Chris Moore: What it do, what the business is, word on the street. Chris is known to handle it. Get your mind right. Let me talk to you. And today we're gonna talk about some HBCU culture. some HBCU activity. and today I'm not doing a show by myself. I got somebody who's well versed, who's an expert, subject matter expert in this whole field. so today we're gonna talk some sports, but we're really gonna talk about some culture. Klon Hooks is a journalist who has been able to take something that he's actually lived. And turn into a professional voice. HBCU alum, former band member, and now somebody covering sports and HBCU culture on a national level. And that's what interests me about his journey because anybody can cover the score. Y'all know I don't do the score. I I don't care nothing about that final score. It's different when you understand the people, the music, the tr the traditions, and everything surrounded by the game. So Kalan, welcome to more insight. How you doing?
Kalan Hooks: man, I'm good, man. I appreciate you having me on, man. And I mean, real quick, I just want to put out there like, you know, what we cover, what I cover is sports, but not sports. Everything culture, like you said, our lives, you know, what we've been through. So, you know, it's a real honor and a real pleasure to be here.
Chris Moore: Absolutely, man. Thank you again for joining me. before we get into everything about this conversation, what made you go to an HBCU? What and who were you before you tapped into school?
Kalan Hooks: man, that's a great question. it you know, growing up, that was just something that I've always knew that I was gonna eventually, you know, go to. in my household, my parents always plea always preach to us like, you know, black college, you know, like you're gonna go to H B C U. And it wasn't like, you know, they were forcing it on us. It was just like they taught us that culture, sort of say. I vividly remember like, you know, being eight years old, seven years old when, you know, BET would, you know, used to show HBCU games, B.E.T. or Aspire TV and my dad cutting on Jackson State, you know, football games in our living room. And it wasn't always to show me the football game. It's like, look at the band, look at the band. Like they be dancing,
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: they be doing everything. It's just like, man. it wasn't until like I was a till I was in the eighth grade where I just like really leaned into, you know, the sound of HBCU bands. You know, I I I really enjoyed, you know, how dark and how different the chord sounded from, you know, your traditional, you know, band at like a PWI. It was something that spoke to me and, you know, when I went to high school, became a drum major, transformed the marching style that we marched at that at my high school, Crowd Resident High School grad. But changing from corpse style to show style. And it was always about, you know, how can I make this, you know, about how can I make this e HBCU equivalent? And from that moment on, you know, I just knew I was always destined to go to, you know, a black college. it was just about being with my people.
Chris Moore: Man, I love that. when and y you were in the band and eventually became section leader, what did that experience teach you that you still carry with you today?
Kalan Hooks: Man, I mean, everything is a process. You know, everything's a process. Everything's gonna come with its ups. Everything's gonna come with its downs, you know, everything's gonna have its challenges. when I was in the band, you know, I crabbed in 2018 at the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff, UAP B four. crabbed in the band and you know it one of the things that it taught me going into, you know, band camp when it when I was going to actually March for four was, you know, opportunity meets preparation and you know, vice versa. Like band camp, you know, I'll say I I have no issue saying it now. I was like not I wasn't the best on my instrument at the time. Like I was I was horrible
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: when I look back at it. But you know, I was prepared. I was like one of the best, you know, people in the band in terms of, you know, fit physically, you know, could nobody outmarch me. every time we had PT or whatever, I was always trying to, you know, put my I was always trying to put out my best foot for it and, you know, every dance routine, every time we marched a field show, every time we marched a drill. it was just something that I knew I had. When it came to like the instrument part of it, you know, actually like getting like the technicalities and stuff like I worked my butt off like that whole freshman season, you know, learning my skills. trying to learn, you know, different octaves that I didn't even think was capable of being played on the instrument that I was on. And, you know, just trying to like trying to change, you know, the culture of the section that I marched in. And that kinda like led to me, you know, sticking out, showing, you know, like my le my true leadership capabilities and that was like, you know, alright, like, you know, make him a section leader. And still like even to this day, it's like, you know, if I'm doing a story or, you know, if I'm If I'm doing some reporting, some research or whatever that might be an assignment, it's like, all right, you're gonna either go into this into this assignment and you know, you're gonna be a little shaky, a little s a little nervous cause it's like you know you didn't really prepare for it, or you're gonna be like,
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: you know what, all right, I got my I got my eyes and my T, I I dotted all that, like I'm gonna go into this, I'm gonna be straight, I can just write it straight, just write a story straight, not even have to go back and look at the research because I know I prepare for this the correct way. Or even if I'm in in front of a camera, you know, shooting like a ranking, like all right, I know I'm not gonna second guess myself when I put
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: this ranking up because I prepare properly. I've done my research and you know, everything in that na in that nature i is literally, you know, it speaks to life itself. I mean, ban is one thing, work is the other, but everything I believe in life, you know, in every area all all correlates to one another.
Chris Moore: for sure, man. and it just even got me thinking as you were talking about that, it reminded me of your bio on IG. it says journalists, revolutionary and uncomfortable. I'm interested in that uncomfortable part. What does that mean to you?
Kalan Hooks: A comfortable man is just like, you know, you can cruise through life and, you know, you can be like in this in this comfortable position where it's like, all right, like what I'm doing is cool, like it's good enough. I hate trying to be good enough. Like, you know, if I'm good enough, if I'm always good enough, I'm never going I'm I'm never gonna see growth. You know, I'm never gonna see growth. If I'm never if I'm not in a position where it's like, all right, I don't know I'm I'm not sure the area that I'm in or you know, I'm not sure how to approach this situation. You know, how do I expect to learn? How do I expect to see myself blossom if I'm if I'm just staying in a spot that's you know very stagnant? And so I say uncomfortable, I put uncomfortable, you know, like in my bio because I want people to know that I'm just not one person that you're gonna see get one win and be like, okay, I'm good with that. Like, no. I wanna try new things, I wanna learn new things, and with that coming, with all of that comes being uncomfortable. You know, you don't grow. you're comfortable, you gotta get uncomfortable to be you gotta be uncomfortable to be comfortable in a sense. And that's something that you know a lot of people are scared of in these days. And me, I'm just like, I strive to be, I wanna be different. I don't wanna be like the norm.
Chris Moore: Same here. I try to be different. And I'm actually gonna take a different pivot right here. when you talk about uncomfortable, there's an uncomfortable conversation I wanna have. and it's not even HBCU related.
Kalan Hooks: Talk to me.
Chris Moore: a few, I want to say like a month ago, you posted a picture of O'Shea Jackson and the star of Swagger. I can't remember the young man's name, and you said that this is a show that should not be should have This is a show that should not have been canceled. I
Kalan Hooks: Yeah.
Chris Moore: agree 1000%. So I don't even know why I went down this range r random tangent, but I agree with you. What was it about swagger that, you know, that that connected with you?
Kalan Hooks: Man, it's so funny that you say that. Swagger came out in, I want to say twenty twenty-one. So
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: this is like after, you know, COVID nineteen had came and I mean, granted, COVID nineteen was still there with us. Still is kinda here today, but it's funny because now I'm like re I I found my I find myself rewatching it all over again just because of how much it stuck with me. What stuck with me with that show, man, is just, you know, you had this kid, you know, Lil Jace Carson, and it's like, you know. he's brought up in an environment in an area where he's arguably the best player, you know, in the DMV.
