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A collective with the “funky spirit of Parliament, yet room to experiment like the Gorillaz,” Vanilla is Black has come to dismantle apathy, elicit groove, and redefine the industry by honoring what it used to be and catapulting it ions beyond.

Composed of Chuck Inglish, Kevin Roosevelt, and Kenneth Wright, these aren’t names we’re unfamiliar with, though they invoke an entire fourth entity when they come together. A mosaic of sound, Vanilla is Black cannot be defined within the bounds of genre; their art is homemade, soul-bred, and for the people. There’s something deeply spiritual about their journey, as if they were anointed to remind us that music can still be funky and freehanded, bearing little resemblance to the conveyor built we’ve come to know today.

Re-entering a very new industry, the trio are bright-eyed and curious, yet enlisting the wisdom they’ve cultivated and above all else, trusting their instincts. Upon the release of their debut EP U.Aint.Neva.Lied!, we got to talk to the band about starting over and doing it even more right.

Ones To Watch: Being that you all aren’t new to the industry, is there any discomfort or excitement that comes with being in a “beginning” again?

Chuck Inglish: I’d say so. That’s the coolest part, it’s good nerves. You wonder if doing the same thing over again is going to be different, but I think we’re in something so new that our experiences with other things only make the ridges smoother. A lot of new artists can be overwhelmed with how roll-outs go, all the shaking hands and kissing babies. I believe we’re having a fun time because we’re in a new space with the way that we consume things. I came from the CD-signing era, which is foreign now. It’s all new and exciting because we don’t have the opportunity to be like “Oh, I know how this goes,” because we don’t. It’s a new journey.

Kenneth Wright: It’s refreshing for me because it’s my first time being an artist in this kind of dynamic. Chuck and Kev have a little bit more room for understanding, but for me, I’m flying at the seat of my pants and having a blast with my brothers. There’s no real way to do anything because, like music, it’s all up for interpretation. It’s a beautiful thing having friends around me guiding me through the process. It’s tons of fun.

Kevin Roosevelt: I definitely feel a lot of the excitement side of it. This go-round is a chance to do the whole thing again even more accurately to what I really like.

Has your “why” changed at all this go-round? A new expectation of what you want from this?

Kevin Roosevelt: Certain things have changed just because of maturing and learning, as life will do. In general, though, I’ve always went for what feels right without any other concern, and this is still that. When we started, I had an idea for a band and I was telling all my friends “I want to do a band, I have all these great ideas” and then I ran into Chuck at a taco spot. We started talking music, I told him I was trying to start a band, and he said “Wait, I’m trying to start a band.” Once we started talking about it we realized we had all the same ideas independently of each other and everything’s just fallen into place.

Chuck Inglish: That’s exactly what it was. No idea is original and when you’re around people that have the same vision, you just tie the wires in and get a brighter light. The “why” has to exist in this infinite space because sometimes you’ll have a why, it’ll get answered, and then you lose motivation. This time, the why is a sundial. Now that we’re closer to the sound we were yearning to create, the world needs it. All it takes is a slight change in direction to be exactly where you’re supposed to be, and not changing direction can be what causes a crash. Our why is the desire to see things go in a different direction. You can never run out of why.

It almost feels dishonorable to confine your sound into genre. It’s very funky and soul-bred, a mosaic of different sounds. Are you using the fusion of genre to be a genre in itself?

Chuck Inglish: We can hear how music crafted in its original form affects people. I wouldn’t say that we’re intentionally trying to be genreless, I think we’re just in the business of making jams. That’s our unwaverable law. In that, there are so many different equations for what a jam is to someone. It can be slow, it can be smooth, it can be jazzy, it can be orchestral. Does it mean something to you, can you nod your head to it, can you see it placed behind all the different things you do in your life?

It’s not about the genre. If you’re building something to go into a category, it’s not really architecture, it’s factory shit. You don’t give yourself room to design outside of what’s needed. If you’re building a Target, you can’t think of a waterslide. Where the fuck is a waterslide going to go inside a Target? But if you’re just building a structure, you can do whatever you want. You can build a waterpark with a Target inside of it. Everything can exist if you’re not trying to make one thing. If you put something on and a baby can rock to it, so can you. Most kids are in middle school and they listen to wack shit and then there’s this band they listen to in high school and it changes their life. We want to exist as that.

Kenneth: As musicians who do a lot, the diversity that you hear in our music comes from our individual experiences and truly loving music. We’re meeting at a crossroads, doing this and pulling from that. The EP is so diverse because we’re throwing all of our unique emotions in.

I love the idea of gaining “musical sentience” when you leave middle school and discover a new band or artist. I always say it is the music we hear in the backseat of our parent’s car that really awakens us. Who was that for you?

Chuck Inglish: In middle school, I was all about Wu-Tang, then I got to high school and smoked a little bit of weed and got into Eels, Dave Matthews Band; I’m a musician so I was obviously a little more tuned in. A “pop” album that won hella awards and still to this day is genreless was the Santana album with that Rob Thomas song. That’s a commercial example of people being like, “I don’t know what that is but damn it’s good.” He didn’t have anything going on for 10, 15 years and then he pops up on the scene with a record that’s just him and he gets hella Grammys. It was a DJ Khaled ass album and every song was good. That was a big shift for me and I hope that we exist in that vacuum.

Kenneth: The early albums of Mint Condition opened my eyes to what was possible for a band. My first live concert was Musiq Soulchild and that sold me, too.

Kevin: I had a few shifts. Parents music-wise, my dad listened to Taj Mahal and James Taylor, lots of blues music. I got a lot of juice from that. But my own sentience started in fifth grade with Busta Rhymes, OutKast. In high school I got into world music, so Bob Marley and Buena Vista Soul Club. A lot of music from Brazil and Cuba. Fela Kuti, music like that. Then I got into production and that opened me up to underground rap and Dilla. I try to keep having shifts every five years if I’m doing it right.

