Aloe Blacc

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Aloe Blacc is an American singer, songwriter, rapper and producer, born Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III in 1979 in Orange County, California, to Panamanian parents. He began with a rented trumpet in third grade and at around the same time was gripped by LL Cool J. He studied linguistics and psychology at the University of Southern California and worked briefly at Ernst & Young. In 1995 he formed the hip hop duo Emanon with the producer Exile, named after a Dizzy Gillespie tune.

Music and breakthrough

With breakbeats and jazz samples, Emanon became an established name in underground rap. In 2003 he began a solo career and in 2006 he signed with Stones Throw Records, which released his album Shine Through. His big breakthrough came with Good Things in 2010. It featured I Need a Dollar, which became the theme song of an HBO series. In 2013 he co-wrote Wake Me Up with Avicii and sang on it. The song reached number one in twenty-two countries. Lift Your Spirit, his major-label debut, was released in November 2013. The Man also reached number one in the UK.

Influence

His music combines soul with hip hop. He did not want to express ego, as in much hip hop, but to write songs that say more. In this way he fits into the line of singers who combine soul and social awareness.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 2006Shine Through
• 2010Good Things
• 2013Lift Your Spirit
• 2018Christmas Funk
• 2020All Love Everything
• 2025Stand Together

See also

• All Love Everything