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: But so many people around him that, you know, they don't want to see him win. There's so many people around him that are, you know, that's doubting him. The followers on social media, the people that are coming to his games, they coming to see him lose. and you know, with his coach, Coach Ike is what they call him, O'Shea Jackson's character, you know, he's always pushing Jace, like, you block out the haters, like one to the next, like, and then two, he has this thing in the show that he calls being a twin. four hour person, which is all in all just you know, just be a just be a good dude, dog. And when my parents introduced this show to me, man, it just really stuck with me in a way that like, you know, it it was something I could relate to when I was a kid coming up playing ball, you know, there would be a lot of Crazy I could say this. A lot of parents, you know, coming to see, coming to our games to see us lose. My mom will always tell me all time, she would just be sitting at the gym and she would just hear parents like, yeah, we didn't even come just because our son played. We want to stay so we could see them lose. And we end up beating a team by like 40 points. but even like now too in life, you know, where I am now my big age, you know, I'm here in my at this point point in my career, it's still people that come back from, you know, high school, people that come back. From you know my days of college or even somebody that I just might not know just because of the position I'm at. They want to see me fail. They don't they don't want to see me succeed. And it's like, you know what? The same way that Jace Carson defeated all those odds, the same way that Jace Carson, you know, embraced all the negativity and turned into something positive, how he turned into fire, that's something that stuck that stuck with me, is something that still sticks with me to this day, and something I don't think is going away anytime soon. And so anytime I could get a chance to rewatch Swagger Man, it's like I'm gonna do that. And hence that's why I'm like, you know, kids today need to see, you know, a success story like that. They need
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: to have, you know, especially people in our community, they need to see a young black boy who has all the odds against him and still succeed. you know, despite anything that's being thrown at him. You know, I think it's really important. It's a really important metaphor. And so to that point, that's something that I that's a show that I don't think should have been canceled at all. There's a lot of shows, but that one of them that's that just.
Chris Moore: For sure. And I think with Swagger, man, like I remember like the last couple episodes. I was just like, dog, y'all, y'all going there? Like, I was like,
Kalan Hooks: Yeah.
Chris Moore: and I have a son now. So it hit different for me when I was watching, you know, those last few episodes of Swagger. So I'm I'm definitely gonna re watch it. I haven't watched it in like two years, so I know it's gonna be crazy when I see it now.
Kalan Hooks: Yeah.
Chris Moore: but that's why I wanted to bring it up because representation Isn't only seeing black people on television. It's whether the details feel right. And nobody knows whether the details feel right quicker than HBCU grads. which brings me to these bands, man. I'm gonna start out with the rankings. the weekly rankings, how did you even start, you know, this idea?
Kalan Hooks: Man, it if I'm being honest with you, the rankings was just something that I think it it just kind of came together. Like it was just on a Sunday. I mean, as I mentioned before, HBCU bands has kinda like always been in my bloodstream, you know. and once I graduated college, you know, I still found myself like in I live I'm I'm in the East Coast now. I still find myself up here, you know, mile thousands of miles away from my institution, you know, thousands of miles away from the South line.
Chris Moore: Yeah, you're a long way, brother.
Kalan Hooks: Yeah, you know, like I still find myself like on Sundays looking at these halftime shows. And it's like, all right, at some point, you know, I'm in my I'm in my career. It's like, you know, this is a pageant of mine's, you know, let let's rank these, you know, sort of say, 'cause it's like I want to be able to highlight our HBCUs, more importantly, HBCU. Band gave me an opportunity. So it's like, all right, like, let's try to find a way to make these things, you know, mainstream. I started posting about them on Twitter just out of the love, you know, and out of the love and the passion and respect of in the pride of what they've done for me. I think it was probably, you know, one ranking that I seen like, and this is so funny saying this. I probably got like two likes. And them two likes told told me a lot. Those two likes told me a lot that like, hey, it's an audience out here. And
Chris Moore: Somebody liked it. Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: Somebody like it like, you know, and so I just stuck with it, you know, I stuck with it, you know, it became something consistent. week after week I would just watch shows, you know, one for my entertainment and then two, you know, for the entertainment of the following that I eventually, you know, started to grow on, you know, social media. People started engaging with it. I don't think people really picked up on the band rankings until the twenty twenty four season, honestly. Like then it was just, you know, something that I was doing. That following season, twenty twenty four, people started actually looking to see, okay, did my band make the list? You know, this was like at the time around the time when, when Jackson and Dion was like really big. So, you know, it was always like if I could find a way
Chris Moore: Yeah. Perfect time.
Kalan Hooks: to if I could always find a way to get Jackson into, you know, the top five, which, you know, it wasn't intended it wasn't intentional, you know, but gotta I started off trying to cater to an audience and then it turned into like, all right, like really be authentically you. and people started catching on. People started looking for the rankings and then some people even like sent me DMs like, why didn't you include this band? Why didn't you do this? And it's just y'all, y'all invested, y'all bought in now. And so now, man, you know, it just
Chris Moore: You you got You got hooked.
Kalan Hooks: yeah, you know what I'm saying? And so now it just turned into something like, all right, last year, for example, I added in a video component. Before then, I was just posting it on social media, just like the regular list. Last year I said, I'm gonna build this. I came up with the video component, like, okay. when I drop this list, when I drop these rankings, I want to find a way to actually like showcase the band rather than just saying, like their name. I want to be able to showcase the band, showcase, you know, part of their show and then a primary reason as to why I featured it while also giving people who are consuming these, the audience, you know, like a glimpse of, you know, what they about, you know. And so that was something that really was a win for me. And then even like this year now it's, you know, even bigger. For me it's like, you know, I want to actually make this main stream. You know what I'm saying? Like artist I mean, come on. This year Nita Baker, you know, in the past, Tyler the Creator, Tyler,
Chris Moore: Yep.
Kalan Hooks: so many artists, J producers for J. Cole, Dreamville, like, they are catching on to these bands. They're noticing them. Now it's like, let's make this thing mainstream and let's not just circle on just let's not just focus on two or three bands that everybody else know. Like let's give everybody some love. Like these three bands have already gotten so much love. There's so many other bands out there that they that need the love. And so that's the big thing behind, you know, the rankings is making sure our institutions, our bands, you know, who were built on tradition continue to get the love that they deserve.
Chris Moore: And I'm so glad you said that because you you talked about the video factor and I was like and I noticed that I was like, we got videos this year. but let me rewind a little bit. explain the criteria. what exactly are you judging your rankings on or your metrics by?
Kalan Hooks: Man, I'm actually really glad that you asked this question because I've been getting this question so much so much times and I'm like, man, I don't want to write it out for y'all. So the criteria
Chris Moore: Mm-hmm.
Kalan Hooks: so the criteria for me that I'm judging on, everything is precision, everything is sound. In terms of precision, all right, are your lines straight? Are your pinwheels, you know, are are they is your pinwheel straight when you make that turn? are the formations, the the do the formations, you know, stick out, are they noticeable or is it just you know generic? storytelling is another one. If you come with a theme, if you come with a theme that, you know, for example, this year Michael Jackson Michael Jackson excuse me is really big. If you can come with a theme that's gonna tell a story about, you know, an artist, their catalog, or if there's something that might have happened in current events to this at the at to this day. That you can, you know, drill, put that on the field. That's points for storytelling. and then, you know, sound is of course another thing. Like, does the band sound good? Are there any horns sticking out? is everything balanced? are the chords, you know what I'm saying? Are the chords cording? is anybody
Chris Moore: There you go.
Kalan Hooks: out of tune? You know, like little things like that. I'm also judging. And then gotta go with aux auxiliary so drum majors, you know, what
Chris Moore: Uh-huh.
Kalan Hooks: do the drum majors move what are the drum majors looking like? Are they are they sloppy or, you know, is somebody can is somebody falling on a back bend or is the head falling off? Or, you know, I'm judging all of that. The dancers are i are the dancers hitting their hitting their counts. Is everybody in sync and in formation? once they get to their to their eight counts.
