The website that Washington lives by.
?—and his latest is what he calls “Go-Go Alumni”: A way to show, he says, “the impact that go-go has had on many successful people’s lives from the area.” Because the city’s homegrown music still fights for respect on multiple fronts. The mainstream has never known quite what to do with it, and while DC’s political establishment hasBlack culture in DC—could be a vessel for change.
“Go-go shaped my approach to life, because I always felt like our culture was different than anywhere else. I always felt like we stood out wherever we went because our music and fashion and go-go culture just didn’t blend with anything else. I love that. I love being an individual and our accent, our slang, all of that was centered around go-go music. I always wanted to export our culture to the world. I think the person who had the best run with making go-go and mainstream mesh was Wale.
“I’m in the foreign policy and international relations space, so I spend a lot of time now out of the country working on foreign affairs. To me, DC’s very interesting in the sense that the music we listen to is indigenous to Africa. Congas, drums, percussion: It’s a very African sound. It’s our connection to some places that most people in the city have never been. It’s that connection to our African ancestry.