It was all a dream...

Prior to starting The Sovereign Space, Chris, Shep, and myself all shared (and sometimes we still do) daydreams of one day working as record label A&Rs. Why? Because, in our minds, we know what quality music should sound like. Are we qualified? Of course we are; we've all been consumers of music since we were able to press play on the tape deck. We also enjoy breaking down artists/songs/albums all the way down to the linear notes and sonic quality.

Lucky for you all, we decided to capture one of our MANY debates about who we think are hot and/or wack. On the surface and to the untrained ear, it may seem as though we all like the same types of music. This may be true, but to the true musical fanatic, one should notice our differences:

Chris is your guy: for all things 80's and R&B, as well as hip hop from the 1980's leading up to the present, with a concentration on mid-late 90's to early 2000. He's also good with recollection of subtleties in videos such as: what color car MC Lyte drove in the "Cha-Cha-Cha" video or what kind of beverage Jay-Z drank in the "Hard Knock Life" video. He's also been known to school the masses on his knowledge of Jazz(I must admit, dude's jazz catalog is pretty thorough).

(Typical Chris play list: The Roots, Coltrane, Blu, Miles, Little Brother, Yasin Bey, Tony Terry, Ornette Coleman, Little Dragon, Marvin Gaye, Sy Smith)

Shep is your guy: for artist catalogs, production notes, samples, lyrical content/intent. He's basically your hub/nerd for all things technical. Though he's rooted in early 90's hip Hop, and an enthusiast for all things Young Hov, don't be surprised if you catch him vibing to The Horrors or The Cold War Kids. If there are any musical facts/trivia that I don't know, chances are, Shep knows the answer and will take it even deeper if possible. He's also a "digger" .
(Typical Shep play list: Kendrick Lamar, Hov, Lenny Kravitz, J*Davey, Dom Kennedy, Jupiter One, The StepKids, Tiron, Pac Div)

Me(Jamaal): I'd like to think I'm able to rock with either of the aforementioned homies. I love searching for original samples and am a huge fan of cohesive production efforts. Though I'm partial to more underground artists for my majority listening enjoyment, I have been known to really enjoy some guilty pleasures. I constantly quiz Shep on music video trivia(because I know he doesn't know the answer) just to boost my ego. However my efforts sometimes come short when going tit-for-tat with Chris. I'm rooted in hip hop, but Folk and bluegrass have been dominating my daily listenings for some time now.

(Typical Jamaal play list: Shakey Graves, The Black Keys, Bob Dylan, Outkast, Goodie Mob, Curren$y, Johnny Flynn, Gary Clark Jr.)

The video below captures only a smudge of the many convos we share. 98% of the time, we're talking music, the remaining percentage is usually college football, and other lies.

Enjoy!