SoundCloud is spotlighting emerging R&B artists in the latest episode of its music discovery docuseries, SCENES: SoCal Soul. The original series looks at the rise of music subcultures and communities coming together on SoundCloud.
For the new episode, SoundCloud headed to Southern California to turn the lens on its bubbling R&B scene. The genre was pioneered by Black artists in the 1940s in cities such as Chicago, Detroit and New York. Nearly a decade later, creatives in SoCal are revitalizing the region’s music scene with their own inventive takes on the genre.
In a montage of interviews, SCENES sits down with artists Alex Isley, Destin Conrad, Fana Hues, India Shawn, Kenyon Dixon, and Mack Keane, as well as producers D’Mile and Jack Dine, to talk about their musical influences and how SoCal’s scene is expanding and evolving.
Brooklyn-born D’Mile is the only songwriter in Grammy history to secure Song of the Year two years in a row, winning in 2021 for the H.E.R.‘s “I Can’t Breathe” and in 2022 for Silk Sonic‘s “Leave the Door Open.”
Shawn, meanwhile, balances her own music career with co-writing for icons such as Monica and Keri Hilson.
With creatives hailing from Inglewood, Compton, Leimert Park, Long Beach and beyond, the mini-documentary offers an illuminating look at artists today are injecting fresh energy into R&B and bringing their sound to SoCal by way of SoundCloud.
Watch the new episode of SoundCloud’s SCENES.
In other music news, Gucci Mane has shared an emotional new single “Letter to Takeoff.”
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