Paint It Blacc

Whether you first heard it on trendy Stateside drama How To Make It In America, or blasting out of your car stereo, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the gloriously gloomy ‘I Need A Dollar’ was an overlooked B-side by some forgotten ‘70s soul brother, or at the very least, a modern-day cover of a Bill Withers song.

To me, and – judging by record sales in excess of 700,000 copies – countless other soul fans, discovering that those pipes and lyrics belong to 32-year-old MC-turned-soul singer Aloe Blacc was like finding the Krupp diamond in a box of cereal.
Since its release 18 months ago, ‘I Need A Dollar’ has become a kind of credit crunch anthem for recession-weary music fans, even if the song was written during the boom, when Blacc was working for accountancy giants Ernst & Young. “After seeing so many people enjoying the song,” Blacc explains, “I kind of feel like there’s something more than the lyrics that’s attractive to folks. There’s a spirit in the song that’s fun and playful, I think that’s the important thing. Music can be used in so many different ways and one is to celebrate life. I think although the lyrics are a bit depressing, the song itself is quite celebratory.
“And I feel like a little bit of the success is because the song stands as a juxtapose to the synthesisers and the AutoTune and the really heavy high-energy dance music. Sometimes people just want something simple and genuine.”
Given the success of ‘I Need A Dollar’, it’s hard to believe that Blacc is a relative newbie to the crooning game. In fact, if it wasn’t for Peanut Butter Wolf, the man behind independent hip-hop label Stones Throw Records, Blacc might never have made the move from rap to soul.
“I began my singing career in 2005 after rapping for ten years,” he tells me. “Before, I was pitching music as an MC, making hip-hop, and Peanut Butter Wolf heard some of the songs I was recording with one of his artists. He liked the song that I was singing on, so he signed me as a singer. He’s done that with a few other artists, like Mayer Hawthorne, who’s a DJ-turned-soul singer. It basically comes down to him choosing artists that are self-sufficient and authentic and then the music just speaks for itself.”
Since the release of his slow-burning second album Good Things, Blacc has been almost constantly on tour with his band The Grand Scheme.
“The name of the band refers to a philosophy that we all espouse,” he says, “and that we try to present on stage about using music as a tool for positive social change. Our little master plan or grand scheme, if you will, is to infect people with happiness through music. It happens every night that we get on stage, I see it and I encourage people to go out and pay it forward, use the happiness that we give ‘em to make other people happy, because then at least you know you’re doing some good. It starts with one person – and we’re lucky enough to do it with 200 or 2,000 people at a time. “
Of course there are many advantages to helping others, and in Blacc’s case, one of them was hooking up with Kanye West and Quincy Jones at a charity event back home.
“They had me in awe,” Blacc beams. “Meeting Quincy for the first time and hearing his old stories and having him talk to me and treat me as though we’d known each other for years was great. He’s a sage, he’s like Yoda! He just knows everything and there’s no fear. He’s been there and done that. And to meet Kanye was great. He was coming out of his really long hiatus from the industry because of media and some of his actions, and he gave a really heartfelt talk about how he’s looked at himself, evaluated his past and is making changes.”
Blacc is making his Irish live debut on Arthur’s Day, September 22, an event that he says immediately appealed to the philanthropist in him.
“I wasn’t fully aware of Arthur’s Day before, I didn’t know exactly what it was, but now that I know about it, I think it’s a fantastic idea. The social entrepreneurship aspect of the Arthur Guinness fund, I really enjoy that. It’s great that I get to play for something that’s such a good cause. And it’s going to be fun to surprise some fans in a pub when they have no idea who’s coming up! I might have to prepare some special songs with the band.”
Aside from his impending Irish visit, kicking it with Quincy and showing some synth-happy dance producers what for, what does Blacc reckon will be his defining moment of 2011?
“Glastonbury was really a highlight. I mean I think a lot of artists wish for the moment that they get to play on a Glastonbury stage, and I was lucky enough to have mine early in my career.
“I guess I can quit making music now,” he laughs. “I’ve done everything I need to do!”

Aloe Blacc plays The Olympia on Arthur’s Day, September 22. Good Things is out now on Stones Throw Records.