AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Here's where Aloe Blacc finds inspiration and grace.
ALOE BLACC: The African proverb that says, if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DON'T GO ALONE")
BLACC: (Singing) I'm no sinner, but I've sinned.
RASCOE: The musical artist has just released a new album, his sixth. It's called "Stand Together," and it meditates on the need for compassion and community in the United States and beyond.
BLACC: Rugged individualism is a concept that does not foster support or sustain community. We need to really look toward the people at our left and our right, the people in front of us, behind us, as our support network.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DON"T GO ALONE")
BLACC: (Singing) Don't go alone. Don't go alone. Don't go alone. If you go by yourself, you can go much faster. But if you wait for me, we can go much farther. Don't go alone.
RASCOE: Aloe Blacc's message was shaped by personal experiences and observations.
BLACC: Since high school, I've had a number of friends deeply affected by substance abuse and, in some cases, culminated in self-harm. And so to the extent that I can be helpful, I want to offer my words that my friends or that others that I don't know who are struggling can have to overcome their situation.
RASCOE: Were there things happening in your life while you were making this album that made you want to put out these sorts of messages?
BLACC: Yeah, absolutely. There's always something. You know, I'm a global citizen, and I recognize challenges across the world. And I also recognize community heroes standing up and holding a community on their shoulders.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NOT ON MY WATCH")
BLACC: (Singing) Not on my watch. Oh, not on my watch. Not while I'm around with all the love that I've got. Not on my...
RASCOE: You have a song, "Not On My Watch." That one has more of an acoustic, almost country sound. What's this song about?
BLACC: You know, "Not On My Watch" was inspired by a documentary film called "Following Harry." It's about the last decade or so of Harry Belafonte's life and how he was passing the torch of activism and artistry to the next generations of artists. But the reason why this song is with sort of an acoustic feel is because of this legacy of movement music - the Pete Seegers and the Woody Guthries, who used their voices to speak truth to power, just their voice and a guitar.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NOT ON MY WATCH")
BLACC: (Singing) The greed of businessmen at work. The selfish need to be ranked first pollutes our air and poisons Earth and leaves our sacred waters cursed. But God made everybody equal to fight for power to the people. And make a vow you won't allow another mother's tear to drop. Not on my watch. Oh, not on my watch.
RASCOE: Well, can I talk to you about your - how your love for music began? I understand you began playing the trumpet in elementary school.
BLACC: Yeah, I was lucky enough to be at a school that still had a music program and became a fan of jazz music. You know, Dizzy Gillespie, and he had a song called "Emanon," which is no name backwards. So I named my first hip-hop group Emanon. Hip-hop was my very first love. I got deeply involved in writing lyrics, started recording. In hip-hop, we sample from so many different genres. So I was sampling from classic rock, classic jazz, soul music. And it was the singer/songwriters within these genres that inspired me to start writing in a different way and starting to use melody in a different way.
RASCOE: You said you are a global citizen, and you can kind of - I felt like I kind of heard some of that on this album. There were some Caribbean vibes.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHAT'S GOING ON")
BLACC: (Singing) I say to the mother, mother, mothers, mother, mother, mothers, there's too many of you crying. I say to my brother, brother, brothers, brother, brother, brothers, there are far too many of you dying. You know we've got to find a way. We've got to find a way. We've got to find a way. To bring some loving here today. Bring loving here.
RASCOE: Obviously, that's Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On." This is your interpretation of it. What made you go in that direction?
BLACC: Yes. Well, Marvin Gaye - one of his contemporaries is Bob Marley. And I wanted to do this sort of musical dialogue between Marvin Gaye and Bob Marley - so roots reggae and classic soul - because of the way that these two individuals, these two artists, showed up with message music. Which I think is one of the things that I'm trying to impress upon my peers - is that, as much fun as you want to have as an artist, have your fun, but also give us some substance because there's an opportunity for that fun to translate in joy and action. And that's what I got from "Buffalo Soldier" as much as I got from "What's Going On."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHAT"S GOING ON")
BLACC: (Singing) What's going on? What's going on? What's going on? What's going on? What's going on? What's going on? What's going on? What's going on?
RASCOE: There is so much division and anger in this country right now. What do you want your music to give to people, especially at this moment? And what do you say to those people who may say, well, I don't want to come together with everybody right now, I don't know that we need to be standing together?
BLACC: Well, I look at my heroes - Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. - and I think about what they would say. All of my heroes had to contend with their so-called enemies. They had to speak to them. They had to be in rooms with them and negotiate. And at the end of the day, we have to be able to listen to our better angels.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "STAND TOGETHER")
BLACC: (Singing) Now, it's obvious we don't see the world the same. You've got your point of view on what you feel is true. No, we don't have to play that silly game of who's more right than who. But even if you do, I'm going to try, try, try to listen to you and give you my, my, my...
RASCOE: That's musician Aloe Blacc talking about his new album, "Stand Together." Thank you so much for joining us.
BLACC: Thank you. I appreciate you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "STAND TOGETHER")
BLACC: (Singing) But maybe we can agree on one thing. We can change this world forever, if we all just stand together. Put our differences aside. Swallow all that foolish pride. Can't you see it's now or never? Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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