Wednesday, June 30, 2010
by Joanie Cox for City Link Magazine
Kev Marcus and Wil B, both 28, met while attending Dillard High School of Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale. Back then, they were heavily into the music of Tupac, Busta Rhymes, Common, Wu-Tang Clan and Notorious B.I.G. “We were like any other Fort Lauderdale kids,” Marcus recalls. “I remember listening to Skee-Lo and Common bringing me into hip-hop. Wil used to listen to D’Angelo and Brian McKnight. Then, he got into Curtis Mayfield.” As much as they loved hip-hop and R&B, the students spent much of their time studying more-traditional music: Wil B was mastering the viola and Marcus was honing his skills on the violin. After graduating from Dillard, Marcus attended Florida International University on a music scholarship and Wil B went to Florida State.
“The first day I was at FIU, I had a professor named Chauncey Patterson, and I walked in ready to perform for him,” Marcus remembers. “He said, ‘Put your instrument away. I want to give you this tape.’ And he gave me this tape which was unbelievable — classical violin with soul and fire. I loved it. I listened to the album all the time trying to figure out how this guy was playing that stuff. The album was called Black Violin and it was by Stuff Smith.”
Marcus passed the tape on to Wil B, and they decided to form a band and call it Black Violin. “It changed our outlook and what was popular with the violin,” Marcus explains. “It was kind of the moment of genius where we decided to take it further. That album is very important in what Black Violin is.”
In 2004, the pair performed with Alicia Keys at the Billboard Awards. A year later, Black Violin brought down the Apollo Theater in Harlem. The duo then caught the attention of Linkin Park singer Mike Shinoda, who took them on tour with his side group, Fort Minor. “Mike really taught us so much, like how to be professional,” Marcus says. “That group showed us what hard work can really get you. And they’re so humble and down to Earth.”
Black Violin, which will play Revolution Live Saturday, July 10, released BV Mixtape Series: Unleashed in 2006, a self-titled album in 2007 and Unleashed II last year. The duo recently went back into the studio to record a new album, slated for release at the end of this year or early 2011. “It’s going to be fresh and very high energy — you know, like Black Violin albums are,” Wil B says. “Our writing comes in so many different ways, it’s hard to describe. Sometimes, we’ll have a beat. And then, we’ll improv on it. We’ll build around that and go from there.” During their concerts, Black Violin plays medleys of original songs, classical music and tunes you’d hear on Power 96. “Most of our crowds are brand-new crowds, and you don’t know what to expect. So the first 10 minutes of the show people are kind of shocked,” Marcus explains. “We warm you up to the idea. We give the audience a little at a time. By the end of the show, we can just be wild because then they know who we are. It’s a pattern of how it always works.”
Wil B says the duo’s appearance often surprises audiences. “These two black guys come out with violins, and people are wondering, ‘What are they gonna do with that? They’re playing hip-hop?’” Wil B says. “The crowds are sometimes analyzing what they’re looking at. We play a very energetic song called ‘Jammin’ from our album [Black Violin], and they get us right away. At the end of the show, everybody’s out of their seats, waving their hands and having a good time.”
A typical Black Violin set will include songs by artists as diverse as Damian Marley, Keri Hilson, Notorious B.I.G., Coldplay and Johann Sebastian Bach. “It’s a wide, wide range — a musical journey,” Marcus says. “It’s a long, powerful show that has ups and downs. But the violin is really a catalyst between all genres of music.”
From Aug. 8 to 18, Black Violin will tour Kuwait and Iraq. “Playing for the troops and the families of the troops is also important to us,” Marcus says. “We visited bases throughout Germany and Japan in the past. It’s an honor. Our music is so broad it works everywhere — even in the Middle East.”
While Black Violin has performed dozens of shows in New York, Chicago and Philadelphia, Marcus and Wil B are eager to perform in their hometown, which they rarely do.
“This is a homecoming show for us,” says Marcus, who loves stopping at LaSpada’s for an Italian hoagie when he’s home. “We’re still based here, but we travel so much. People here still don’t really know or understand what Black Violin is. We’re just kind of that group you may have seen a while ago playing in a corner and it was more for the shock factor. We’ve grown a lot and we’re excited to show everyone what we’re doing now.”
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