Ralph Rolle says drums have been his passion since he was a kid growing up in the Bronx.

"I just gravitated to the instrument and kind of taught myself by listening to other records,” Rolle said. “The first thing I ever played was Ringo Starr and The Beatles' 'She Loves You.'"

He also joined a drum and bugle corp as a teen and word got around that he was really good. And in 1979, at 18-years-old, he went on an international tour with the disco group Musique.

"I went on from Musique to play with Evelyn Champagne King, Freddie Jackson, Glenn Jones, Bette Medler, Sting, Bono, Notorious BIG," Rolle said.

The list goes on and on of the diverse artists he has played with for more than 40 years.

"In my opinion, as far as music is concerned, all music is soul music,” Rolle said. “Soul is something that hits you.”

The fact that the actual genre of soul music comes from the African American experience is important to the drummer.

So is his family's legacy. He started a company called Soul Snacks in honor of his grandmother and her baking recipes.

“Soul, I think it is just a very beautiful feeling and it’s a beautiful statement especially when it comes to comes to food and family,” Rolle said.

Growing up in public housing at the Bronx River Houses and going to Adlai Steven High School, it has been important to keep Soul Snacks in his native borough.

He has a facility in the Port Morris neighborhood and says he's in the process of moving it to Hunts Point to the new complex where the old Spofford juvenile facility used to be.

“Showing people that if I can do it coming out of a single-parent home, in the projects, with no money and now I have a company that is international,” Rolle said. “All it takes is hard work, determination, but mainly, it’s passion.”

For the drummer, the name Soul Snacks comes from the feeling he gets when having a good family meal or listening to his favorite singer, Al Green. He says you just close your eyes and you feel good.