hip-hop Archives - Dead End Hip Hop

PNTHN Brings Us Their Sophomore EP “Potluck”

February 22, 2018 By deadendhiphop

I love how my generation is determined to continue the tradition of the rap collective. Here, the easy comparison would be to measure PNTHN (pronounced ‘PANTHEON’) against BROCKHAMPTON or Odd Future, but the collective genius group from San Marcos, Texas possess far too much potential to sideline them with what we’ve already tasted. Since their formation in March of 2017, the rap group has to come be a sonic amalgamation of Southern rap, 90s hip hop, soul music and new school sounds. In a city already rich with culture, PNTHN is carving its way in the bubble of Texas hip hop that’s getting ready to burst. The ten members of the group — seven rappers and three producers — work together to seamlessly blend New York-style rapping over Texas-style production, creating a unique style the region has been waiting for. It’s a flavor I’ve been waiting on too.

‘Potluck’ opens with the low-swinging, high-hat, heavy bass “CHUMBUCKET”, a song that effortlessly sets the tone for the 6-track EP. Imbuing all the delight and grandeur of youth, easily my favorite track on the EP, “VILGANTES”, which lulls its audience with a gorgeous background of pianos and synths. I would declare here, one of PNTHN’s greatest superpowers is the ability to move as a single collective voice through various bodies, yet it never feels rehearsed. There’s a natural synergy, a single thread, which binds them all together. Perhaps you could even call it a trust fall of music, how each vocalist knows when to pick up the song right as the other passes off the baton. Another delight in this song are all the allusions to some of childhood loves: the legendary Pokemon, Zapdos, Spiderman, Dirty Bubble (from Sponge Bubble), Aqauaman, Man Ray, Barney Rubble (of The Flintstones), etc. and also this gem of a bar: “I hate to save the day when I barely just clocked in”.

Some tracks are more playful than meditative such track three “MEWTWO”. An anthem brimming with bravado and bombast declarations, each voice delivers the hook at a more erratic pace compared than where the EP has been headed so far. Much like a group of young men horsing around and seeking to impress one another, each voice on this track is much more distinctive, seeking to prove their ever-growing greatness. “VALENTINA” picks up the upbeat pace once again with sharp high-hats and the transition between the previous track and this one shows me emotional range is one of PNTHN’s greatest assets. Tyler, The Creator here feels like a heavy influence on this specific track.

Six tracks proves to be the exact sweet spot for PNTHN’s sophomore EP. This choice shows me two things: one, the collective is very aware of who they are in music, they’re aware of their strengths and weaknesses, and two, it makes me wonder if they too feel they still have lyrics to go. Overall, I found this EP to be exciting, playful, and rich in sonic dexterity. I’m so fascinated to watch their growth as a group and I can’t wait to see what other offerings they have to give the world.

You can listen to ‘Potluck’ here:

Back cover of “Potluck” including the producer’s name

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I.S. Jones is a writer living in New York by way of California. Please send her pizza, not nudes. Her inbox (on Twitter) is always open, so send her a track or a hello. She is hanging in there and is grateful for hip-hop. Tweet at her here

Honcho Supreme: When Negro Spirituals and Hip Hop Collide

January 17, 2018 By deadendhiphop

Often I think about the legacy of Black people across the diaspora and it seems to be the case we have a remarkable ability to spin gold out of table scraps or tragedy. From Negro Spirituals, to the Blues, Rock, and Hip-Hop, Black people have found salvation in music. When there wasn’t a way, time and time again we made one. We made our tragedies so extraordinary with music and the written word, the world had no choice but to listen. Sometimes I wonder if we’ve done all we can with this genre, if hip-hop has reached a plateau, but then a newcomer reminds us this just can’t ever die. Honcho Supreme (or Honcho Pop, as he is called on his mixtape), a rapper hailing from Marrero, Louisiana, reminds me hip-hop still has so much to show the world.

