D'Angelo- I spent most of last year re-discovering his music and it was a breath of fresh air like none other. I grew up with D'Angelo's music as a kid and was always casually into it. I always had somewhat of a peaked interest in dude because I remember back in middle school borrowing my mom's cassette tape of Brown Sugar and listening to it on my own. Listening to him as an adult was like hearing everything brand new. Everything i love about music and what makes music powerful was represented in his music.... strong vocals, slick grooves. meaningful lyrics, amazing background vocals, great musicianship... everything was on point to me. I look forward to his comeback more than ever now.

Girls- Father, Son, Ghost (LP)

Girls make the kind of music that all these indie rock bands that get overhyped should be making. Hands down it's some of the best songwriting and compositions coming from the world of indie music. It's quality alternative rock. Don't quite know how to describe the sound- it's Pink Floyd meets Belle & Sebastian meets Buddy Holly meets Deep Purple

Kendrick Lamar- He already gets thumbs up for being local (Compton/LA stand up), but he's one of the most talented rappers to come from the West in a long time. Ironically, my little brothers turned me on to him several years back at a time when i was ignoring most of the freshman rappers because I was very disappointed with the state of hip-hop and getting bored with it. Dude is hella talented, I hope he focuses more on being an artist (as in a person who literally creates art) and not on being a corporate product. He's one of the few newer rappers that I listen to these days. And being a feminist, a militant feminist at that, I'm turned off by a lot of rap lyrics and find myself compromising half the time.

Marvin Gaye- Been digging deep into a lot of his lesser known material. B-sides, live shows, outtakes, instrumentals. I almost like him more as a composer than a singer. Marvin was a bad MF for real. It's sad that people mostly only associate him with What's Goin On?, "Let's Get It On" and "Sexual Healing"

Frank Ocean- "Pyramids" - I love this. This is what Usher's new album should have sounded like.

The Roots- Been a fan for many years now, but due to the fact I'm a little younger I came up with their music through adolescence too. I've been going back and listening to some of the older songs more attentively, from a musician's perspective. Listening to ?uest and the guys' compositions the way I'd listen to a Coltrane album... I think ?uest will go down in history as one of our best producers. It's like.. if Curtis Mayfield had a hip-hop band, what would it sound like?

Gen X Alternative rock- Going back and re-discovering the music of bands like Mudhoney and the Meat Puppets. Trying to dig deeper into their catalogues and the music that came out of that whole late-80s Seattle alternative rock scene... before it went corporate. But some of the major label stuff is excellent too.

John Coltrane- I listen to Coltrane regularly, but mostly the albums I like the most/most familiar with. Lately I've been digging deep into his catalogue to acquaint myself with all of albums. I really LOVE his experimental stuff (especially Om) and some of the last material he recorded shortly before his death.

The Black Power Mixtape- I made a playlist on Spotify with the same name immediately after watching the documentary (of the same name) and comprised it off inspirational social/political songs dealing with blackness and what it means to be black in America (or this world). I find myself listening to it often lately... definitely inspiration for the Occupy Wall St. activism I'm heavily involved in.