05/blood orange/freetown sound
One of Freetown Sound's most arresting moments comes at the tail end of the late album highlight Juicy 1-4.
"...Heat you felt when you were cold/Real as gold/Chains and all/All the things that make us bold/Make us bold/BLACK IS GOLD/RIGHTLY SO..."
These lines are repeated twice to close out the song. And on that second go round Dev -presented here again to you and yours as the enchanting musical polyglot Blood Orange- lets his voice go up a register til those last lines are almost a shout, as if they are his dying words.
He sings them cause he needed to hear them. He let the words come to life because he needed the reminder.
That Black is light.
That Black can get you over; can let you move forward.
And with Freetown Sound he shares this reminder for us and lets this light color his ambitions and ground him. Along with these gorgeously arranged rhythms and movements courtesy of his father's birthplace of Sierra Leone and contemporary black music. It gives him the confidence and the strength to tell you why we mad. Not only in his voice, but also from the voices of others: Brothers, Sisters, Queer, Different, Black.
Calmly, beautifully.
Repeated until it sticks cause it needs to. Repeated until it sticks cause it has to.
The reminders enclosed here.
Repeat them as needed.
Repeat them cause it's necessary.
KEY TRACKS: But You/Hands Up/Juicy 1-4
06/kanye west/the life of pablo
07/radiohead/a moon shaped pool
08/anderson .paak/malibu
09/helado negro/private energy
10/car seat headrest/teens of denial
11/beyonce/lemonade
12/a tribe called quest/"we got it from here... thank you 4 your service"
13/nxworries/yes lawd!
14/nice as fuck/nice as fuck
15/childish gambino/"awaken, my love!"
16/rihanna/anti
17/parquet courts/human performance
18/kaytranada/99.9%
19/devendra banhart/ape in pink marble
20/david bowie/blackstar
21/the julie ruin/hit reset
22/jessy lanza/oh no
23/junior boys/big black coat
24/majid jordan/majid jordan
25/badbadnotgood/iv
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