In a stripped down version of his song “Dedicated”, which opens his project DEDICATED, Honcho Supreme‘s deep, scratchy voice is reminiscent of what I imagine a gathering around the fire on the plantation would have been like–the knee-slapping, snapping, chest-beating to conjure the beat, that ancient, guttural, howling pain only music can soothe–except now the Spiritual has left the plantation, surviving centuries of iterations to come alive for this moment. But there is hope here that better times will come. I’m officially, unofficially coining this–what I would boldly call a new sub-genre of hip-hop–Hood Spiritual.

“Baby momma kicked me out for the last time so it’s back to the trap for me” is the bar that opens DEDICATED. From there, the rapper walks us through a tour of the broken sidewalks, boarded-up windows, and destitute image of his situation. While many, many rappers before Honcho Supreme have doled out bars about having a harsh life, it feels as though the rapper is pulling from the past while blending elements of trap. Maybe these are Trap Spirituals? Hood Spirituals? Who is to say just yet. Maybe this was complete happenstance that Honcho and his homies Zacquiri King (@ZacquiriKing_318 on IG) and Poka Bantana (@PokaBoi on IG) were just high, playing around and stumbled on gold. And isn’t that how many brilliant musicians find their genius?

Being frank, this stripped down version is much, much better than the original. I say this with all love: I believe Honcho Supreme more in this version compared to the original. Before this, he was hiding behind beats which are not in service to him and his lyrical caliber. At. All. This version shows a rapper who knows his voice, who knows who he is, and isn’t fazed by what competition may come his way. I melted when I heard this Honcho Supreme. I want more of this and I hope he delivers.

You don’t have to take my word for it. Again, here’s the link for the project. Video of the stripped version is below. Enjoy y’all.

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I.S. Jones is a writer living in New York by way of California. Please send her pizza, not nudes. Her inbox (on Twitter) is always open, so send her a track or a hello. She’s still catching up to her 2017 to do list. Tweet at her here

No Post Malone, You’re Wrong, and Your “Apology” is Not Accepted by @MILFENCE

December 5, 2017 By deadendhiphop

“If you’re looking to cry, if you’re looking to think about life, don’t listen to hip-hop.” – Post Malone

Well, if you’re a hip-hop head like myself, you were probably outraged by that statement. This was said by auto-tune crooner, Post Malone (apparently he calls himself “Posty”) in an interview in Poland a few days ago. Post then went on to say that he chooses to listen to Bob Dylan for those situations rather than hip-hop. He also acknowledged that while he’d rather listen to Dylan, there were still good hip-hop songs…just not any currently:

“There’s great hip-hop songs where they talk about life and they really spit that real s***, but right now, you know, there’s not a lot of people talking about s***…”

Ah. I see. I guess “Posty” must have missed DAMN., [4:44], At What Cost, ALL-AMERIKKKAN BADA$$, Big Fish Theory, 4eva is a Might Long Time, The Never Story, IWASVERYBAD, Packs, Saturation I and II, Brick Body Kids Still Daydream and the countless other mainstream and underground hip-hop albums I haven’t mentioned that have dropped this year, filled with substance and content. And I haven’t even mentioned last year’s releases.

Post Malone is completely out of touch with the genre, and it is so GLARINGLY obvious.

I’m not going to deny that a lot mainstream hip-hop right now lacks substance. That’s obvious. But at least even artists like Drake and Future have acknowledged their influences (Future actually has ties to the Dungeon Family), are aware of hip-hop history, and most importantly, RESPECT their predecessors. Also, mainstream hip-hop only makes up a small percentage of the entirety of the genre. There’s a PLETHORA of artists outside the mainstream that are making excellent, thought-provoking content without nearly the amount of recognition that artists in mainstream get.

Not only does Post BARELY fit in the category of hip-hop (another labeling problem within itself), but I honestly don’t even think he’s knowledgeable of the genre he’s in. He’s CLEARLY not knowledgeable of the fact that hip-hop was founded off of social commentary.

