There’s almost no question that North Carolina-based duo The Foreign Exchange love D.C. They routinely work with local artists such as Zo! (check Zo! and Phonte’s humorous remake of “Return of the Mack”) and YahZarah. Last year, the guys scored a Grammy nomination with Three Star alumna Muhsinah for the song “Daykeeper.” And lest we forget, they’ve been gracious enough to speak with DCist on two previous occasions. But if there’s any other reason to like MC/vocalist Phonte and Dutch-born producer/instrumentalist Nicolay, it’s that they make incredibly good music.

It’s almost been a year since we last touched base with Phonte and Nicolay, a.k.a. The Foreign Exchange. They’d just released their critically-acclaimed album, Leave It All Behind, and were looking forward to promoting it. Eleven months later, they’re still touring and have added another record, Nicolay’s City Lights Vol. 2: Shibuya, to their repertoire. In addition to doing music, Tay and Nic are developing their business acumen as they work to build their…

The internet age has brought people from all over the world together. Perfect examples of this are rapper/singer/comedian Phonte of the Durham, North Carolina-based hip-hop group Little Brother, and Nicolay, a Dutch-born producer. After posting several beats on the music-oriented Okayplayer site, Nicolay found himself getting a message from Phonte, who’d turned heads on his group’s debut album, The Listening, praising his skills. Shortly thereafter, the two were exchanging vocal and music tracks electronically,…