Philadelphia, Penn. and Asbury Park, N.J., meet up in an unlikely but exciting collaboration this Piccolo Spoleto. Philly’s Best Rapper, Kuf Knotz, and classical trained harpist Christine Elise deliver their unique blend of New Age, hip hop and soul onstage at the Cannon Streets Arts Center, June 7.
The performance by Knotz and Elise is presented by VeraNation, led by the local poet Abby Duran. The performance marks Knotz and Elise’s return to Charleston and their second collaboration with VeraNation, after an April 2023 event called Empath-Tea.
“I definitely wanted to continue [working with Knotz and Elise]. When I saw an opportunity with Piccolo, I jumped on it,” Duran said.
The “Poetic Hip-Hop + Harp Experience” will also feature live painting by Charleston-based artist Kiana MacKinnon.
Duran said the multimedia approach of this event allows the audience to “see the texture of what you’re hearing… you get to be a part of the colors. You’re seeing something new created right in front of your eyes. I don’t want to give too much away, but Kiana is going to include the audience in a very unique way with the live painting.”
Reaching “High vibrationz” with dance-inspired music
Elise and Knotz, who have been featured on NPR for their genre-blending art, recently released their third album, Hypnagogia. It has the same New Age, soul and hip hop influences as their previous work but adds up-tempo, dance-inspired vibes.
“There’s more heart on this album than any other album we’ve put out,” Knotz told the Charleston City Paper.
Tracks like the disco-inspired “High Vibrationz” came out of the duo’s experience performing and seeing how audiences danced with each other and enjoyed the movement, Elise said. Knotz shares the sentiment.
“A lot of the music is inspired by [our performances]. We perform a lot and are on the road seven months out of the year. So seeing responses and knowing the type of songs people enjoy live really inspired a lot of songs,” Knotz said.
A serendipitous partnership
Prior to their partnership, Elise found herself in the audience at one of Knotz’s Philadelphia shows. She describes feeling “in awe of the band and his music.”
“About three months [after the show] we randomly ran into each other at a Whole Foods, and I just said, ‘If you ever need a harpist, let me know,” Elise said.
At first, Knotz didn’t know how a harpist would fit into his music, but he was curious about the collaboration’s potential, so he reached out to her anyway.
“I sent her some music I was working on and she did an improv over it and I thought it sounded really cool, so I invited her to do a show. And then we went to the studio and started recording.”
Knotz and Elise have released three albums together: Higher Grounds (2018), kƏ’myo ōnƏdē (2021), which means ‘community,’ and this year’s Hypnagogia.
Since beginning their partnership five years ago, the pair have also founded Higher Grounds Music, a community outreach performance project.
“Often when artists tour, you stop one night in one location and then move on to the next city. It’s hard to connect to the people other than in that moment of playing,” Elise said.
“We wanted to put both our skills and our history of working in community together and build a project where we go into spaces like schools, libraries, community centers…that allows music to be accessible to places that may not have free music or all-age shows.”
Their work with Higher Grounds Music and the community development they saw through that work directly influenced their second album kƏ’myo ōnƏdē.
“It was definitely inspired by the importance of strength in numbers,” Knotz said of the album. “We feel it’s super important to ingrain and spread that message through our music and through action.”
Knotz and Elise bring a poetic hip hop and harp experience from at 7 p.m., June 7 at the Cannon Street Arts Center. Tickets cost $10 at citypapertickets.com
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