Black Violin is an American hip-hop duo from Florida composed of two classically trained string instrumentalists. Kev Marcus plays the violin and Wil B. plays the viola. Both members attended Dillard High School of Performing Arts. After high school Kev Marcus attended Florida International University and Wil B enrolled at Florida State University. At FIU, Kev met their manager Sam G and the three of them co-founded the production company DKNEX which stands for Di-Versatile Music. The group name "Black Violin" is derived from the influence of a famous jazz violinist, Stuff Smith; six months before Smith's death, he recorded a solo album entitled Black Violin. The duo decided to name their group after the music of the most inspiring violinist they had ever heard. Black Violin clinched the Showtime at the Apollo 2005 Legend title. Black Violin's notoriety has risen with their performance accompanying Alicia Keys at the 2004 Billboard Awards, and by performing on the same bill with some of the industry's biggest artists. The duo also are avid producers and writers. Most recently, they made a star appearance on "Angelina Ballerina" on the PBS channel. Black Violin returned to Florida to do a concord in 2011. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.