World Music Foundation Podcast The World Music Foundation

Many articles, films, and interviews have been made about Illmind’s extraordinary career producing many albums for several of the top names in Hip-Hop today. This isn’t one of those interviews. In this week’s episode, John digs deep into the early experiences and upbringing that shaped Ramon Ibanga Jr - AKA !llmind - as a musician and planted the seeds of what has become a life’s quest towards community building. After years of social innovation within the Producer Community, we catch up with this 2x GRAMMY Award winning artist just days before he speaks at Gary Vaynerchuck’s VeeCon and just a couple months after the launch of his landmark NFT project: Squad of Knights. 



MUSICAL MENTIONS

0:00:10 World Music Foundation Podcast

0:00:12 John Gardner 0:00:18 GRAMMY 0:00:20 Multi-Platinum 0:00:21 Producer 0:00:26 !llmind (aka Illmind)

0:00:38 Last Week’s Episode

0:00:48 Si Kahn 0:01:07 VeeCon 0:01:16 NFT 0:01:21 Gary Vaynerchuk

0:01:29 Squad of Knights

0:02:22 BLAP Kit Volume 13

0:02:44 Jay Z 0:02:44 Beyoncé 0:02:44 Drake 0:02:44 Eminem 0:03:00 Hamilton Mixtape

0:03:02 Black Panther: The Album

0:03:17 “You’re Welcome” (from Disney’s Moana)

0:04:19 Music Business 0:04:32 NFT 0:04:32 Blockchain Technology

0:05:38 New Jersey 0:06:33 Musician 0:06:34 Guitar 0:06:38 Wedding Band 0:06:36 Band 0:06:50 F.A.M.E. (Filipino American Music Entertainment)

0:07:26 Instruments 0:07:32 Drums 0:08:00 80s 0:08:01 90s 0:08:04 Soul 0:08:05 70s Soul 0:08:06 Funk 0:08:07 Jazz 0:08:15 Hip-Hop 0:08:35 LPs 0:08:36 Vinyl 0:08:44 Stereo Systems 0:08:47 Cassettes 0:08:52 CDs 0:09:13 Disco 0:09:21 Mambo Number 5

0:09:24 Electric Slide 0:09:41 Covers 0:09:53 Rhythms 0:09:54 Chords 0:09:58 Dance Floor   Filipino Culture   Philippines   Karaoke   Singing   Guitar   American Dream

  America 0:14:36 Disco 0:14:36 Classic Rock 0:14:58 Hip-Hop 0:15:06 Producer 0:15:34 J Dilla 0:15:36 Beats 0:15:37 Fantastic Volume 2

0:15:38 DJ Premier 0:15:40 Gangstarr 0:15:42 Mannie Fresh 0:15:46 TR808 0:15:46 Bounce Beats 0:16:17 Beat Machines 0:16:18 MPC 0:16:43 Compose 0:16:44 Keyboard 0:18:11 Roland 0:18:18 Swizz Beatz 0:18:18 DMX 0:18:24 DMX’s Second Album

0:18:59 Pete Rock 0:18:59 DJ Quik 0:18:59 Dr. Dre 0:20:02 undergroundhiphop.com

  Music Producer Community Forum

  Producer   Beats 0:20:23 SoundCloud 0:20:32 Bounce an MP3   Single 0:21:48 Akrobatik 0:21:56 Remind My Soul   12-Inch Vinyl Single

0:22:11 Fat Beats NYC   Mount Rushmore of Hip-Hop

  Jay Z   Beyoncé   Kanye West   J Cole 0:24:48 Little Brother 0:24:58 Atlantic Records 0:25:16 G Unit   G Unit Records 0:25:59 Cruel Summer 0:26:11 Rhymefest 0:27:20 Pass the Aux 0:28:09 BLAP 0:28:22 DJ 0:28:32 Cypher 0:28:47 New York City 0:29:12 BLAP on the Radio

0:29:57 Recording Studio

0:30:32 Web 3 0:31:21 Bitcoin 0:32:00 Squad of Knights

0:32:02 NFT 0:32:59 Piano 0:33:00 Guitar 0:33:01 Drum Set 0:33:02 Beat Machines 0:33:33 Music Software 0:33:35 Music Hardware 0:33:39 Cables   BLAP Kit 0:35:19 ZIP File 0:37:20 Snare 0:37:26 EQ 0:37:35 TR-88 Machine 0:37:38 Foley 0:37:55 Sound Design   Squad of Knights

