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

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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.


John Kueppers | MPR

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: 

I go by the name of DJ Fawzi. I'm well known as the first international Somali female DJ, and I started in 2016.

You're also a rapper and producer, right?

Yes, I am. You know, when I started DJing, I didn't know I could rap. I didn't even know I could write music. But when I started falling in love with music, I started writing. And I started that in my recovery process. So I feel like being in recovery, somebody who's in recovery myself from alcoholism, that's where my music started more.

You said you started writing more during recovery, but where does your musical journey begin? When did you know you had that love for music?

When I was five years of age, and I was in a village, because I heard 2Pac's voice when I was very young. And when I was very young also, there was Japanese people that I used to go to all-girls school in Garissa, Kenya. I used to be in all girls-school, and people were from Japan, they used to play piano. And they wanted to do "Jambo Bwana," so they wanted to have girls who can play piano. At that time, I was taken away from my mom at a very young age, and I was in pain. I was abused from a very young age, so at that time, I didn't know how music affected me. So the principal told me this, "There's girl that doesn't want to go home, she's in the corner. Can you go talk to her?" And they gave me the piano, and I played it fast ("Jambo Bwana"). That's when they fell in love with me. They say, "You are the chosen one." So I started playing piano at a very young age. 

What's the connection between music and healing to you?

I feel like when it comes to music, I will say one thing: music has energy. The energy is up to you. It's up to the artists who bring it forth. The music can heal, the music can destroy. It is your choice as an artist. Me, I'm a healer. I'm coming from a lot of pain, so I want to heal people. So I want to use music as a healing process. That's all.

Do you do that through your radio show at KFAI?

Do you do that through your radio show at 

Absolutely. So KFAI every Sunday, I call it "Healing In The Mix." So my music is called Healing In The Mix when it comes to KFAI Radio. And I'm also dropping an album called 

, because I'm somebody in recovery, and I'm writing music. All the time I talk about recovery.

Because people in recovery, we get judged, we get shamed, we get blamed. Families cut us off. Community shames us, everybody shames us. Even me as an artist, people tell me "You're an addict, you're ashamed" and everything. But I want to show people, as an artist, people who are in recovery are the most powerful people. You know why? Because we're facing ourselves throughout the day. You know why? Because I'm fighting myself 24 hours, everything can be triggering. If somebody hurt me today, I can trigger, and I can go back to drinking. I could do a lot of things, but I'm working on myself, and music is healing me. That's why. 

What would you say is the most gratifying part of you being a DJ?

When I started as a DJ as a Somali woman, I was shamed. Now I'm a rapper; I'm still shamed. Because, number one, I'm a Somali female DJ, I'm a Muslim, I'm a single mother, I'm Black, and all the odds are against me, even in the music industry, males are dominated. Women are still fighting today, even if they are not Somali. We are still fighting as women in the music industry. But I want to tell them: women are powerful. People in recovery are more powerful. Because people in recovery are the most powerful because we're facing ourselves. Even today, I'm facing myself. I was nervous coming here. I was shaking coming over here, but I kept telling myself, "Healing is possible. Recovery is possible. Through God, anything is possible."

What can the Carbon Sound audience expect from your DJ set today?

I call myself the first international Somali female DJ, but I wanted to watch one word: International. That means I could play all types of music around the world. When I say Somali, because I always support Somali music first, when I say International, I could play Jamaica, Nigeria, Liberia, America, everywhere. Take me everywhere. I'm a musician. As an artist, I should play all types of music. And I should rap, and I should produce.

Anything else we missed? Anything else you want to share? 

I just want to say shout out to Carbon Sound for having me here. Thank you guys. I bless you guys. We're gonna bless today. I go by the name DJ Fawzi, the first international Somali female DJ. I'm here with Carbon Sound, and today you're gonna hear Somali music and all good music.

Somali and global mix from a music healer.


DJ Fawzi (5/13/26)

DJ Fawzi DJing in the Carbon Sound studio

Maija García stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about all things The Capri: a historic cultural arts center and vibrant community hub in North Minneapolis.



The Message - Maija García from The Capri

Interview: Maija García from The Capri

 stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about building community through 

, the importance of Black and brown storytelling, and more.

