Mike Bishop stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about all things 

 — including its free event, The Function “Block Party” on June 13.

Hey y'all, we back with another community voice. This person is the director of operations and a lead producer at 

. But before I get into this, Public Functionary is an artist-led space in Northeast Minneapolis to dream and live in a world where multifaceted identities are celebrated and centered. Young people, I'm talking about this all the time. Their mission is to support the expression of art and culture through studios, galleries, and performance space, and here to talk about that is Mike Bishop. Yay, welcome!

For those of us who don't know about you, because I've heard of your name before, and I've heard of Public Functionary, but just give us an elevator pitch about who you are and what you do around town.

Yeah, absolutely. With many small organizations, you wear a lot of hats. So what I do would probably, at a larger organization, be like three or four people's jobs. So I am the director of operations at Public Functionary, which on that side of my work, is really kind of like behind the scenes, admin, making sure that things run smoothly, financial management, planning strategy. The stuff you gotta do to make it work, but you know, the things that I used to honestly procrastinate a lot on, but now over the years have gotten better at putting those things first on my to-do list to get out of the way, so that I can then get to the things that feed me a little bit more in the creative work with Public Functionary. But also with the Director of Operations position, I'm really kind of managing how we do things on a day-to-day basis in the space, and also making sure that that aligns with our vision and our mission as an organization. And then the other part of my job, which is really kind of what I consider to be more of my artistic practice, is the lead production role, which is working in space with artists of all disciplines, so from musicians to performers, dancers, visual artists, to help them take their ideas and their visions and materialize them and turn them into something that can happen, and to help them kind of think those things through.

Specifically in the Twin Cities, what gap do you feel like the Public Functionary is filling?

Yeah, so we started Public Functionary in 2012, that is just crazy to go back to. But prior to starting Public Functionary, my co-director, co-founder, and myself, Tricia Heuring, who I've been working with for that entire time, were working in two other art spaces, XY&Z Gallery, which was leaning more of like a commercial gallery space, and CO exhibitions, which was a little bit more of like a project-oriented space. And so between the work that we were doing in those spaces, we were both still relatively young and kind of figuring out where we fit into the ecosystem in Minneapolis, and it was bringing up more questions than really answers or necessarily us being able to say like, "Let's fill this hole," but it was kind of like, "Why are we not seeing particular artists shown more, particularly artists of color? Why are we not seeing more young people in spaces? Why are people not feeling comfortable in art spaces?" Like, all of these things were kind of percolating for us in our work, and Tricia, who is Thai, was kind of also like, "Where do I fit in as a curator of color in this scene, and where is the space for me?" We kind of created this space, but then I would say the community really kind of started to fill in the holes and help us understand what was really needed, and the more we saw the overlap between these different creatives working together, we started to see what ultimately would become Public Functionary in terms of this multidisciplinary production space, where we really support artists in whatever their visions may be. I've been reading a book recently called ‘The Land Knows the Way' by Ricardo Levins Morales, who is an artist, educator, activist, organizer in the Twin Cities, has been all over the place; he just published this book recently. He's like a gem to the city, the work that he does. You've probably actually seen a poster of his or something somewhere, if you look it up, you're like, "Oh, I've seen that" or heard that quote, you know. And so the book is kind of connecting ecological systems to organizing, and how the two kind of inform each other. One of the chapters is about the importance of soil, and as I was reading this, I had to go back and reread it, actually, because it started to bring up feelings for me and thoughts around what is Public Functionary in this creative ecosystem, and I feel like our role is kind of like being the soil. So, if you have a seed, healthy seed, and you plant it in bad soil, you're not going to yield the results that you're looking for. But if you have healthy soil and you plant that seed, all of a sudden it becomes something that is nourished and becomes something that then evolves and grows out of that. But the cycle of that, then, which I think is so beautiful, and where I think we really fit in, too, is that then what is nourished in that soil becomes something that then nourishes community. So if you're growing food, you're literally nourishing your body. If you're growing flowers, you're providing something that's aesthetically beautiful and something for bees to pollinate. And so I really think of what we do is like being the healthy soil. So part of the goal then is how do we create healthy soil? What does that mean in terms of our values, our beliefs, the culture that we create to foster these artists to help them nourish and grow?

What makes the creative ecosystem where music is and where visual art is, and fashion, what makes all of that special to you, in particular, not necessarily Public Functionary, but to you?

I mean, I don't know what I would do with my life without that, right? It's what's kept me in the Twin Cities for my life, it's what's gonna keep me here, and it's also something that I feel an obligation to, because of the way that it has nourished and fed me, to continue to nourish and feed it, so that it continues to grow and build into something for the next generation. I think a lot about that within my personal position in the work that I do. The space that is Public Functionary, I don't feel like really existed when I was a kid, so I didn't have that space to go to, and I think about that a lot, about how do we create the space for someone. When I see a young person walk into our space and their eyes light up, and something just clicked for them, of like, "Oh, this is a thing. This is real. I can develop a space, or work in a space like this, or I can just be part of community in a space like this." That's the value to me of what this is, and so I continue to keep trying to just push that further and further and further through the work that I do, and that, again, nourishes community, but that nourishes me as well.

Public Functionary got a function going on. It's called 

 it's happening on June 13, and it is being described as a "Celebration of what makes our city so special, the resolve and creativity of our neighbors." Hear, hear to that. What inspired the vision?