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: and then the last or not the last thing, because there's so much more to this, but even when it comes to like, you know, just regular squads, and marching band or HBCU bands rather, we have we march in squad. So that's four people to a squad. we call it like, you like one, three, five, seven. are those spots filled fully? You know, or are there gonna be empty spots in those
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: squads? If there's empty spots in those squads the formation is essentially, I mean, keep it real, it's jacked up. but the last thing, of course, you know, is you know, dance routine. And with that dance routine, is everybody doing the same moves, you know, or is somebody just out there just, you know, lollygagging being lazy? and then how current are the moves? I always like to say like last year, like I will always try to add bonus points for on field pettiness. What does that mean? If Jackson State and Southern battling each other, and Jackson State likes to pull off a a Southern University discs on the field, extra points. If if Southern want to do the same thing back and play get ready and play or big balling or whatever, extra points. If Texas Southern wants to drill out, wants to spell prayer of U A and B2A or something on the field, extra points. And then last but not least, crowd reaction. As much as the show, you know, might look good to me. How do the fans and how do the audience, you know, indulge in this show? Is it just a show that, you know, the band marched off and it's just okay, another show went by? Or is this a show that the band marched off the field and you have pom poms ringing, you have cowbells dingling, you have standing ovations and you know, all of that, you know, screaming, cheering. How do though how does your show essentially speak to the audience? So With the this criteria, you know, it's something that's, you know, I have well thought out. it's something that I go off of every week. And, you know, for a lot of people who ask, I'm glad that you asked this question, a lot of people who ask, Well, what's the criteria? There you have it.
Chris Moore: There you have it. It ain't just something he just look at and say, you know what, this this sounds the best to me and that's the list. No,
Kalan Hooks: Yeah, yeah.
Chris Moore: it ain't like that. It's a well thought process, ladies and gentlemen.
Kalan Hooks: And I kid you not, like for these rankings too, there is I mean, it's always Sundays and Mondays. I find myself having to I'll see a show and I'm like, this show is really good and I see another show. This show is really good. Sometimes I have to watch every show like three times, four times, over and over
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: and over. And that takes a lot of time, but In conclusion or in I I say all of that to say in short, there's a lot of time being put into this. And it's all done by me, by myself.
Chris Moore: And I was about to say, and the thing is, what people don't understand about creating content, not only you you're doing your research to come up with the rankings, but now you actually have to put it on camera. Now you actually have to do the editing and all that good stuff. Like everybody wants to be a content creator until they understand what a creator has to do. so the easiest part would probably be hitting the post button. I mean,
Kalan Hooks: Yeah.
Chris Moore: everything else is like work. And people don't understand that. but kind of take me back to your band days. What's been one of your most favorite moments of being in the band?
Kalan Hooks: man, there that there are so many moments that I've had, man, that, you know, I mean, of course, you know, it's just being with the people that, you know, you came up with in the band, your crab brothers and your crab sisters, you know, the band the the the road trips were, you know, really fun. If I had to zero in on a particular moment, man, this is so crazy. I remember I'm actually giving you two moments. So one, you know, my freshman year, we traveled a lot. Went to Grandma State. and we also went to Southern University. Southern University was like the absolute best road trip, you know, freshman year, you get in a battle against you getting a battle of the human jukebox. Like we
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: were in the stands, man. A and AW Mumford, they put you in like the in the corner. And so, man, we mid game, dog. Southern band like it's probably like diagonal to fr diagonal from you. They just stand up, put their horns on like they about to play, and then they turn their horns right to us and they just hit us with a tag note. Wow. And we like and it was loud and it was just like, dang, like, no, we gotta get back. We gotta get back. So Mr. Graham like, no, run it back. Hit him with a tag note back. And so we just tag note back and forth, man. Like it was so funny, man. But another another Favorite band moment. I'll give this just an an extra. Jackson
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: State, my sophomore year. This was the year I was a section leader.
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: We in the fifth quarter at Miss at the vet. We in the fifth quarter. And, you know, we play our fifths. We play five. We always try to do five and out. We did our fifth song. We headed to a lineup and parade block. As we were lining up and leaving the standards Jackson State plays victory lap, Nipsey Hustle. We have our own rendition. So Mr. Evans, one of the assistant band directors, is like, nah, y'all hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, line up, line line up, line up, hurry up, hurry up, hurry up. So we all line, we all get in parade block. He's like, drummage calling to attention. So we, you know, we in attention. And then he was like, drummage, just give him a right face. At the vet when you march out, you marching this way. Jackson State band
Chris Moore: Mm-hmm.
Kalan Hooks: is up here. So we make a right flake right face, we turn it this way. And he's like, Go up there. Victory lap right back at him. This is a story that's never been told because no footage or anything was captured of this. We played victory lap. It was done. He was like, All right, drummage, just blow off. We marching out. And I was like, Dog, like this is how I know like it it get it it gets real. For real.
Chris Moore: So, I mean, speaking of real, one of my favorite movies is Drumline. Mind you, I don't know how to play anything. I the only beat I can give you is grinding, and that's because I done messed up cafeteria tables along with everybody else with that song. but how real is the movie Drumline to what you experienced in college?
Kalan Hooks: I mean, Drumline in a way, it it tries to it tries to really paint the picture of like, you know, HBCU band culture. but I will say like there are parts in the movie that's, you know, not as realistic. Like, you know, from the start of Dr Bandcamp. No freshman is gonna come out there in all black and you're supposed to be in your black and whites. And no yeah, my my my that my roommate let me oversleep. Nobody's gonna do that. Now I will say if one person is late or how if one person doesn't, you know, follow the criteria or you know, exceed the expectations, the whole band will get punished and the whole band will run laps. But in terms of drumline and like real life experience, I mean, again, it's it tries to play paint a good picture of how HBCU band camps and HBCU bands go, but it's not always it it's not a a a complete accurate
Chris Moore: It's definitely Hollywood.
Kalan Hooks: Yeah, it's it's for Hollywood, which is, you know, like which is perfectly fine. I will say, like, you know, Drumline painted a really they they paid a really excellent picture of how HBCU band culture is. did a amazing job. but you know, there's like some parts like, like if that would've happened, you know, that would have been kind of over with, would it for us or you know, however. Now in terms of like, you like bands balling and stands, like, yeah, for sure that even, you know, for like the band rehearsal when you get the music passed. Out, and it's a lot of youngins, and they're like, We want to play NBA Youngboy. Why we playing Earth, Wind and Fire? Or why we playing Snoop? Why we playing this? It's like, nah, like, this is the music that you know made these artists, so this is what we're gonna play. I mean, like, all of that was real. But drumline, not a hundred percent super accurate for real HBCU band camp culture, but definitely a good example.
Chris Moore: So this next portion of the show, I call this three on three. These are three questions. You give me your three answers. Like the kids say, I listen, I don't judge. Give me three of your favorite band songs, whether it's for a football game, basketball, whether it's knock if you book, we ready, it's your favorite three.
Kalan Hooks: man, that's dang, these is these is hard these are hard hitting questions, man. Wow. one I'm gonna have to go with it just because it recently went viral. Texas Southern, Ocean of Soul, they played Kirk Cobangs' Drinking My Cup. And why do I say that? It it was nasty. I mean, you play at Pray View A where Kirk Cobangs attended, so that's a diss to E V. But the way they played it too, I mean, chopped it down, I mean, chopped and screwed it. You never heard you I never heard a band chop and screw a song. Mellows went absolutely nuts. I mean, in the stratosphere, which is my gosh. another let me think my second song, probably have to say my second song I would probably go with Jackson State 2014 Ain't About the Money.
Chris Moore: Mm.
Kalan Hooks: Trombone chords, amaz like hidden trombone break, amazing. Mellows, wow, wow, amazing. and to hear it across the field is just like it's mesmerizing. Listen to it with headphones, volume cut all the way up, your day will be made.
Chris Moore: Got it.
Kalan Hooks: and then the last one is gonna be a a a real challenge. but I'll probably and I'm gonna actually go back to my like roots with this. 1988, Florida AM, Key Sweat, Make It Last Forever. This was a song that I heard that made me instantly fall in love with HBCU bands. I mean, a 13-year-old kid. I mean, listen to the listening to that song, heard the chords, I heard how it was it was just so beautiful. And I said at that point, like I know that I would be marching for an HBCU band. And, you know, to that from the first downbeat of that rendition, I have listened to a HBCU band every single day.
Chris Moore: just I'm gonna put that as a note to myself to go back and like look at that because I love music and for you to come up with something from nineteen eighty eight, brother, I'm here for.
Kalan Hooks: Yeah.