Yes! We need to allow ourselves to continue to have shifts, I think that’s the whole point. The EP seems to honor the seed of true music while bridging the modern, especially featuring newer artists like 6LACK. As musicians who have been part of the art for so long, what’s your perspective on R&B “dying” or social media killing the industry?

Chuck Inglish: It’s a doom that was inevitable. When you start cutting roads short to get to other things, or when labels get so interested in eliminating bootlegs that they pour all their finances into streaming, your relationship with music becomes the same relationship you have with paying your bills. It’s all on one phone. There’s no separation. If I get an email about a song that I’m supposed to hear but I also get an email from PayPal credit that I have to pay my balance, I can’t differentiate.

Wow, bring back iPods for real.

Chuck Inglish: At least bring back the separation. Everything being in one space, music coming out Friday at 9 PM, like what? Do you know what I’m doing Friday at 9 PM? Not that. Now they’re calculating like, “Well this band must not be that good because from Friday at 9 PM to Sunday we didn’t get that many sales.” What are sales if you’re using an equation you made up in your head? “1750 spins is one cent,” like who the fuck said that? It’s a lot of moving the goalpost and changing the rules at the last minute that’s destroyed the outlets. You have so many new artists who are slaves to algorithms, how much content they can create around a song. I think about my dad and mom and brother, all of the music they listened to and stories around how much records and physical media meant to them. I was going to touch my cousin’s Illmatic cassette tape one time and he was about to literally kick me to the moon. Those connections to albums don’t exist anymore. We would love to be a version of the shift when things start turning again. Just using streaming as commercials and focusing on the conversation you’re having with your fanbase.

Kenneth Wright: The shift for every generation changes. Even when we were younger, the Jodeci-esque music we would listen to, our grandparents didn’t approve or like the vibes, but through all the changes good music always cuts through. As much as people hate on Lil Uzi Vert, I love him. He’s his own person. He has his own vibe, his own music, in his lane. Whatever he does, he is winning, and as many comments as people throw at him, it doesn’t matter because he’s doing what he loves. It’s not just about the music, it’s about what he’s choosing to project. His ability to be as open and free as he wants to be. For me, it’s up to us to find the good music, we’ve gotten lazy with the streaming convenience to find good music. It’s a delicate balance. I wholeheartedly and with open arms welcome any new artist. 

Kevin Roosevelt: I think there’s a lot of really cool stuff from the new generation. How the internet works, there’s just more of everything, so sometimes it can seem like everything’s shit, but there’s a lot of really good stuff. You might have to dig a little more for it, but there’s a lot of cool music out there, probably more than ever.

Kenneth Wright: That’s half the fun too. If you’re the first to find a really cool new artist, you put on your homies, and you see them start to do little shows and festivals, pulling up to their gigs, it’s exciting. 

Wrapping up, let’s talk about the EP. How are we feeling about it being in the world?

Chuck Inglish: If you’re not excited, the launch wouldn’t have the energy it needs. You need to love the place that you’re in. We made this with love, there’s nothing selfish in it. As much as we know finances and abundance will follow, being at the beginning is important because it’s where you start. And if you’re not excited about the start, everything else will be a dud. There are a lot of artists who are nervous about trying to make every single thing that’s their first release like it’s 50 Cent’s Get Rich or Die Trying. That’s never gonna happen. No artist is going to come out like 50 Cent. Thinking like “Man, I didn’t make ‘In Da Club,’” neither did 50 Cent. There were a couple of mixtapes first and a point in time where he couldn’t even rap for real. Then he got shot nine times!

Sometimes you gotta get shot nine times to get “In Da Club” out of you.

Chuck Inglish: Right! Are you willing to go through that? Be cool with your start. Be happy where you’re starting at. Don’t snarl at God. You have to start somewhere. Be happy about your journey, if you come out popping too hard, that fall off is nuts. I’ve seen it happen to a lot of people. I’m happy to be doing this with these guys, I’m excited to see our ceiling if there even is one. 

How did “Mezcal” get chosen as the lead single?

Chuck Inglish: Sometimes the label just picks a song. They saw a vision for us. Now that we’ve rehearsed it and I’ve played it as a DJ, I’m like “Ohhh, I get it.”

I can hear it bringing people alive at a day party so easily. It’s the season for a song like this, it’s getting warm, people are trying to be a little naked.

Chuck Inglish: It’s not your typical structure of a song, there’s an undeniable feeling of joy that it gives. Being with your people. Shooting the video helped me see it in a new way. And mezcal is a great drink with a lot of spiritual undertones. I don’t know anyone with a mezcal horror stories.

Kenneth: Everyone’s trying to be outside and this is an outside song. 

Chuck Inglish: Who doesn’t want a poolside jam that’s just infinite? When you sit poolside and have you a little drink, oof. Making those kinds of jams will never be slept on. It’s hot somewhere all the time, and people always gonna go on vacation. They’re going to check into their hotel, meet down in the lobby, the hotel bar pregame is an undefeated experience. You’re with six people, the first three come out. Drinks and complimentary chips and guac? And then “Mezcal” comes on? We can’t lose.

Lastly, I need to know where the band name came from.

Chuck Inglish: Vanilla is black. It just is. Don’t believe every single thing you’ve been told. Vanilla used as a color is deceptive. Question everything. It’s deep, but it’s not, because vanilla is literally just black. 

Kevin Roosevelt: We spent a while trying to figure out what to call ourselves and then Chuck was like “Yo, I have this idea. Vanilla Is Black. Because it is.” And we were like, “Ohhhh shit, it IS!”

Chuck Inglish: Because it is.