Aloe Blacc

Aloe Blacc was born Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III in suburban Orange County, California. He chose Aloe because his style was "smooth like lotion."

He began his music career in his teens as an MC in an indie rap duo called Emanon. After singing on a version of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come," Stone's Throw Records signed Blacc as a traditional vocalist.

Blacc won a scholarship to the University of Southern California to study communications and linguistic psychology. "It's kind of a nerdy interest," he told The Guardian. "It helps me to continue whetting my blade as a thinker. I don't play the new app of the week on my phone, I play with words. I put them together in little puzzles and see how they make me feel and then do this projection puzzle to the rest of the world and ask how they will make other people feel."