Chris Moore: give me three of your favorite all time bands.
Kalan Hooks: Three of my all-time favorite bands. Who are we going specific like year or are we just going like bands in general?
Chris Moore: Hey, you're the expert. You can give me the year if you want to.
Kalan Hooks: Hey come on, we can while I'll we can do it.
Chris Moore: And this isn't in no particular order, so I don't want nobody saying, you you picked them number one. This is just three, three of your favorites.
Kalan Hooks: Yeah, no, I got you. All right. So I'll probably go with Alabama A and Marching Maroon and White Marching Maroon and White, excuse me, two thousand and three. You know, aggressive. the book was deep. it I mean that band that year was amazing. It's good I say that too because Alabama A and this year in twenty twenty six they're starting to get that aggression back, under their new under their new direction. Another band.
Chris Moore: actually one my high school classmates, Daryl Hill.
Kalan Hooks: Yeah, shout out, shout out Daryl man. let me think. Another from my second one. I mean, I'm at to go Jackson State, Sonic Boom of the South. I mean, it is what it is. Like, and I'm I'm gonna go with my era, so I'ma start 20 13 and on or no 2014. 2014 Jackson Day, as a matter of fact. That was the year that the band, you know, got under under the direction of, you know, Dr. Roderick Little. He took over the marching band. You know, Dow Taylor was still over the band. If I if I'm let me clarify he was still over the band, but he just let Dr. Little take the reins and just you know take that program to another level. And it was like each year they just continue to level up, but that 2014 year was, you know, amazing. They ain't about the money, golden. time of day, Frankie Beverly and Mays, Flight 76, Sex Me R. Kelly. Like they play, they have some stuff. And then my last band, I'm gonna have to, you know, I'm gonna have to go with the current heir of the Ocean of Soul, Texas Southern University. My guy Brian Simmons, he went down there to TSU. he's been at Southern University, you know, arguably almost his whole his whole career. And he went on to TSU and I mean changed the game in Houston, you know, like at first TSU was like, all right, they're known for their UFOs. TSU got some crazy UFOs, but now it's like they're gonna give you UFO, they're gonna give you tuba, they're gonna give you trombone, they're give Melo, they're gonna give they gonna give you everything. And
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: Brian is building a different culture down there in Houston. And so Jackson State 2014, Texas Southern Ocean and So Now, and 2003 AM.
Chris Moore: Man, you are elbow deep in this Goyard bag, man. Like
Kalan Hooks: Yeah.
Chris Moore: I knew you knew your stuff, but to like be able to recall years and different songs from those years, that's that's amazing. the third question, who have you who are your three of your favorite musical composers? that's just in general. Who are your favorites, your inspirations, etc.?
Kalan Hooks: I mean, in terms of like musical composer composer, are we saying like band arrangement wise or we saying like all like mus like real music?
Chris Moore: Real music.
Kalan Hooks: yeah. We can go we definitely go there. So You can't go wrong with, you know, the the the great Quincy Jones. I mean, Quincy has had his his fingerprint on so many, you know, so many records, so many hit records, so many artists who's career he's helped jumpstart. I mean, Tamia, Tevin Campbell, he's had records with, you know, the El DeBarge. I mean, we can go on for days. Like Quincy Jones is a is a revolutionary in music. Two those other two, those those are gonna be hard. wow. This is a really great question that you laid on me. Quincy Jones probably would go and if we're talking about musical artists too, or you know, rather that you know at Tina Marie. Tina Marie she's good. I've been
Chris Moore: it's a good one. Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: on a lot of Tina Marie lately and Tina, the way that she, you know, the way that she just pushes out, you know, those vocals. she has a significant sound that's, you know, distinctive and tailored rather to her voice and to her to her ear, which is pretty dope and everything to the chords. to the production, all it's amazing. And my last one might go with, you know, the OG, the new Jack Swing Guru, Teddy Riley. I mean that's That's an error that's, you know, unmatched. I mean, we got everything from that brother. Remember the time, you know, he he created, you know, I mean, God was was was one of one when, you know, Teddy's jam one and two. and then even that produced another sound that, you know, bought us like Bobby Brown, the King of New Jack, and TLC and, you know, all these other groups, you know, so Teddy Riley, Big Q Dog, Quincy Jones, and Tina Marie.
Chris Moore: Man, I love it. I love it. for the last question, give me more. for the rest of two thousand twenty six going forward, what do you want more for yourself?
Kalan Hooks: Man, it twenty twenty six was a year that I said that I was just gonna do any and everything. I'm just gonna try stuff, you know, I'm gonna get myself out of my comfort zone. Lately I've been on a real kick in, you know, paying attention to my fitness. Now, you know, I got my fitness in track. Now it's like, all right, I want to try more to see if I can get these HBCU bands to, you know, real mainstream media. Like, I want I eventually want a show to, you know, just be HBCU bands. And I'm not saying like a show that comes and goes. Like, I need a show that's, you know, here to stay, that's gonna actually showcase the culture that our HBCU bands bring, you know, week in and week out, to the football field every game and even every every battle of bands. And then for me, man, I in this I mean, for the rest of this year, man, I just Really just wanna continue to, you know, let God do his thing. You know, all of all of the stuff that I've been on, you know, all the wins and the successes. I've done a lot of things that I didn't think that I could have done this year. You know, I've been to the SBS. I've I've interviewed, you know, countless athletes, actors, entertainers. I've done some, you know, crazy stories, you know, this year that I didn't think would even be possible of me doing. And so Just letting God, you know, take over, take control and, you know, just letting him work his magic in my life and letting him pour, you know, whatever whatever potion that needs to be poured into my life to help me succeed and help me grow as a better person, as a better man, as a better journalist, altogether.
Chris Moore: Man, when I was a kid, when I would go to church, I will always hear one of the church mothers say, God be God. I didn't know what that meant until I got older. And I and I can hear it in your voice, I can hear it in your passion that you just want God to be God and open up these doors for you. truly just bless you and put you in the right spots. when I look back over this year, man, I've seen You at the SBs. I've seen you at NABJ. I've seen you do different things. I even have the Instagram here, like I remember like reposting one of your pieces of content like a year or two ago. So to see what you're doing is amazing, man. When I look when when I see what your dream is about having an HBCU band show. I didn't even go I didn't I didn't finish school, but it almost brings tears to my eyes because it's like the idea is in your head and I know that you're gonna find yourself executing this. And just the vision I can imagine. It's just
Kalan Hooks: Yeah.
Chris Moore: amazing. So I definitely much love to what you got going on. can you tell the people where they can look up and keep up with you on your journey?
Kalan Hooks: Yeah, for sure, man. I mean, I'm on all socials, Kalan Hooks T V, K A L A N H O O K S T V. I'm on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Threads. Find me on Facebook, Kalan Hooks. yeah, I'm even I'm trying to get on YouTube, but and even I'm trying to start a podcast. I've already have an episode out with Flower Child, one of the best one of the best artists, producers that's out now. In my eyes, the offspring of Quincy Jones. we have
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: episode out there, so please go check that out. what's the hook with K hooks? you know, we You know, we we are here, man. Like I said, the goal is, like I said, the goal is to try to pay homage to the OG, the late Don Cornelis, and bring Soul Train back. But in
Chris Moore: Mm.
Kalan Hooks: a way that's gonna in a way that's gonna, you know, get it to all audience, young and old. So, you know, follow me on
Chris Moore: For sure, for sure.
Kalan Hooks: all those platforms and you know, hit me up.
Chris Moore: As as y'all heard, hit him up. Make sure y'all continue to follow him on his journey. again, this is a conversation that's been long overdue. I've been following this dude for a couple of years. I've seen the rankings, I've seen the growth in his content. So make sure you all tap in. He ain't doing this for fun, y'all. He's doing this to spread the word. So the more that you help him, the more the word is spread for HBCUs and bands, and just music awareness. So your kids, make sure they're involved in the in music and the arts. it's more out here than just, you know, actually playing football and playing basketball and all these other things. that there are availabilities for your child to go to school for free. They still offer band scholarships, okay? so all
Kalan Hooks: do.