Carbon Sound family, we are in with another interview. I'm so excited to meet people from the community. It's the little girl in me. It's just so cool. But in studio, we have an abolitionist — it's so crazy how you look, because I feel like your reputation, I would be terrified to meet you because you look like you about that business. Abolitionist, design researcher, author, anti-racist facilitator, creative director, organizer, educator, and more. She's dedicated to the liberation, and I like liberation, of Black and brown people through art and design, from Black Garnet Books, Terresa Hardaway, welcome, welcome, welcome, yay!

You look like you about that business on paper, baby.

I am, I am about that business. I am about that in person, if I need to be.

I gathered that, but you so pretty, so it's off-putting. So for people who may not be familiar, what is Black Garnet Books, and how would you describe it?

Black Garnet Books is a bookstore. We are a bookstore that I would describe as a place of imagination, creativity, abolition, a place where Black and brown people are centered, queer folks are centered, and it becomes this third space that people can really see themselves on the shelves.

Was that intentional? That it be a third space?

I don't know if it was intentional, necessarily, you know, it was founded by a completely different person. And so when I acquired it, I have always created like these organizing spaces that do become third spaces, where people are coming there to build community, build friendships, build relationships. And so for me, naturally, Black Garnet Books becomes a third space.

I like that. No, because I hear about adults needing a third space, shout out to y'all for that.

What inspired the creation of Black Garnet Books, and why was it important to build a space like this one?

So this space was started by a dear friend and fellow community organizer, Dionne Sims in 2020. She saw a need, she saw that the community needed to fight back and be able to expand and uplift the narratives of Black and brown people, especially during that time. And so she saw that need, and that's why it was created. And then when I acquired it in 2024, I continued on with that same mission, we have, I think, the same vision for what we'd see that bookstore being in community. It's to disrupt anti-blackness, it's to disrupt the racism that is prevalent in our publishing and book industries. It is for us to be able to bring folks together and hear new authors, hear folks who are speaking about our stories and telling the counter-story, frankly.

I like that. That sounds like storytelling, and when I was in school, I learned how important storytelling is to the human experience. So right now, we in a moment where people feeling overwhelmed and restless and angry. What role do you feel like storytelling and literature play in helping people to stay grounded during this time?

Oh, wow. Well, as an educator as well, I think it is super important for us to be able to talk about our stories, or talk about the narratives I think that especially underrepresented. When I was thinking about this question, I was thinking about this in the framing of like past, present, future. And so storytelling plays a role in those three areas. We have to understand the past, right? We have to understand the counter-histories that aren't being told so that we can understand what's happening today. So in order for us to get from that past piece, we have to then see authors who are talking about the real systemic oppression that is happening in this moment, and be able to help us define that and put words to it. Because when we begin to understand it, we can start to call it out, and we can start to actively move forward in changing that present-day reality. And then we move into future, I just think about the imaginations of Black and brown people and how we are constantly holding on to hope. We have to, in order for us to even be in this — to live a life —

Exist, you know, we have to hold on to that hope and that future piece. And so when I think about the future with regard to storytelling, I think about all the authors who are giving us abolitionist futures, who are giving us what collective liberation could look like, who are giving us ways to build relationship and overcome all of these things. And so I think about storytelling in that way, that past, that present, that future being really highlighted so that we can understand where we came from, understand where we're living in now, and understand the future that we all should be trying to fight for.

I love that. That's a great segue into my next question. So how are you painting the future with the work that you're doing? What are the initiatives that you're taking? Any events? Anything we need to keep an eye peeled out, in case we want to get involved, we want to support.

We are constantly doing a ton of events at Black Garnet Books, we have a book club that we have every single month that is a different topic.

How do you join the book club? I've been talking about book club since I was a little girl. I've always wanted to join.

Well, at Black Garnet Books, it's the most accessible thing. Just show up. The book is going to be posted on our website. We also make a post about it on our social media. But you get the book for 15% off, and you just show up to the book club. You can show up having read a chapter, having read the whole book, but just show up and you build community and have conversation about that. So we have a fantasy genre book club. We have an abolitionist genre book club, and we have a graphic novel book club. So we have these kind of three separate areas that folks can join one of, they can join all three of them, but you would get that book for 15% off and build community. All the events that I'm talking about are going to be at the bookstore.

