Black Spade

With influences from Prince and J Dilla to Radiohead and fusion-era Miles Davis, St. Louis MC/maker/vocalist Dark Spade clearly isn’t the pop-rap of fellow Gateway Town natives Nelly as well as the St. Lunatics. His musical palette — warm and trippy synths, gritty hip-hop beats, and falsetto-infused, downtempo neo-soul — can be even more in tune using the left-field spirit/funk moments of underground Detroit and L.A. Delivered and bred in St. Louis, MO, Dark Spade (genuine name Veto Lamar Cash) progressed into a skilled musician performing within regional indie rap/spirit collective Spirit Tyde, which originally shaped in 1998. Their initial, and only, record, Hip-Hop & Soulful…Ish, marketed just a couple hundred copies upon its discharge in 2003 prior to the crew split up not long soon after. From his own to determine himself being a single musician, Spade was uncovered by an A&R through the downtempo/deep house-focused label Om Information at a efficiency within the California Bay Region in 2004. By 2007, the multi-threat soulster was agreed upon to Om and released the digital four-song EP, Loves THE FOLLOWING, later that season. His debut full-length using the label, To Serve With Appreciate, appeared quickly thereafter in 2008.