May 5, 2025

Drexel’s Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design is pleased to announce that the keynote speaker for our 2025 Commencement ceremony will be Grammy Award-winning musician, producer, and composer James Poyser.

Poyser’s artistry has profoundly influenced modern soul, R&B, and hip-hop. Hailing from the United Kingdom and raised in Southwest Philadelphia, he is best known for his integral role in the legendary hip-hop band The Roots, the house band for "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon."

His extraordinary talent has allowed him to produce, write, and perform with a remarkable array of influential artists, including Mariah Carey, Adele, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Jay-Z, D’Angelo, Rihanna, Common, and John Legend among many others. Poyser's distinctive musical style is characterized by a signature soulful touch, which has graced numerous critically acclaimed albums and landmark songs.

As a versatile musician, James has toured and performed across genres, evident in his role recently as the musical producer for the Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Homecoming Concert. His accomplishments as a score composer for film & television includes projects such as "Long Bright River," "The Equalizer," “The 1619 Project,” 2 Distant Strangers," "Boxing Day," and "The Book of Clarence."

Beyond his professional achievements, James Poyser is a devoted family man, cherished by his loved ones for his qualities as an outstanding husband and father. He brings the same level of care, commitment, and creativity to his home life as he does to his music. Whether on stage, in the studio, or at home, James leads with heart, humility, and a profound love for his craft and family.

Poyser sat down with Westphal Communications to discuss Philly’s unique arts scene and the potential he sees in the new generation of creatives.

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You obviously have a long history with Philly. How has this city shaped you and your career?

Philly, as it’s been said, is not a pretty city - it's a gritty city. It’s a tough town, it's a hardworking town, and that hardworking ethic is part of me. It’s hardworking and creative. There are so many creators from the Philly area, a lot of them that have notoriety in the arts and entertainment - but even behind them, there are people thriving, doing work behind the scenes. That’s sort of what my career path has been. I love this town. There’s one thing about people from this area, wherever they are, they’ll shout out to Philly. There’s a pride to this area.

Why might a young person who's interested in the arts, culture, and entertainment want to look at Philly - maybe even start a career here?

It’s all about the friendly competition! We work hard, and speaking for the music side, we get together. We support each other, but there's a bit of friendly competition. Back in the day, Philly was renowned for its jam sessions. There were certain places where all the musicians would go, and everybody would play their best. But the next guy might play a little better! That would drive you back to practice, so at the next jam session you could do better. There are so many artists and producers who came out of those jam sessions in the Philly area: producers like myself, Andre Harris, Ivan Barias (who's actually a professor here at Drexel).

There was a time when this town was known for a particular sound – the jam sessions created music that inspired the world. You know there's something special when you can go to the other side of the country and hear people talk about the Philly jam sessions. Really exciting things were happening in places like the Black Lily, Wilhelmina’s, even in people’s churches and people's studios.

[Editor’s note: The history of the Black Lily is one of those stories that truly exemplifies the raw, creative energy of Philadelphia. The Black Lily was a weekly hip-hop jam session founded by the Roots, Tracey Moore, and Mercedes Martinez in the 1990s; it started, of all places, in Questlove’s basement. What began as an informal, experimental gathering of musicians rapidly bloomed into one of the city’s biggest cultural hotspots – and redefined the live hip-hop experience. It was a space of collaboration, improvisation, and community, where it wasn’t unusual to see up-and-coming musicians and emcees share a stage with Jill Scott or Amy Winehouse. Check out more of the history here.]

What do you think about this emerging generation of creatives and entertainers?

In my day, we were just creatives. Today's creatives are more than just creatives, because they have to be this one-man or one-woman band. They don’t just create! They market, they set up business plans, and so forth. The way they use technology is pretty amazing; I try to keep up myself, but it's a whole new world they've grasped. They just know it so intuitively, whereas an old geezer like me is still trying to pick things up. My generation can get stuck in our ways, but it's on us to keep learning and keep an open mind.

Do you have any advice for young people who are entering the entertainment industry right now?

It’s as simple as this: you just gotta do it.

There’s no failure; if you do it, you're successful. I'm not saying you're going to automatically be a millionaire, but just you putting your heart out there takes a lot of courage. I know it. I get that there’s fear. I had that fear for a while, but you have to get over that. If you have an idea, a concept, a song, whatever creation it is… put it out there! You’re not going to fail! You might have a setback, but it's never failure if you do it.

What are you listening to right now or what are you reading or watching that has you really excited?

A buddy of mine and I trade TV shows. He put me on to this cartoon called “Common Side Effects” from Adult Swim. I'm also watching “Mobland,” which is a British crime show. I watch a lot of TV! I'm trying to learn more about it since I started working in television and composing for the screen.

As for music: one good thing about this new streaming world is that you can just put on a playlist and discover new artists. I like to listen to a lot of producers’ instrumental beats and a lot of jazz. Lately I’m listening to Cleo Sol, Thundercat, Kiefer, I love Robert Glasper. I like really creative and progressive music, and I listen to a lot of old, weird music. Psychedelic rock and things from like the 70s and 60s.

When you went to school for your bachelors, you started in a chemical engineering program - then you went to finance. If you could go back to school now for anything, what would it be?

Absolutely music composition! There’s so much that I don't know about composition and orchestration. I'm in that world, so always learning, but if I had a lot of the knowledge before… There’s so much you can learn by yourself, but I wish I had that foundation.

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This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.