How can we support you? People who are listening, how can we support? How can we get the word out about you? Where can we follow you?

Yeah, you can follow us on all platforms, at Black Garnet Books, and you can support us by attending events, subscribing to our newsletter, shopping in-store or online, attending things that we're doing in community, because we're oftentimes, for instance, we'll be at Pride this year, and so, stopping by our table and supporting us there. There are many ways I think that folks can engage with us if you just pay attention to what we're posting on social and show up to the things that we're doing around community.

Terresa, thank you so much for coming in today. You're awesome, and I love your look!

Terresa Hardaway stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about building community through Black Garnet Books, the importance of Black and brown storytelling, and more.



The Message - Terresa Hardaway from Black Garnet Books

Interview: Terresa Hardaway from Black Garnet Books

abel. is a longstanding house DJ and vibe curator in the Twin Cities. To abel., DJing is all about setting the vibe in a room so people can come to the dance floor, move, forget what they're doing, and escape through the music. As a strong advocate for ‘less sections, more dance floors,’ he believes “more dance floors will equalize the way that we think about the music that we love so much, which is electronic.”

In his mix for Carbon Sound, abel. warmly welcomes you to the dance floor. 

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

My name is Abel. I am a — that's a good question. It's very existential question isn't it? Who am I? Who are we? No, my name's Abel. I am a house music DJ, vibe curator in the city. I have been DJing since 2009, and I play all sorts of music. House music is kind of home for me. But yeah, music is kind of where I like to vibe.

What was your introduction to house music?

My introduction to electronic music in general was this compilation — oh, I cannot remember the name of it, but a friend of mine was just playing something in their car, this was back in college, and the song that really kind of got me was this track called — also cannot remember that. Wow, my brain — just when you have to talk about something, your brain just goes blah. But no, I was listening to a compilation CD in a friend's car, and the music was just so compelling. And I was like, "What is this?" And she was like, "Let me take you on a trip." And she loaned me the CD. And then following that, I actually went on a study abroad trip to Scotland, and I found a car boot sale, is what they call it, it's kind of like a rummage sale or garage sale. And I bought just tons of CDs, and I was just listening to all of it. By the time I came back, I had got all of it on my computer and just started DJing. Just started, like, stitching stories together, stitching songs together, with my little Trakor X1 controller. And I guess the rest is what they say is history, right?

So you started DJing because of that friend's CD, or did you just have a love and a knack for music?

I think I've always had a love for new music. Ever since I was a kid, you know, the stereotypical choir kid, I was one of the kids who would remake songs, like popular songs, and rewrite them so that they were choir-friendly. And then I found my way into a lot of just stitching music together, like making little track mixtapes from radio edits. Like, I'll put a cassette player into it and then hit record, and then get myself a mixtape from that. When I first moved here, back in 2003, I was chronically online. There was this promo that Coca-Cola had back in, like, 2006, 2005, 2004, something like that, and it was kind of like a Habbo Hotel, but it was for making music. And the currency in this was, they'd give you like preset music or whatever, and then you made a snippet, and then you'd perform it in front of all the avatars, and they'd vote for it and say if it's good or not. And then if it was really good, they'd give you currency and you got to buy like your furniture and your posters for your hotel room, and people came to the hotel room and hung out. And I really enjoyed it. So I found myself on Sony Acid, the DAW I used back then. And then I went into Fruity Loops, and then I went into Ableton Live. And then I was like, "I really like this music thing a lot." So I picked up DJing as kind of like my artistic and my creative outlet.

What's the difference between being a DJ and being a "vibe curator"?

