius. We didn't realize it then, but now that we look back, that was the first time where we was like, Man, doing this hip-hop stuff with violins gets a reaction from people.
Musically, classical music and hip-hop are a lot more similar than they are different?
WB: Exactly, we tell people that all the time. If you think about classical music and its origin, some rich guy was like, Listen Mozart. Whip me up some tune and I got this party coming up. So, in a lot of ways it's very, very similar. Now, we're bridging the gap so to speak. We're putting these two worlds together and we're conveying a message that is very clear -- that anyone can understand and comprehend -- particularly for the kids cause a lot of kids think it's boring or lame. When we perform, we they hear the music and we're introducing it in a different way, it allows them to open their minds and see what else this instrument can do.
But I gotta ask, when you guys were first given, or assigned or told you had to play the violin or viola, did you think they were boring as well?
KM: Oh yeah, I did not want to play that instrument. I didn't want to walk home with that violin on my back. It ended up being a really good thing and what kept me playing is when I realized it had power. I tell this story where my first girlfriend, I go and meet her parents for the first time and they say, What do you do? And I'm like, Yeah, I just got a full scholarship to college. I'm studying violin.'And they were like, Really?!
You can spend the night with our daughter.
KM: [Laughs] You know, not in those words, but sort of like, Oh! You picked the good one. Just me saying that I play violin when I look like I should be a linebacker for my high school team, people's perceptions change and it changes immediately. That's when I realized the power in it.
Let's talk about the perceptions and the title track on this record, 'Stereotypes'. At the end of the song, there's a montage mashup of some people talking about stereotypes. What was the inspiration behind that song and who do we hear talking and singing in that piece?
KM: We came up for the idea of the song through a video concept. In the middle of the song, you hear the voices of many different people saying various definitions of stereotypes. In those definitions are my three daughters, my wife and my mother. It's really special to be able to have a lot of my family members actually on the album and every time they hear the track they smile and my daughters point out when it's their voice on there.
At the very end, we're in the studio and we're having a conversation about stereotypes. We went around the room with everyone in the studio and said, Well, what's your number one stereotype? And my number one stereotype is the one that actually got on the album.
Black Violin - Stereotypes
You know, in a black man growing up in America, that's how I feel. I feel like people's perceptions of me is different than who I really am and when I tell them that I'm a violinist, they're like, 'Wow, I would have never guessed that.'
So before this album came out, you were touring the country doing a couple hundred shows in a year. You played at President Obama's second inauguration in 2013. You performed with Alicia Keys at the Billboard Music Awards. Do you recall if there was one big break?
WB: I think it was Apollo. This was, like, 2004. Everyone should know what Apollo is. I mean it's Michael Jackson, James Brown, the legends have performed on the stage. We went there and didn't know what to except and we prepared ourselves. It's funny thinking about it then because, back then, seeing all these people booed right before we get on stage -- which is very nerve-racking -- and we went on there and won everything.
Black Violin Apollo
I think at that moment, when we won the whole season, 2005 Apollo Legends, that's when we realized this is something special. I forget where I was working, but I put in my two week notice and I was like, Listen, this is it for me. I'm going all in with this one. So I think at that moment we truly realized we had something special because Apollo, that's the toughest audience in the world. They enjoy booing people. They have a blast just booing you off stage. So to be able to perform on that stage and captivate them in the way that we did, that was it for us.
I always imagine that on the road, backstage classical musicians are sipping mineral water and reading Dostoyevsky while hip hop musicians are downing champagne and dancing with strippers. What's the reality of life backstage for a classical musician and a hip hop band?
WB: You would be surprised how reversed it is.
[Laughs]
KM: I'll say that with us, maybe we split the difference. [Laughs]
Black Violin's new album, "Stereotypes" is out on September 18 on Universal Music Classic