ANTIQUE NAKED SOUL IS A BEATBOX-SING SOUL BAND. THEY BUILD AND LOOP BEATS LIVE ON STAGE USING ONLY THEIR VOICES BUT THEY CREATE AS MUCH SOUND AS A FULL BAND OF INSTRUMENTS. THERE ARE FOUR BEAUTIFUL SOULS IN THIS BAND: CANDICE “ANTIQUE” DAVIS, TOMMY “SOULATI” SHEPHERD, JAYME BROWN AND N’GALA MCCOY. THEY GOT TOGETHER BY ACCIDENT OR HAPPY COINCIDENCE TO PLAY ONE SHOW. LEAD SINGER ANTIQUE RECALLS, “WE HAD NO NAME, NO IDENTITY REALLY. AFTER THE SHOW, WE GOT SUCH A GREAT RESPONSE THAT WE LOOKED AT EACH OTHER AND SAID, ‘WE GOTTA KEEP DOING THIS!’. SO WE STARTED TAKING SONGS THAT I HAD RECORDED, BUT NOT RELEASED, AND TRANSLATING THEM INTO BEATBOX AND LATER, MY HUSBAND WAS JUST CASUALLY SAYING, ‘Y’ALL DO NAKED SOUL’ AND THAT IS HOW WE GOT THE NAME.” IT WAS IMPORTANT TO THEM TO HAVE A MESSAGE AND TO BE HIP-HOP PRESERVATIONISTS. SOULATI STATES, “WE KNEW THAT WE WANTED TO PRESERVE A CLASSIC HIP-HOP FLAIR THROUGH BEATBOXING AND STAY REALLY SOULFUL WITH OUR VOCALS, BUT WE ALSO FELT A DEEP CALLING TO STAY TRUE TO OAKLAND’S POLITICAL ROOTS. WE WANTED TO BE THE SOUNDTRACK OF THE STRUGGLE, THE BEAUTIFUL STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM AND EQUALITY.”