I think the culture has changed the definition of what DJing is. I think when you think about the original definition of disc jockeying, it was really just grabbing songs, grabbing music together, and setting a vibe in a room. The greats did it. You know, Ron Carroll, Larry Levan, they knew how to control and set a room's vibe for hours and hours and hours. Didn't matter what they played. They played disco, they played funk, they played what was to be known as house, and people just danced. And that was DJing back then. You hear DJing now, and you think, big stage, you think Ultra Music Festival, you think that it's a viable way to make millions and millions of dollars. And you forget that at its core, it's about setting a room. At its core, the whole idea of making, of this thing that we do, is an art form, is setting a vibe in a room so people can come and forget what they're doing. So I still call myself a DJ because that's the vocabulary, that's the colloquialism. But at its core, I'm a vibe curator. I like to play music in a room and get people moving, dancing, forgetting where they are, what they're doing at that moment, and just like focusing on the fact that this is an escape for them, where they are at this moment.

Is that where "less sections, more dance floors" comes from?

Yes, I have a hate-hate relationship with sections. I hate sections. I think they take away so much from the dance floor. People are there for the wrong reasons. It is "show me" culture in its worst form. And I get it, venues and bars and clubs have to make money. I understand it. But you know, at its core, again, going back to the original reason for this thing that we call dance music, it's right there in its name — 

 music. We want sweaty dance floors. We want to just get on the floor and just pound concrete or lawn or whatever the medium is that is under our feet, and just enjoy ourselves and not sit in a couch and look and watch people and pop bottles. I mean, that is not what we're here for, especially in electronic music. If you think about the history of it here, think about where it came from, it is such a departure from the club culture that we have now. And I think something around just more dance floors will equalize the way that we think about the music that we love so much, which is electronic.

Speaking of electronic, speaking of enjoying ourselves, speaking of dancing, what do you have in store for Carbon Sound today?

Good question, I don't know. I talked to a couple of friends a few months ago about this, at its core, like when I start playing, I don't know what mindset I'm in, I just hit the first song, and then the next one comes, and the next one comes, and the next one comes after that, and all of a sudden it's like an hour set, and I don't know which way I'm going. So it could be all house, it could be deep, it could be melodic, it could be a little bit of funk, it could be a little bit of hip-hop, I don't know. So we'll see where the vibe takes us today.

abel. (4/29/26)

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

: from community-forward events to youth-centered political activations and fellowships.

Carbon Sound family, we have another Carbon Sound Community Voices interview. I'm so excited about these, because I get to actually see the faces that create the Minnesota creative scene, the Minnesota music scene, and everything beyond. Mamé Bioh is a community organizer, creative, and co-founder of Believe In What's Possible. And we gonna get down to why we is believing in what is possible. So Mamé Bioh welcome, welcome, welcome. Ok, so just straight to it. What is Believe In What's Possible? How did it start?

Believe In What's Possible is a youth-led and youth centered nonprofit based in the Twin Cities and outside of the Twin Cities a little bit. We are a collective of amazing young leaders, specifically in the realm of politics, who've been either doing campaign work for the past few years, who've either been doing city work for the past few years, government work to some capacities, or who have been doing really great community work within the community for the past, like three to four years. I'll give a little bit of like my entry into the team. It's a team of, including me, four beautiful women. It was around end of '22, early '23, we had just had a really big state election. I was doing some really, really awesome community work with other organizations, and I had met my other co-founder, Chelsea, and we were in this position where a lot of the spaces that politics runs, that nonprofit spaces run, that just really heavy institutional community spaces operate, have very little young people in them. Very little BIPOC communities, very little marginalized communities, and so we were at a point where the work I was doing wasn't speaking to anybody in my generation. I had just did a voting turnout event where I had brought a bunch of my college friends with me, and afterwards, they're like, "Oh, that was fun. But I wouldn't do that again. I wouldn't really want to engage in that type of work." And also, I think specifically within past, like, five to six years, it's been a lot of just disillusionment around the ways people engage in politics, and around the trust that we have with the government, locally and nationally. But specifically nationally, I think it has really shifted and jaded a lot of the communities that really need —

You know what I mean? And so we all came together at a mentor's house, and we were just kind of ranting, like just talking the talk. I think we got to a point where we're like, "We don't want to be put in a position where it's so difficult for young people to come into these spaces." Whether it's leading a campaign, whether it's speaking at a hearing, whether it's showcasing artwork, whether it's even building your own campaign. And specifically, one of the things to know about the way politics works, is specifically when it comes to voting, voting operates off a reliability resource. So a lot of the databases that come into voting rely heavily on your consistency. And so, you become a reliable constituent based off of your consistency engaging with the system. Now, to the understanding, who definitely is not going to be the most reliable?

