This GRAMMY® Award-winning band has quietly impacted pop, R&B, and hip-hop with production credits from The Weeknd, Travis Scott, and SZA, to Jazmine Sullivan, Ellie Goulding and Billy Porter. In 2021, KG co-wrote “Sing” for Jon Batiste’s We Are. It gathered eight GRAMMY® Award nominations, and took home an award for “Album of the Year.” KG also penned “Sweeter” [feat. Terrace Martin] on Leon Bridges’ Gold-Diggers Sound, which notched a GRAMMY® nod in the category of “Best R&B Album.” Along with being known as producers, they have rocked stages along side Talib Kweli, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Mr. Bungle, and the Nate Smith trio. Be sure to check out their contemporary take on American Soul on their first 2 albums- “Make It Sweat” (2017) and “Heavy Metal Greasy Love” (2022) on Mike Patton’s Ipecac Records. KG is currently working on a 3rd studio album.

Chris Shreve is a NC based MC/producer & founder of the hip-hop collective Free The Optimus. His brainchild–FTO–became an award winning blog era success, earning their following & relevance through an unrelenting tour & release schedule, largely driven by Shreve’s vision. The Professor moniker references his 12 years as a university professor teaching biostatistics. He defines Free The Optimus as “a call to action—to set free our optimal ability & our optimistic perspective & to transform the world around us.” From the writers at Earmilk: “C.Shreve’s lyrical prowess is undeniable. FTO is known for bringing positive & poetic lyrics that flow over jazz influenced hip hop beats that bring in a hint of soul. Their lyrical talent goes above & beyond what is expected in rap music these days.” Since 2009, FTO has helped to define Carolina music & continues to set the bar for hip hop in the live space. Shreve has toured & shared stages with The Pharcyde, Big Boi, CL Smooth, The Hieroglyphics, Lupe Fiasco, Raekwon, Onyx, Gift of Gab, Cannibal Ox, Camp Lo, Nappy Roots, Talib Kweli, Oddisee, Guilty Simpson, Planet Asia, Tanya Morgan, Chubb Rock, Slum Village, Zion I, Marley Marl et al. He’s performed at Hopscotch, Blue Plum, LAAF, Beats & Bars, Boone in Blossom, Drink Durham, Brooklyn Wildlife, GURP Fest, Shrimp N Grits & AVL Fest. His work has been featured on Shade45, Hip HopDX, Earmilk, Revolt TV, I Still Love HER, INDYweek, & has been spun by both DJ Premier & Chuck D.

NIKKI LYNETTE is a suicide survivor and multi-hyphenate artist who fuses mental health activism into her performance art, film projects and visual art, creating a lane that is uniquely her own. Her journey with mental health outreach began in 2016 when she returned to the public eye after a long hiatus with a confession: she’d secretly been battling mental health issues. In a time when being open about mental health struggles was taboo, Nikki began writing articles about depression and suicide for prominent media like Afropunk and AllHipHop. As the opening act for Pussy Riot’s first American tour, Nikki workshopped the material that would soon become her musical about depression, GET OUT ALIVE. In 2019, Nikki made history as the first black female playwright to have a musical produced by American Music Theatre Project, in 2022 she became the first Steppenwolf LookOut Series work and first female AMTP alum to be featured at NAMT’s Festival of New Musicals, and in 2024 Nikki Lynette became the first American Playwright to be invited to Cove Park’s Musical Theatre Writing Residency in Scotland. GET OUT ALIVE is currently in development under the guidance of Tony & Grammy Award winning producers Octopus Theatricals. A proud ambassador and board member for the Chicago chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), seeing her music used to tell stories in tv shows led Nikki to an interest in filmmaking. Since adapting her musical about depression to film during the pandemic, GET OUT ALIVE has been invited into over a dozen film festivals and won three awards. Her zeal for crafting edgy multimedia theatrical experiences that center mental health is on full display in Nikki Lynette’s second film, the new documusical entitled Happy Songs About Unhappy Things.