An Evening with The 24-Carat Black features listening party and discussion with original members

Panel discussion and listening session with original band members Princess Hearn, Jerome Derrickson, C. Niambi Steele, and Zach Schoenfeld

In 1973, Enterprise Records, a subsidiary released a landmark LP that would, over time, help change the face of Black music. The 24-Carat Black, a group of more than a dozen young musicians from Cincinnati, and their producer, Dale Warren, created Ghetto: Misfortune’s Wealth, a genre-bending, orchestral soul masterpiece that, due to Stax’s financial troubles, never received the support it needed to gain listeners. Fast forward 20 years to the 1990s: hip-hop DJs have discovered the deep grooves, powerful vocals, and pointed political commentary and sampled it for their own recordings. Since then, Kendrick Lamar, Jay-Z, Digable Planets, and many more have sampled The 24-Carat Black.

Join us for a roundtable discussion with three former band members – Princess Hearn, Jerome Derrickson, and C. Niambi Steele – and author Zach Schoenfeld, who wrote the definitive biography of the band for the University of Texas Press’ 33 1/3 series.