Young people, single mothers, Black people —

Do you see what I mean? Who's going to be the most reliable? Older white people. And it became this thing where the minute you didn't engage in the system, the minute you didn't engage in voting, it was another reason to just say, "Okay, we don't need to listen to you. We don't need to go into your neighborhood and actually speak to you." It's systemically utilized in that way. It's a cycle. They make it difficult, you back out, they use that exact reason to make it more difficult.

Okay, so gaslighting, political gaslighting.

Gotcha. So, y'all got together, y'all having this conversation. You like, "Ok, we need to do something." And so you are now in this conversation, you're realizing certain trends that are used in politics and what's holding these communities back. So then who decides, "Look, we got to put boots on the ground. We got to get this moving."?

So what happened was we wanted to do something extremely different. We really wanted to create a bridge for young people to have a level of connection building, community building, but do it in a way that brought them to the polls. We launched our kind of first year programming. Did a couple events, we did a sip and paint, we did a day party, which was really beautiful.

And what age group do you work with the most?

So currently, the age group that we work with is 14 to 29.

Because you said sip and paint. I want to be clear.

So it's 14 to 29, specifically because until you turn 30, you are not deemed reliable yet.

It's much more complicated than that, but in that retrospect. Even when my co-founders has been voting since they were able to, has been engaging, has been going to polls with their parents, but is not seen as a reliable constituent. Has been working campaigns, but isn't fully looked at from that —

It's also interesting that that data is being collected, and analyzed in that way I should say.

It's specifically analyzed because, again, candidates want to — I don't say take the easy way, but they want to make sure that they're getting a bang for their buck. And so like, majority of the work that they're doing when it comes to young people, is going to college campuses, maybe a couple weeks, maybe not even the last week before voting, and saying, "Hey, here's my pamphlet. You should come." Not doing anything. And so we wanted to create more of a nonpartisan, very much community-centered way of operating where we hosted events. So since then, we were able to kind of launch Believe In What's Possible through a variety of programming, one called Scheme Space that created kind of like a thought space, and a thought space and a building space for young people to come share their thoughts, share resources, share understanding and grow as a collective. Then we had Turn Up to Turn Out, which was our community-led, community-forward, kind of like event program where we hosted drag shows, we hosted day parties, and we're doing some really cool stuff this year. I can't say yet, but just some really fun event spaces for people to just feel like a political space is actually for them. And then the other thing that we currently just launched, it's going to be coming in our second year, is the 

The People's Studio is one of my favorite things. It is a fellowship program for young creatives and aspiring community organizers —

To get involved in the political process?

So what we want to do is we want to bring in the two worlds of creative curation and political action and civic engagement and community organizing and bring them together. So we had a great group of around like eight to nine young people who joined our fellowship and became fellows. And we taught them the fundamentals of what it means to be a community organizer, from understanding mobilizing, from understanding influence to understanding power, really, and understanding what does that what does that power look like? How do you understand it? How do you understand it from the power that you haven't used yet? How do you understand it from the power that someone actually has? And how do you understand the power from how you influence in the spaces that you have, the social settings that you have. Cool, you're a musician and you have a fan base, you can easily create art that pushes that fan base, you know what I mean? And so really creating young leaders in the city who can truly start utilizing their voices a lot more strongly.

Exactly, exactly. So it was a beautiful program, and I'm really excited to launch it this year.

If other young people want to be a part of this, this sounds really exciting — to me, because I'm nosy. I got a nosiness, and I know that there are young people who are listening, who are also nosy, and they have their ear to the ground, but they might feel like, "I don't know, I didn't grow up around that dynamic." How could they get in touch with you? How can they follow you?

Follow the Believe In What's Possible page, 

Instagram, go to our Instagram. We have our 

 there as well. You can join our email list. You'll always get the emails from us. We're always posting on Instagram, always reposting stuff. You can even DM the Instagram page and we'll respond back. And then also, I'm a community organizer, so if you want to have coffee, want to sit down, talk more, get to understand how to do that, hit me up. 

