Chicago Artist Matt B on His Grammy Nomination

Danielle Sanders CNW Managing Editor

Chicago native, Matt B is riding high with his Grammy-nominated single, “Gimme Love” featuring Ugandan superstar Eddy Kenzo. He was nominated for Best Global Music Performance in Nov. 2022. One of seven siblings, Matt B grew up in Englewood before his family moved to the Pullman neighborhood. While he has a degree in architecture from the University of Illinois at Chicago, he says his family cultivated his love for music. “My family has always been heavily into music said Benson. My grandmother was born in 1919 so she was born in an era where it wasn’t safe for black people to travel nationally or even internationally, and they had to watch where they went. The fact that my grandmother was able to be a part of something like that back in the 1940s and travel all across the United States singing was inspirational to me and just amazing. My grandmother was a huge influence as to why I do music to- day.”

While in high school, Matt B and his brothers formed a group named “TriEnd.” He says the first show they performed in high school was the defining moment when he knew he wanted to become an artist and perform music as a career. “I remember it was one of our first performances. We sang acapella and once we arrived onstage the crowd went crazy before we even started to perform. The faculty had to tell the crowd to calm down so we could continue. It was at that moment when I knew I could do this for the rest of my life. The way we were received and the level of energy that I felt was something I’ll never forget.”

While Matt B loves to experiment with different sounds, he considers himself an R&B singer at his core. He says Chicago influences who he is as an artist and credits his mother for exposing him to influences growing up. “I was home-schooled until high school and my mom was keen on taking us around the city to museums where we learned about inventors, writers, politicians and more. Art goes so much deeper than music. You can find art in so many different things and pull from all of them to create.” Chicago is a melting pot sonically with R&B, Jazz, Blues, hip-hop, Classical and even Country, he continued, it helped to shape my musical ear.”

Matt B released his debut US album, ‘EDEN’, in March 2021 and it debuted at #3 in the U.S. on iTunes R&B/Soul Albums Chart. To date, the album has accrued over 1M streams globally. On March 4, 2022, he released his single ‘Gimme Love’, which features the award-winning Ugandan superstar, Eddy Kenzo. The music video went viral and rapidly amassed nearly 4M views on Facebook alone. ‘Gimme Love’ debuted in the top 50 on the Billboard US Afrobeat’s Chart and peaked at #36. Matt B says learning their Grammy nomination was a special moment that he will never forget. At the time, Matt was in Uganda getting ready for a show with Eddy Kenzo. “It was my first time in Africa, my first time in Uganda and my first time performing in front of a crowd of 100,000 people. I thought it couldn’t get any better.” Matt says. The Grammy nominations were a few days away and Eddy Kenzo suggested Matt stay in Uganda for a few more days so they could watch the nominations together. He says when John Legend announced the nominations for the Best Global Music category they were overjoyed. “He [John Legend] hadn’t even finished announcing all the names. As soon as we heard ours, we all started screaming and jumping up and down. We were hugging one another and crying like babies. It was one of those magical moments. We weren’t expecting a nomination even though we wanted one. It was pure joy for us. It’s another moment in my life that I’ll never forget.”

Matt says he loves to create “feel-good music. “I’m always looking to capture someone and make them feel something different. I feel like art is meant to do that. If my art does that in any capacity, then I’m on the right track and I’m grateful for that.”

Matt B says he’s thrilled about his nominaton and what it means for the Ciy. “It’s huge for Chicago, Matt says, “ Black artists from Chicago have influenced the music scene for so long across so many genres. These genres of music and these artists come from the same stomping grounds that we walk on today. We walk in their footsteps and continue their legacies through our art. Black Chicagoans have brought so much to the table on a national and international level in music. From our guitar riffs to the way chords sound on our pianos, the sound of our melodies and in the lyrics of our songs, sonically, we have art worth listening to.”

Matt B says he’s thankful to represent Chicago on the world’s stage through his music. “I’m grateful that I am one of many who can be a bullhorn representing my city when I’m traveling. It doesn’t matter if I’m in the U.S., Canada, Europe, or Africa, I’m that person saying, Chicago has something to say. Chicago is contributing to this music scene in more profound ways than people understand.”