Black Focus
Background and development
Background and development
--------------------------

[thumb\|upright\|left\|Yussef Kamaal  2016](/wiki/File:Yussefkamaal.jpg "Yussefkamaal.jpg")
In 2008, keyboardist Kamaal Williams met session drummer [Yussef Dayes](/wiki/Yussef_Dayes "Yussef Dayes") when Williams held his first event, where the band United Vibrations were booked and Dayes played. The two kept in touch and played together on occasion, but upon rehearsing William's solo work for a [Boiler Room](/wiki/Boiler_Room_%28music_broadcaster%29 "Boiler Room (music broadcaster)") gig, they started playing as a band. In 2016, the band performed a 20\-minute live set at [Gilles Peterson](/wiki/Gilles_Peterson "Gilles Peterson")'s Worldwide Awards, after which Peterson landed them a deal at his [Brownswood Recordings](/wiki/Brownswood_Recordings "Brownswood Recordings") [record label](/wiki/Record_label "Record label"). Yussef Kamaal recruited additional musicians for *Black Focus*, including saxophonist [Shabaka Hutchings](/wiki/Shabaka_Hutchings "Shabaka Hutchings"), trumpeter Yelfris Valdes, bassists Tom Driessler and Kareem Dayes, guitarist Mansur Brown and producer [Malcom Catto](/wiki/Malcom_Catto "Malcom Catto"), who "work\[ed] by ear" when recording the band "as opposed to having things [programmed](/wiki/Programming_%28music%29 "Programming (music)") in", according to Williams. The album was recorded at Quartermass Studios. Calligrapher Haji Noor Deen wrote the band name in Arabic on the album cover.

Regarding the title *Black Focus*, Dayes stated that it was "based of a few things. The Black [Focus](/wiki/Ford_Focus "Ford Focus") is your typical South London car. We’d be in the studio looking for an idea and see it outside\[…] And I think black culture’s been appropriated in a way, but \[…] people don’t stand up for it. What we’re making is black music, inspired by [jazz](/wiki/Jazz "Jazz"). People can interpret that title however they want."


Why do people have a tendency to appropriate black culture without standing up for it?