Black to the Future (Sons of Kemet)
Shabaka 2021 synchronized
afro-caribbean-jazz afrofuturist-jazz political-jazz genre-fluid-jazz
The final and most ambitious Sons of Kemet statement — a genre-dissolving manifesto on Black futurity that wove grime, dub, R&B, and spoken word into Afro-Caribbean jazz, featuring a constellation of Black British voices.
Acoustic Profile
Production
Method: hybrid
Fidelity: polished
extensive guest vocalist integration across trackselectronic processing layered over acoustic foundationexpanded tonal palette beyond tuba-drums-sax corespoken word and sung passages woven into jazz structuresdub and grime production techniques applied to jazz arrangements
Vocal
Approach: mixed
Lyrical Abstraction: 4/10
Mood & Theme
defiance triumph wonder
Territory: afrofuturism, collective-liberation, ancestral-memory, black-futurity
Emotional Arc: mourning-to-manifesto
Era & Context
Released in the wake of the global Black Lives Matter reckoning of 2020, this final Sons of Kemet album expanded the group's palette to encompass spoken word, grime, dub, and R&B. Featuring Kojey Radical, Lianne La Havas, Angel Bat Dawid, and others, it functioned as a collective statement on Black futurity — the most ambitious and genre-fluid album of the London jazz movement.
Spiritual Links (11)
To Pimp a Butterfly Kendrick Lamar (2015)
7/10 political-ragegenre-destruction
The Epic Kamasi Washington (2015)
7/10 maximalist-excessspiritual-seeking
Black Messiah D'Angelo (2014)
6/10 political-ragespiritual-seeking
A Love Supreme John Coltrane (1965)
6/10 spiritual-seekingimprovisational-freedom
World Galaxy Alice Coltrane (1972)
6/10 spiritual-seekingmaximalist-excess
Mingus Ah Um Charles Mingus (1959)
6/10 political-ragecollaborative-tension
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Kanye West (2010)
5/10 maximalist-excessgenre-destruction
Crescent John Coltrane (1964)
5/10 spiritual-seekingimprovisational-freedom
Pithecanthropus Erectus Charles Mingus (1956)
5/10 political-ragecollaborative-tension
Kid A Radiohead (2000)
4/10 genre-destructionsonic-experimentation
New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) Erykah Badu (2008)
4/10 political-ragespiritual-seeking
Influences
Absorbed from
Bitches Brew — Genre-dissolving ambition that treats jazz as a platform for absorbing any musical tradition The Epic — Maximalist spiritual jazz ambition with guest vocalists and genre-spanning scope Black Radio — Integration of hip-hop and R&B vocalists into jazz frameworks as a statement on the Black musical continuum
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