  Rhymefest   Skyzoo   Live from the Tape Deck by Skyzoo and Illmind

  Kanye West   Audio Engineers   Music Producers

  PFP   Moonwalk   Wallet   Metaverse   Gary Vaynerchuk

  VeeCon   Discord   Chronicles of S.O.K. (Squad of K

Juno award-winning, Eritrian krar player, Daniel Nebiat joins John to talk about his journey playing the krar. From growing up in the midst of a war for independence to working with African legends, Daniel Nebiat shares the ways he had to persevere, adapt, and innovate to continue pursuing his passion for music. Currently based in Toronto, he is a founding member of the Okavango African Orchestra, where he and African musicians from six other countries create original music for traditional instruments that have historically had little or no interaction. Whether he’s talking about krar, family, or food, “Toronto’s Krar Star” does not disappoint!


MUSICAL MENTIONS:
00:04 The World Music Foundation
00:08 John Gardner
00:15 Krar
00:17 JUNO Award
00:18 Okavango African Orchestra
00:20 Daniel Nebiat
2:24 China
2:25 India
2:26 Femi Kuti
2:27 Nigeria
2:28 Côte D’Ivoire
2:29 United States
3:16 Eritrea
3:17 East Africa
4:32 ACDC
4:33 Guns n’ Roses
4:35 Jimi Hendrix
4:52 Country
4:53 Donald Williams
4:54 Kenneth Rogers
4:55 Dolly Parton
5:07 Blues
5:09 Muddy Waters
5:10 B.B. King
6:14 Poland
6:15 Italy
6:19 Jamaica
6:40 Guitar
7:39 Highway to Hell
9:30 Ethiopian New Year
9:33 Hoyena hoye
12:54 Piano
16:50 Halloween
17:36 Asmara
20:17 Addis Ababa
21:15 Kenya
21:28 Habtom
21:46 Eritrea Independence Day
24:48 Canada
25:02 Pearson International Airport
25:18 Texas
25:19 Chicago
25:21 Cafe
27:32 Tewelde Reda
29:02 Tewelde Reda-Memona
29:30 Tigrinya
29:36 Amsterdam
29:48 The Ex
29:53 Tsehaytu Beraki
30:52 Guayla
31:03 Senegal
31:22 Morocco
32:46 Harp
34:46 Pentatonic Scale
35:52 Seven-string bass
49:40 Mussie Zekarias
49:50 Isaak Okbay
41:12 Kora
44:20 Madagascar
45:21 Afrofest
46:12 Musica
52:46 Mèla Testègn
59:38 Italy
1:00:02 Seun Kuti
1:00:06 Seun Kuti & Egypt 80-Rise
1:03:38 Bruce Springsteen 
1:03:40 Bruce Springsteen-Born To Run
1:04:49 Daniel Nebiat-Harvata

Like all of us, the global pandemic has hit The World Music Foundation hard. We're excited to return soon and we're excited to share with you a sneak peek of upcoming episodes along with some updates on what we've been up to. 

In this week’s episode John meets with American rapper and prolific creator, Che “Rhymefest” Smith to discuss Hip-Hop, his upcoming album, and Hollywood acting debut, along with topics ranging from Chicago’s youth, spirituality, various life changing trips around the world, and much more. Rhymefest's upcoming album is titled Love Lessons Part 1, and as you'll hear in this conversation, Love is a topic at front of mind right now for Che. This episode also includes the world-premier of an amazing track from the upcoming album, featuring Black Thought (aka Tariq Trotter of The Roots) & Raheem DeVaughn. Rhymefest has won multiple Grammys, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award, but as he says: that stuff you can just Google; in this conversation he goes much deeper.