One of the most annoying things about this whole fiasco is the fact that there some people who are still defending him due to the fact that he said that there were, in fact, some “great” hip-hop songs. Just because he made a weak attempt at acknowledging those in the genre who, according to him, make good music, doesn’t make what he said any less insulting to those who bust their ass and pour their heart out in their music. Not is it only disrespecting to the entirety of the genre, but it’s also disrespecting the existing mainstream hip-hop artists that make emotionally-tinged music (ex. Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, etc).

I would also like to bring up that this isn’t the first time Post Malone has disrespected the genre. Way back during the selection for the XXL Freshman cover for 2016, XXL had supposedly reached out to Post Malone about being on the cover. Ultimately, Malone never ended up appearing on the cover. In an interview on the Breakfast Club, the XXL Editor-In-Chief, Vanessa Satten stated that, according to Malone’s camp, he was heading in entirely different artistic direction and didn’t want to be associated with hip-hop. Apparently he was going in a “rock/pop/country” direction (check out her statement here). You can certainly hear the rock and pop influence in his music already. Considering most of his stated influences include alternative rock bands and folk artists…this shouldn’t shock anyone in the slightest. So…he makes “hip-hop”…but doesn’t want to be associated with the genre? In his “apology”, Post stated that he loved hip-hop and that his last album (referring to Stoney) was hip-hop, and that his next album was going to be hip-hop…yet he also stated awhile back that he doesn’t make rap music…what?

So why does Post Malone even make “hip-hop” in the first place?

Money.

Post Malone has completely taken advantage of a genre he doesn’t even respect. He’s making trendy music and thriving because he knows he can. And yes, the color of his skin plays a huge factor into his popularity. All these factors combined allow him to get to a place where everyone knows his name. His music is already becoming less and less like hip-hop, and I predict that trend will continue as long as his career lasts. He’s simply using hip-hop as a stepping stool to the top, so that he can eventually make the music he’d prefer to make and still sell records.

To conclude this rant piece, I would just like to remind everyone that this genre of music is incredible and has so much to offer. Hip-hop is one of the most diverse and creative outlets on the planet, filled with so many talented artists with stories to tell. It is also black culture, and should be respected to the upmost degree. As a white guy, I am privileged to be apart of something like this. I am a mere “guest in the house of hip-hop” as Lord Jamar put it. Post Malone is also a guest, and should never make statements about the genre like he did.

So in the words of Kendrick Lamar, I say this to Post Malone, “Sit down. Be humble.” And keep hip-hop out of your f*cking mouth.

The Trouble With Classic Albums…

December 2, 2017 By deadendhiphop

Hip-hop is extremely special to me, and I love it more than anything. But one thing I noticed about this genre and its listeners comparing it to other genres such as rock and r&b, is that the bar for excellence changes so much over the years. One thing that bothers me about this and with fans is that the fans are so extremely passionate about the genre, sometimes to a fault. What I mean by that is the overuse of the word “classic”. Allow me some time to explain please.

If you use any sort of social media I’m sure if you’ve seen it. An album comes out by ANY rapper on a Thursday night, and before the night is over, the fans are calling it “classic”. And boy oh boy is it troubling and down right annoying. I’ll litter a few examples in here. About a month Jaden Smith released his highly anticipated SYRE album. Solid body of work from a young kid who still has room to grow. But sure enough when it was released, hours later, the fans on Twitter were calling it a classic album. What pissed me off about this is that I hadn’t even gotten a chance to listen to the album yet. I know what you’re saying to yourself. “But JORDAN, you’re just being a hater! But JORDAN, what about instant classics?! What do YOU think is a classic?” Allow me to explain the issue with calling everything “classic”.

There are VERY few “instant classic” albums. Period. Let’s get that out the way. How does one define a classic? Does it define a sound, a year or even an ERA? Is it high quality music? An album with absolutely no skips? Is it about time and longevity? Is it about numbers? Is it a mixture of all of those? Well the short answer is yes. Albums such as the Wu-Tang Clan’s “36 Chambers“, Nas’ “Illmatic“, Jay-Z’s “Reasonable Doubt” and Kanye West’s “College Dropout” are held in such a high regard and are called undisputed classics because they have some sort of beautiful mixture of all of the aforementioned qualities in them.