It's particularly potent right now, and I think the reason why it tells you, and why you feel that when you hear it, is because of what the Twin Cities has been through to start this year. And so this is now the third year that we've done The Function. The first two years that we did it, it was definitely still celebration of creative community, bringing the people together that make Public Functionary happen, and just also an introduction to people who have never been to Public Functionary to learn more about what it is that we do. We've done it as a ticketed event in the past, as a way to fundraise for the organization, which is obviously still important, and I don't want to make it seem like we have the funds to just disregard that, because we don't — we're always like, every day trying to figure out where is it coming from, and that's just part of the process of doing this. But after the beginning of this year, it felt inauthentic to us to be pushing a ticket, when everything that was happening in the Twin Cities. And you didn't know what was going to be posted or seen on your feed next, so we just didn't feel okay about that as a team. So, as a team, we really sat with that and thought about, "Ok, we still want to hold The Function. The Function is still important. Joy, pushing back as a form of resistance is still very much needed. How do we do that?" My teammate and co-director, Tricia, had the idea of applying for some grants to look for funding to be able to offset what usually would be covered by the ticket cost. We applied for a grant through the City of Minneapolis; we were lucky enough to get that. Thank you so much to the City of Minneapolis, that, like, I think fulfills some grant requirements. Just use that as a sound bite. But that allowed us to then rethink how do we frame the function this year, and instead of it being just a way to support Public Functionary and a celebration of the work that we do, this year it felt like what we need is really a celebration of the community that showed up to fight back for their neighbors, to push back against what was happening here, and also we want to expand the footprint of the function, we want our neighbors, like our immediate neighbors in Northeast Minneapolis, who maybe don't always come to our events, or know much about what we do, to feel comfortable coming to this and just enjoying and having fun. So that was really where the kind of impetus of the conversation around what the function this year was going to be.

So we know the inspiration for why you're doing it. What can we expect the day of?

You can expect food, music, art, games. And I'll tell you a little bit more about each of those things. So food, we have an amazing food truck, the Angry Line Cook, coming. We have Beignet Queen coming, they're fantastic, amazing food, both of those. So you can get your food there. We'll have some beverages and other things as well to make sure that you're nourished and feeling good. And then, as far as music, which is kind of what The Function really is for us in the past, we really develop a lot around the musical programming. The artists this year are MMYYKK, so super excited to have him on the stage this year. M. Ada Jamison, who is a producer, does a lot of work behind the scenes, but M. is incredibly talented. She has been making music for film scores and doing production work with Kamilla Love and a lot of local artists, and so very excited to see what she brings to the stage. That's gonna be an incredible set. And then papa mbye, who you had in a couple weeks ago.

He is a personality, absolutely. papa coming back is actually kind of a full circle moment. papa is a visual artist as well, very talented visual artist. And when papa was like 17 or 18, him and a group of friends pitched this idea of doing an overnight weekend kind of like residency at the old Public Functionary space, so they like slept in the gallery, and created work, and then turned that into an art show, and so now as papa steps into music and really pushes that medium forward, it's exciting to kind of have him come back into the fold to make things with us, and then a couple of DJs, Alexis Rose and Awa Mally, aka the Mayor, and then our hosts for the day are Lenora Magee and Fanaka Nation.

How can we find out more about this? Because you know, we might just be listening to this in passing. Where do we need to find out about Public Functionary, as well as The Function Block Party.

, our website has a lot of the information about The Function Block Party, how to register, it is free with registration, but we are asking for registrations just so we have an idea of what to expect, so we know who's coming. Also our Instagram is always a great place to keep up with us too, 

, information about the block party as well, and then also future programming, we have a lot of other amazing things coming up. We do The Function, and then we give our team a little break, but then coming back, like July, August, we've got some great programs as well.

Awesome. Well, thank you, Mike Bishop, and thank you, Public Functionary, for what y'all doing.

Mike Bishop stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about all things Public Functionary — including its free event, The Function “Block Party” on June 13.


Mike Bishop stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about all things Public Functionary — including their free event The Function “Block Party” on June 13th.

The Message - Mike Bishop from Public Functionary

John Kueppers | MPR

Interview: Mike Bishop from Public Functionary

Andre Shoals, also known as DJ Afro, is a resident DJ for the queer party series Daddy Issues Minneapolis. In addition to his work as a DJ, which began in the early ‘90s in New York, Andre has a robust background in visual art, dance, acting, and musical theater. He joined us ahead of a busy month of Pride events, including the 

Daddy Issues Pride Block Party featuring Josh Steers on June 27

Pride Disco Block Party with Rebecca Black on June 28

In his mix for Carbon Sound, DJ Afro delivers some soulful house and disco with high production and female-led vocals.

We chatted with DJ Afro about his background and intentions for the mix. Read a transcript of the interview edited for length and clarity below: 

I have a long history with music and DJing. I originally started back in the early '90s in New York, and then I moved to Boston, and I did some DJing, but back then I was primarily like '70s disco, '80s pop, '90s, some hip-hop and stuff. So that's sort of where I landed during the time that I was DJing, but also, I was just such a huge lover of house music, so I've been hitting the club since I was 18 years old.

What's your favorite thing about house music?

The beat. I used to say that I was a B-boy. Back in the day, it was like, "Oh yeah, are you a B-boy or a B-girl?" And that was just like you were really into the beats. But I typically love house music that has vocals, specifically female vocals.

