From risk to Grammy Nomination - Congratulations to The Foreign Exchange!

I'll preface this blog post with a disclaimer: I am an uberfan of Foreign Exchange. I love them. Period. And, my love of Foreign Exchange led to me becoming a fan of Little Brother, Darien Brockington, Yazarah, Zo! Musinah and Carlitta Durand, all people who's music I hadn't previously gotten into until discovering this group. Some I'd heard of, some I hadn't, but they were my gateway into tones of other great music. That's a pretty damn powerful thing and for that, they should be admired.

I remembered how I discovered Foreign Exchange. I was up late one night watching VH1 Soul. At the time it was one of my main ways of finding out what else was out there besides the obvious. It was before I had a myspace page, an iPod, a laptop or an iTunes account. Sincere came on. I was in love instantly. So, the next day I looked them up and came across an MTV online article about how they made the album from two continents and met in person prior to the video being shot. I didn't even listen to anything else, I went straight to Amazon and ordered the album. Any artists that can accomplish that and put out a song as fantastic as Sincere had my vote.

When it arrived I ripped it open and turned it on full blast in my kitchen. My mom and I sat there and listen to the whole thing. I wore out my first copy of Connected and my first copy of the Connected instrumentals. Why I didn't get an iPod right then and there, I don't know. Fast forward to 2008 and the rumblings I hear of a new Foreign Exchange Album. When I finally got it, I was floored! It sounded like nothing I owned in my library and they had grown a lot since I first discovered them.

To this day, when I'm in a day place or having a bad day, I listen to Leave It All Behind. When they finally came to LA for their first live show, I was excited. Ok, that's an understatement. There ere so many posts and Facebook statuses, my friends actually asked me if I was going to talk about anything else. Well, fuck you very much, no I'm not! And I wasn't alone...that 1st show was amazing. I wasn't the only obsessively excited fan. There was a full theater full of people who had waited 4 years for that moment. Foreign Exchange fans had become an exclusive club. "Who's that? Foreign Exchange! Who? Oh, you don't know?" It was always followed by a disapproving "oh, you must listen to bullshit" look. I did it too.

But that night we, my mom included, danced, sang every word and made instant friends with everyone in the room. It was one of those shows that attracted a perfect picture of real music fans in LA. Standing around smiling at each other because we could only imagine what was about to happen. All colors and ages, singing every word. My friends and I rank the shows we go to for the year and that night instantly skipped ot number 1, even above Janelle Monae's Grammy show at Skybar.

For people like me, who have worked in and around the independent music scene and knows the hustle, their story is one of those once in a lifetime occurrences. Foreign Exchange has accomplished everything we all say we can do, all on their own, being themselves. AND NOW THEY'VE BEEN NOMINATED FOR A GRAMMY!!! They make music for people that love music. Year after year, awards shows become less and less about the music. But this year, real music fans are excited. My mom almost jumped of the couch when I told her Foreign Exchange had been nominated. Along with them, and the nomination for Lalah Hathaway and Eric Roberson, for the first time in a while, I'm excited to get out during Grammy season, I'm excited to watch the show. I'm excited that music I know and love will get the spotlight they deserve.

This, like I said, is the blog of a FAN, not an industry person, singer or a musician, but a fan. I very, very happy fan...

Here's their official vid on the nom...

The Foreign Exchange's Grammy nomination video from The Foreign Exchange on Vimeo.