Aloe Blacc

Singer and rapper Aloe Blacc began performing in the ’90s as half of the underground hip-hop duo Emanon before launching his solo career in 2003.

• He’s said he chose the name Aloe because his style is “smooth like lotion.” • Blacc was a teenager when he formed Emanon with the producer Exile.

The group’s moniker is “no name” backward, a nod to a 1955 track by the jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie.