Musical collaboration was reinvented during the pandemic — a lot of work was done over zoom.
Michelle David, a classically trained composer in New York and hip hop artist Tronee Threat in Yellow Springs created a new choral work together that will be performed in Cincinnati this weekend.
David grew up in New York with a hearing loss that isolated her from kids in school. Often by herself, she studied classical piano and began composing.
She was studying orchestral arrangement in college when COVID-19 hit. Her family got COVID. Her grandfather died. She was diagnosed with Meniere’s disease, which causes vertigo and can lead to deafness.
She was watching the world blow up after George Floyd’s murder.
“I feel like all of that pain was transferred into this music,” David said, “and I guess I was trying to like, give myself hope at the time, making this song.”
She wrote parts for a choir in the background. She called the song “We Are Stronger” and put it away. Two years later, she got a call from her mentor asking, “How would you like to collaborate with a hip hop artist in Ohio on a choral piece?”
That artist was Tronee Threat, who grew up in Columbus, battle rapping and building his own independent music label. He dreamed of fame, cars and women.
To finance his music, he hustled deals on the streets. He was in a long time feud and was assaulted. When he sought retaliation, a bystander was shot, who survived, and he was arrested for felonious assault.
In prison, Tron’s deep remorse led to a new purpose for his music and his raps.
Tron started thinking about the streets.
“Who am I talking to, right? Who do I really want to talk to? I started talking to people who were like me, that came from the struggles that I came from, that’s in the streets," he said. "There’s gangbanging, there’s hustling, there’s murdering, right?”
Tron’s been out of prison for a year. He now works as a physical fitness manager in Yellow Springs and wants to create a music academy to mentor young musicians.
David says she loved Tron’s quick response to her lyrics.
“He just started rapping, like on the spot," David recalled. “And I was like, 'Oh my goodness!' Like this is magic. This is really magical.”
The two lit up as their collaboration began.
Tron said he asked David, “What you got? 'Oh, I do got this: (sings) “Oh why, lord, can we love one another …' As soon as she started doing that, I had eight measures in my head already. It was more elaboration on the chorus, right? This how she is asking it. This is how I would ask it if I had the opportunity, right?”
Tron’s rap imagines a conversation with God. He recited the first lines from his rap section. “Excuse the error of my arrogance, The audacity to question thee as I’m perishing. Just a finite being, I was a bean, and I’m still sprouting, lowlife in my bloodstream, and I’m pouting for more power.”
The song questions God about the promise of social justice.
Over the next two weeks, they traded beats, chords and arrangements.
“I wrote a 20 measure verse within 15 minutes,” Tron recalled. “And I sent it to her, recorded it and sent it to her, what you think about that? Oh, she liked it. 'That’s dope! That’s dope! What you think about this?' She sent me something back. Aww! That’s crazy. I’m going to put the 808 right here, boom, boom, boom. She like 'Aw, that’s hard, I’m going put the piano.' Like it is back and forth, tag teaming, and it’s good.”
David said their collaboration shows what we can do in the world outside music, too.
“I guess when the piece comes all together, like classical and hip hop coming together as one, there’s a sense of unity there," David said. "And it gives the idea we should come together as community, come as one, and we can work together.”
“We Are Stronger” premieres in Cincinnati on Sunday, March 19, at the Community Choral Showcase. For Information and free registration, see: https://mayfestival.com/learning-community/25-for-25/community-showcase/
Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story included incorrect information about the injuries suffered and the crime committed by the rapper. The story should have said that Tronee Threat was assaulted and that when he retaliated, a bystander was shot. WYSO regrets the error.
Support for Culture Couch comes from WYSO Leaders Frank Scenna and Heather Bailey, who are proud to support storytelling that sparks curiosity, highlights creativity and builds community and Ohio Arts Council.
Culture Couch is created at the Eichelberger Center for Community Voices at WYSO.