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FN: I don’t think about genres. It’s really something I never think about. I just write songs and I’m

influenced by anything that is great. When I go into the studio, I am trying to produce a piece of art
I am proud of. On this album it was fun to collaborate with E-40 and Tarriona “Tank” Ball of Tank
And The Bangaz, I was trying to do something different. I hear and feel Blues in everything, but I
don’t really want to keep doing the same thing that is done
before over and over again. There’re enough people doing

twelve bar Blues. I do not wish to be confined by a
hierarchical repressed fantasy of what Black music is.

LL: Please tell us about the other players on the
album.

FN: I’ve been playing with the same people for

twenty-five years, Cornelius Mims on the bass. He
is the bass. He is a legend and has played with
artists far greater than me (Michael Jackson, The
Winans, LL Cool J, Nancy Wilson, Tupac). Masa
Kohama from Tokyo, Japan. He is a Japanese guitar

player who can play any style. He is very well known in
L L Cool J J
Japan. Lionel Holoman who had played with 50 Cent, Busta
Rhymes, and more. He is a master of the Hammond B3. I was
really focused on emphasizing the Hammond B3 on this album and no one plays it like Lionel.
Bomani Mosely, my nephew, played percussion.

LL: How do you see yourself and the music industry going forward in 2021 … hopefully post-

pandemic?

FN: We have to take everything one day at a time. My focus is to create the most powerful,
interesting music that I can create. Whether we are in a pandemic or not, that’s always what I’m
interested in. I think an artist’s contribution can be so therapeutic. I think if we focus on that we

will be in a better place.

~ Lawrence Lebo
Lawrence Lebo is an award winning, critically acclaimed Blues recording artist, living in Los
Angeles, CA, USA. She can be found on the web at www.lawrencelebo.com