Scene Makers Q&A: Sanni Brown blends hip-hop and all-Black music stream into MPR’s mix

First, she was the co-host of the Current’s weekly hip-hop show, “The Message.” Then she became the sole host. Now, Sanni Brown is the rather unmistakable, coolly upbeat and supportive voice and all-out co-creator of an ambitious new streaming service called Carbon Sound.

Launched by the Current’s parent organization, Minnesota Public Radio, in partnership with Minneapolis community station KMOJ, Carbon Sound is a free music stream, website and app that plays music by Black artists, and nothing but. You can tune in via carbonsound.fm or the app. You can also still hear Brown on “The Message” every Wednesday, 10-11 p.m., on the Current.

Brown stopped to talk last month -- off air! -- about the new stream’s progress and the state of the music scene she represents. Here’s an edited version of the interview.

Q: What are you most proud of so far about Carbon Sound?

A: If I’m being completely honest, I’m just happy we’re still on the air. That was the main goal, because this is an experiment that’s mostly aimed at younger people with all these different genres, and we really didn’t know if it was going to work. We’re entering Year 2, so I’m excited about that, and about everything we’re doing new, like starting our DJ series and adding more young talent.

Q: How do you explain the concept of Carbon Sound to those who haven’t listened to it?

A: It’s perfect timing, because Beyoncé just dropped her new singles and has her country album coming, and it’s not the genre people know her for. Out in the consumer world, that might really confuse people. To us, though, we’re focused on Black musical expression of all genres.

So if Beyoncé is expressing herself with country music right now, we’ll play it. SZA is another artist who has defied genres. We aren’t playing by the rules of music genres.

Q: And that’s built on the idea that younger listeners don’t break up music by genres as much as we did?

A: The way streaming works is it’s catered more to your own tastes than it is specific genres. That’s actually how I grew up. My mom played every station on the dial. I grew up in Chicago, so I listened to the Mexican station, jazz, rock, you name it. If it has a groove, I’m shaking my booty to it.

Q: How did you get into radio in the first place?

A: I worked with kids. I’m still going back to school. I haven’t given up on my psych dreams. I graduated from Concordia with a psychology degree, and my foster mom told me to go to grad school to become a social worker because they give you a scholarship for a therapy degree, and I was like, ”Hmm.” So I went to the Broadcast Center in St. Louis. From there, I came back to the Twin Cities and worked at KFAI, then Salem Communications, then KMOJ, and then I was at MyTalk. Then I got the Current gig in 2017.

Q: With Black History Month [now ended], what sort of programming from it would you like to see happening more year-round?

A: What I’d like to see is more like what my mom did with the radio, playing all kinds of music and having fun with it. Because Black history can be so heavy. I would like to explore the fun side of Black history more. That’s what I did on “The Message,” just played all kinds of fun stuff, going back to like Little Richard. There should be more lighthearted stuff. I don’t want it to always be about civil rights, as important as that is.

Q: How do you keep “The Message” fresh and fun every week?

A: I learned PowerPoint back in high school and got way into it. I love presentations. I see my show as a presentation like that. If it’s boring to me, I just don’t do it. If I’m putting the show together and starting to lose interest as I’m doing it, I give up and try something else.

Q: MPR did not have a good reputation for representing diversity for many years. How do you think it’s doing now?

A: I know they’re trying, and they’re certainly talking about it a whole lot. We have a lot of meetings talking about it [laughs]! But really, there’ve been a lot of serious conversations about what diversity really looks like, and how it’s celebrated. I mean, look at Carbon Sound.

Q: The Twin Cities hip-hop scene really went through a rough patch in recent years between the pandemic and a bout with MeToo sexual misconduct cases. Do you think scene is bouncing back from that?

A: I feel like it is. I feel like the MeToo thing moved a lot of harmful people out of the way who I think were holding up progress here. Since then, I’ve seen a lot of really great artists flourish.

I feel like there are so many exciting new artists on our radar now, whereas before there were just a few artists that dominated. And the quality of the music has really just gotten so great. The production has stepped up. I say to people in Chicago, “Don’t sleep on Minnesota music.” I’m so excited for the artists I’m seeing now.