I finished it. What a wonderful word for a producer to utter.

Years of sweat and tears, Maybe a little 🩸 too… definitely mucho heartbreak and accountability and acceptance. Dare I say even some inspiration from on high. I’ve made a few albums adored by tens of people but this one is my best one, period.

Almost 50 years old. First kid heading to college and I’m finished with this album.

Divorced, distressed, to delighted. Happy to be here. Friends have finished their bodies’ work and await me in the next life. They are in here too.

All my friends. All my teachers. Pleasant and unpleasant. Gratitude.

This note is rambling. I think best in music and poetry. Please check it out. I’m proud of it.

What’s it sound like? Like Radiohead and The Roots teamed up to perform Elliot Smith songs written in a parallel reality where he’s secretly Black. It’s very neo-soul even though that term sucks. It’s very bluesy. There’s guitars but also tricky beats with polyrhythms and smatterings of the diaspora. The ancestors are in it.

Politics is in it.

Repeat: politics is in it.

But ultimately love. For all you damn dirty apes (one race, one heart, may Jah destroy us all on behalf of Gaia).

Just kidding, we’re all doing great and everybody’s a precious snowflake (some of us should not sleep well at night.)

I better bounce before the voices come back. Anyway, it’s all in the album. And it’s pretty. My best signing ever, and best music making. No AI. All human mistakes,

Love you,

Cousin Yaze.