Aloe Blacc
Aloe Blacc
Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III, known as Aloe Blacc, is an American soul artist, vocalist, songwriter, actor, record producer, businessman and musician. He is best known for his singles "I Need a Dollar", UK No. 1 single "The Man", and for writing and performing vocals on Avicii's "Wake Me Up", which charted at #1 in 22 countries...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionSoul Singer
Date of Birth7 January 1979
CityLaguna Beach, CA
CountryUnited States of America
Aloe Blacc quotes about
People in the Middle East may consider the U.S. an evil hegemony that has tainted their culture, but when I look at the growth of racial and ethnic tolerance and understanding in my generation in the U.S., and see those sentiments make it around the world, it makes me feel proud.
Hip-hop educated me about other forms of music, because it sampled from all different styles.
We live in an era of consumerism and it's all about desire-based consumerism and it has nothing to do with things we actually need.
Compassion can change a lot of things, including the world. Young people especially need to know that, because they're the future.
I felt I had an opportunity to follow in the footsteps of great soul musicians of the past, who made a lot of social and political commentary through their music.
In hip-hop, I wasn't very focused on delivering a message. It was just a string of lines that didn't connect. What I wanted to do is write stories... and affect someone's emotions with that song. I think as a soul singer, I'm able to accomplish that.
Music critics think of lyrics first and don't consider melody but so many songs are lyrically depressing but musically great, and that's why they become classics.
Music, especially as an adolescent, helps to build identity because that's when people start developing a sense of self. You can kind of tell based on what music a person listens to what kind of person they'll be pretty much for the rest of their life.
People in the Middle East may consider the U.S. an evil hegemony that has tainted their culture, but when I look at the growth of racial and ethnic tolerance and understanding in my generation in the U.S., and see those sentiments make it around the world, it makes me feel proud.
I continue to write songs that are topically related to social, political and economic issues of our time, but I also recognize that onstage, I have a lot of fun and audiences have a lot of fun, so I'm trying to package the messages in music and sounds that are fun to perform and fun to listen to.
What do you actually need? Food, clothing and shelter. Everything else is entertainment.
America's biggest export is media and I think that's a positive thing.
Salsa, classic rock, soul music, jazz... all of that was a part of my education in making hip-hop music.
I've become more introverted as I've got older. I used to be an outgoing person who joked around a lot, but as the amount of energy I expend by sharing my music has increased, I like to balance it by spending time by myself and recuperating.