“Okay Jordan, so what’s the problem?”

Well the problem comes when the rappers and fans sling the term around so much. The word “classic” should be reserved for art that earns it. I know I’m not anyone to be telling people what they can and can’t think is classic, but the genre begins to get watered down when everything that comes out is considered classic before we even give it a chance to breathe. Listeners don’t even bother to digest the album good before asking for more music. Rappers (most of them, anyway) work extremely hard to give us product to listen to and people should learn to love and live with an album before the slap a label on it and move on to the next work. Listeners are fans of rappers and people, such big fans that they will do anything to put that rapper on a pedestal with other top tier artists that have multiple classics under their belts. Example? Don’t mind if I do.

I am the biggest fan of Kendrick Lamar. Kendrick, Drake and others like them consistently give their fans quality albums every couple of years. But they have risen to astronomical levels of superstardom to the point where anything they drop is put on that level of “classic” because they’re so well loved and fans want one to be better than the others. Hip-hop is by far the most hyper competitive genre, period, and no other genre pits their stars against each other like rap does. Don’t even get me started with Kanye West’s stans.

Calling everything a classic is really watering down something that should be special. There is nothing wrong with appreciating an album while we have it before moving on to the next. This is why I love when rappers take their time with the music and don’t rush the product. And let’s be honest, trolling or not, nothing can be a classic before you finish listening to it. That’s silly! By the time y’all finish reading this…let me guess…”CLASSIC”.

…..Y’all are aware that this is just my opinion, right…?

The Ordinary Magic of Akinyemi

October 17, 2017 By deadendhiphop

The sweat of Akinyemi‘s brow makes his rap a kind of gospel.

It’s [11:35] PM on Sunday, September 17, 2017 at his release party for premiere EP “summers” and my already bad knees hurt too much to be standing any longer. I was going through such an ugly depression, I could barely remember to eat much less get myself out of bed for a show, yet I knew I needed to be in the numbers when Akinyemi presented his first mixtape to New York, and subsequently the world. And here I am here to bare witness.

In front of me, there are people either younger than me or my age gathering in clusters to be as close to the main attraction as possible. They chatter about the acts before him: ATELLER , Amy Leon and Gracie Terzian and how incredible every single one of their sets was. The band begins setting up the overhead projection to display on a loop Akinyemi‘s visuals.

I begin to survey the room once more amid the soft red lights. The crowd was a decent size, not enough to fill the room, but enough, I imagine, for the rapper to feel proud of what he’s accomplished leading up this moment–booking the venue, making sure there was merchandise to sell in the first place, extensive promotion on social media platforms, positioning himself to have interviews right before this night so he would attract new fans–everything Akinyemi did, the effort he put forth, right before the sweat emerge onto his forehead under the soft red lights is a testament to a new rapper who demeans his presence be known.

Between the heavy bass drums, guitar riffs, delicate keyboard, Akinyemi has swept us into the imagination of his summer. When he came onto the stage and went right into his set, playing a new song called “coffin”, him and the keyboardist had been working on for a minute, he had already generated such a well-deserved hype about himself that members of the audience we’re yelling back “Yo, I need this song! Drop it already”. At this stage in his career, Akinyemi isn’t quite the underdog anymore, but he makes you want to cheer him on. He makes you emotionally invested in his win.

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Some time later, we met up to further discuss “summers” and I do my best to live with a rapper’s project before any interview. I could only imagine an album such as this one being made in New York—the melodic pitch, the careful (but not overdone) boom-bap, rhythmic style that escalate in session with each connecting bar, upbeat tempo, and more somber introspection—Akinyemi undoubtedly took the time to understand what this project would make of him and vice versa. It almost seemed movie-esque how “dust calling” complimented the atmosphere just outside my window: a basketball dribbling on the court as kids yell after each other, someone blasting music from their car stereo—Akinyemi is creating the soundtrack to his life and by proxy the soundtrack to everyone else’s. What I enjoy most about Akinyemi is how refreshingly ordinary he is, as though rapping is in fact his superpower.