You go by DJ Afro, but is it fair to say you're an interdisciplinary artist with your dance, theater, and graphic design background?

Yeah, I do a little bit of everything. I would say that I'm an artist overall, and that is the umbrella for everything. Early in my career, I started off as a modern dancer, then I transitioned into acting, and now I've landed in the musical theater space. So that's primarily what I do when I'm actually working in theater, but like you said, I also am a graphic artist, I'm a choreographer, so I like just art in general.

What do you like about expressing yourself through DJing?

Finding that hit that just moves you. And for me, it's about finding those pieces that are well-produced. What I found is that if you can find a piece that is well-produced, there's no need to do a lot of the extras. I'm just not an echoey kind of person, not that there's anything wrong with that. I totally respect and love all of that work, but I love for the music to speak for itself.

Daddy Issues is a queer, non-binary, everyone's invited dance party that my friend Tyler Copeland and Dean Frisby are part of. I think we're heading into our fourth year now of doing these parties around town, and it's been really great to create a space where people can really just be themselves, and that we can actually give them a little bit of what the old-school club scene used to be.

Is that where the idea for Daddy Issues came from? Filling that gap of the old-school while also making it as inclusive and safe a space as possible?

Exactly, Tyler and a friend of his, Peter, were actually the two who started Daddy Issues. I joined on the third party, and that was the thing that Tyler had mentioned to me. He was like, "Man, I just want a night that's just gonna hit all those old-school vibes." And so that's what we've really tried to capture, and what's really wonderful about us three resident DJs, myself, Tyler, and Dean, is that our styles are different, but they marry in such a way that really sort of brings about an exciting and explosive night.

What's been your favorite part about being a part of the Daddy Issues experience?

This is gonna sound nerdy, but I think music people would really get this, is just filling your crate full of stuff. You're on the hunt for that next track, you're like, "Ok let me just go down this rabbit hole and see." And then you find those pieces that really work, and then when they marry together, you're like, "Ok yeah, I'm really into a groove." That's awesome.

Speaking of being on the hunt, what can the Carbon Sound audience expect from this set today?

Female vocals, heavy on that. And then, like I said, just pieces that I think are really well-produced, and that have a really good bump to it, so that hopefully when you're listening to it, you're just like, "Oh man, yes, I'm really into this," and really pay attention to how the songs are produced and the instruments and how things kind of come forward and then are pulled back. So yeah, that's almost always my focus.

House, Disco, and more from a Daddy Issues resident. 


DJ Afro (6/10/26)

Carbon Sound

Angel Beloved of MPLS HOUSE and Shardae Robinson of Power 104.7 stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about Urban Lights’ DJ Night & Fundraiser, the importance of preserving Black creative spaces, and more.


The Message - Angel Beloved and Shardae Robinson

Interview: Angel Beloved and Shardae Robinson

 stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about his newest EP 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Hey y'all, we back at it. It's Carbon Sound Music for Life. We have another guest in here for our Carbon Sound Community Voices. I like it because when I pulled up on him, I was like, "How do I say your name?" He was like, "papa." But before I get to that, he's an artist from Senegal and Gambia, raised in North Minneapolis, and you have a new project called 

, and it released on April 24, it's out on all platforms. Carbon Sound Family, welcome, 

. Yay, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome. Okay, so a pitch, I like everybody to do their pitch, and I think it's good because then young people who are listening, you gotta have a pitch. So, for those of us who don't know you, tell us about your background from Senegal. How'd you get here from Senegal? And you were raised in North Minneapolis, and now you got this project, give us the backup.

 papa mbye - JAKAARLO (Official Visualizer)

I was born in Gambia, and my dad won a green card lottery, so we came here with my mom and my big sister and my dad to Memphis when I was two, and then we moved to Minnesota when I was like three or four.

Wow, and been here since then. How does your background in Senegal and North Minneapolis, how do those influences come through into your sound and your work?

I feel like, my Senegalese influences come through at first very subconsciously, just because it's the music I listened to when I was a child. The name of the project is 

, which is the name of my favorite song from a N'dongo Lo album. N'dongo Lo is one of my favorite Senegalese artists that I listened to when I was a kid, and he made a project called 

, which basically means life in Wolof, the tribal language in Senegal and Gambia I speak. And the fifth track, I think, is called “Jakaarlo,” which means 'to be close to,' and the lyrics basically translate there's nothing better than being close to someone, talking, laughing, and dancing. And the whole project is just him giving reverence to the people he loves. So I was really inspired by that.

Why is that important to you right now? It's one thing to feel that, but why is that important to communicate that with this EP?

I liked this girl when I started making it. And then we ended up dating, and the relationship ended kind of as soon as the project got finished, but it felt like my first time trying to write love songs, and then it also felt like a time capsule of the relationship, so even though it ended, I feel like I have that moment forever. Which was a more positive outlook at something ending for me.

Have you approached your previous projects like that?

All my previous projects have been premonitions for breakups, sadly.

Wow, so the previous projects have been premonitions for a breakup, and this most recent one, 

Yeah, I was making it while it's happening, like while I was courting her, or whatever you want to call it.

What was your process of capturing your ideas? Because you're feeling it, but then how are you also creating the art that's expressing it?

