Red Bull Music Academy presents The Foreign Exchange | Listen & Love
+FE Music, North Carolina, USA
Consisting of rapper/singer Phonte and producer Nicolay, The Foreign Exchange came together via The Roots’ online hip hop community OkayPlayer.com in 2002. After trading files through Instant Messenger for over a year, Nicolay (living in his native Holland at the time) and Phonte (a Raleigh, North Carolina resident) completed their debut album before they had actually met each other in person. The album, ‘Connected’, was praised by music lovers and critics alike for its inventive mix of hip hop, r&b, and electronica. Their sophomore album ‘Leave It All Behind’ found The Foreign Exchange much closer in geography – Nicolay had become a resident of Wilmington, NC – but located much further from their hip hop origins. On the strength of their exhilarating live show and music videos, ‘Leave It All Behind’ became the group’s most successful album to date, culminating in a Grammy nomination for the album’s first single, ‘Daykeeper’. Picking up where ‘Leave It All Behind’ left off in 2008, 2010’s ‘Authenticity’ is another diverse work, spanning the duo’s trademark brand of lush electronic soul, to intimate stripped down acoustic pieces.
Playlist
Little Brother – Speed – ABB
Little Brother – Whatever You Say – ABB
A Tribe Called Quest – Find A Way – Jive
Marvin Gaye – After The Dance – Motown
The Foreign Exchange – Nic’s Groove – BBE
The Foreign Exchange – Raw Life – BBE
Nicolay feat. Black Spade – I Am The Man – BBE
The Foreign Exchange – Take Off The Blues – Foreign Exchange Music
The Foreign Exchange feat. Muhsinah – Daykeeper – Foreign Exchange Music
Oddisee feat. Phonte – All Because She’s Gone – Mello Music Group
Nicolay feat. Wiz Khalifa – What It Used To Be – Foreign Exchange Music
The Roots feat. Phonte & Dice Raw – Now Or Never – Def Jam
The Foreign Exchange – Authenticity – Foreign Exchange Music
Little Brother – Star – Hall Of Justus
The Foreign Exchange – Maybe She’ll Dream Of Me – Foreign Exchange Music