I met up with him at Union Square, and as we begin talking, an acquaintance of his daps him up, “Hey yo Akinyemi, let me hit you with me the semi!” Standing at 6 foot, Akinyemi sports an Afro and multi-colored long sleeve button up. The acquaintance complimented him on his outfit and hair, saying he digs his 80’s style.

I.S. Jones: Let’s talk about you and your music. During your release party, the execution was incredible. Merch was on point. Production was on point. The venue Brooklyn Bazaar was well chosen, talk to me about your team. Who are the people that made the dream happen?

Akinyemi: So my team is Noah Padawer-Curry, that’s my manager, Sharell Jeffrey is my publicist, those two. Sharell has been around since March and Noah Padawer-Curry [has] been my manager [as of] two and a half months ago. We’re mad efficient, it’s crazy. I didn’t realize how much I needed them until I had them. How much more shit gets done. Like, I could be at a studio session working creatively, while business stuff is still happening behind the scenes.

For the release show, it was very me though, because I didn’t want to seem Hollywood. I didn’t want it to seems like “my people” contacted the acts. I personally hit up every act that performed. I called them & was like “Yo, I want you to perform”. The band and I got together, and I wanted every act to feel like I wanted them to be there.

Jones: Did you design your own merch as well?

Akinyemi: No. The ‘wavy’ AKINYEMI logo was designed by Emerson Bowstead. He designed the cover for “Eurydice”, “Maple” and a couple other songs. The back, the cover art of “summers”, was made by Jose Misael. He’s a childhood friend and he went to City College of Study & Design. I got them in a room and they decided Emerson Bowstead would design the front and Jose would design the back. Ever since then, I’ve been able to take the transparent and use that as the logo for everything.

Jones: A little bit before “summers”, you dropped your single “Eurydice” and we talked about how you felt “it was not your best work”, yet at the same time. There is a dramatic artistic leap between “Eurydice” and “summers”. Talk to me about how you grew between that single and the project.

Akinyemi: I made Eurydice right in the middle of making “summers”. “summers” took me about a year, from last July.

So I’m making [this mixtape] and I knew I wanted to make a song called “fleece”. The first time I recorded it, I wasn’t really fucking with it. I would then work on two new songs and name [one of] them “fleece” before they were even finished, determined to rock with the song title and topic. Three months later, [I’m talking to] Raf (Rafael Moure that’s my engineer), I’m like, “Yo, chuck summers. Let’s work on some other shit”. So, my and this producer Eddie Res, who lives in Harlem, we linked up and we made five records. “Eurydice” is actually on an EP that him and me have actually done. That EP is called “Liminal”. I just fucked with the record, so I put it out. I know my team was like “What are you doing?” in terms of the release schedule. Because I wanted to drop “Eurydice” then “summers” then another EP that has nothing to do with “Summers” and my team was like “Where is your mind at?”. I just liked the song, so I recorded it while I was working on other songs. I spent enough time away from summers, and I go back to it with a clear head. I’m thinking “This is what I need to fix, this is what I need to fix”. I just had a much clearer vision on the project because I spent a month or two away from it.

Jones: So you’re back and forth between summers, and singles, and everything…?

Akinyemi: Yeah, so it wasn’t singles, I was deadass making 6 EP’s at the same time. I had: “summers”, I had “Liminal” (the EP with Eddie Res ), I had “I am U” (an EP with ATELLER), this EP I’m making with the producer Lionmilk with produced the outro for “fleece”, I have an EP with my band “Chiv Culture”. I’m doing all that the same time, while in school, just like…not sleeping, just being schedule crazy. I don’t know, I just needed to take time away from everything. Took time away from ‘summers’ to make an EP, came back to “summers”.

