Optique Tracklist

1. Live It Featuring Mr. Kinetik 02:16

2. Sweetest Thing Featuring Roxie 03:04

3. The Mill 01:18

4. Two for One 03:22

5. Hard Rock 02:52

6. Lay Some Bread on 'Em 01:23

7. Vote 2016 02:27

8. Sunday Nite at Stateline 01:52

9. My NGR 02:30

10. The Same Thing 02:32

11. Circle 02:22

12. Love Is 01:38

13. Two Cities 02:51

14. On The Move 03:28

15. Just Heard 03:29

16. Modern Woman 02:01

17. Integrity 01:57

18. From the G 04:28

19. 1More 02:37

Liner Notes

This project is one part of a simultaneous release with my other album Red.Black.Green. Both are inspired by the idea of liberation. It started a couple of years ago when I began to dig deeper into history to understand the context of modern issues surrounding race and cultural traditions that impact my life directly. 

This lead me to question everything I’ve ever been taught about religion, education and social economic factors that affect black people. What I discovered is that since childhood my creativity has been hindered in numerous ways in order for me to fit the status quo, blend in and not make life harder on myself by standing out in any meaningful way. 

I discovered this hinderance to be sort of a defense mechanism in black culture that at one time helped us manage enslavement but in modern times often holds us back from our potential. So in 2015 I began taking steps to liberate myself from these cultural constraints. 

I left the comfort zone of 9 to 5 employment to build my own business as an artist and began to practice community building within my circle of influence. The music in both Optique and Red.Black.Green symbolizes this transition of liberation in my personal life and is meant to inspire others, especially black people to take similar action.

Credits

released October 8, 2016

On this album I wrote, produced and played all of the music. I mixed and mastered the album, took the cover photo and designed the artwork. (whew!)