When Black Violin takes the stage at Broward Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, Nov. 17, it will be more than a homecoming for the Grammy-nominated classical/hip-hop duo. As reflected in the title of the tour, “BV20: Then and Now,” it will be a full-circle celebration of a nearly 20-year musical journey that’s as much about paying the music forward as it is about playing it.
Black Violin. The duo plays at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts by Sunday, Nov. 17.
(Photo courtesy of the Broward Center for the Performing Arts)
The journey that might not have ever begun for Wil B and Kev Marcus if it hadn’t been for a Broward County educator who paid it forward for them — literally. Wil B’s first viola and Marcus’s first violin were bought for them by James Miles, their orchestra director at Dillard High School of the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale. That was back in the ’90s, before they adopted stage names and were still known as Wilner Baptiste and Kevin Sylvester.
“If that didn’t happen, I would have to conclude that we probably wouldn’t be where we are today,” says Baptiste. “So we definitely credit a lot of our success to him, because he placed that instrument in my hand. No matter how talented you are, no matter how amazing you are — if you’re Jay-Z, Beyoncé or Obama — no one’s journey was just by themselves. Somebody — I don’t care how insignificant the world thinks that person is — plays a pivotal role for you getting where you are. ”
With five albums, two Grammy nominations and a regular slate of 200 performances a year, Baptiste and Sylvester have become two of the brightest stars to ever hip-hop out of Broward. And they’ve done it by practically carving out their own musical genre with a style that’s as classy as it is unclassifiable — a mashup of billowing classical motifs, bouncy hip-hop beats and orchestral echoes of pop, soul, jazz fusion and world music often topped with rap and spoken word.
Actually, the funky finger of fate had already poked Baptiste in the chest even before Mr. Miles came along, and again it was at the hands of an orchestra director. As a student at Sunrise Middle School, Baptiste had his sights set on saxophone. With the goal of playing well enough to make some money on the weekends, he signed up for band. But as he learned much later, his destiny was set by a golf bet made by the band teacher and the orchestra teacher. Whoever won the game would take Baptiste into their program. The orchestra teacher won.
Baptiste set aside the sax, took up the neglected viola and ended up at Dillard. There, he and Sylvester met in orchestra class, bonded over hip-hop music and culture and eventually began popping up at local clubs, leaving onlookers a bit astonished to see two Black kids playing hip-hop with string instruments and a classical vibe. Following full music scholarships (Baptiste to Florida Atlantic University, Sylvester to Florida International University), they broke out in 2004 on “Showtime at the Apollo.” Playing to the historic Harlem theater’s notoriously tough crowd, they won three shows in a row and walked away with its coveted Legends Award.
Beyond it all, though, what constitutes success for Black Violin comes with a distinctive kind of dividend. That’s because each year over 100,000 students are part of its audience.
“When kids see us play, I think they can see themselves doing something amazing as well,” says Baptiste, also the group’s vocalist. “I can go into that rabbit hole of Grammys and all these different things, and all that would be great, but we do feel like we have something incredibly unique and special. We have an ability to really allow people’s emotions to come forth through our music. And I think we have a unique ability to bring communities together.”
Which brings us back to paying it forward.
Five years ago, the group launched its non-profit Black Violin Foundation to empower aspiring young musicians, regardless of race, gender or socio-economic status. Co-directed by Baptiste’s and Sylvester’s wives, Corryn Freeman and Anne Sylvester, the foundation provides access to quality music programs through scholarships, instrument distribution and grants. It reaches over 100,000 students a year through free performances, youth symphonies, community centers and low-income schools.
Black Violin are also among a star-studded coalition of mentors known as TurnAround Artists, part of Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ program designed to increase student engagement through the arts. In Broward County, the national program is affiliated with three elementary schools, one of which, Hollywood’s Mary M. Bethune Elementary School, has been “adopted” by the band.
Singers, dancers and violinists from those schools even joined a Black Violin on stage when they performed a few years ago for the opening of the Kennedy Center’s expanded campus, the REACH. The title of the song? “Impossible Is Possible.”
“That’s something the kids will never forget, you know? The key is really to allow these kids to dream — and not allow their dreams to be taken away because of things that they can’t control.”
Baptiste speaks from experience. As students, he and Sylvester were in the audience for shows presented by Student Enrichment through the Arts at Broward Center. As performers, they returned to play to a full house as part of the same program.
“It’s all amazing. It’s great to be able to do that in the place that you’re from,” says Baptiste, who lives in Plantation (Sylvester, in Davie). “It was a full-circle moment.”
The circle is not broken. Leading up to the Broward Center concert, Baptiste and Sylvester are holding workshops at Parkway and William Dandy middle schools as well as a workshop/master class for string students at their Dillard alma mater. Broward Center is making discounted tickets available to ensure those students and their families get to see the show.
The performing arts center’s relationship with its hometown stars is a longstanding one.
“Black Violin was one of the first partners Broward Center had when we started the Arts for Action: Black Voices initiative to elevate the voices of Black artists in our region,” says Jan Goodheart, the center’s vice president of external affairs. “They helped inform our work in this area.
She says the two men are Broward County cultural treasures and their artistry goes beyond the stage.
“They put on an incredible show with their unique ‘classical boom’ sound and have audiences completely engaged. . . .They are committed to giving back through education and engagement initiatives that will have an impact on the next generation,” says Goodheart.
Speaking of circles, Black Violin is currently working on “Full Circle,” its first album in five years, planned for an early 2025 release. It follows up on last year’s Grammy nomination for the single, “The Message,” a call-to-action collaboration with venerable gospel group the Blind Boys of Alabama.
The duo is trying something different for the new album. At recording sessions in Los Angeles and Miami over the last year and a half, they’ve been playing live in the studio with their band — drummer Nat Stokes, keyboardist Liston “LG3” Gregory III and DJ SPS — which Baptiste believes will enable the music to translate well on stage.
“There’s a certain level of maturity in this album,” he says. “Black Violin definitely has evolved in a great way. If we are able to access the inner dwellings of more people with this album, I think that’s success, you know? It’ll be great for us, but I think it’ll be great for the people, too, to be able to hear music that allows them to see themselves and be confident in themselves.”
He continues: “We’ve always been unapologetic, but over the journey, we’ve been able to stand a lot more solid in terms of what we believe and what we want to do. I mean, it’s our world. It’s however we want to do it. It’s how we’ve always been. It’s been a great journey. The journey doesn’t stop. It keeps going.”
IF YOU GO
WHAT : Black Violin
WHERE: Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Au Rene Theater, 201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale
WHEN: 6 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 17
COST : $20, $39.50, $49.50, $59.50,$69.50, $77, $85, $139.50
INFORMATION: (954) 462-0222;
www.browardcenter.org