At that time, me and my homies, Zak Khan, aka Young Dervish, Ben Farmer, FruitPunchLoverBoy, now Christian Music, and Huhroon, we all had a studio together on North Washington, and I was more intentionally going in during the daytime and just trying to get into that flow of work, really treat like a job, I guess. And I honestly didn't make that many songs for this project. It wasn't like, "Oh, I made 30 songs and I picked six," like I just kept going. The title track “JAKAARLO” on this project, I actually made after like a six month musical hiatus, like two years ago, and I remember I just made it on my computer, and I had like all the vocals are on my phone, and I think that was kind of the genesis for this project, that was kind of my north star. And after that, all the songs kind of just came.

I like that you said you treated it like it was a job, because again, if you're having this experience with somebody, and then you're feeling it, you're experiencing it. How do you capture that? Do you feel like you that you successfully captured that moment in time on this project?

I think, yeah. After we broke up, I literally could not listen to the project for like a month.

Oh, wow, why? It must have been too real.

Yeah it was way too real. Because I feel like I never meant to have music be my thing, I used to draw first. So that's kind of how North Minneapolis ties into me making music, because I was, and I still am, a visual artist, and I feel like that's what informs my music. I like to make music like how I draw, which is just like starting with a line.

That's what I wanted to know, what inspires you to really commit to whatever that moment is? Like what inspires you, and it's your drawing and your visual art.

Yeah, just like a commitment to feeling, and a commitment to relinquishing control.

But it's also therapeutic. I make music because it helps me understand more about myself and the world around me, and I'm lucky that it has become what it has become.

That's perfect. So you have been a part of a wave of Twin Cities artists who are building community across music, visual art, fashion, and creative spaces. I've been watching you since I've been at Carbon Sound, and my question to you is, I get on the mic and I'm always talking about why y'all are dope. It's because it's the quality of the work that you guys — and when I say you guys, I mean musicians, the visual quality, the production, the audio production. What does the Minnesota music scene mean to you?

Oh, it means everything to me. It means more than music, it's like family, you know? I feel like, specifically with dudes per se, I feel like there's not a lot of spaces for us to be emotionally vulnerable, and so it's been really cool with me and my friends we're making music, I'm hearing their lyrics, we're singing in front of each other, and that gives us a space to be vulnerable, and it opens us up more. And I feel like that's just better for the world, you know?

I like that, y'all creating emotionally intelligent spaces.

I'm wondering if that's why the music, and if the things that you're producing is hitting so hard, because it's coming from a real place.

It's not a bad thing! I don't think it's bad.

I think the use of the term crybaby is bad, but I think it's important that young people see grown men like you, and other men who are — you guys are working together and coming together, and it's healthy, and you're creating art that helps people. My favorite song by you is "Pixel," by the way.

So this community that you just talked about, do you feel like it creates the freedom for artists to experiment in ways that maybe you might not see in other cities?

Since we're not a huge industry city, I feel like we're not really tied to a bunch of trends that we feel like we have to do to be seen. I feel like people really just be doing their own thing.

It intertwines, yeah. But then it's like, if I go to L.A. or New York or anywhere else, I'm playing music from Minneapolis, the thing I get all the time is like, "Where is this from? How do you guys get these sounds?" And I'm like, "We're doing everything that you don't want us to do." You're like, "Oh, record it this way." I'm like, "No, we finna record it on our phones, then record from our phone to our laptop, and then put it in Ableton, and then just go with it.

I love that. I have this invisible puzzle piece to help me understand the Minnesota Music scene, and I like that, everybody is kind of doing their own thing, but it works. It does work, and it does create an original sound. So, how can we keep up with your original sound? How can we follow you, if we want to work with you, if we want to support you, how can we do so?

Well, I be in Uptown, I be walking a lot, so you can see me. But also, you can just follow me on Instagram, 

. TikTok, same thing, I think it's the same thing on Twitter, I don't know, but I be around.

Well, we'll just start with the IG, you seem the most confident in that.

We're gonna get back to the music, y'all. Thank you, papa mbye, thank you again for stopping by at Carbon Sound. It's The Message, Carbon Sound, Music for Life.

papa mbye stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about his newest EP JAAKARLO, the Minnesota music scene, and more.


papa mbye stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about his newest EP 'JAAKARLO,' the Minnesota music scene, and more.

The Message - papa mbye

papa mbye - JAKAARLO (Official Visualizer)

N'dongo Lô - Jakaarlo

papa mbye - PIXEL (Official Video)

Interview: papa mbye

Chico Chi is a DJ, producer, and proud uncle based in Minnesota and California. His love for music and community runs deep, as seen through his creative projects like Tender Bois Club, Queer and Trans dance parties like Hunnies & Hot Sauce in Oakland, and global music nights like Take Flight in Minnesota. As a DJ, Chico Chi loves facilitating safer, more inclusive spaces where people can dance and lose themselves in the music.

In his mix for Carbon Sound, Chico Chi “Takes Flight” and brings back gifts: Afro House, Kuduro, Baile Funk, R&B, and a whole lot more.

We chatted with Chico Chi about his background and intentions for the mix. Read a transcript of the interview edited for length and clarity below: 

My name's Chico Chi, I'm a DJ, music producer, uncle, based in the Twin Cities. But I split my time between Minnesota and California.

Is there a ranking of those titles you just gave?

I'm newly an uncle, but I've been DJing for almost eight and a half years. It'll be nine years in the fall.

