Thurmon Green is an R&B performer from Los Angeles. He is currently in New York. 
Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do. Me. I am Thurmon. An elusive chanteuse. Lol jk. But sort of! I am a proud native of mid city Los Angeles, which will always be my home. Somehow I have lived in New York for around 6-7 years; I came here for film school and have lingered around since graduating. I record and perform music as a solo artist.
What are some recent, upcoming or current projects you are working on? I am happy to finally have released my debut EP (Adolphus, on Doom Dab Records), so people are finally able to get to know me and my music. I am even happier to finally get some more recent stuff out there. I am currently working on another EP that is pretty much straight up R&B. Hopefully it will ease the winter blues… real grown and sexy. Other than that EP, more music videos and collaborations!
What is one of the bigger challenges you and/or other musicians are struggling with these days and how do you see it developing? This is pretty obvious, but I would say the difficulty of balancing the business side with the creative side of being a musician. There are so many shady people and even well-intentioned people in the music world who don’t think they need to treat artists with the utmost respect or pay them fairly. The way to combat that—at least in my experience—is to build a team of people to work with that you can trust. I have been fortunate enough to be surrounded by a number of amazing folks who believe in me enough to devote their time and energy into realizing my vision. It’s all about mutual respect and creating the world we want to see.
How did your interest in music begin? I have always loved music but not in any sort of obsessive way. I’ve never had a desire to learn an instrument. As a kid, I would sing in the shower and fantasize about rocking out on stage but I assumed everyone did that. I thought everyone could sing! I used to just play around and write funny songs a la Weird Al. Occasionally someone would express that one of these songs was actually kind of catchy. Being involved in theater was also very important to my teenage self. I realized the power of the human voice as an emotive tool. Later on frustrated by film school, I became drawn to the immediate gratification of music making. This desire led to fooling around in Garageband. I eventually realized making music could encompass all of my passions. I only just recently connecting all these dots.
How has living in New York affected your music? The New York I moved to in 2008 provided very little inspiration for me as a filmmaking artist. I knew early on that I had nothing to offer as far as unique representations of New York. I just felt like it had all been done before. At the time I was going to a lot DIY rock shows because that’s just what you did being under 21. I was always the token person of color in a universe centered upon celebrating the endeavors of straight white men. It was uninspiring to say the least. Luckily as time went by, I was able to find a community of people who were just as sick of being the token (person of color/woman/queer person) in all white male dominated spaces. The artists and thinkers that I am surrounded by today are a constant source of inspiration for my music. I am particularly ecstatic about the number of performing artists working in New York right now: Jay Boogie, Kayrizz, Junglepussy, Don Christian, Rahel, Cakes Da Killa, Princess Nokia, Abdu Ali, Quay Dash just to name a few! I am SO blessed to consider these artists friends and peers. Black and brown #excellence! Don’t sleep on the kids!!
What kinds of music/what musicians are influencing your work right now? Anthony Hamilton, Tony Toni Tone, Mark Morisson, Jon B., Lewis Taylor… a lot of vocally driven music featuring male singers. I want to become more confident in my natural range… I think it’s because to me I am always trying to sound like Mariah Carey lol.
What was the last show you went to that stuck out to you? I saw Haim performing at FYF last August in LA and it was AMAZING! It was so refreshing to see a band that takes themselves seriously enough as musicians to have a sense of humor and showWOMANship.
What do you do when you’re not working on music? Besides hustling to live in NYC, I really love to just chill out with my closest friends and eat, goon, and watch the Wendy Williams show. A lot of my friends are DJs and I like to go cheer them on and dance by the booth on any odd night of the week that they are playing somewhere. I also love to cook!
What are you really excited about right now? I am very excited for the future, for my friends and peers, near and far, growing as people and advancing on their journeys towards optimal well being and self-actualization. They are the only hope for humanity. I am also excited to spend some ample time in LA soon! I miss my parents :’’)
What are you listening to right now? Thank goddess for all my DJ friends who keep me young. I used to stay up on all the latest but since I started making music more seriously, I’ve become the last to know. Lately I have been listening to Tinashe, Teengirl Fantasy, Lafawndah, Kayrizz, Jay Boogie, HBK Gang, any DJ Mustard track, Arca, DJ Spoko, Tink, Future Tarraxo stuff… and today on repeat: the Destiny’s Child song “Girl”. SO GOOD!