When you think of classical music, chances are you don’t often think of an underlying hip-hop beat.
That's where two musicians, Wil Baptiste and Kev Marcus come in.
The pair has been blending hip-hop with classical music for more than 18 years.
Before the pandemic, they traveled the country, visiting low-income communities to show children how to defy society’s perception of what defines a “classical musician.”
WKAR's Megan Schellong spoke with Baptiste, who is half of the duo, Black Violin, to discuss how the two met and what message they hope to share with their music.
Interview Highlights
On how Wil and Kev got their start
Kev and I started playing in orchestra class in high school. And we went our separate ways in college, I went to Florida State, he went to FIU. And hip- hop was always something that was always in us, you know, we were hip-hop before we were classical. Then we came back together and started producing, I mean, the idea for us is we wanted to be the next major producers, like Timbaland or Neptunes because we wanted to incorporate classical music and these genres in a way that no one's ever done.
On Wil's favorite piece to perform
It's a classic Black Violin song because it’s beautiful strings on top and hard-hitting beat on the bottom. It's high energy. It's hype. And the song talks about stereotypes because of, when you see us two black guys, you know, walking out with cases on our hands, you're not assuming that these are violins in these cases. So we co me across a lot of stereotypes when it comes to that. So we thought this song was very fitting, and it just really resembles and it really showcases our sound and who we are, musically.
On the message Wil and Kev are hoping to send with their music
Our message, really, is just to be yourself, be who you are. You know, our tool is the violins and viola. But your tool can be anything. Whether it's words, spoken word, whether it’s, you know, another instrument, it doesn't matter what it is. Everybody has a thing that they can use to impact and inspire the world and the violin is the thing that we use, and I think one of the key components of that is to be true to who you are.
Interview transcript
Megan Schellong: When you think of classical music, chances are you don’t often think of this...
[ clip of “Stereotypes” plays ]
That’s the sound of Black Violin.
Members Kev Marcus and Wil Baptiste have been blending together hip-hop with classical music for more than 18 years.
Before the pandemic, they traveled the country visiting low-income communities to show children how to defy society’s perception of what defines a “classical musician.”
Baptiste is half of the duo, Black Violin, and joins me now to discuss his start.
Wil, thanks for joining me.
Wil Baptiste: Awesome, thanks for having me.
Schellong: Can you talk about how the group came together?
Baptiste: Well, Kev and I started playing in orchestra class in high school. And we went our separate ways in college, I went to Florida State, he went to [Florida International University]. And hip-hop was always something that was always in us, you know, we were hip-hop before we were classical. Then we came back together and started producing, I mean, the idea for us is we wanted to be the next major producers, like Timbaland or Neptunes because we wanted to incorporate classical music and these genres in a way that no one's ever done. And that was, that was the whole idea. But playing on top of popular music, playing on top of hip-hop music was very easy to us, we grew up doing it. So it wasn't anything that we thought was cool.
Schellong: How did you and Kev break out to where you guys decided to do this for a living?
Baptiste: Until we started performing with local artists in South Florida. And, you know, we had our own label, and we started noticing how people were very drawn to us, you know, and then we decided, 'oh okay, let's pursue this artistry thing, you know, let's be, let's put the instrument in the forefront instead of the background,' you know, and, and that's kind of how it started. And from there we went on Apollo, if you don't know about Apollo, Apollo, is kind of like a competition show, we went on that stage and won the whole thing, and that's when we realized we had something special and from there we just started touring and putting our show together in a way that made sense to us in terms of how we wanted to convey our music, you know, that's the story in a nutshell.
Schellong: What’s your favorite piece to perform?
Baptiste: My favorite piece to perform was probably Stereotypes.
And the reason why is, it’s just a, it's a classic Black Violin song because it’s beautiful strings on top and hard-hitting beat on the bottom. It's high energy. It's hype. And the song talks about stereotypes because of, when you see us two black guys, you know, walking out with cases on our hands, you're not assuming that these are violins in these cases. So we co me across a lot of stereotypes when it comes to that. So we thought this song was very fitting, and it just really resembles and it really showcases our sound and who we are, musically.
Schellong: What message are you hoping to send with your work?
Baptiste: Our message, really, is just to be yourself, be who you are. You know, our tool is the violins and viola. But your tool can be anything. Whether it's words, spoken word, whether it’s, you know, another instrument, it doesn't matter what it is.
Everybody has a thing that they can use to impact and inspire the world and the violin is the thing that we use, and I think one of the key components of that is to be true to who you are.
And I think for us, we're on stage I'm completely being who I am: Wil Baptiste, and if you like it great, if you don't, you know, it's okay, press fast forward. That's the biggest advice.
Schellong: One of the other pieces you’ve selected to share with us today is called Serenade. Why did you choose this one?
Baptiste: Serenade is a really, really dope song. And again, it's just a classic Black Violin song. And what's unique about this song versus Stereotype is how it's moving.
You know, if you go to a classical concert, there's a conductor in the middle, conducting and directing the musicians. And this song kind of moves in that way, you know, there's no one consistent movement, it kind of just moves, how it wants to move. So that's, that's unique thing about that song particularly as it relates to hip-hop.
And the beat is actually moving to the violin. It’s a clear hip-hop beat, right? When you listen to it, there's no doubt about it that it’s hip-hop.
When you listen to the violins, there's no doubt this is classical on top of hip-hop. So the two worlds are very cut and dry. If you muted the beat, and you took away the beat, and you hear just the strings, you would hear the strings where they are, you know, we use acoustic instruments and you can hear the overtones you can hear the body of the strings when we play it. And you take the strings out, right, and you just have just the beat, that's, that's what we do. You know what I'm saying, and it blows people's minds because people don't think those two worlds can coexist. And, and we are two, we are both of these worlds at the same time. So I think for us, it's very natural and organically how we do it.
Schellong: Kev Marcus and Wil Baptiste are part of Black Violin. They’re performing at the Cobb Great Hall at the Wharton Center tonight at 7:30 p.m.
Wil, thanks for your time.
Baptiste: Thank you, thanks for having me.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.