Jones: You’re also very popular I’m noticing. Even just seeing you interact with people, I know networking is really huge part of being an artist. How do you leverage personal relationships into professional ones? How do you leverage relationships towards helping you with your art?

Akinyemi: If I’m doing business with someone, even if they’re my friend, I still want to do some type of paperwork. Matt is a good example of a personal relationship (which can also be professional). It’s all about being explicit and I feel people don’t do that. Just say, “Hey, I’m worth this much. This is what I can bring to the table. These are the resources I would need”. Overall, I just feel it’s about being very honest and open with people.

Jones: Your name means ‘fated to be a warrior’ in Yoruba. My name means “the child who fell into wealth”, by the way.

Akinyemi: Itiola?

Me: Yeah

Akinyemi: Yo, Nigerian names are fucking dope.

Me & Akin: [laughs]

Me: Naijas are the best

Akinyemi: The child who fell into wealth…? That’s so dope.

Jones: Growing up in Nigerian culture, in some capacity, I don’t know how much your parents spoke Yoruba around you or if you ate fufu growing up. How much does being Nigerian influence your work? If at all.

Akinyemi: You’re gonna get a little of that in my next project, “Warrior’s Fate”, which is based on my name, but I never really incorporated African culture in my music, but being Nigerian has allowed me to work harder. Deadass?

Jones: Trust me, I get it.

Akinyemi: My parents do not bullshit at all. Being a first generation child and knowing how hard my parents struggled, like really hustled. With Nigerian parents, it’s hard to impress them. I was in school and I would come to them like “Yo, I got 100 on this test”. They would be like, “Word, do it again” [laughter]. That’s it, that’s all you get. I don’t know, it wasn’t until recently that my parents started supporting my music. Before, they never supported it. They felt it was a waste of time. If I went to an open mic, they would ask how much I’m being paid. Not being paid made them think it was a waste of time. So, me going hard in music, it was to prove them wrong. I’m just gonna go extra hard just so when I become successful, they’ll support me. I feel if they were supportive in the beginning, I would be complacent. I feel if they had everything—my mom, for example, booking studio sessions for me, and putting up the bread for this, I wouldn’t really want it. I feel you really have to struggle in order to want something. Being Nigerian has made me realize I really wanna do this.

Jones: I’m very curious about the significance of the number 7 in summers. It keeps popping up but in subtle ways. The word ’summers’ has 7 letters in it, there are 7 tracks on the EP, and the album cover skillfully is a picture-by-picture of every song, which is cool. How does that number play a role in summers?

Akinyemi: Lowkey, that’s a coincidence [laughs] but I just thought it was fire and I noticed it after it was done and I was like, “Yo, I could run with it”. I knew I wanted seven tracks. I knew I wanted it to be called “summers”. I knew both were 7 letters, but I wasn’t thinking the reoccurrence of 7, you know? I was plottin’ or anything like that. I made it 7 because 7 is the number of completion. In terms of the scenes, Jose took a portion of the cover art he created from “dust calling” and used that to begin making the cover for “summers”. He was like “every song is an experience, a vivid experience, so let’s showcase that on the cover art” and like on the cover “fleece” and “asylum” are very visible. “onetime” (on the top left) my older brother and sister are playing patty cake while my middle brother is hitting me, which is a true story. “change” is about having nothing but being comfortable with it. Dude is on a couch with his feet up on a table, but his TV is off. On his phone, if you zoom in, is 4 pennies ($0.04) then I start the song: “Four pennies roam around in the back seat.” It’s just like this: “Imagine yourself having nothing and just being totally comfortable with it”.

So that was “change”. “winter” is about “A&R are in charge of my sound and what I complete”. Winter is the opposite of summer and I feel like ‘winter’ was the song that blogs wanted. That was the song that hip-hop blogs would gravitate toward—the boom-bap, rap track that I’m rapping for mad long. In that song, I wanted to make a message, “Yo, this is what y’all want”. In the song, I’m talking about being controlled by labels and being controlled by other organizations that control your creative control. It’s just me being an independent artist. I showcase that on top of the cover art with a person being held by a puppeteer.

