Making these records was equally emotional and freeing. I remember listening to my Walkman in the 90s and at the turn of 2000, I recall vibin to my CD discman. There was something about the vibe, the gritty sound, the imperfections before the true digital age that I love. Music at that time did not sound so perfect that it felt like you couldn’t relate. When I listen to Kanye’s College Dropout vs Yeezus the one comment I make is that, College Dropout felt real and relatable. So with this project I worked to find frequencies of the old cassette player. For all my engineer heads that produce, I’m sure you will say “ahh h*ll naw” but just take a beat and try to feel it.
Next, I decided to incorporate the same few sounds on every record. Piano, Viola, Cello, Flute, Saxophone…such a weird combo for Hip-Hop and R&B. But each record has these instruments tapped in somewhere if even for 2 secs. I’ve always loved certain sounds but never heard consistency of them being in hip hop. While we do live in a digital age, keeping live instruments and core analog sounds was key. Each track has live percussion and drums - this in itself required some unfathomable patient of recreating the sound, tempos and hits repeatedly. The juxtaposition of gritty rap beats on those fairylike live melodic instruments may seem impossible, but ehh we did it.
Also, one hesitant step I took involved the vocals...considering this is primarily an instrument/beat only album, I didn't want to divert too much. But two of the records include vocals sung in English, Arabic, and Hebrew - which in itself looks improper when written. However, we live in a time when there is so much divide, I wanted to simply do it and take any judgment coming. Moving on in my rant ;) I credit several peeps on each song because they either inspired me spiritually or shared their skill on the songs. Difference is that this project does not include the normal rapper/singer type but rather those unspoken folks that add one thing which turns out to be the big impactful statement of the song.
I know this project isn’t for everyone, and it’s a soundtrack to my current feelings but hopefully you find some feel good vibes in a few of the songs. Lastly, FOLK is an acronym for a phrase that is near to my heart and a life experience. And spoiler this is the first of the “FOLK” series. I have another round of songs coming out on a future project in June (yes 5 months from now). Thanks for all the support and see yall on the other side.
Next, I decided to incorporate the same few sounds on every record. Piano, Viola, Cello, Flute, Saxophone…such a weird combo for Hip-Hop and R&B. But each record has these instruments tapped in somewhere if even for 2 secs. I’ve always loved certain sounds but never heard consistency of them being in hip hop. While we do live in a digital age, keeping live instruments and core analog sounds was key. Each track has live percussion and drums - this in itself required some unfathomable patient of recreating the sound, tempos and hits repeatedly. The juxtaposition of gritty rap beats on those fairylike live melodic instruments may seem impossible, but ehh we did it.
Also, one hesitant step I took involved the vocals...considering this is primarily an instrument/beat only album, I didn't want to divert too much. But two of the records include vocals sung in English, Arabic, and Hebrew - which in itself looks improper when written. However, we live in a time when there is so much divide, I wanted to simply do it and take any judgment coming. Moving on in my rant ;) I credit several peeps on each song because they either inspired me spiritually or shared their skill on the songs. Difference is that this project does not include the normal rapper/singer type but rather those unspoken folks that add one thing which turns out to be the big impactful statement of the song.
I know this project isn’t for everyone, and it’s a soundtrack to my current feelings but hopefully you find some feel good vibes in a few of the songs. Lastly, FOLK is an acronym for a phrase that is near to my heart and a life experience. And spoiler this is the first of the “FOLK” series. I have another round of songs coming out on a future project in June (yes 5 months from now). Thanks for all the support and see yall on the other side.