Locals Only

Golden Child

By Wes Flexner

J. Rawls and Middle Child

Great chemistry can't be manufactured from thin air. Columbus producer J. Rawls spent eight months bonding with R&B singer Middle Child as they worked on their upcoming Rawls & Middle, and he feels that time together was crucial to making the album whole.

"We ended up working every Friday," Rawls recalled, talking by phone as he prepared for a DJ gig at Atlanta record store Moods Music. "Sometimes we didn't even record music. We sat around and talked about music, life and real stuff."

The product of this chemistry is due out June 10 from Polar Records, in association with European imprint Groove Attack. The CD will be unveiled Saturday during a release party at Karma. The duo will follow the Columbus show with a month-long European tour, sharing a bill with El Da Sensei of the Artifacts.

Prior to working with Rawls, Middle Child's main musical partner was her brother First Born, who produced her first album, Barefeet & Pregnant. The siblings will continue to make music in the future with two projects, Labor & Delivery and Train-Up the Child, already visualized.

For her work with Rawls, graceful bass lines and relaxed keys are chopped, sampled and arranged in a manner that augments her multifarious subject matter with vitality. Middle soulfully emotes about many things: problems with bills on "My Dreams," her belief that media outlets need to take more responsibility for what they portray on "Music Over Madness" and confused affairs of the heart on "Can I Be Real."

After listening to the album, it's easy see why Rawls, whose previous collaborators include Talib Kweli, Mos Def and Subtle's Doseone, wanted to get involved with the talented musician.

Middle Child's reminiscences on her own background are humble. "We started out singing to our friends on the front porch at 4 a.m.," she said. "We try not to forget that."

Asked what she learned from the internationally known producer, she said, "Artists make sacrifices. Artists have to invest in themselves. Artists have to invest in their craft."

With that in mind, First Born and Middle are building a studio together to further pursue their passion for music.

Rawls and First Born aren't the only men in Middle Child's corner, however. She met Mayor Michael Coleman after performing at an event for his youth organization, Capital Kids. The mayor became a fan and offered his assistance with her career — he actually appears on the new album to give her a glowing recommendation.

May 29, 2008

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