Although Charles may be new to some, she has held a long spanning relationship with music that goes back to girlhood. She was raised by a Haitian mother in Brooklyn where the sound waves in their home was filled with artists like Johnny Hodges, Frank Sinatra, Chaka Khan, and Nat King Cole. She attended the famed arts high school, LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts where she studied flute and vocals. Her early life was full of stage performances; as a kid she participated in musical theater, pageants, and talent shows in New York City. Eventually, she landed at the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music at The New School for college where she met artists like alto saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin and others. Perhaps better known as a singer, Charles has earned her title as a bonefide flutist. Her playing adds vibrant swaths of color and emotional texture to her music.

The album opens with a breathtaking rendition of Billie Holiday’s “God Bless the Child.” This song, and the album overall, flexes Charles’ impressive arrangement skills. The song features a powerful group of musicians—Benjamin Julia on electric guitar, Dezron Douglas on upright bass, Anwar Marshall on drums, Shedrick Mitchell on organ, and Tayzaro on cello. On flute and vocals, Charles floats above the soulful current of the band, singing the song over a dramatic blanket of electronic sound. The lyrics ring with equal power as the music. When Charles sings the lines “Yes, the strong get more/While the weak ones fade,” the connection to black women’s struggle is palpable. “My experience moving in the world as a black girl has always been, I have to be strong. I have to keep it together; I have to sort of live up to the standard,” says Charles.

At its core, Y’all Don’t (Really) Care is a clarion call for a more intersectional vision of the world in which black women can live more freely. The interlude “Pay Black Women” offers the most explicit instruction on some of the ways that care can be expressed. It contains a sample from a film project produced by Charles in 2021 entitled Love Letter to Black Jazz Girls.  Through the voices of three black women, the track draws attention to the racial gender wage gap but also to the treatment of black women artistic producers more broadly.

My favorite tracks from artists I work with and/or represent. For more information on any of the artists or myself...

email: michael.pratt11189@gmail.com

Have produced for artists like Freeway, Wu-Tang Clan, Mya, Glasses Malone, Joy Denalane (Germany), Project E.A.R. (Asia), Kool G Rap, Pras, Tragedy Khadafi, Killarmy and others. My TV/Film/Ad/misc media work includes original production, sync and score work for brands such as Disney, MTV, ABC, Casio, Hennessy, A Peace Treaty, Hot97, XXL, Complex and Respect magazine, amongst others.



Comedian with a dope as original mixtape that.

Rotated DMB live audio highlights.  Audio is by DMB fan tapers (Nothing official).  Dave Matthews Band, Dave Matthews & Friends, Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds, Etc.

Bookings:
gotclockwork.com

MGMT: gotclockwork@gmail.com

Blend Junkie \\ Dedicated to the ART of the Mixtape.

Socials:
https://www.instagram.com/djfilthyrich/
https://twitter.com/djfilthyrich416
https://www.facebook.com/DJ-Filthy-Rich-572216909601122/
https://www.youtube.com/user/djfilthyrich1/videos

Pratt&#x27;s Tracks is following

Pratt's Tracks is following