So it's a culmination of my background, my roots, me as a person, identity. First off, my family, we're Chinese, but my grandparents on both sides of my family immigrated from China to Cuba, and so my folks were both born in Cuba, and so Chico — my aunt has called me Chico, it's just been a little thing. And also I'm trans, and Chico means boy in Spanish and Chi is my last name, so it's just a story within a name.

I started DJing in Oakland, California, I was organizing queer and trans day parties for folks of color, and I was organizing with other DJs. I was just watching them do their thing, and I was like, "Oh, I can do that," and I definitely was a Napster kid growing up, so I had already just a hard drive full of music, and so once I got my hand on a controller, I was like, "Alright, here we go," and it kind of just snowballed from there.

What have you observed about the two different scenes, splitting your time between California and Minnesota?

To put it bluntly, they're just different. The crowds are different. When I play around Minneapolis and around the Twin Cities, I definitely try to throw in some Bay Area music, and it goes off and it's fun. Yeah, they're just different crowds. It's been a challenge, I'm not gonna lie, trying to figure out what the crowd's like here, and also just trying to throw in new music and test the crowd too, and see if I can get by with showing off new music and something that they're maybe familiar with, but with a twist. I like to push the crowd sometimes.

Do you ever throw in Minnesota music to the Bay Area?

Yeah, of course. Definitely. I'm definitely trying to play Prince out on the West Coast when I can and whatnot.

What would you say is the most gratifying part of DJing to you?

Oh man, so many things. I just love seeing people dance and let go, and just are fully in their body and having a good time. The world's a lot right now, and I definitely grew up going to the clubs as a young one, and the dance floor definitely saved my life, and so I know that music and the energy that surrounds it, I love being able to facilitate that and to create that vibe. And just seeing people really lose themselves in the music or just hearing people yelling when their song comes on, I love that.

Speaking of facilitation, you mentioned your start was facilitating events for the queer and trans community. Why is that important to you?

For many reasons. Especially right now, there's a lot of anti-trans legislation, it's getting worse and worse, to be quite frank, and these spaces are necessary. I believe that safe spaces aren't a thing, but we can create a safer space and try to figure out what that looks like, and I think that queer and trans folks, especially folks of color, need that. It's just important to feel safe, to be able to let loose and have fun and feel safe in our bodies, and sometimes that means that we create those spaces for us.

What can you tell me about Take Flight, Tender Bois Club, and Hunnies & Hot Sauce?

So Hunnies & Hot Sauce was the QTPOC day party that I was organizing and a resident DJ for in Oakland. And Tender Bois Club is a creative and music production house that I co-founded with my friend Wazi Maret. So, we started in Oakland, and now we're just all over. He's based in the East Coast, in New York City, New Jersey area, and I'm in the Midwest and California. We both DJ, sometimes we DJ together, sometimes we DJ separate, and we also produce Music, and he's a singer-songwriter as well. Take Flight is the baby of Talia Knight and I. It's a Twin Cities global music party we were doing over at the Red Sea the last year and a half, two years. It's a global music party where there's just literally no bounds to what we play, and so my set today is kind of a little taste of that, lots of global music.

You also just performed with Talia Knight at May Day. How was that?

Yeah, that was amazing. It was my first time DJing at May Day. I had been once prior, and I knew it was a very big and well-attended event, and this year it felt even bigger. We opened up the People's Stage, and that was really fun. My parents came through and got to play a lot of music for them, music that they enjoy. It was fun.

 You mentioned global sounds today. Anything else you can tell the Carbon Sound audience about your set today?

My set also includes a couple original edits that I made. Yeah, we're going around the world, lot of Afrobeats in there, some Afro House, Amapiano, Kuduro, Baile Funk, a lot of Baile Funk. And then some R&B, R&B remixes, music that you are all probably familiar with.

Global and R&B mix from a Cali-MN mainstay.


Chico Chi (5/27/26)

” Gavins stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about youth arts education through his work at 

, his music career as Midwest James, and more.

Carbon Sound Community Voices. We are in with another voice. We have interdisciplinary artist, educator, leader, and director of programs at Juxtaposition [Arts]. We have James Gavins, also known as Midwest James. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Nice to meet you.

Ok so first of all, before we get into what you do, tell us about who Midwest James is.

I've gone by a few names in the past, but I've also done a lot of moving around, and I pretty much stayed in the Midwest, so it got to a point where I was just like, "Imma just call myself Midwest James." Because I've lived here, I lived in Chicago —

You've moved that much? To where you're like, "Just call me this region."

And you know what, I've also left and worked on cruise ships, and moved to Atlanta, I've been to like all over the country, and I've realized that the Midwest is for me. I used to think, like, "Oh, I need to go there, I need to go to L.A.," but then the Midwest is just so my speed. So that's really where the name — just me kind of honing in on the fact that this is home to me, no matter where it is in this region, it feels like home.

I like that you said that, because there is sort of a push of, "If you want to make it in anything entertainment, you gotta go to the coasts, you gotta go to the east or the west coast. So I do appreciate that when people are like, "Nah, this coast is good for here, for me."

You got the internet, social media, most of them people leaving L.A. and moving to Texas, you know?

So you work at, and I'm new to this organization as well, Juxtaposition Arts. What is the work that you do over there? Because if I'm reading right, what y'all do is dope, you work with teens, you have spaces for them to learn, and then I read that you guys take the process of going from idea to actual prototype, and you guys are bringing that to the young kids, because that's what you basically need in life. So tell me about what you do over there.