Jones: Congrats on your feature on the Village Voice. In the feature it stated you fostered a professional relationship with Canadian Rapper DuqueNuquem and that opened the door for “dust calling”, is that my understanding?

Akinyemi: Yeah

Jones: If you take the first step in reaching out, how do you reach out to producers and other artists, especially if they’ve never known you or heard of you before, how do you entice them to work with you?

Akinyemi: So with Duque [Nuquem], it wasn’t really like me odee’in his inbox like, “Yo, I fuck with you! I’m trying to work”. I was introduced to this group called the “Rootnote Collective?” “And they showcased mad talented producers like Elaquent and DIBIA$E, and DuqueNuquem was one of those artists, he was apart of Rootnote Collective. On that compilation, I heard “Caught in Spain” which ended up being the beat for “change” on the project.

I commented on everything, “Yo, this is fire”. I was really engaging his work. Then a week later, a year ago, I think he reposted ‘Distant’ and liked it. Then reached out, “Distant is really fire. I’m definitely trying to do something. I was like “Wow”. He has a huge following. Mind you, I only had 150 followers at the time when that came out, and he reached out. We talked via Soundcloud inbox, for a while. I added him on Facebook. He had a project called “Foreign Interest” and I did sone of the tracks on that, send it back to him & liked it. He just sent me mad beats and a folder of six different beats. One of those beats were “Dust Calling”, one of those beats were “highway”, and we just kept in communication. I sent him updates and he sent more tracks. I never met him or spoke to him on the phone. We just talked via Facebook Messenger for the past two years.

Jones: Who are the production hands on “summers”?

Akinyemi: Christian Duquette or DuqueNuquem produced every song. On ‘Fleece’, it molds into an outro section which is produced by Lionmilk. ‘Fleece’ is co-produced by Lionmilk. In the first two and a half minutes, Daniel Winshall plays bass on “Fleece”. On “onetime”, Hadassah is singing background vocals with Markis Williams on keys.

Jones: Now with “summers” out of the way, what’s next?

Akinyemi: I’m working on ‘Warrior’s Fate’, initially that was supposed to be my debut. So you’ll find on “dust calling” a warrior that’s on his way to his house & that warrior has bandages on his arm. I worked with Jose to show a progression of the warrior and you see this on “dust calling” is a novice with bandages for armor. On “Warrior’s Fate”, you’ll find out the warrior is more advanced, with chain mail. The warrior is me, but I wasn’t ready just yet. Before “WF” was more of a compilation, whereas now I feel like I can tell the story of who I am and how being Nigerian fits into the piece of it.

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If you haven’t already, do yourself a favor and listen to “summers”. Here, Akinyemi pushes his own boundaries of sonic and lyrical dexterity, he taps into the dark and often frightening untouched memories, he explores the self as the body in constantly in flux (much like the seasons), but above all Akinyemi meets you where you’re at with his music. He’s not a rapper of bravado, but rather one of finding his truth and negotiating who he is in his music, and I want to believe he hopes you’ll find yourself in his music too.

“summers” can be found below:

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I.S. Jones is a writer living in New York by way of California. Please send her pizza, not nudes. You can tweet at her here.

Jazz Soul’s “Heaven (prod. by Chuck Strangers)”

July 21, 2017 By deadendhiphop

Jazz Soul is always on the grind even when we’re not hearing new music on a regular basis. After taking some time off, Jazz Soul is back and better with “Heaven” released in collaboration with producer, Chuck Strangers. Soul remains honest and personal in his latest release. The record brings light to the new and fresh sound of Jazz Soul and how the artists look to move forward in the future.

Not sure what’s coming next from Jazz Soul but make sure you keep it locked here for news and updates.