KHTS was joined by Wil B. of the hip-hop duo Black Violin, made up of B., a viola player, and Kev Marcus, a violinist. Together, the two have released five studio albums, and earned a Grammy nomination for their 2019 album, “Take the Stairs.”

Black Violin was formed when the classically trained duo, whose real names are Wilner Baptist and Kevin Sylvester, first met in high school, and soon took their dreams of becoming music producers to launch themselves to success through a fusion of hip-hop and classical music.

“We were very much influenced by the hip-hop producers of the time… Timbaland, The Neptunes… and that’s what we wanted to do. We wanted to incorporate something that we knew, which is classical music, in a way that no one has ever done,” Baptiste said.

Although touring was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the pause allowed the two to place more focus on family.

“It feels great to be back on the road, so great to be back on stage and connecting with people and communities again. It was definitely tough, you know because our tour – we started in 2019 and ended in like, February, and we had to… shut everything down,” said Baptiste. “For me, and for us, we kind of try and take advantage of it as much as we can… just being at home with your family and kids. That was awesome being able to do that.”

Black Violin also put more focus on providing virtual workshops for youth interested in music, providing guidance and mentorship for aspiring musicians.

“We connected with a lot of kids online, just talking to them about their lives, keeping their hopes up, just talking to them about their lives,  because a lot of kids are really down due to the fact that they couldn’t really interact with anybody,” Baptiste said.

Black Violin Foundation Inc is an organization dedicated to empowering youth by working with them in their communities to provide access to quality music programs that encourage creativity and innovation.

“The idea for our foundation is to bridge the gap, so to speak. We had a lot of individuals in our lives are very instrumental to us, helping us get to that next place, whether it’s helping us with an instrument, whether it’s helping us catch a train to that music camp that we needed to go to,’ Baptiste said. “We’ve always had people that were there for us, and we want to be able to do that for other kids, and other kids that are trying to get to college, that need that instrument or need that flight to audition for a college.”

To learn more about the Black Violin Foundation,sign up, or donate, visit the website.

Black Violin is scheduled to perform at the Santa Clarita Performing Arts Center at College of the Canyons on Wednesday, March 23. To buy tickets, click here.

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