Chris Moore: in all, you know, like, comment, subscribe, help us grow this channel, help us do some amazing things. The reason why more insight is exist is because we want to get stories like this out. So that's what we're doing here. And I hope that we can see you all in the future. Until next time, peace out.
Kalan Hooks: man, I'm good, man. I appreciate you having me on, man. And I mean, real quick, I just want to put out there like, you know, what we cover, what I cover is sports, but not sports. Everything culture, like you said, our lives, you know, what we've been through. So, you know, it's a real honor and a real pleasure to be here.
Chris Moore: Absolutely, man. Thank you again for joining me. before we get into everything about this conversation, what made you go to an HBCU? What and who were you before you tapped into school?
Kalan Hooks: man, that's a great question. it you know, growing up, that was just something that I've always knew that I was gonna eventually, you know, go to. in my household, my parents always plea always preach to us like, you know, black college, you know, like you're gonna go to H B C U. And it wasn't like, you know, they were forcing it on us. It was just like they taught us that culture, sort of say. I vividly remember like, you know, being eight years old, seven years old when, you know, BET would, you know, used to show HBCU games, B.E.T. or Aspire TV and my dad cutting on Jackson State, you know, football games in our living room. And it wasn't always to show me the football game. It's like, look at the band, look at the band. Like they be dancing,
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: they be doing everything. It's just like, man. it wasn't until like I was a till I was in the eighth grade where I just like really leaned into, you know, the sound of HBCU bands. You know, I I I really enjoyed, you know, how dark and how different the chord sounded from, you know, your traditional, you know, band at like a PWI. It was something that spoke to me and, you know, when I went to high school, became a drum major, transformed the marching style that we marched at that at my high school, Crowd Resident High School grad. But changing from corpse style to show style. And it was always about, you know, how can I make this, you know, about how can I make this e HBCU equivalent? And from that moment on, you know, I just knew I was always destined to go to, you know, a black college. it was just about being with my people.
Chris Moore: Man, I love that. when and y you were in the band and eventually became section leader, what did that experience teach you that you still carry with you today?
Kalan Hooks: Man, I mean, everything is a process. You know, everything's a process. Everything's gonna come with its ups. Everything's gonna come with its downs, you know, everything's gonna have its challenges. when I was in the band, you know, I crabbed in 2018 at the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff, UAP B four. crabbed in the band and you know it one of the things that it taught me going into, you know, band camp when it when I was going to actually March for four was, you know, opportunity meets preparation and you know, vice versa. Like band camp, you know, I'll say I I have no issue saying it now. I was like not I wasn't the best on my instrument at the time. Like I was I was horrible
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: when I look back at it. But you know, I was prepared. I was like one of the best, you know, people in the band in terms of, you know, fit physically, you know, could nobody outmarch me. every time we had PT or whatever, I was always trying to, you know, put my I was always trying to put out my best foot for it and, you know, every dance routine, every time we marched a field show, every time we marched a drill. it was just something that I knew I had. When it came to like the instrument part of it, you know, actually like getting like the technicalities and stuff like I worked my butt off like that whole freshman season, you know, learning my skills. trying to learn, you know, different octaves that I didn't even think was capable of being played on the instrument that I was on. And, you know, just trying to like trying to change, you know, the culture of the section that I marched in. And that kinda like led to me, you know, sticking out, showing, you know, like my le my true leadership capabilities and that was like, you know, alright, like, you know, make him a section leader. And still like even to this day, it's like, you know, if I'm doing a story or, you know, if I'm If I'm doing some reporting, some research or whatever that might be an assignment, it's like, all right, you're gonna either go into this into this assignment and you know, you're gonna be a little shaky, a little s a little nervous cause it's like you know you didn't really prepare for it, or you're gonna be like,
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: you know what, all right, I got my I got my eyes and my T, I I dotted all that, like I'm gonna go into this, I'm gonna be straight, I can just write it straight, just write a story straight, not even have to go back and look at the research because I know I prepare for this the correct way. Or even if I'm in in front of a camera, you know, shooting like a ranking, like all right, I know I'm not gonna second guess myself when I put
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: this ranking up because I prepare properly. I've done my research and you know, everything in that na in that nature i is literally, you know, it speaks to life itself. I mean, ban is one thing, work is the other, but everything I believe in life, you know, in every area all all correlates to one another.
Chris Moore: for sure, man. and it just even got me thinking as you were talking about that, it reminded me of your bio on IG. it says journalists, revolutionary and uncomfortable. I'm interested in that uncomfortable part. What does that mean to you?
Kalan Hooks: A comfortable man is just like, you know, you can cruise through life and, you know, you can be like in this in this comfortable position where it's like, all right, like what I'm doing is cool, like it's good enough. I hate trying to be good enough. Like, you know, if I'm good enough, if I'm always good enough, I'm never going I'm I'm never gonna see growth. You know, I'm never gonna see growth. If I'm never if I'm not in a position where it's like, all right, I don't know I'm I'm not sure the area that I'm in or you know, I'm not sure how to approach this situation. You know, how do I expect to learn? How do I expect to see myself blossom if I'm if I'm just staying in a spot that's you know very stagnant? And so I say uncomfortable, I put uncomfortable, you know, like in my bio because I want people to know that I'm just not one person that you're gonna see get one win and be like, okay, I'm good with that. Like, no. I wanna try new things, I wanna learn new things, and with that coming, with all of that comes being uncomfortable. You know, you don't grow. you're comfortable, you gotta get uncomfortable to be you gotta be uncomfortable to be comfortable in a sense. And that's something that you know a lot of people are scared of in these days. And me, I'm just like, I strive to be, I wanna be different. I don't wanna be like the norm.
Chris Moore: Same here. I try to be different. And I'm actually gonna take a different pivot right here. when you talk about uncomfortable, there's an uncomfortable conversation I wanna have. and it's not even HBCU related.
Kalan Hooks: Talk to me.
Chris Moore: a few, I want to say like a month ago, you posted a picture of O'Shea Jackson and the star of Swagger. I can't remember the young man's name, and you said that this is a show that should not be should have This is a show that should not have been canceled. I
Kalan Hooks: Yeah.
Chris Moore: agree 1000%. So I don't even know why I went down this range r random tangent, but I agree with you. What was it about swagger that, you know, that that connected with you?
Kalan Hooks: Man, it's so funny that you say that. Swagger came out in, I want to say twenty twenty-one. So
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: this is like after, you know, COVID nineteen had came and I mean, granted, COVID nineteen was still there with us. Still is kinda here today, but it's funny because now I'm like re I I found my I find myself rewatching it all over again just because of how much it stuck with me. What stuck with me with that show, man, is just, you know, you had this kid, you know, Lil Jace Carson, and it's like, you know. he's brought up in an environment in an area where he's arguably the best player, you know, in the DMV.
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: But so many people around him that, you know, they don't want to see him win. There's so many people around him that are, you know, that's doubting him. The followers on social media, the people that are coming to his games, they coming to see him lose. and you know, with his coach, Coach Ike is what they call him, O'Shea Jackson's character, you know, he's always pushing Jace, like, you block out the haters, like one to the next, like, and then two, he has this thing in the show that he calls being a twin. four hour person, which is all in all just you know, just be a just be a good dude, dog. And when my parents introduced this show to me, man, it just really stuck with me in a way that like, you know, it it was something I could relate to when I was a kid coming up playing ball, you know, there would be a lot of Crazy I could say this. A lot of parents, you know, coming to see, coming to our games to see us lose. My mom will always tell me all time, she would just be sitting at the gym and she would just hear parents like, yeah, we didn't even come just because our son played. We want to stay so we could see them lose. And we end up beating a team by like 40 points. but even like now too in life, you know, where I am now my big age, you know, I'm here in my at this point point in my career, it's still people that come back from, you know, high school, people that come back. From you know my days of college or even somebody that I just might not know just because of the position I'm at. They want to see me fail. They don't they don't want to see me succeed. And it's like, you know what? The same way that Jace Carson defeated all those odds, the same way that Jace Carson, you know, embraced all the negativity and turned into something positive, how he turned into fire, that's something that stuck that stuck with me, is something that still sticks with me to this day, and something I don't think is going away anytime soon. And so anytime I could get a chance to rewatch Swagger Man, it's like I'm gonna do that. And hence that's why I'm like, you know, kids today need to see, you know, a success story like that. They need
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: to have, you know, especially people in our community, they need to see a young black boy who has all the odds against him and still succeed. you know, despite anything that's being thrown at him. You know, I think it's really important. It's a really important metaphor. And so to that point, that's something that I that's a show that I don't think should have been canceled at all. There's a lot of shows, but that one of them that's that just.
