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Sons of Kemet's Shabaka Hutchings chats with NPR: Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

Bullseye's Jesse Thorn writes....Saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings is a saxophone player and composer. He fronts the bands Sons of Kemet and Shabaka and the Ancestors. Sons of Kemet's latest record is Black to the Future.

Shabaka was born in the United Kingdom, raised mostly in Barbados.

The group Sons of Kemet is often informed by his upbringing in Barbados. You might hear a dub song performed almost entirely by horns. And then he'll go into a sax solo that is breathtaking. It's music that is vivid, complex and hypnotic.

His genre bending music combines jazz, calypso, dancehall, hip-hop and African folk music. Shabaka finds ways to speak using the language of all these genres to make something totally unique and of his own.

We talk with Shabaka Hutchings about making the new record during quarantine. He'll also discuss being an only child, the first instrument he learned to play, his love of old school gangster rap. He's a huge fan of Tupac.   PHOTO: Udoma Janssen

LISTEN TO NPR: Bullseye with Jesse Thorn SEGMENT