Staff

Butta

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Butta is the nom de net of Kimberly A. Hines, an editor and writer with a deep passion for music. From her Jamaican-rooted origins in the Boogie Down Bronx to her formative years in South Florida to her coming of age in Washington, DC, Butta's musical tastes are quite similarly all over the map. She is quite an avid blogger who started her own blog to combat writer's block, which led to being handpicked by Danyel Smith to write VIBE Confidential, the first blog on VIBE.com. At SoulBounce she gets to combine her love for music and the written word and bring a witty, honest spin to the site.

A few of Butta's favorite artists: Stevie Wonder, Prince, Marvin Gaye, Eric Roberson, Maxwell, Jill Scott, Mary J. Blige, Bob Marley, A Tribe Called Quest, Sade, Mary Mary, Yolanda Adams, Fred Hammond, India.Arie, Musiq Soulchild, Raheem DeVaughn.

ill Mami

WEST COAST EDITRESS

One of ill Mami's favorite activities as a child was to rummage through her parents' extensive record collection, playing music and reading liner notes along the way. Often given the task of DJ for her parents' house parties, had ill Mami known that DJing actually could be a career, she would have chosen to pursue it. Despite this, her love of good music and love of writing now gets equal interplay as a Contributing Editor/Hip Hop Specialist at Soul Bounce. When not scouring her record collection for the next "Name That Beat" sample, ill Mami plays records with her son, tears it up in the kitchen, and contributes to her own blog from time to time. ill Mami also dreams of a world where female emcees rise back to the prominence and respect they once had.

A few of ill Mami's favorite artists: Common, MeShell N'Dege Ocello, Erykah Badu, Mos Def, The Police, Idris Muhammad, Gary Bartz, Jeru The Damaja, De La Soul, and lesser known artists whose names she hopes declare "Bounce-Worthy" in the future.

Harlem

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Will Dawson, aka Harlem, has been a senior writer for the National Urban League, the nation's largest social service organization, for the past nine years. He's also a columnist for Black Sports the Magazine as well as a contributing editor for the fiction blog, Yanni's Block. Harlem brings his love of old school soul to SB, balancing out the content on the fast-growing site.

A few of Harlem's favorite artists: Donny Hathaway, Marvin Gaye, Lalah Hathaway, Chaka Khan, Luther Vandross, Jill Scott, New Edition, Lizz Wright.

Vivrant Thang

EVENTS EDITOR

Vivrant Thang has always been the go-to girl for the 411 on haps occurring in and around the Washington, DC area, and she was brought on board to keep Bouncers in the know about events not to be missed across the country. Vivrant strongly believes that "music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life" and writes about that connection on her own blog, Songs In the Key of Life. When she's not rocking out at a live show or scouring the web and various publications for the next must-do thing, she can be found exploring her many interests: traveling to places that require a stamp on her passport, attending outdoor festivals, going to arts exhibits and the theatre, wine tasting, reading, and boisterously cheering on or jeering at her football and basketball teams. She also writes about black women's health and wellness issues on the blog, Sweet Potato Pie.

A few of Vivrant Thangs's favorite artists: Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind & Fire, Luther Vandross, Prince, Bilal, Eric Roberson, Mary J. Blige, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Conya Doss, Faith, Aaliyah, Brand New Heavies, Fertile Ground, Biggie, The Roots, Little Brother.

nOva

SOULBOUNCE FOUNDER / MANAGING EDITOR & PUBLISHER

nOva is the creator of SoulBounce.com. After seeing an increasing number of urban entertainment blogs focus on the same artists ad nauseum he decided it was time for something fresh and the SoulBounce "phenomenon" happened. nOva has earned a reputation as an outspoken, witty and verbose writer with a knack for parsing the intricacies of music and pop culture and saying what others are afraid to. Equal parts crass and eloquent, nOva is a fairly known blogger and digital DJ that has also written for VIBE Online, Hip-Hop Crack and The Urban Flavor, but doesn't fancy himself a journalist.

What nOva contributes to SoulBounce: "Humor", self-awareness, meta-ish things, industry trends and culture, SIDE-EYE 2.0, random self-serving minutiae, and blind rage.

A few of nOva's favorite artists: Mary J. Blige, The Notorious B.I.G., Janet Jackson, J Dilla, Q-Tip, Black Milk, Maxwell, Total, Eric Roberson, Nicolay, Faith Evans, Dwele, Madonna.