Chris Moore: For sure. And I think with Swagger, man, like I remember like the last couple episodes. I was just like, dog, y'all, y'all going there? Like, I was like,
Kalan Hooks: Yeah.
Chris Moore: and I have a son now. So it hit different for me when I was watching, you know, those last few episodes of Swagger. So I'm I'm definitely gonna re watch it. I haven't watched it in like two years, so I know it's gonna be crazy when I see it now.
Kalan Hooks: Yeah.
Chris Moore: but that's why I wanted to bring it up because representation Isn't only seeing black people on television. It's whether the details feel right. And nobody knows whether the details feel right quicker than HBCU grads. which brings me to these bands, man. I'm gonna start out with the rankings. the weekly rankings, how did you even start, you know, this idea?
Kalan Hooks: Man, it if I'm being honest with you, the rankings was just something that I think it it just kind of came together. Like it was just on a Sunday. I mean, as I mentioned before, HBCU bands has kinda like always been in my bloodstream, you know. and once I graduated college, you know, I still found myself like in I live I'm I'm in the East Coast now. I still find myself up here, you know, mile thousands of miles away from my institution, you know, thousands of miles away from the South line.
Chris Moore: Yeah, you're a long way, brother.
Kalan Hooks: Yeah, you know, like I still find myself like on Sundays looking at these halftime shows. And it's like, all right, at some point, you know, I'm in my I'm in my career. It's like, you know, this is a pageant of mine's, you know, let let's rank these, you know, sort of say, 'cause it's like I want to be able to highlight our HBCUs, more importantly, HBCU. Band gave me an opportunity. So it's like, all right, like, let's try to find a way to make these things, you know, mainstream. I started posting about them on Twitter just out of the love, you know, and out of the love and the passion and respect of in the pride of what they've done for me. I think it was probably, you know, one ranking that I seen like, and this is so funny saying this. I probably got like two likes. And them two likes told told me a lot. Those two likes told me a lot that like, hey, it's an audience out here. And
Chris Moore: Somebody liked it. Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: Somebody like it like, you know, and so I just stuck with it, you know, I stuck with it, you know, it became something consistent. week after week I would just watch shows, you know, one for my entertainment and then two, you know, for the entertainment of the following that I eventually, you know, started to grow on, you know, social media. People started engaging with it. I don't think people really picked up on the band rankings until the twenty twenty four season, honestly. Like then it was just, you know, something that I was doing. That following season, twenty twenty four, people started actually looking to see, okay, did my band make the list? You know, this was like at the time around the time when, when Jackson and Dion was like really big. So, you know, it was always like if I could find a way
Chris Moore: Yeah. Perfect time.
Kalan Hooks: to if I could always find a way to get Jackson into, you know, the top five, which, you know, it wasn't intended it wasn't intentional, you know, but gotta I started off trying to cater to an audience and then it turned into like, all right, like really be authentically you. and people started catching on. People started looking for the rankings and then some people even like sent me DMs like, why didn't you include this band? Why didn't you do this? And it's just y'all, y'all invested, y'all bought in now. And so now, man, you know, it just
Chris Moore: You you got You got hooked.
Kalan Hooks: yeah, you know what I'm saying? And so now it just turned into something like, all right, last year, for example, I added in a video component. Before then, I was just posting it on social media, just like the regular list. Last year I said, I'm gonna build this. I came up with the video component, like, okay. when I drop this list, when I drop these rankings, I want to find a way to actually like showcase the band rather than just saying, like their name. I want to be able to showcase the band, showcase, you know, part of their show and then a primary reason as to why I featured it while also giving people who are consuming these, the audience, you know, like a glimpse of, you know, what they about, you know. And so that was something that really was a win for me. And then even like this year now it's, you know, even bigger. For me it's like, you know, I want to actually make this main stream. You know what I'm saying? Like artist I mean, come on. This year Nita Baker, you know, in the past, Tyler the Creator, Tyler,
Chris Moore: Yep.
Kalan Hooks: so many artists, J producers for J. Cole, Dreamville, like, they are catching on to these bands. They're noticing them. Now it's like, let's make this thing mainstream and let's not just circle on just let's not just focus on two or three bands that everybody else know. Like let's give everybody some love. Like these three bands have already gotten so much love. There's so many other bands out there that they that need the love. And so that's the big thing behind, you know, the rankings is making sure our institutions, our bands, you know, who were built on tradition continue to get the love that they deserve.
Chris Moore: And I'm so glad you said that because you you talked about the video factor and I was like and I noticed that I was like, we got videos this year. but let me rewind a little bit. explain the criteria. what exactly are you judging your rankings on or your metrics by?
Kalan Hooks: Man, I'm actually really glad that you asked this question because I've been getting this question so much so much times and I'm like, man, I don't want to write it out for y'all. So the criteria
Chris Moore: Mm-hmm.
Kalan Hooks: so the criteria for me that I'm judging on, everything is precision, everything is sound. In terms of precision, all right, are your lines straight? Are your pinwheels, you know, are are they is your pinwheel straight when you make that turn? are the formations, the the do the formations, you know, stick out, are they noticeable or is it just you know generic? storytelling is another one. If you come with a theme, if you come with a theme that, you know, for example, this year Michael Jackson Michael Jackson excuse me is really big. If you can come with a theme that's gonna tell a story about, you know, an artist, their catalog, or if there's something that might have happened in current events to this at the at to this day. That you can, you know, drill, put that on the field. That's points for storytelling. and then, you know, sound is of course another thing. Like, does the band sound good? Are there any horns sticking out? is everything balanced? are the chords, you know what I'm saying? Are the chords cording? is anybody
Chris Moore: There you go.
Kalan Hooks: out of tune? You know, like little things like that. I'm also judging. And then gotta go with aux auxiliary so drum majors, you know, what
Chris Moore: Uh-huh.
Kalan Hooks: do the drum majors move what are the drum majors looking like? Are they are they sloppy or, you know, is somebody can is somebody falling on a back bend or is the head falling off? Or, you know, I'm judging all of that. The dancers are i are the dancers hitting their hitting their counts. Is everybody in sync and in formation? once they get to their to their eight counts.
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: and then the last or not the last thing, because there's so much more to this, but even when it comes to like, you know, just regular squads, and marching band or HBCU bands rather, we have we march in squad. So that's four people to a squad. we call it like, you like one, three, five, seven. are those spots filled fully? You know, or are there gonna be empty spots in those
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: squads? If there's empty spots in those squads the formation is essentially, I mean, keep it real, it's jacked up. but the last thing, of course, you know, is you know, dance routine. And with that dance routine, is everybody doing the same moves, you know, or is somebody just out there just, you know, lollygagging being lazy? and then how current are the moves? I always like to say like last year, like I will always try to add bonus points for on field pettiness. What does that mean? If Jackson State and Southern battling each other, and Jackson State likes to pull off a a Southern University discs on the field, extra points. If if Southern want to do the same thing back and play get ready and play or big balling or whatever, extra points. If Texas Southern wants to drill out, wants to spell prayer of U A and B2A or something on the field, extra points. And then last but not least, crowd reaction. As much as the show, you know, might look good to me. How do the fans and how do the audience, you know, indulge in this show? Is it just a show that, you know, the band marched off and it's just okay, another show went by? Or is this a show that the band marched off the field and you have pom poms ringing, you have cowbells dingling, you have standing ovations and you know, all of that, you know, screaming, cheering. How do though how does your show essentially speak to the audience? So With the this criteria, you know, it's something that's, you know, I have well thought out. it's something that I go off of every week. And, you know, for a lot of people who ask, I'm glad that you asked this question, a lot of people who ask, Well, what's the criteria? There you have it.
