Photo credit: Bradley Murray
Chicago-based soul singer, poet, teacher and activist Jamila Woods has announced her second LP LEGACY! LEGACY! to be released May 10th via Jagjaguwar. From the tracklisting for her first project since her breakthrough LP HEAVN, it’s clear that the album is influenced by many people that inspired Woods over the course of her life. Poet Hanif Abdurraqib points out in her bio that “More than just giving the song titles the names of historical black and brown icons of literature, art, and music, Jamila Woods builds a sonic and lyrical monument to the various modes of how these icons tried to push beyond the margins a country had assigned to them….And so, Legacy! Legacy! A song for Zora! Zora, who gave so much to a culture before she died alone and longing. A song for Octavia and her huge and savage conscience! A song for Miles! One for Jean-Michel and one for my man Jimmy Baldwin!” The album features production from return collaborator Oddcouple along with Peter Cottontale, and up and comer Chicago producer Slot-A with features from Saba, Nico Segal, theMIND, Jasminfire and Nitty Scott.
Watch a live performance of ‘ZORA’ at
VAM STUDIO
You can watch/hear a new song from the album ‘ZORA‘ now. Directed byVincent Martell of VAM STUDIO and filmed in the Johnson Publishing Archives at Chicago’s Stony Island Arts Bank, the video features Jamila performing a live version of the song, surrounded by artefacts from the historic Black-owned publishing company. Of the song, Jamila states: ”My weaponry is my energy… An antidote for the feeling of being judged on first glance. A salve for when people think they know you better than you know yourself. It’s about refusing to be essentialized and not allowing your identity to be put in a box. You contain multitudes. You are ever-evolving. A song to get free from stereotypes & assumptions, inspired by the writing of Zora Neale-Hurston.” Director Vincent Martell adds “In our society, a black body unapologetically taking up space is revolutionary in itself. Jamila goes even further by rocking out to a song named after Zora Neale Hurston in a library filled with hundreds of thousands of pieces of black literature. The production is a celebration of black people living in their essence and that undeniable energy transmits on camera.”
LEGACY! LEGACY! tracklisting:
BETTY
ZORA
GIOVANNI
SONIA (ft. Nitty Scott)
FRIDA
EARTHA
MILES
MUDDY
BASQUIAT (ft. Saba)
SUN RA (ft. theMIND and Jasminfire
OCTAVIA
BALDWIN (ft. Nico Segal)
BETTY (for Boogie)