I'm the director of programs at Juxtaposition Arts. I'm also an alum. I lived here for about three years, I went to North High School, somebody put me on a JXTA, and I was going to JXTA pretty much every day, every day that I could. I've done a lot of work in nonprofit leadership, and the call came for me to come up here and do what I do as a director of programs. JXTA is actually like way more than just a youth program; it's like an art and design hub. It's workforce development. We do apprenticeships where young adults and emerging artists, they come and work within our design labs, environmental design, graphic design, contemporary design, and they're able to get paid and also get a lot of experience. If you think about a person who's gone to JXTA, they've designed a mural that's in the city, they've designed seating or a bench that's in a building, they’ve designed structures, they've designed pocket parks. It's a lot of really great work, and there's a lot of alumni that's out in the world doing some amazing things, going to prestigious art schools, getting scholarships. And it's a really, really great place. So I'm honored to come back and serve, especially in a leadership capacity as far as programming is concerned, so yeah, JXTA is amazing.

So I'm a young person around the way, and I want to know more about this art world than I'm hearing people talking about. How would you pitch? Because you made it sound really big, and it might sound intimidating for young folks. So how would you pitch that to me? Like, "Hey, we cover that."

Oh yeah, and I mean, JXTA’s been around for 30 years, you know what I mean?

That's why y'all out here stomping with the big dogs.

Shout out to Roger Cummings and DeAnna Cummings. Yeah, JXTA’s been around for a while. I would tell them, like, hey, if you actually want to be trained and also led to a pipeline that could lead to a creative career, this is what you do. First off, you sign up for VALT, which is our visual arts literacy training. It's a free program, college-level drawing course, take it from 12 to 21. And then once you do that, you take that class, you build a portfolio. Then, at a point within that session, they interview with the labs, and you take that portfolio to the labs, and then by the end of that session, they make a choice of who they're want to hire as an apprentice, a paid apprentice, within that lab.

So you guys are putting the artists in front of the people who are booking them, or who need their work.

Oh yeah, and JXTA does a lot of in-house projects, but also a lot of client work outside, so it's like they're getting the real experience of doing this work, and they're getting their reps in. And it's invaluable, the amount of mentorship, and also just learning and skill building that's happening if you're there from 14, because you have to be 14 to be an apprentice. So if you're there from 14 to where you graduate, your resume looks insane, like your portfolio looks crazy. It's like "You built what? You did what? And you researched that and did what?"

And you take young people as young as 12, so the 12-year-olds got something to look up to when they turn 14. I love that.

We have a summer program called Free Wall, which is like our aerosol arts graffiti program. It's two weeks at a time, and there's about five of them running programmatically during the summer.

How do you even pull off something like that? I've just always seen aerosol as something illegal.

And it's more than that, right? It's not like a place where we have our artists spraying on the building, it's not that kind of thing. It's programmatic, it's constructive.

The work that you personally do at Juxtaposition, does that affect any of the work that you personally do as Midwest James?

You know, it's really interesting. I was on Facebook, and I got a flashback from like 11 years ago. And I was basically saying that I wanted to get into youth arts education because I want youth to feel as free as I do to do and make whatever they want, and that was such a crazy thing to hear young me say, because it's what I've been doing pretty much most of my career, no matter where I've been, is letting people know that their dreams are tangible, and I think even when I used to go to JXTA, you know, to see artists, they've built their own careers, like they have nice cars, they look nice, they dress nice. It's not this whole starving artist thing. Like, there is a way you can build a career in what you enjoy. And I learned that before I graduated, before I graduated high school, was like, this is real, it's not just a lucky thing, like, no, there's a process to how you can make this work, and there's so many different avenues. Because you could be the artist, you could be the artist administrator, you could be the facilitator, you could be the person that funds the arts, you can be the person that gives away the grants for artists. There's so many different vantage points.

Wow, that's so valuable what you're doing. I say this frequently on this stream that our Carbon Sound Community Voices are just people who are courageous enough to chase their dreams. I think when we think of dreams as this like, cloudy thing that's gonna happen off in the future, versus you can strategize and set this up, and then you putting it in a space like art, that's insane. Because a lot of us may still be dealing with the generation who said you can't do art as a career, and you guys are laying it out in front of the young folks. Do you have any events that are coming up, any projects we need to be watching? The young folks need to keep their eyeball on?

. This is probably gonna be out afterwards, but we're actually creating some adult engagements. We have an event called 

, which is basically that drawing level course, but for 21 plus. It's on May 15.

I know some people that been wanting to get into drawing, and they feel like it's too late.

It's never too late. So we're jumping into creating some more engagements and furthering the reach. When it comes to the summer, summers get packed. So if anybody's looking to sign up for VALT at JXTA or looking to join any program in the summer, I believe there's some spaces left for the two-week sessions, but summer's packed, it gets busy. But always, you know, if people are looking to sign up for fall, fall is a good time to sign up too, it's never too late.

And the site for us to learn about Juxtaposition?