Chris Moore: There you have it. It ain't just something he just look at and say, you know what, this this sounds the best to me and that's the list. No,
Kalan Hooks: Yeah, yeah.
Chris Moore: it ain't like that. It's a well thought process, ladies and gentlemen.
Kalan Hooks: And I kid you not, like for these rankings too, there is I mean, it's always Sundays and Mondays. I find myself having to I'll see a show and I'm like, this show is really good and I see another show. This show is really good. Sometimes I have to watch every show like three times, four times, over and over
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: and over. And that takes a lot of time, but In conclusion or in I I say all of that to say in short, there's a lot of time being put into this. And it's all done by me, by myself.
Chris Moore: And I was about to say, and the thing is, what people don't understand about creating content, not only you you're doing your research to come up with the rankings, but now you actually have to put it on camera. Now you actually have to do the editing and all that good stuff. Like everybody wants to be a content creator until they understand what a creator has to do. so the easiest part would probably be hitting the post button. I mean,
Kalan Hooks: Yeah.
Chris Moore: everything else is like work. And people don't understand that. but kind of take me back to your band days. What's been one of your most favorite moments of being in the band?
Kalan Hooks: man, there that there are so many moments that I've had, man, that, you know, I mean, of course, you know, it's just being with the people that, you know, you came up with in the band, your crab brothers and your crab sisters, you know, the band the the the road trips were, you know, really fun. If I had to zero in on a particular moment, man, this is so crazy. I remember I'm actually giving you two moments. So one, you know, my freshman year, we traveled a lot. Went to Grandma State. and we also went to Southern University. Southern University was like the absolute best road trip, you know, freshman year, you get in a battle against you getting a battle of the human jukebox. Like we
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: were in the stands, man. A and AW Mumford, they put you in like the in the corner. And so, man, we mid game, dog. Southern band like it's probably like diagonal to fr diagonal from you. They just stand up, put their horns on like they about to play, and then they turn their horns right to us and they just hit us with a tag note. Wow. And we like and it was loud and it was just like, dang, like, no, we gotta get back. We gotta get back. So Mr. Graham like, no, run it back. Hit him with a tag note back. And so we just tag note back and forth, man. Like it was so funny, man. But another another Favorite band moment. I'll give this just an an extra. Jackson
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: State, my sophomore year. This was the year I was a section leader.
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: We in the fifth quarter at Miss at the vet. We in the fifth quarter. And, you know, we play our fifths. We play five. We always try to do five and out. We did our fifth song. We headed to a lineup and parade block. As we were lining up and leaving the standards Jackson State plays victory lap, Nipsey Hustle. We have our own rendition. So Mr. Evans, one of the assistant band directors, is like, nah, y'all hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, line up, line line up, line up, hurry up, hurry up, hurry up. So we all line, we all get in parade block. He's like, drummage calling to attention. So we, you know, we in attention. And then he was like, drummage, just give him a right face. At the vet when you march out, you marching this way. Jackson State band
Chris Moore: Mm-hmm.
Kalan Hooks: is up here. So we make a right flake right face, we turn it this way. And he's like, Go up there. Victory lap right back at him. This is a story that's never been told because no footage or anything was captured of this. We played victory lap. It was done. He was like, All right, drummage, just blow off. We marching out. And I was like, Dog, like this is how I know like it it get it it gets real. For real.
Chris Moore: So, I mean, speaking of real, one of my favorite movies is Drumline. Mind you, I don't know how to play anything. I the only beat I can give you is grinding, and that's because I done messed up cafeteria tables along with everybody else with that song. but how real is the movie Drumline to what you experienced in college?
Kalan Hooks: I mean, Drumline in a way, it it tries to it tries to really paint the picture of like, you know, HBCU band culture. but I will say like there are parts in the movie that's, you know, not as realistic. Like, you know, from the start of Dr Bandcamp. No freshman is gonna come out there in all black and you're supposed to be in your black and whites. And no yeah, my my my that my roommate let me oversleep. Nobody's gonna do that. Now I will say if one person is late or how if one person doesn't, you know, follow the criteria or you know, exceed the expectations, the whole band will get punished and the whole band will run laps. But in terms of drumline and like real life experience, I mean, again, it's it tries to play paint a good picture of how HBCU band camps and HBCU bands go, but it's not always it it's not a a a complete accurate
Chris Moore: It's definitely Hollywood.
Kalan Hooks: Yeah, it's it's for Hollywood, which is, you know, like which is perfectly fine. I will say, like, you know, Drumline painted a really they they paid a really excellent picture of how HBCU band culture is. did a amazing job. but you know, there's like some parts like, like if that would've happened, you know, that would have been kind of over with, would it for us or you know, however. Now in terms of like, you like bands balling and stands, like, yeah, for sure that even, you know, for like the band rehearsal when you get the music passed. Out, and it's a lot of youngins, and they're like, We want to play NBA Youngboy. Why we playing Earth, Wind and Fire? Or why we playing Snoop? Why we playing this? It's like, nah, like, this is the music that you know made these artists, so this is what we're gonna play. I mean, like, all of that was real. But drumline, not a hundred percent super accurate for real HBCU band camp culture, but definitely a good example.
Chris Moore: So this next portion of the show, I call this three on three. These are three questions. You give me your three answers. Like the kids say, I listen, I don't judge. Give me three of your favorite band songs, whether it's for a football game, basketball, whether it's knock if you book, we ready, it's your favorite three.
Kalan Hooks: man, that's dang, these is these is hard these are hard hitting questions, man. Wow. one I'm gonna have to go with it just because it recently went viral. Texas Southern, Ocean of Soul, they played Kirk Cobangs' Drinking My Cup. And why do I say that? It it was nasty. I mean, you play at Pray View A where Kirk Cobangs attended, so that's a diss to E V. But the way they played it too, I mean, chopped it down, I mean, chopped and screwed it. You never heard you I never heard a band chop and screw a song. Mellows went absolutely nuts. I mean, in the stratosphere, which is my gosh. another let me think my second song, probably have to say my second song I would probably go with Jackson State 2014 Ain't About the Money.
Chris Moore: Mm.
Kalan Hooks: Trombone chords, amaz like hidden trombone break, amazing. Mellows, wow, wow, amazing. and to hear it across the field is just like it's mesmerizing. Listen to it with headphones, volume cut all the way up, your day will be made.
Chris Moore: Got it.
Kalan Hooks: and then the last one is gonna be a a a real challenge. but I'll probably and I'm gonna actually go back to my like roots with this. 1988, Florida AM, Key Sweat, Make It Last Forever. This was a song that I heard that made me instantly fall in love with HBCU bands. I mean, a 13-year-old kid. I mean, listen to the listening to that song, heard the chords, I heard how it was it was just so beautiful. And I said at that point, like I know that I would be marching for an HBCU band. And, you know, to that from the first downbeat of that rendition, I have listened to a HBCU band every single day.
Chris Moore: just I'm gonna put that as a note to myself to go back and like look at that because I love music and for you to come up with something from nineteen eighty eight, brother, I'm here for.
Kalan Hooks: Yeah.
Chris Moore: give me three of your favorite all time bands.
Kalan Hooks: Three of my all-time favorite bands. Who are we going specific like year or are we just going like bands in general?
Chris Moore: Hey, you're the expert. You can give me the year if you want to.
Kalan Hooks: Hey come on, we can while I'll we can do it.
Chris Moore: And this isn't in no particular order, so I don't want nobody saying, you you picked them number one. This is just three, three of your favorites.
