Mingus Murray wants to reinject funk back into black music

theGRIO Q&A - To mix funk, soul and rock together is a task that many have tried but only few do well and Mingus is the latter...

Kyle Harvey

Jun 15, 2012

Music like yours tends to take a backseat to what’s considered to be the popular norm. Do you feel Hip Hop and R&B have a monopoly on what the world thinks black music is?

I do. I travel a lot and when you go to different places what I get is hip hop or some rapper they listen to. In Paris, they listen to Akon because he’s Senegalese and there’s a huge Senegalese population out there. People really adopt hip-hop as black music, because it really does represent black music to the fullest in my opinion. But there are also people who are into searching for good music too. But hip-hop does hold the torch throughout the world.

Do you think your style of music is overlooked?

No I think it’s partly due to artists not connecting to the audience. Micheal Jackson had no problem, and he was an R&B singer pop act. I think with rap, it’s so straight-forward and to the point that people identify with that.

How would you describe your sound in 5 words?

Electro, Erotic, Funk, Rock & Roll.

What are you trying to accomplish as an artist?

I want people to identify with my music. I want people to get back on the train of thought of the funk blues days. Back to it being funkadelic. I think that’s what Kanye does really well. He’s about his progression. […] I have the utmost respect for Kanye and Andre 3000. They’re like my modern day heroes.

For more info on Mingus checkout his website at www.mingusmurray.com

You can check out Kyle’s musical coverage on theGrio music page, and follow Kyle on Twitter at @HarveyWins.