And then before we go, you dropped music, you gotta project 

, can you talk about it? Because I don't wanna miss out on that.

 is the third project I've dropped since I moved here. I moved here like a year and a half ago. But I was already tapped in, I went to high school with L.A. Buckner, that's my guy. So when I moved here, most of the people on the album I knew already, I went to church with Jackson Hurst. I know Maya [Marchelle] because of L.A. —

Oh yeah, I dropped, I got a project called 

, produced by hvlf, also somebody I went to high school with here. That was kind of like my intro to the city. And people just kind of know my writing style, how I get down. And then worked with hvlf again about, I want to say, like six months ago, and made 

 was more of like, "Ok, I can also make commercial stuff too, like I could do that too." And then I just recently linked up with Bushido.chop, and we created 

 is kind of me standing in what I believe about myself, what I believe about the level of work that I do.

How can we keep up with Midwest James, the music that you're doing, the work that you're doing? Because you're a dream chaser, and I talk about dream chasers. How can the young future dream chasers keep up with Midwest James?

 on Instagram. Also, I co-host L.A.'s Monday Night at Icehouse every Monday night. Really great live music, plus jam session. I'll probably be there on the mic, so every Monday night at Icehouse, seven to around 11, slide through. It's a great time. Me and L.A. are also doing a residency, a two-day residency at Berlin, 

. So I directed a one-man show on him called Things You Can't See, and I'm doing my one-man show, Cicada. And then we're gonna end it with some music, so that's May 27th and 28th at Berlin, so tap into that. Very limited seating, make sure to get some seats. That's how you can get in touch with me now. Music's out on all DSPs. 

Thank you for stopping in and chatting with us. And yeah, we'll holla at you on the flip side for that directorial. Alright, Carbon Sound, we got to get back to Music class. It's The Message, Carbon Sound, Music for Life. Peace.

James “Midwest James” Gavins stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about youth arts education through his work at Juxtaposition Arts, his music career as Midwest James, and more.


The Message - James "Midwest James" Gavins

Interview: James "Midwest James" Gavins

 stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about the Minnesota Hip-Hop Street dance community, building experiences like the 

Carbon Sound Community Voices interview, I kind of feel like I get to brag today, because I know you, so this is kind of cool, but Carbon Sound family, Maia Maiden — well I know as Rah Fyah, is a South Minneapolis native who has been a leader in the dance community for over 20 years, representing Hip-Hop culture. Background includes being a dancer and a choreographer. Carbon Sound family, welcome 

, who I know, who we all probably affectionately know as 

Thanks for having me. I'm so glad to be here. Good to see you, live in person. It's been a minute, right? But we go way back, so it's ok.

It's so dope to watch you become, and I'm really glad that we have this platform here, but I don't want to be selfish and act like this conversation between me and you. So introduce yourself to people who may not know you.

Absolutely, absolutely. Hey, what's up? My name is Maia Maiden, but you can and should call me Rah Fyah. I've been in the dance community scene for a long, long time, over 20 years, and just been doing the things and doing them well, and I'm still here doing the things and doing them well. And I'm so excited to talk to you today about our illustrious, fantastic Hip-Hop Street dance community, because we make the thing rock, and I'm super proud of us.

I get a lot of inspiration from my elders, people that poured into me when I was younger, Patricia Brown, Cheles Rhynes,

Morris Johnson, those types of folks who were around in the beginning, because I've been doing this since I was in high school. When I say doing this, I mean creating platforms to elevate folks and styles that are underappreciated. So when we talk about the longevity of somebody or something, mine really stems back for creating spaces since high school. But I was a dancer, and dancing since I was young. I am Hip-Hop. I didn't grow into this, I grew up in this. So this means no dance studio Hip-Hop. This means we were dancing in the streets, in the clubs, and battle each other in schools. That's the Hip-Hop that I came from. Affectionately, my era is Golden Era Hip-Hop. So whenever I introduce myself, I say, "My name is Rah Fyah, and I come from Golden Era Hip-Hop." Because that is important to me.

I see now, I see Hip-Hop dancing all over the place, and there wasn't spaces like that. It was in the street. It was at the park up the street. Maybe the rec center if the rec center was cool like that.

Right, mostly cheerleading, though. We can get into that.

So those experiences is what inspired you for the 

Absolutely. We're in the SOTA, Minnesota. The SOTA Movement is something that I'm super proud of and super excited to talk to you about today.

Well, how did the vision get started? Tell us about the SOTA.

Imma tell y'all a little story. I like to tell stories. So basically, I have been doing 

, where we highlight all the styles under the Hip-Hop umbrella, as I say, and the roots. And there was, at the time, this battle called Uprizing. We have an illustrious, fantastic, nationally and internationally renowned Krump community here. The Krumpers man, they have taken over, and they are fantastic. So the Uprizing is created by Ololade Gbadamosi, who is known as “Gambit,” and Herb Johnson, aka "Fair Warning." So they created the Uprizing. And I know them, of course, we've been interacting. I've known them for years. They've both been in ROOTED several times. They were in some other shows of mine, 