Kalan Hooks: Yeah, no, I got you. All right. So I'll probably go with Alabama A and Marching Maroon and White Marching Maroon and White, excuse me, two thousand and three. You know, aggressive. the book was deep. it I mean that band that year was amazing. It's good I say that too because Alabama A and this year in twenty twenty six they're starting to get that aggression back, under their new under their new direction. Another band.
Chris Moore: actually one my high school classmates, Daryl Hill.
Kalan Hooks: Yeah, shout out, shout out Daryl man. let me think. Another from my second one. I mean, I'm at to go Jackson State, Sonic Boom of the South. I mean, it is what it is. Like, and I'm I'm gonna go with my era, so I'ma start 20 13 and on or no 2014. 2014 Jackson Day, as a matter of fact. That was the year that the band, you know, got under under the direction of, you know, Dr. Roderick Little. He took over the marching band. You know, Dow Taylor was still over the band. If I if I'm let me clarify he was still over the band, but he just let Dr. Little take the reins and just you know take that program to another level. And it was like each year they just continue to level up, but that 2014 year was, you know, amazing. They ain't about the money, golden. time of day, Frankie Beverly and Mays, Flight 76, Sex Me R. Kelly. Like they play, they have some stuff. And then my last band, I'm gonna have to, you know, I'm gonna have to go with the current heir of the Ocean of Soul, Texas Southern University. My guy Brian Simmons, he went down there to TSU. he's been at Southern University, you know, arguably almost his whole his whole career. And he went on to TSU and I mean changed the game in Houston, you know, like at first TSU was like, all right, they're known for their UFOs. TSU got some crazy UFOs, but now it's like they're gonna give you UFO, they're gonna give you tuba, they're gonna give you trombone, they're give Melo, they're gonna give they gonna give you everything. And
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: Brian is building a different culture down there in Houston. And so Jackson State 2014, Texas Southern Ocean and So Now, and 2003 AM.
Chris Moore: Man, you are elbow deep in this Goyard bag, man. Like
Kalan Hooks: Yeah.
Chris Moore: I knew you knew your stuff, but to like be able to recall years and different songs from those years, that's that's amazing. the third question, who have you who are your three of your favorite musical composers? that's just in general. Who are your favorites, your inspirations, etc.?
Kalan Hooks: I mean, in terms of like musical composer composer, are we saying like band arrangement wise or we saying like all like mus like real music?
Chris Moore: Real music.
Kalan Hooks: yeah. We can go we definitely go there. So You can't go wrong with, you know, the the the great Quincy Jones. I mean, Quincy has had his his fingerprint on so many, you know, so many records, so many hit records, so many artists who's career he's helped jumpstart. I mean, Tamia, Tevin Campbell, he's had records with, you know, the El DeBarge. I mean, we can go on for days. Like Quincy Jones is a is a revolutionary in music. Two those other two, those those are gonna be hard. wow. This is a really great question that you laid on me. Quincy Jones probably would go and if we're talking about musical artists too, or you know, rather that you know at Tina Marie. Tina Marie she's good. I've been
Chris Moore: it's a good one. Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: on a lot of Tina Marie lately and Tina, the way that she, you know, the way that she just pushes out, you know, those vocals. she has a significant sound that's, you know, distinctive and tailored rather to her voice and to her to her ear, which is pretty dope and everything to the chords. to the production, all it's amazing. And my last one might go with, you know, the OG, the new Jack Swing Guru, Teddy Riley. I mean that's That's an error that's, you know, unmatched. I mean, we got everything from that brother. Remember the time, you know, he he created, you know, I mean, God was was was one of one when, you know, Teddy's jam one and two. and then even that produced another sound that, you know, bought us like Bobby Brown, the King of New Jack, and TLC and, you know, all these other groups, you know, so Teddy Riley, Big Q Dog, Quincy Jones, and Tina Marie.
Chris Moore: Man, I love it. I love it. for the last question, give me more. for the rest of two thousand twenty six going forward, what do you want more for yourself?
Kalan Hooks: Man, it twenty twenty six was a year that I said that I was just gonna do any and everything. I'm just gonna try stuff, you know, I'm gonna get myself out of my comfort zone. Lately I've been on a real kick in, you know, paying attention to my fitness. Now, you know, I got my fitness in track. Now it's like, all right, I want to try more to see if I can get these HBCU bands to, you know, real mainstream media. Like, I want I eventually want a show to, you know, just be HBCU bands. And I'm not saying like a show that comes and goes. Like, I need a show that's, you know, here to stay, that's gonna actually showcase the culture that our HBCU bands bring, you know, week in and week out, to the football field every game and even every every battle of bands. And then for me, man, I in this I mean, for the rest of this year, man, I just Really just wanna continue to, you know, let God do his thing. You know, all of all of the stuff that I've been on, you know, all the wins and the successes. I've done a lot of things that I didn't think that I could have done this year. You know, I've been to the SBS. I've I've interviewed, you know, countless athletes, actors, entertainers. I've done some, you know, crazy stories, you know, this year that I didn't think would even be possible of me doing. And so Just letting God, you know, take over, take control and, you know, just letting him work his magic in my life and letting him pour, you know, whatever whatever potion that needs to be poured into my life to help me succeed and help me grow as a better person, as a better man, as a better journalist, altogether.
Chris Moore: Man, when I was a kid, when I would go to church, I will always hear one of the church mothers say, God be God. I didn't know what that meant until I got older. And I and I can hear it in your voice, I can hear it in your passion that you just want God to be God and open up these doors for you. truly just bless you and put you in the right spots. when I look back over this year, man, I've seen You at the SBs. I've seen you at NABJ. I've seen you do different things. I even have the Instagram here, like I remember like reposting one of your pieces of content like a year or two ago. So to see what you're doing is amazing, man. When I look when when I see what your dream is about having an HBCU band show. I didn't even go I didn't I didn't finish school, but it almost brings tears to my eyes because it's like the idea is in your head and I know that you're gonna find yourself executing this. And just the vision I can imagine. It's just
Kalan Hooks: Yeah.
Chris Moore: amazing. So I definitely much love to what you got going on. can you tell the people where they can look up and keep up with you on your journey?
Kalan Hooks: Yeah, for sure, man. I mean, I'm on all socials, Kalan Hooks T V, K A L A N H O O K S T V. I'm on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Threads. Find me on Facebook, Kalan Hooks. yeah, I'm even I'm trying to get on YouTube, but and even I'm trying to start a podcast. I've already have an episode out with Flower Child, one of the best one of the best artists, producers that's out now. In my eyes, the offspring of Quincy Jones. we have
Chris Moore: Yeah.
Kalan Hooks: episode out there, so please go check that out. what's the hook with K hooks? you know, we You know, we we are here, man. Like I said, the goal is, like I said, the goal is to try to pay homage to the OG, the late Don Cornelis, and bring Soul Train back. But in
Chris Moore: Mm.
Kalan Hooks: a way that's gonna in a way that's gonna, you know, get it to all audience, young and old. So, you know, follow me on
Chris Moore: For sure, for sure.
Kalan Hooks: all those platforms and you know, hit me up.
Chris Moore: As as y'all heard, hit him up. Make sure y'all continue to follow him on his journey. again, this is a conversation that's been long overdue. I've been following this dude for a couple of years. I've seen the rankings, I've seen the growth in his content. So make sure you all tap in. He ain't doing this for fun, y'all. He's doing this to spread the word. So the more that you help him, the more the word is spread for HBCUs and bands, and just music awareness. So your kids, make sure they're involved in the in music and the arts. it's more out here than just, you know, actually playing football and playing basketball and all these other things. that there are availabilities for your child to go to school for free. They still offer band scholarships, okay? so all
Kalan Hooks: do.
Chris Moore: in all, you know, like, comment, subscribe, help us grow this channel, help us do some amazing things. The reason why more insight is exist is because we want to get stories like this out. So that's what we're doing here. And I hope that we can see you all in the future. Until next time, peace out.
