Classical music and hip-hop to meet in a Charlotte concert 'One can only dream of'

Musician Jeffrey McNeill and his partner Andrea Coln are the duo behind the Illharmonic Orchestra. Known on stage as Thee Phantom and Phoenix, the artists blend classical music with hip-hop music. This month, they’ll bring their pieces to Charlotte.

Ahead of their performance, WFAE’s Elvis Menayese spoke with Phoenix and Phantom, starting with Phantom’s upbringing, when he played the piano and flute and mixed Beethoven's Fifth Symphony with a song by the hip-hop group Beastie Boys at the age of 13.

Phantom: As a child, my father had a huge record collection, everything from Motown to Mozart, so I remember hours spent sitting in front of the record player, just going through the vinyl and immersing myself in music. My upbringing was kind of less than stellar. We were really poor; we grew up in North Philadelphia, but music became sort of an escape for me.

Menayese: I heard you once say music literally saved you and your friends' lives as teenagers when you were walking home late from a party in Philly. Could you take us back to that night?

Phantom: We were actually coming home from a friend's going-away party. He entered the armed forces, and this was the height of the crack epidemic. And you know, the notorious ‘North Philly stick-up kids’, you know, we came across them, we noticed a car driving slowly. (They) passed us and pulled up halfway up the street, and this guy hops out with what looks like an umbrella because it had a strap. It wasn't until he got up on us that we realized that it was a sawed-off shotgun.

He kind of held it to our heads, and he demanded the money that we had in our pockets, and all we really had was bus fare. But he recognized me from a house party that me and my DJ did. We would do house parties in North Philly, with our demo tape, so he decided to let us go, and before he got in the car, he told me to keep rapping, and I haven't stopped since.

Menayese: You mentioned that you and your friend were exposed to a shotgun. What was it like seeing that at such a young age?

Phantom: Everything you want to do, you realize you might not be able to do. Who is going to tell my mom I’m no longer here? 

Menayese: In the 2000s, you formed the orchestra and have since performed across the country with your wife, in places such as Miami, Dallas and Seattle. In 2015, the two of you performed in New York’s Carnegie Hall. A venue where jazz legends like Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan performed, and even Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke. Phantom, what did it mean for you to perform there?

Phantom: Representation. Kicking the door open to a different sort of genre, music, and things of that nature. I was trying for quite a long time to get into Carnegie Hall. And finally, after so many form letters that said no or not at this time. I enquire about renting it out.

FlashWerkz Photography

Menayese: One song you performed that day was "Sweet Dreams,” a track that blends the British duo Eurythmics' 1980s hit song with Dr. King's iconic “I have a dream” speech. Phantom, what does your version of that song represent to you, and what were you aiming to spark in people’s minds when you included lines like: “Did you ever dream you’ll see a Black president?”

Phantom: “I was kind of searching for something that really spoke to the times we were living in and in times of the past. I remember writing the first two verses and then struggling with the third verse, and then Trayvon Martin happened. And that became sort of the pushing point for me to write the third verse.”

Menayese: And what specifically was it about the Trayvon Martin situation that really hit home for you?

Phantom: Being a young Black male, much like growing up, at the same time that the Central Park Five happened or the exonerated five happened, you know, we are of the same age, that could have been me, and watching that unfold and knowing that America is not past the racism.

Menayese: Phoenix, halfway through the track, you come in. What emotions went through you while singing the song in a venue with so much history in your home city?

Phoenix: Carnegie is obviously one of the most renowned venues in the world, specifically for classical music and for things of that nature. In order to be in that space and performing music that quintessentially other was the type of experience that, again, one can only dream of.

Menayese: You categorized it as music that is seen as ‘other’, why do you view it that way?

Phoenix: Hip-hop has always been looked at in a way that was skeptical by gatekeepers, by the individuals who determine what music is. And for many years and even for a few decades, it was looked at as negative music. It was looked at as music that was denigrating to us, music that showed our aggressive nature, our angry nature, our criminal nature, because it's easy to categorize that when you don't understand what's being put into that music.

McNeill, Jeffrey

Menayese: Phoenix, not only do you sing, but you can play the flute and piano. I'm curious to know how you and Phantom met.

Phoenix: The interesting thing is that Phantom and I did not meet in a musical setting.

Menayese: Wow! Really?

Phoenix: No, we did not meet in a musical setting in any way, shape, or form. In your pursuit of art, sometimes, like most people, you have to take a job. You have to take a different job at a moment in time that's helping you meet the bills, make ends meet, and that sort of thing. We met in a retail setting, believe it or not. We were both working in the same place in Philadelphia. We met, we encountered each other, we had a brief connection for a moment in time, and then Phantom wound up leaving ... and then we were both at a club about a year or so later, and were joined together again. It was sort of like, 'Hey, do you remember me?'... It wasn't until we started dating a few weeks later, after that encounter, that we both realized how much music was a part of our skin.

Menayese: There’s one song you both produced called “Double Trouble” that captures the energy, versatility and confidence you both possess. Let’s listen to the track that features instrumentals from Italian composer Gioachino Rossini.

One of my personal favorite pieces you’ve covered is known as “Big Poppa,” a track by the Notorious B.I.G., or otherwise known as Biggie Smalls. Smalls was a hip-hop icon. Phoenix, do you think Smalls would have anything to talk about with a musical genius like Beethoven, assuming they could meet? What do you imagine they’d talk about? Could they even jam together?

Phoenix: Absolutely. Biggie was masterful at putting words together and putting them together in a way that was poetry. A lot of classical music has poetic roots or has poetry about it. And I think they could have definitely had a jam session, and could have connected over beats, and people forget that Beethoven was a little bit hardcore. 

Phantom: Beethoven was a gangster! 

Menayese: Haha!

Phoenix: Ahah, I think they definitely could and would have hit it off quite well. 

Menayese: Phoenix, this will be the first time the Illharmonic Orchestra performs in Charlotte. What do you hope listeners take away?

Phoenix: There is no shortage of negativity in this time in history. People need the things that continue to give them happiness, hope, light, even if it’s for two hours in a dark theater. That you can walk out feeling uplifted in some sort of way. That’s really what we strive for. If you see yourself reflected or represented, and that gives you that hope, that’s what we want. Even if it’s the one person who gets touched by that. We’ve done what we set out to do. 

You can watch Thee Phantom and Phoenix, the duo behind the Illharmonic Orchestra, at the Knight Theater on Aug.24.