, all that kind of stuff. So they weren't gonna do it anymore, Uprizing, which is this Krump battle created by two Black men, and I said, "Oh no." So we had a meeting one day, I said, "Guess what we're gonna do?" And they're like, "What?" And said, "I need y'all to come on board and bring back Uprizing." Because they had decided either to put it on pause in perpetuity, or not do it anymore. But I felt that it was so important to our dance community. And in terms of dance community, I'm talking about Minnesota, nationally, internationally, like, this thing keeps going. So I was like, "And I will pay for everything. Because this is important." So we started off the first SOTA Movement, the prequel, it was just the SOTA Movement and IE ROOTED and Uprizing together. I should specify, these are really two separate events under one umbrella. Because we're not in competition with each other either. So we did it one time, that was in 2021, and the krumpers came down, and we had a fantastic time. It was all outside. ROOTED actually was at Park Square Theatre at that time with no audience, because we couldn't have an audience, it was during COVID and things like that. So ROOTED really was supposed to be in 2020. 2020 my mom passed away, and COVID hit, so there was no ROOTED in 2020, so we transitioned to 2021. We did ROOTED online for the first time ever, because this is a live event, live show, and streamed it to like over four or 500 households. And then we had Uprizing, which they did their thing outside. But one of the best parts of that whole experience is that we went to George Floyd Square, and they had a session there, and we started the session with Tamiko French. Tamiko French is a phenomenal dance instructor that has worked in several Minneapolis Public Schools, such as North High School, such as Southwest High School, and she's also a sound bath artist. So we opened the space up with the sound bath. And I said, "Yo, Tamiko, I need you to come through here, because this is about to be a powerful session." Because, again, this is the next year after George Floyd died, and the krumpers came out. And again, they had came out from all parts of the nation to come to this event. So they came out, and it was just such a powerful session, as they call it.

I was wondering, because you keep saying session.

It's a lab or a session in Krump language. That means they get together and they dance against each other, and they uplift each other. That's what a session or a lab is. I'm not a krumper, they won't accept me. They refuse to train me.  That's okay, I still got love for them. I still work with them all the time. Imma stay in my lane. I'm over 40, and so some things you just gotta know. But the krumpers came, and it was such a beautiful experience for all the participants of ROOTED and Uprizing. So from then on, I transitioned it to the 

SOTA Movement: Minnesota Street Dance Festival

. So again, that was the prequel to see if we this could work. Like, "Let's just try this one time. We don't have to do anything beyond this." But again, then it has elevated or grown to the SOTA Movement: Minnesota's Street Dance Festival. And again, we are highlighting all types of Street. We are not dancing in the street per se, but Street dance is a lot of art forms. It's Krump, it's Hip-Hop, it's House, it could be anything, any style created in the street. We all know, or we should know, that Hip-Hop first and foremost, created by Black people, elevated and architected by Black and brown people, but it was called Street dance. So when we're talking about Street, everything that I say has meaning or a connection to something. So Street dance, that's what Hip-Hop was known as, before we had a name to it. And it was in the street. It supposedly started at a house party. We always haven't been on the stage. We were in house parties doing this before it got any names or classifications. So now we incorporate all different types of street styles, including street styles, not only in Minnesota, but nationally and internationally. So it's really been fun.

That sounds so exciting. So what can we specifically expect from y'all? Because you done got me all hype.

You can expect a fantastic time. The first thing we rock out with the SOTA Movement is something called The Gathering, where we come together and we gather in the name of Street dance and just elevation and just getting together. So the first time we did The Gathering, we had the almighty, who has just been named a McKnight Fellow, Tish Jones, we had TruArtSpeaks in the building. And we had just a lovely, lovely time. And she cultivated a space, and we were there. The second time we had, The Gathering was focused on uplifting women in Hip-Hop and all the generations and all the styles. So that was fun. And now this third time, when we come back, I'm gonna tell y'all a secret. This is breaking news. For 2027, don't call me about this this year, we talking about 2027 because that's when the next one is. We are focused on the Golden Era of Hip-Hop, so we gonna have some surprises in there. But if you are Golden Era Hip-Hop, everybody's influenced by Golden Era Hip-Hop. So y'all all should be there for the elevation and celebration and honoring of Golden Era Hip-Hop. So that's the vibe for the SOTA Movement 2027 in June. So mark your calendar now. We sell out all shows. When I tell you this, I kid you not. This is something that some people say, but we actually do it. We have sold out every single show, every single time for the past 16 years. Every single show, every single time for the past 16 years. So let that resonate in your spirit. Big up Herb and O, big up my squad, Karina and Ashuna. And big up DJ Digie, because he is in the space too, and he is part of the SOTA Movement, and is the DJ for ROOTED, and is the DJ for Uprizing, and just an all around fantastic artist, DJ, and nationally known photographer.

So how do we keep up with all that? Because you talking about stop playing with the sold-out show. So how do we follow and keep up with that?

So you can go to two websites. You can go to my website Maia Maiden Productions. We are a performing arts presenter. You can go to 

. So either one of those websites will keep you informed about when the next SOTA Movement is going to hit, and you do not want to miss it, and you gonna see us all over the place. You heard it here at Carbon Sound first in 2026, that this is coming in 2027 and we play no games, and we're super excited to welcome everybody.

Thank you, Maia Maiden. Thank you, Rah Fyah.

Rah Fyah stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about the Minnesota Hip-Hop Street dance community, building experiences like the SOTA Movement, and more.


two women posing for a photo in the carbon sound studio

Interview: Rah Fyah

DJ Fawzi is a Somali DJ, musician, and radio host at 

. If you ask her, she says music has energy, and she wants to use that energy to heal herself and those around her. As someone in recovery, she expressed her desire to provide a healing presence through music and to show that those in recovery are strong and perseverant.

In her mix for Carbon Sound, DJ Fawzi provides some healing through music from Somalia and all over the globe. 

We chatted with DJ Fawzi about her background and intentions for the mix. Read a transcript of the interview edited for length and clarity below: 

Somali and global mix from a music healer.


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