With midterm exams, papers and group projects beginning to pile up, you might be thinking of songs to add to your ultimate study playlists and for some students adding songs by Urban Cartel is a must.
The local DMV band Urban Cartel, also known as UC, is making it’s way through the DMV and now even to Austin, Texas.
After mock battle of the band competitions, go-go mixing in dorm rooms, and talent shows the group came together summer 2009 and decided to call themselves Urban Cartel. The band is comprised of lead vocalist and base player Seph Ade, keyboardist Aj Ajiboye, drummer Bryan Sackey, Emcee Teddy Atkins, and guitarist Andy Bixby.
“The name Urban Cartel really comes from our style being kind of a mix of the urban lifestyle and everything in our background,” Ade said. “Sackey always says like the echoes of the streets.”
The band has come a long way from passing each other in the halls of Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, Md. and jamming in college dorm rooms.
“It’s kind of just one of those stories where the pieces just fell together,” Ajiboye said.
If you attended Art Attack last semester you may have remembered that UC opened up for Nelly and they were a huge success and have been riding on that momentum ever since.
“The craziest thing was thinking about how everyone on North Campus could hear my voice,” said Ade.
After Art Attack UC started venturing out into D.C. and began doing shows in New Jersey and Philadelphia. The group has even landed a spot performing at the South By Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas this month and is hoping the event will allow them to expand their fan base.
UC’s music can be described as a fusion of R&B, hip-hop, and alternative rock with an indie feel.
“Music shouldn’t just stop at one genre it should transcend, you gotta pull from all influences,” Bixby said.
“It is really fresh; no two songs sound alike and they do a really good job of capitalizing on the talents of everyone in the band,” junior government and politics major Ida Daniels said. “I really love how they blend a variety of genres.”
Despite the fact that three of the members have already graduated and Ade is the only remaining UMD student, the five guys say that are in it for the long run. So for those of you who were wondering, yes, you can expect a lot more music from Urban Cartel.
“Let your passion be your drive,” Sackey said. “We use to lug our instruments to random places to practice. We didn’t know why we were doing it. You just gotta keep doing it if you really enjoy what you are doing.”
You can purchase Urban Cartel’s CD on iTunes and Amazon or download their songs and find out more information at www.urbancartel.bandcamp.com and www.facebook.com/TheUrbanCartel.
And if that isn’t enough Urban Cartel will be performing live at DC9 in Washington D.C. on March 5, 2012 for a South By Southwest Preview. The show starts at 9 p.m.