1/ So First Off - Tell Us your Name, City and Country and what you currently do for a living?
Kenneth Alan - Music to Playlist Curator
Peace everyone, I’m Kenneth Alan, live from The Bay Area California.
Currently working with my pops n brother in the framing business. This allows me the time and freedom to put the necessary training and energy into my personal art, dance.
2/ Is This Something You Always Wanted To Do? What Do You Enjoy About It?
It’s definitely been something in the back of my mind. I’ve always enjoyed piecing music together and creating a cool lil ride for that 65-85 minutes that blank CD’s allowed.
Aside from the enjoyment the puzzle part of the play list gives me, I also love playing with the nuance in songs, sounds, and rhythms that people may not think go together but seamlessly flow with one another. Searching for the nuance allows me to create a playlist rich in texture with a multiplicity of sounds.
3/ Tell Us About Your First Musical Memory - Why Do You Think You Remember It?
Because of the way my mother raised my siblings and I, my musical memory is actually intertwined with dance. My household was full of music and dance. It was an everyday occurrence, and everyday my mother would put us on to some new music to move to.
4/ Who Did You Make Your First Mixtape / Playlist For - What Was The Result - Did They Dig It?
It was for a love interest of mine back in middle school. I think she really was into it. I enjoyed making playlist that spoke to how I felt, because it was hard for me to express it through words.
I’m pretty sure most of my mixtapes and playlists were for a special someone, or for a friends special someone.
5/ What Made You Go Online And Search About Music Curation?
I started to see a lot of people making playlists with the new streaming platforms so I dug a little deeper and found my way here, a place I’m blessed to have stumble upon.
6/ Tell us about the name of your Playlist - where did that come from?
A Feminine Future comes from a place and time where I started seeing a wide range of new artists popping up in RnB and HiP HoP that were women and it felt like a major resurgence. This is it not to say that women have never had a voice and impact in these genres of music, but i only aim to point out the influx of talented women that I took notice of and began listening to a lot of the time.
I also made this playlist because while reading articles on current rappers, top albums, and the exhausting King of RnB debate, I would always see a big portion of women left off these lists and conversations, or they only made up 2 or 3 spots, at most. I wanted to create this space as a way to appreciate the women pushing out fresh songs, rhythms, and ideas that get overlooked in the constant stream of male artists.
7/ What does a track have to have to make it onto your list, is there something special that you look for?
As a dancer, my relationship with the music is the way it makes me feel. That feeling is the soul of the music. Along with the soul I also look for the funk. The funk hits down low and gets into your bones to the point you’ve gotta sway, bounce or rock your head to the music. That’s the special aspect of the music that resonates with me each time. I’m a sucker for the funk.
George Clinton once said,
“The more one thinks about it, the harder it is to get the feel of the Funk. It is just done”
8/ What can an artist do in their track submission to your list to ensure that you'll listen to their track?
I usually like the music to speak for itself. So, if an artist feels the need to send me a long description of their track I assume that they must not feel the music speaks loud enough or clear enough. Background stories are cool, but just let me hear the story in the track through your music. Usually tracks I click to are musicians that send me a quick one line of the type of track they are sending.
In short, keep it short, and let your music speak.
9/ We know - these change all the time - but as of this week - what are your all time top 5 favorite tracks.
Cleva- Erykah Badu
The Root- D’angelo
Slump- OutKast
Knxwledge- douwrong_
No More-J*Davey
10/ And finally - which Music to Curator should we interview next?
Ben Young from Music to Quit Your Job. His selections are always tasteful and his perspective is fresh.