Upcoming Showcase at Bop Stop Demonstrates Range of Local Black Musicians

Black Voltron. Credit: Courtesy of Robin Blake

Last year, local instrumentalist//composer Robin Blake, who performs and records as Hyperius Blake, hosted a tribute to the late MF Doom at Crobar. A catalyst for the local music scene, Blake collaborated with Brittany Benton, aka DJ Red-I and local rappers Muamin Collective and Madstarr to celebrate a night of music by “one of hip-hop’s most legendary artists.”

“The tribute show to MF Doom was a rousing success, and we had a great crowd,” says Blake in a recent Zoom call. He’s currently promoting both a music showcase dubbed Renaissance Noire and a tribute concert honoring J. Dilla and Nujabes. The Renaissance Noire show takes place on Thursday, Feb. 13, at the Bop Stop. And the J. Dilla and Nujabes tribute concert takes place on Friday, Feb. 28, at Crobar. “There is lots of footage from that show up on YouTube. The Crobar owner loved the show and told us we could come back anytime.”

Blake describes the upcoming Renaissance Noire show at the Bop Stop as “two hours celebrating Black musicians in different styles and genres.” Blake says that the recent Cleveland Music Census, a survey of local musicians and fans, said that most people in Cleveland identify Black music with rap and hip-hop.

“That’s silly,” says Blake. “When you look at the history of American popular music, it all goes back to Blackness and the blues and other types of music. [To say it’s all R&B and hip-hop] is reductive and also just untrue. There are so many African-American, Caribbean and South American who play punk and other styles of music. I make the joke that most of the local bands are just four white dudes with guitars but there are plenty of other bands that feature four black dudes with guitars. They don’t get the same recognition. There’s an untapped scene of musicians here that we can take advantage of.”

The Bop Stop concert lineup includes blues artist Afi Scruggs, rapper Jinari Kemet and R&B singer Esther Fitz. Blake’s band, the “future soul” group Black Voltron, will also perform.

“Selfishly, my band and I want to play shows with these people because we never get to because it seems like most promoters just want one Black artist per gig or a Black History Month type of show,” says Blake. “I want to normalize mixing it up. I understand how booking shows work and that nuance, but if the music is quality, there’s no reason that my jazz hip-hop band can’t be on the bill next to a metal band. People who like music won’t complain.”

Ideally, Blake says the Renaissance Noire series will expand into a quarterly event. The name stems from the fact that Blake sees a similarity between the 1920s and 2020s. He says a new Harlem Renaissance is happening.

“Artists need to step forward right now, and Black artists have a lot to say because we are not monolithic,” he says. “We have such varied experiences, and having platforms to share those experiences with everybody can help bring the community together and empower Black people. Afie Scruggs is an elder in the community that I respect, and Esther Fitz is a badass powerhouse. Me and Jinari are friends and go way back but have never gotten to play on a bill together. It’ll be a night of great musicianship.”

Blake, who graduated from Euclid High School, was only 8 years old when he played violin in the orchestra at his elementary school and developed an interest in music. One day, he randomly played an Alicia Keys song at the piano, and his teacher asked him to write it up for the school’s orchestra.

“At the age of 8, I made my musical debut,” he says. “It’s always been a part of me, and when it came time to decide what to do in college, I wanted to study it.”

At Cleveland State University, Blake created an independent study degree and focused on the Black diaspora. His thesis centered on hip-hop as an extension of jazz’s legacy, and he researched African tribal music and sampling as an extension of “quoting” in classical music.

“It was a whole full thing,” he says.

Hyperius Blake and the Sound Experiment, his first group, emerged as a result of a senior recital.

“I had my artist name in the front just because I was the band leader and wrote all the music,” he says. “Now, we are Black Voltron. The new name symbolizes more who we are and how we operate and what we are trying to do.”

Blake and his bandmates channel a wide range of influences into the group. They’re currently at work on a new EP.

“A lot of us are either classically trained or were brought up in the church,” he says. “Most of them I met at music school. We have a jazz training as well. I like to be around weirdoes. We all have our collective interests and things we bring to the table. I’m inspired by video game music and Japanese City Pop, and I love music that is rich and complex while being relatable. The tagline for the band is that we can play anything. We really can. When you study jazz, you learn everything about music. From there, my personal cultural experience is what allows me to play real hip-hop, and being classically trained lets us read music, so it’s easier for us to convey complex musical ideas.”

Renaissance Noire: A Night Celebrating the Black Diaspora In Song, 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13, Bop Stop, 2610 Detroit Ave., 216-377-1410. Tickets: $20, themusicsettlement.org.

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