The planet Earth needs saving, and Frank Ski is doing his part to spread awareness.
The legendary radio host, DJ, and producer is set to release his album Climate Change soon, with the first single, “Lovely Day,” set to release this Earth Day on April 22. The Frank Ski Kids Foundation is also hosting its 2024 Planet Green Science Contest, where ten students between the ages of 13 and 15 can write a 500-word essay on the ecosystem by March 23 for a chance to win a trip to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. The fundraising for the kids’ trip will be at Ski’s annual wine-tasting event on May 5.
Ski is releasing his Inspirational Vitamin book at the end of the year, which he said is “finally” coming after 30 years.
Ski explained it all in a recent interview with rolling out.
What does an Earth Day album sound like?
I’ll give you an example. Let’s say somebody grew up in the country, right? They say to you, “Every Sunday morning, I would go out on my steps in my country home and just listen to the birds chirping.” You could imagine what that would sound like.
If somebody said, “I grew up in New York City, right next to a subway. And every night, that d— train woke me up,” you would know exactly what that sounds like.
Well, when you go into the Amazon rainforest, you can imagine what it sounds like. When you’ve been in Africa, or you’ve been in the Galapagos Islands, or even [where] we’re going to the Great Barrier Reef in the ocean in Australia, you kind of know what that sounds like. Then, I mixed that sound [I] got with music projects [more] in line with a lounge album you would hear in a really swanky restaurant or on the beach somewhere down in Miami or Ibiza, in Spain. It’s loungey, but it’s also upbeat and exciting. It really tells a story about these places in my mind, what those places made me feel like, and what they would sound like.
What did you think of André 3000’s flute album?
I was mad. I was mad because he beat me to it.
In addition to André 3000, Lil Jon recently announced he was putting out a meditation album, and so is Raury. Why do you think Black men, in particular, are so focused on peace in 2024?
I realized when I got older there were certain things that meant more to me than money.
The thing that means more to me than money is peace. When you talk about even relationships within the Black community, Black men will tell you they just want to come home to peace and not a lot of static and noise.
I think we went through a period, especially during the pandemic, where there was so much static and noise. And people are just looking for something different. I think it comes with age. So when you look at those people, whether it’s André 3000, Lil Jon, myself, and [others], we’re a little bit older now. And we’ve realized [that] when you have a certain music talent, you can dabble in other areas. That’s what we do.
