With the Help Houston Heal benefit concert taking place tonight at the Troubador in West Hollywood, Grammy and Emmy-winning record producer Robert Glasper sat down with Uproxx’s Frankie Greek in the Capitol Records recording studio to discuss the benefit, as well as his recent Emmy Award win and current events in the news.
Glasper — a Houston native himself — details the origins of the Help Houston Heal benefit and its donors, Bread of Life and Direct Relief, which he says he specially selected due to their grassroots and on-the-ground disposition in contrast to larger organizations like Red Cross. He and his fellow co-hosts LeToya Luckett and Brian Michael Cox are all from Houston and in fact, went to the same performing arts high school together.
“We decided to do something here in LA because people aren’t really trying to fly to Houston. It’s not rebuilt yet, so it’s not really ready to host a bunch of shows,” he explains. “When I do shows people just fall through,” he says, elaborating that he doesn’t quite know who’s going to show up tonight, but that a number of the entertainers that he’s worked with over his extensive career have made commitments to appear.
He also discusses his Emmy win for “Letter To The Free” with Common and Bilal, explaining why he thinks the song resonated so much with voters. “Because of the times we’re going through now,” he says, “The song talks about the Trump administration, and racism in America… I think with Ava’s film, and the lyrics Common wrote to that song speaks to everyone.”
The Help Houston Heal benefit concert will take place tonight, September 18, at the Troubador in West Hollywood at 8PM, 9081 N Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069.