It's such a big undertaking that you're doing with this, so I'm glad that we can use our platform to support you, and I'm hoping you can come back out here and tell us more about the events that you're doing.

Mamé Bioh in studio, Carbon Sound. Thank you so much.

Mamé Bioh stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about all things Believe In What’s Possible: from community-forward events to youth-centered political activations and fellowships.


Mamé Bioh stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about all things Believe In What’s Possible: from community-forward events to youth-centered political activations and fellowships.

The Message - Mamé Bioh

Interview: Mamé Bioh from Believe In What's Possible

DJ PEACEBOII is a DJ and event curator based in Minneapolis. He first started DJing because he felt a need to explore more diverse sounds he thought were missing from the Minneapolis scene. This solo endeavor soon became one built with other community members and creatives, leading to events like Battle for the Belt and various club appearances. 

In his mix for Carbon Sound, DJ PEACEBOII celebrates 5 years in the game with Afrobeats, R&B, and more. 

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

I'm DJ PEACEBOII, I feel like I DJ for the people. I like to read the rooms, see the vibes, see what's going on. I don't like to be put in a certain box. I feel like I could do Hip-Hop, R&B, Dancehall, even EDM, like, whatever the vibes is, I'm able to do it.

 I started DJing five years ago. I just came up on five years.

I just felt the need for it. It wasn't a lot of diversity as far as music in the Minneapolis scene, and that was something that I felt like I brought to the table. Just playing different stuff, not the same set, not the same music all the time, and giving people actual vibes.

Over the course of these five years, have you had favorite spots to DJ at?

I really don't have a favorite spot, because I pretty much DJ everywhere. As long as they got a good sound system, it works for me.

Do you have any highs and lows when it comes to DJing over that time?

Yeah, I mean it was one point where I was doing my own shows, I was killing it, doing my own thing, and then the venue that I was doing my stuff at had shut down for like a year. So that kind of messed me up, because I was known for having my own stuff. So it kind of switched my mindset to not just doing my own thing, but tapping in with other people, building relationships with other people. So if I do ever get in that type of situation, I won't just be stagnant, and not moving around and DJing.

You were mentioning how certain sounds in Minneapolis weren't being covered. Do you feel like that's changed?

Yeah, for sure. It's just right now we have a shortage on clubs, because a lot of clubs have shut down, but I feel like it's a lot of dope DJs out there that bring a lot of diversity now to the scene.

What can you tell us about Battle for the Belt?

That was something I came up with, I think it was last year, because I wanted to bring like, that competition to the Minneapolis scene. And I felt like we got a lot of dope artists, and everybody feel like they the best. So I'm like, "Shoot, let's see who gonna be the best." And then my boy 

, he reached out to me for the last one we just did, and me and him collabed on it, and it was a great turnout.

What observations did you make about putting competition on display like that?

If I'm being honest, you actually see who take it serious and who don't. You actually see who's just taking it as a hobby and who's actually trying to make it. It's like a big difference.

Knowing you take it seriously, what can we expect from this set today?

I'm energy, man. So it's just a lot of energy, a lot of dope vibes, I'm gonna try to get into some like transition, I'm gonna try to take it around and then bring it back, we just gonna travel everywhere, man.

Afrobeats and R&B from a Minneapolis club-favorite.


DJ PEACEBOII (4/22/26)

DJ PEACEBOII DJing in the Carbon Sound studio

Carbon Sound

 stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about starting his own business, his upcoming events, and more.

In studio, I've been talking about it all week, organizer of 

, a rolling paper company that hosts community events based around business education, fashion shows, and artist showcases — and honestly, I just met you last year, and you was hustling, Carbon Sound family, 

Thank you for the introduction, Sanni, and it's a pleasure.

So first and foremost, what is Diesel J and how did that come to be?

So there was a time where my nickname was Diesel. I have, like especially in college, I was just known to have good bud. I'm a connoisseur. I'm just very connoisseur minded.

Yeah, cannabis. I don't know, what terminology should we be using?

Yeah, exactly, right? That's what we trying to preach. But that's where the name Diesel J's came from. So we're an organic, all-natural rolling paper brand, and we host community events, mainly cannabis inspired, but we also do a few other ones too.

