Aloe Blacc, in tan matching vest and slim slacks of a conservative yet undeniably stylish cut – not to mention a petit chapeau the same color as his shirt – simultaneously radiates a kind of youthful, artistic ingenuousness along with sophisticated, worldly charm.
At least, that was how he appeared on Sunday afternoon in the permanent midnight of the lobby of the W Hotel in Times Square, despite his obvious jet lag—he’d just flown in the hour before from a gig in Cannes and time in the north of France.
But once up on the green post-industrial strip that is Highline Park – where we were set to shoot footage for an upcoming music video – Blacc revealed all the on-call energy of a man who is, first and last, a performer.
Yet the musician we know as Aloe Blacc (legally, Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III) is more than sweet voice and good stage presence. Songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and, indubitably, soulful crooner extraordinaire, Blacc has been performing since 1995, first as part of the indie-rap duo Emanon (w/ DJ Exile) and since at least 2003 as a solo artist.
Blacc has received increasing accolades, both in this country and worldwide. But instead of resting on any laurels or pursuing the kind of career laid out for the typical male R&B vocalist, he consistently creates music that takes risks, adopts unusual voices, and even issue challenges.
The best – and certainly the best known – example of this penchant is his hit single (and How to Make It in America theme song) “I Need a Dollar”, a catchy, sleekly-packaged imperative to listen to the kinds of people and stories which are both all too common and often ignored.
“Baby” (performed with Alice Smith) is one of Blacc’s three contributions to Red Hot’s newest record, Red Hot + Rio 2. It’s a song of similar lyrical depth and irony, a poetic translation of a Caetano Veloso original, and the track leads off the album.
