The members of Inflowential, a six-man band made up of two emcees (Tab-One and Charlie Smarts), a beat boxer (A-Did), a guitarist/keyboardist (Kyle Phelps), a bassist (Bender) and DJ Ill Digitz (a former WKNC DJ), have a strong love for N.C. State. Although they have been featured in NPR’s The State of Things, Encore Magazine and The Independent, they take time to remember the campus on which they met. But this spring, the band took its music from campus to the rest of the nation when it represented NCSU at MTV-U’s BestMusicOnCampus.com Campus Invasion Competition and won one of the first-place spots.
Inflowential has shared the stage with a wide array of artists, including a recent concert at the Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek with 311 and Snoop Dogg. The group recently signed a contract with Puma, which will use its song “Change” for a new fragrance.
Technician: How was your tour opening for Wyclef Jean for the MTV-U competition?
Kyle Phelps: I’m a student … the last one of the band still in school. I finished up my exams in the first week and over that weekend — between that week and the last two days — we were flying to Boston to play with Wyclef and Flo Rida. It was cool to finish my exam one day and the next day be flying to an MTV show. [Everyone laughs].
Technician: How was your show at Walnut Creek?
A-Did: It was awesome!
Charlie Smarts: We had three different sets to play, you know, in between the big names. In between the acts, the crowds got bigger via word of mouth, just more people coming to the show, what have you, but it got so filled in there that there was people on the outside gate that they wouldn’t let in. At first, they said all you had to do was say “I’m here to see Inflowential,” you come into the VIP [area]. They started shutting people off and there was people they was just turning back, people lined up on the gate outside the VIP, it was like our lawn, for our performance. It was crazy!
A-Did: They said it was the first time that they had a crowd around the stage in the VIP section. So that was pretty cool.
Technician: Talk a little bit about M.E.C.C.A.
A-Did: Yeah, go to YouTube and check out the M.E.C.C.A. channel, you know, M.E.C.C.A. records. It stands for something; it’s what you call an acronym. It’s “Middle East Coast Carolina Always” and that, to us, it just encompasses our team. Our team is so talented and at so many different sides that we felt like we were talented enough to use all our abilities as one and put out our own music and our own videos and our own music channel. It turned into a movement.
Charlie Smarts: It’s independent, you know what I’m saying. We’re surrounded with very talented people so it’s like, “Let’s all become one team.” It’s Ka$h, J-Sol, Halo, DJ Ill Digitz, Charlie Smarts, A-Did, Kyle, Bender, Tab-One, Rapsody, Tom Foolery, Synopsis, Napoleon. That’s pretty much it. M.E.C.C.A is our team. … We haven’t added anybody, but we’re looking to add Median. So Median, if you read this, we’re looking to add you to the team.
A-Did: Median, you’re definitely someone we’re hunting for! [Everyone laughs].
Tab-One: It stands beyond music too, that’s why I think that, at a personal level, it’s not just about the music. [M.E.C.C.A.]’s about how to market it, how to push it, make it attractive to all kinds of people.
A-Did: We learned that at N.C. State!
Technician: Do you have anything you want to say to N.C. State and its students?
A-Did: There’s Friday Fest coming up soon, we weren’t approached about it, but we would love to play at our own school. We would be happy to open the show!
Charlie Smarts: And you wouldn’t have to pay us, we would do it for free! Give us a chance and we won’t disappoint!
If Inflowential was asked to play Friday Fest, the band would be joining Who’s Bad, Little Brother and Boyz II Men on the stage. These proud graduates, a force in the local music scene, make a versatile group that draws from and performs in many different genres. The band’s album is expected to be finished by the end of the year.
After the interview, the band hit the stage at The Pour House and Inflowential definitely did not disappoint.