How do you put on community events? Because I feel like marijuana is legalized now, but I just grew up most of my life it was illegal. I don't know, I feel like I'm still in the dark ages of it being illegal, and I'm even still scared to say it on air.

Honestly, it was like right after COVID, I just stopped drinking. So I just went California sober. So it's been about, really, five years.

California sober just means that I don't drink alcohol, or if it's just a special occasion, I'll have a glass of champagne. But for the most part, I just consume cannabis.

What was the thing that made you decide to do that?

Honestly, I had a drinking problem. It was college, but just for a small town and things like that, I just saw what it really did to me and did to like, friends and family. And it was just one of those situations I saw how I was doing without it, and I'm like, "I can't go back." And so that's why I've been California sober for so long. And I just felt like cannabis has helped me be more creative, be more disciplined, and really just kind of figure out what I want to do, and I'm just going at it.

You just said that was what you was doing as a part of college life. And then you pivot into Diesel J's, into this company, what was the moment in COVID that made you be like, you want to go from consuming it, to "I want the community to be able to consume, as well as the culture" and coming together and creating this whole experience around it?

Honestly, it was for representation. In 2020 when COVID happened, I lost my job. So I was figuring out a lot of different things, I started doing reselling of electronics, and I wanted to get into business for sure, 100%. And by 2022, I wasn't drinking, I stopped smoking backwoods, I got the tobacco out of my system, and I just went through all the rolling papers that's out there, all the major brands, and I just didn't really like the experience with them. And I'm like, "Okay, let me just start my own." But what really made me go full out on it was, I have a best friend, he passed away in 2020, and it was kind of due to alcohol. I stopped drinking before that, but after that, I'm like, "Okay, I'm just gonna launch it." I can't really think on it. I'm a person who likes to plan so I had everything written out. It's like, "Okay, I just have to do it, and I'm gonna figure it out. I'm just gonna really apply what I know in business and really figure this out." Because that's the only thing I could do.

What does ownership and Black entrepreneurship mean to you, and how did that tie into you creating this business?

Ownership is huge to me. Have you heard of Earn Your Leisure?

So 2020, 2021 is when they launched, I watched one of their first three episodes on YouTube, and so I literally have been following their story since then. From what they were doing and who they were bringing on, and watching them literally start off a podcast just like this, using their phones just like this to kind of get where they're at now, I took that as inspiration and really watched them and took that into consideration with what I'm doing.

Okay, so when does the fashion show come in? How did you tie this in to that? Because I feel like a fashion show is so formal and everybody's got to be on they point, and this seems more like laid back and relaxed. How do you merge them two vibes?

I guess I'm kind of both. I'm from the military background, I've been doing sports since like sixth grade, so I'm very disciplined, detailed-oriented. I also like to smoke weed and kick back. Before I started even doing our own fashion show, I was a photographer for Black Fashion Week, so I was doing fashion shows, helping them put it together. We'd do seven shows a season, so I did that for a full year. One thing I always recommend to people, if you're really trying to get into a space, and if you're really trying to grow your skills, I just gave my photography for free. Like, this is a great way for me to step in, I was able to do that, they loved the work, I was able to meet a lot of people from there, really able to connect with a lot of different models, different artists. And they called me back the next season. Like, "Hey, we want you to do photography again, and this time we'll pay you. We really loved what you did last time." And plus, I was setting up, still kind of getting my name out there, and so I appreciate Black Fashion Week and Natalie Morrow for that. It was her, Shamika and Ambers Foundation. So that's kind of how I got started into fashion, like, actually working there. But my cousin, she's actually a designer, she was involved in New York Fashion Week. She was the very first fashion show I went to back in like, 2017. I just went out there with my cousins, one of my homies from high school, he was a model. So I'm like, "Okay, cool, this is pretty dope." I just came back from the military, so I was just chilling. Like, I'm about to go to college, it wasn't really anything I was in tune with, but that was my first experience with that. I came back to it once I started my business, because I'm like, "Let me do photography, because it'll save me money, I'll learn the skill, and I could use that as well." And that's kind of where it took me from there, and kind of seeing the lack of it, because I was going to fashion shows and I was going to cannabis events, a lot of them were still underground feel, even though it's kind of legal. And so what came to be was Smokin on the Runway, which was the fact that I have a cannabis brand, mainly rolling papers, but we have some apparel. People didn't really look at cannabis apparel, except for drug rugs, or Cookies, that was like the only major brand people know.

