When will the idea of a Black rock artist become unusual? I mean, we created this shit.

Still, folks seem to be unaccustomed to a person of a color pushing power chords out of his guitar AND there’s still a good chunk of the population that scratches its head when Black artists are multi-faceted or impossible to pin down by genre. Is Prince an R&B artist or a rock artist? Yes. What about Lenny Kravitz? Seal? Tina? Kele Okereke?

Van Hunt belongs in that group, and along with fellow DGAF’ers like Me’shell NdegeOcello, was a torch bearer for newer artists like Miguel, Dev Hynes and even Frank Ocean, who genre blend with ease. I was fortunate enough to work on Van’s PR team for the release of his third (commercially released) studio album, What Were U Hoping For? “At The End Of A Slow Dance”, however, comes from his excellent sophomore effort, On The Jungle Floor. It’s Dirty Mind meets The Killers, with some sick riffage and the lyrics sung in a theatrical, yet soulful, growl.

Alternative radio should have been all over this cut. But…you know.