06/Solange Knowles/Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams
Two girls. One household. Downstairs is Big Sis busy playing dress up. She’s got her Alicia Keys records going. Leona Lewis’ Bleeding Love is sitting pretty, next in line on her iPod, and some Barbara Streisand, along with Mariah Carey’s Music Box disc. Some Fosse is on the screen and everyone’s taking notes. Meanwhile upstairs is baby girl, alone but at peace; calm and collected and armed with a pen. Scattered across the floor are the CDs from her favorite soul groups of music days past. Notes fly up from the floor below. Engulfed in a wall of sound (horns, slick rhythms, “shoo opp, shoo opps”, and pitch perfect melodies), she takes the pen to the page:
“Get me, get me, out of this box
I feel so claustrophobic in here
Leave your labels, leave with no vision
Hear my voice and feel with yo ears
I'm no soul girl quipped with no afro
I'm just my God given name
I'm not becoming expectations
I'm not her and never will be
Two girls going in different directions
Striving towards the same galaxy
Let my star light shine on it's own
No, I'm no sister
Just my God given name
And I'm sorry if this planet that I'm living on is quizzical
My lyrical ambitions sometimes don't ring a bell
I'm sorry if my visual don't line up with my feelings
And my physical exhibit doesn't represent me well
I'm sorry if I'm curious, delirious, and I don't take life serious
I mirror the life of a millionaire
I'm sorry if I'm talking shit
But I really do mean well”
She looks up. Smiles. Welcome to Sol-Angel and the Hadley Street Dreams. Leave your expectations at the door. Don’t come here looking for some B. Knowles throwaways. Listen without prejudice and hear what she has to say. Hear this, these tales of a young, gifted, and black woman who’s gone through the motions just like you, regretting one night stands (the old school throwback in the making that is T.O.N.Y. (The Other Night, WHY?), dancing in the dark trying to get right after giving up her heart up to someone who didn’t realize how good he had it, and asking for shelter from the 6’0 Clock Blues. These are her trials and tribulations, written in her own script, and presented in Motown tinged Technicolor. She’s not B and never will be; she’s just her God given name, and these are her Hadley St. Dreams. Get acquainted.
KEY TRACKS: Would’ve Been the One/Sandcastle Disco/I Decided, Pt.1
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