I'm telling you, I'm trying to figure out, where does the fashion come in? I have never thought of the cannabis community being known for fashion.

But there is designers, because guess what? All these same designers, artists, and models love cannabis. They never actually got to experience the actual events because —

They just, "I'm trying to just smoke weed. I'm not trying to get locked up." And so that's still that same stigma. So we're just trying to change that by bringing those two things together, and really showcasing these designers and these people who are cannabis advocates, and some of these designers, they don't have to be a cannabis brand. They're just incorporating cannabis themes into their designs, if that's symbolism, if that's materials like hemp and sustainability. So we do upcycle, so sustainability is a huge part of that. And then we also add a lot of color.

. Is the hemp folks gonna be in the building?

You know it's going to be, you're gonna see some great designs. And additionally, from the fashion show, we're gonna have a limited-edition collaboration with 

. It's going to be his album release as well. Keep that on the hush. I'm just kidding, tell everybody! We trying to have you guys come out. So it's gonna be a limited-edition release of the cones, they're going to be available there. We're gonna have some preorders, so I'm excited for that. This has been one of our goals, and there was just so much synergy coming up for it, and it just felt great.

I know you got your show on May 3, but do you have anything else that you could give us like a Carbon Sound exclusive about?

 afterparty May 14. And so NECANN, they are the Northeastern Cannabis Association. They do conferences like CHAMPS Trade Show, they do that all across the country, and they came to emerging markets. What I love about NECANN is they're very socially focused, so they work with the community to put this together. They have a percentage of their booth space set aside for social equity applicants. And then additionally, they try to make sure to highlight a lot of the different artists that are coming through. They have like an art basil. So we're doing the official afterparty for them. And it's just another way for us to really kind of grow, connect with different professionals across the country, and also kind of just introduce them to what Minnesota is about. So we're gonna do what we do already, and kind of do that for the conference afterparty, and show them what to expect of our Minnesota cannabis. And the teaser right here is we're trying to put together a free community event at the end of May and early June, and have it become a running series. Because one thing that we've talked about is during all this time and isolation with the cold, with Metro Surge and everything going on, there's a lot of trauma. Psychologically speaking, you need at least four to six positive experiences to kind of get over that negative experience in all relationships. And when I say relationships, I mean community as well. We're trying to put together these free community events, and these events in general, it's just kind of bringing back joy, like you need that so much, especially during this time. And the best way people feel that is through the arts. So we're definitely trying to bring that together.

How can we follow you? How can we keep up with you and support what you're doing, so that you can further continue to support the community with your projects.

 for our rolling papers. You can also find us at 

, which is abbreviations for smokinontherunwaymn.org.

Thank you so much Duol, thank you for coming out. What makes your rolling papers different than other people's rolling papers?

I'm glad you asked. So what makes our papers different from most of the papers that you see, is ours is not made out of hemp, it's not made out of rice paper, which is predominantly what's used. We use wood pulp. So ours are called brown paper, so they have a browner tint to them, so it's still all organic, all natural, wood pulp is. But it has like, thicker fibers, so it just burns slower, less likely to canoe. And I enjoy that texture and that consistency better, because if it's dry, or if it's kind of a little bit more moist, it still burns well, and it doesn't just flame out or burn unevenly.

Well, thank you. I really appreciate you coming into Carbon Sound fasho.

Duol Chut of Diesel J's and Smokin on the Runway stopped by to talk to Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about starting his own business, his upcoming events, and more.


The Message - Duol Chut

Interview: Duol Chut

 stopped by to talk Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about his new album, 

It's The Message, Carbon Sound Music for Life. An independent hip-hop artist, curator, community builder rooted in the Twin Cities, and just recently came out with one of the dopest hip-hop albums I've heard in 2026 so far. The name of the album is called 

Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

So just straight out the gate, this album, 

Righteous Emcee stopped by to talk Carbon Sound’s host Sanni about his new album, A Legendary Run.


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