MUSICAL MENTIONS:

00:12 John Gardner
00:22 Che “Rhymefest” Smith
00:33 World Music Foundation
03:17 Black Thought
03:18 Raheem DeVaughn
04:25 Australia
04:26 New Zealand
04:27 Singapore
04:28 Hong Kong
06:03 Baobab Tree
06:06 Africa
06:07 East Africa
06:08 Madagascar
06:13 Griot
06:19 Taiwan
06:21 Alishan Forest
08:09 Ghana
08:18 American Slavery
09:15 Igbo
09:16 Kikuyu
09:17 Mandingo
09:18 Maa’sai
11:01 In My Father’s House
13:57 Art of Culture
15:55 Drum
15:56 Poetry
15:58 Singing
16:18 Coca Leaves
16:53 Musician
15:54 Instrument
16:55 Prince
16:56 Kanye West
22:43 A&R
26:04 Hollywood
26:11The Public
29:06 Hip-Hop
29:10 Rock
33:33 Floyd Mayweather
33:50 Muhammed Ali
33:52 Mike Tyson
34:08 Bruce Lee
35:47 Peru
36:07 Champa
37:38 Amazonian Jungle
39:37 Japan
40:47 79th street
40:51 Mexian Pyramids
42:43 Atlanta
42:50 Pete Buttigieg
44:03 Stony Island
44:19 The Dan Ryan
51:20 Indian Classical Music
51:21 Afrobeat
51:22 Blues
51:50 Iran
51:52 19th Century Hafez
52:04 Jamaica
52:21 Jay Z
52:25 Verse
52:33 Mauritania
52:59 Colombia
53:00 Palenque village
54:58 Wolof
55:05 Croatia
55:08 Yugoslavian war
55:18 Kosovo
56:35 Wu Tang Clan
56:41 Mobb Deep
59:11 Jazzy Jeff
59:17 Ghana
59:29 Eritrea
59:30 Ethiopia
59:31 Uganda
59:32 Tanzania
59:33 Rwanda

Wu Fei describes herself as an ancient soul trapped in a feisty woman's body. Hailing from Beijing, China, Wu Fei is a multi-talented musician and composer known for playing and improvising on the traditional Chinese guzheng as well as improvisational singing and piano. Fei talks to John about her life as a child prodigy, transitioning from China to the U.S., how both countries have influenced her and her music, and what it was like to hear American music for the first time in her teenage years. She also discusses her critically acclaimed original work "Hello Gold Mountain."
 
MUSICAL MENTIONS
 






0:09 World Music Foundation
0:11 John Gardner
0:16 Wu Fei
0:18 Guzheng
0:25 Tone
1:43 Pitch
1:44 Rhythm
4:06 Sanxian
4:08 Fret
4:09 Banjo
4:52 Music Theory
4:55 China Conservatory of Music
5:13 Piano
5:18 Western Classical Music
6:10 Chinese Music
10:44 African Dance
10:46 Indian Dance
13:07 Michael Jackson
13:08 Madonna
13:10 Jazz
13:12 Kitaro
13:13 Taiko Drum
13:14 Koto
13:28 American Music
15:38 John Cage
15:50 Compose
17:20 String Quartet
17:35 Shostakovich
17:36 Brahmes
17:38 Jimmi Hendrix
18:58 Northern Texas Music College
24:46 West-African Drumming and Dance Ensemble
24:48 Northern Indian Raga
24:52 Percussion
24:52 Marching Band
25:53 Mills College
26:02 Improvisation
27:58 Hello Golden Mountain
28:49 Ravi Shankar
30:13 Soloist
32:02 Indian Music
36:56 Chatterbird
38:50 Celine Thackston
39:48 National Symphony
41:36 Oud
41:36 Shanir Blumenkranz
42:25 Mei-Ann-Chen
44:16 Harp
44:25 Keyboard
44:49 Vibrato
48:11 Bach
48:12 Ravel
48:51 Abigail Washburne
49:13 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

This week's episode takes us to Nashville, TN, USA where John visits Weirdo Workshop, the music label and creative headquarters for our guests, Louis York, to speak with them about their new album and everything that's brought them to this point in their careers. Louis York is the powerful duo and creation of multi-GRAMMY nominated songwriting and production team, Claude Kelly and Chuck Harmony. Kelly, a 4x Grammy Award nominee, and Harmony, a 3x Grammy Award nominee and 2011 NAACP Image Award winner, both together and apart have written and produced hits for a long list of multi-platinum recording artists including Rihanna, Bruno Mars, Miley Cyrus, and Whitney Houston to name a few. Their debut album is titled American Griots and it's a sonic adventure that's deserving of their incredible backstory.