The Ebony J Show Presents Feature Friday Artist "Nostalgia"

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Ebony J Show Feature Artist this week is Nostalgia.

Nostalgia

Where are you from? How has it influenced your sound?

Nostalgia is from Pittsfield, Massachusetts. 413. The City of Pity. Theres a lot of drug addiction and negativity in and around the area. Amidst all that we found hip hop. So you hear the stories of life in our area, good and bad, and you’ll here our love for the art that came from our surroundings.

I would say your music is like a mix between Hip hop and Rap? How did that happen?

We grew up on Hip hop & Rap music and many other genres of music. We think that listening to such a broad range of music probably helped our music to blend genres. The Rap music being played on radios these days has its part but it seems like most of it is the same thing. We want our music to have a message, tell a story, be fun, and appeal to wide range of people while not being boxed in to one category.

How did you guys meet? How long have yall been working together?

We all first met by being involved in different forms of hip hop in the local scene. Dram & J.Soul were rhyming, Jake Case was DJing, & QuiKMonEE was BBoying. Jake Case & QuiKMonEE’s high school friend Swan, brought us all together at his crib for freestyle sessions and chopping it up about Hip hop. It became a weekly thing. This was late 1990’s.

We didn’t start working together collectively until 2010 as Nostalgia. We really were just making songs with no plans or goals until we performed our first show for the Word X Word Festival, an up and coming annual festival in western Massachusetts. We formed in 2010 and really started building Nostalgia in 2011.

When we hit the stage it felt right, like we needed to moving forward as a group.

Nostalgia pic 2

What can we expect from this album that’s different from what you put out in 2011 and 2012?

Timeless is a more focused, diverse, cohesive project. An ever evolving sound that will continue to redefine itself.

What are your thoughts on hip hop? What attracted you to it?

Thats a tough question to answer as a group. We all love the culture of hip hop.The rawness of it. The feeling you got when you first heard a certain song or beat. The fact that all expressions were accepted. It was dope to have your own style to stand out as yourself and be accepted and respected for it.

How do Nostalgia separate yourselves from other artists?

We’re not worried about that. We’re not following what’s hot on the radio or whats the new trend. We’re doing what we feel and live. The music defines us we don’t define the music.

Who has influenced the style of the group ?

We wouldn’t say any particular group influenced our style but many paved the way for what were doing today. We have great respect for groups like Gang Starr, D.I.T.C., Outkast, Beatnuts, The Roots, Slum Village, Wu-Tang, Black Moon, Smiff n Wessun, O.C., Nas, KRS-One, CRU, Alkaholiks, Redman, Mobb Deep, Kanye, Little Brother, Alchemist. This list could go on and on but we’ll cut it there.

What was it like sharing the stage with Raekwon and Sean Price?

It was a blessing to share a stage with somebody who’s music you’ve respected and admired. It felt great to get love from them and feel like we belonged on the stage with them. This opened our eyes to the fact that we could bring it to the next level and make our dreams reality.

Today’s music is about collaborations what “hot” rapper out now, would you guys love to work with on a project with in the future?

Some collaborations we’d look forward too are; J.Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Andre 3000, Nas, Styles P, Black Thought, Marco Polo, Phonte, Jay Rock

It was a pleasure getting to know Nostalgia. If you would like to learn more information about this group visit their website HERE.

If you would like to be my next Feature artist please send music and bio to mej@ebonyjshow.com . The Ebony J Show is The Only Show Where Real Talk, Meets Real People.