Black Violin is an American hip hop duo from Fort Lauderdale, Florida comprising two classically trained string instrumentalists, Kevin Sylvester and Wilner Baptiste, who go by the stage names Kev Marcus and Wil B. Kev Marcus plays the violin, and Wil B. plays the viola.
Other offers followed—they toured with Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park, opened for the Wu-Tang Clan, composed the music for the Fox series Pitch.
[2] Sylvester and Baptiste attended Dillard High School of Performing Arts, where they had the same music teacher.
[citation needed] Alongside Sam G., the duo went on to co-found the production company DKNEX, which stands for Di-Versatile Music.
"[6] Of the duo's artistic philosophy on its self-titled album, Sylvester said: "Our mantra has always been to engage the audience to look at things from a different perspective...At first, we leaned on the fact that we were different —more than on our technique.
[2] The two men are also producers and writers, having worked with Kanye West, Tom Petty, Lupe Fiasco, Aerosmith, among others.
[7] The Black Violin Foundation reaches over 100,000 students per year through free performances and work through youth symphonies, community centers, and low-income, Title 1 schools.