I consider myself more Philadelphia than a cheesesteak. My native pride is a shade of a cool dark brown inspired by a rich patchwork of history that springs from generations of musical legends that my home town breeds. As Memphis is known for the blues, Detroit for funk and Atlanta has Crunk, in my humble opinion Philly is unparalleled in soul, jazz, hip hop and pop. In the coming months I will share with you my insider’s view of our city’s contemporary music culture.

June is Black Music Month and here in Philly, we’re celebrating with native sons and daughters’ musical releases, festivals and more. 2010 promises to be a stellar year with upcoming projects from modern renaissance women Jill Scott (poet, singer, film and TV star), internationally renowned poet Ursula Rucker’s seventh studio album, She Said; hip hop legend and MC Bahamadia’s fourth album, Here, singer-songwriter debut solo projects from Marsha Ambrosius (formerly of Floetry) and Nikki Jean; and last but certainly not least, a little hometown band known as The Roots with their tenth album release, How I Got Over.

I encourage each and every one of you to not just purchase these albums via iTunes or your local record shop (AKA Music on 27 North 2nd Street in Old City– support local business!) but visit Philly to experience this magic first hand and celebrate Black Music Month with us. The Roots kick the summer off right on June 4th with their pre-picnic party at World Cafe Live with The Roots, John Legend and more.

The 3rd Annual Roots Picnic Festival is Saturday, June 5 and is a whopping 12-hour summer jam with performances by The Clipse, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Jay Electronica, a special appearance by John Legend and recently-added Wu Tang Clan members, Method Man, Ghostface and Raekwon backed by The Roots plus many, many more. The party doesn’t stop there.

Throughout June, we’ve got the Art + Soul Food festival in Brewerytown on June 12, Odunde, the African-American festival on June 13, the West Oak Lane Jazz & Arts Festival from June 18-20, Jill Scott and Maxwell in concert on June 19 and much, much more.

We’ve got the music covered and tons of delicious dining options in addition to the cheesesteaks we're known for. All we need now is for you to come down and hang out with us in Philly for an experience you can’t get anywhere else in the world.

With love,

Tayyib