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Each Thursday in June, Crosstown Arts presents a special Black Music Month pop-up series in the Central Atrium. All performances are free and open to the public.
5:30-7:30pm | Central Atrium
Free and open to the public
Born and raised in Memphis, TN, music has always been apart of C maJor’s life. As an infant, his mother would put him to sleep with classical selections. In middle and high school he would go on to perform as a percussionist in his schools’ concert and marching bands. As a music producer/engineer those roots as a percussionist play a major part in the C maJor sound. Drums are EVERYTHING. Percussion holds a certain power in music; the power to make the listener feel and react. As a musician, C maJor plays on that power using the drums in unexpected patterns to get unexpected results out of listeners. As a kid, he grew up listening to the underground sound that Memphis is now taking worldwide. He has worked with hometown legends Gangsta Boo and Project Pat closely as both a producer and engineer. He is also one out of three producer/engineers in the Unapologetic family. At the core, C maJor is a simple, quiet, calm person. He’ll let the beats do the talking, and they talk a lot.
Eillo (ee-loh) is a second-generation musician from Memphis who loves to blend his musical influences to make something new.
Born from neo-soul on his mother’s side and underground hip hop on his father’s, Eillo’s ears always picked up around music. Early memories of the music that his mom would sing to in the house daily from India Arie to Stevie Wonder, and hearing his dad freestyle around the house were hat started his journey into finding more ways to experience music. He picked up drums at 4, keys at 5, drawing at 7, and beats at 13.
Eillo also became drawn to a lot of weird music that innovated the media along with concepts like polyrhythms or microtones that redefined what we know as music.
These interests, mixed with the experience that comes with being black in America, sparked a flame that affected his outlook on the influence of music to the world, and how the creatives he listed to were able to tell a story through their gifts
By this time, he knew that all he wanted to do in life was move the world with his music.
With all of this he still struggled a lot w being fully expressive in himself to nurture his gifts. Until summer 2018 when he became an intern for Unapologetic. That key unlocked a part of him that begin to break through that barrier. He picked up the guitar a year later and, around that time, finally set himself on the name Eillo, a play of the word Elohim signifying his connection to all people through music and through the fact that we are all the creator of something.
Eillo’s purpose is to use his acquired skills and talents to create a sound that can resonate w people, but still reflects his unique approach to music.
