Prolific composer and artist Steven Wallace joins So Money to discuss the release of highly anticipated film musical Hal King, a hip hop/r&b style musical set in the jazz era of the late 1950’s.

Steven shares his rich journey mastering the fields of music, performance and filmmaking. We discuss the challenges of being a person of color in a classically white industry, and the behind-the-scenes of how he funded his film.

More about Steve Wallace: He is a singer and composer from Chicago and most recently a composer with BMI’s Lehman Engel Workshop for composers and lyricists. His professional expertise incorporates a plethora of genres and styles from Soul, Hip Hop, Blues, and Classical. In the span of his career, Mr. Wallace has released 15 of his own albums independently as an artist,
produced, performed and written on over 100 albums with credits including Ledisi, Ghostface Killah of the Wu Tang Clan, De La Soul, and Eric Roberson, as well as gaining nods from the likes of Jay-Z, Jadakiss, Just Blaze and others for his fantastic and creative ideas.

As a composer, Steve Wallace has written a book of 15 art songs, 2 symphonies, 4 operas, 2 musicals and a variety of chamber works for various instruments. Mr. Wallace is also a very accomplished classical singer and has performed worldwide as a soloist, on tours, and as lead tenor roles in operas such as Carmen, La Boheme, and La Traviata with respected opera companies nationwide.

Here’s where you can watch the trailer for Hal King. The film is currently streaming on Amazon, iTunes, YouTube and Google Play.