Soul 2 Soul with Dwele
Some things are worth the wait. It’s been two years since Dwele’s critically acclaimed album Subject made a lasting impression on soul music fans with it’s jazz infused r&b and hip hop grooves. The Detroit native has enhanced the projects of others with his heavenly smooth vocals but loyal fans who first heard his “Rize” demo tape have been awaiting more of Dwele’s solo divineness. He offers more of his melodic tones over retro soul sounds and jazzy riffs to familiar fans and first time listeners with his new album Some Kinda. We first talked to Dwele (pronounced DWELL- ay; means ‘God has brought me’ in Swahili) after the first single “I Think I Love U” was released. He’s back again to talk about his much anticipated album finally in stores October 4.

His groove-heavy sophomore album gives us what he calls “baby-making music” that speaks to the mind, like the romantic “Lay It Down” as well as to the body, such as the sultry “Weekend Love.” In addition to his sexy ballads, he also offers danceable tracks like “Keep On” featuring Slum Village and “Flapjacks” the first song he wrote and produced for this album. He states “I wanted to write a song that had a Southern-type bounce to it but still had that Dwele feel.”

Dwele, the one man band (he plays piano, trumpet, flugelhorn, sax, guitar and bass) wrote and produced the majority of songs on the album. It features his brother Antwan Gardner, Poppa Yo, Slum Village, Boney James and additional production from Mike City (Bilal, Dave Hollister), Jay Dilla and G-1 (R. Kelly, Raphael Saadiq). About the album title Dwele says “At the end of the day, it all comes down to what you’re leaving behind on this earth, what kind of love you’ve left for the people in your life…It’s about discovering what your “Some Kinda” is.”

“Some Kinda” is available at your local record store and online at Amazon and iTunes. I’d like to say a very special thank you to Dwele who did this interview on an hour’s sleep after flying home to Detroit, not to mention in the middle of repairing his ‘63 Lincoln Continental for a photoshoot and he was even patient enough to wait on me while I fixed some computer problems. That’s “Some Kinda” wonderful guy.

In this edition of Soul 2 Soul, Dwele discusses his new album and answers questions that I invited some of my readers/listeners to ask. Thank you to everyone who submitted those wonderful questions.

Listen to Soul 2 Soul with Dwele

This entry was posted on Monday, October 3rd, 2005 at 6:00 am and is filed under Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. Or, if you wish, you can find all the posts honeysoul