Track By Track: NAPPYNAPPA – IFEELJUSTLYKTHEIRART

 
Music

NAPPYNAPPA is an MC / rapper hailing from Washington DC. A relatively new & rising voice in leftfield hip-hop, NAPPA has become one of the most unique & prolific personalities to emerge from DC’s flourishing musical underground, another sharp prospect in an exceptional circle of peers & collaborators, comprising the likes of SIR E.U, Tony Kill & Rahiem Supreme. Landing somewhere between the conscious spoken word of early forebears like The Last Poets & the enterprising abstraction of contemporary outliers like Pink Siifu, MIKE & Sensational, NAPPA is a striking prospect. 

As part of the duo Model Home – alongside multimedia artist & producer Patrick Cain – NAPPA has featured on a stupefying heap of self-released material in the last two years, adding intricate, adrenalizing counterpoint to all the itinerant, abrasive backdrops cooked up by Cain. The unfettered energy & conspicuous development of the project has led to a celebrated outing on the Disciples label, in the form of an impeccably curated ‘showcase’ compilation titled ‘One Year’, as well as an acclaimed appearance on Max D’s DC institution Future Times, courtesy of ‘SE’, a record partly produced by Max D (under the Dolo Percussion guise) & shaped by ‘chicken sandwiches, global pandemics, mass murders, technological advances, & mankind’s hindrance’. 

Following all the Model Home action in 2020, NAPPA has miraculously found the time to issue another record, his first full length solo vinyl release. Entitled ‘IFEELJUSTLYKTHEIRART’ & with production handled by the likes of Paul White & Sporting Life, the album confronts the displacement of ancient African artifacts & Eurocentric conceptions of history, specifically an affair in which France refused to return stolen relics, artifacts, thrones & other historic objects to Benin. Using this incident as a springboard, NAPPA focalizes themes of identity, resistance & collective solidarity across nine tracks (& a trio of interludes), showcasing an agile lyricist with a pronounced inclination to colour outside the lines. Raw & unencumbered expression for the times we’re living in. Signaling a culmination of what NAPPA unloaded on previous solo excursions like ‘Obsolete’, ‘Autonomous’ & ‘Truth Won’t Save Us Now’, it’s a grand, provocative statement from an artist who seems to be in perpetual creative motion; a figure gravitating towards several fascinating directions at once. 

Here NAPPA provides a track-by-track breakdown of the album, delivered in his own singular vernacular…

BAGZ 4 TH LOST

This track was made en London, I often as a man of direct African descent I feel lyk th father of th world so I just imagined th kids of ghettos of America just coming with me 2 these nu worlds that would fill that city with th colors of our environment predominantly red ombré to orange 2 purple.
 
 
GIVETH & TAKETH AT WHAT COST
This track was made when I got back 2 DC from that reflecting on what et takes for wun without being without th right foundation en many senses other than th need 2 be actively creating with th intent liberating yahself as well as yah people as well as th risk of doing that as well as th risk of not how those are not always external components but interchangeable. I see white skies & brown tree branches lyk hands.
 
 
LOVE ES NOT FAR
This was another track recorded en London, looking en th purplish blue abyss for th star lyk life that Es our ever burning love. 
 
SUNRYS
I made this track straight when I got back to DC but this fiery red fury of th sun some engulfs me en th morning to th point that there’s no choice but 2 rejoice & create a nu safe world thru th sonics.
 
GHETTO SWAHILI (feat. RAHIEME SUPREME) 
This track was done upon my return as well mid October warm day walking thru th hood this 
was th first track RAHIEME SUPREME & I did ever so I wanted to give us creative space 2 be ourselves so I walked 2 th verse ta make th bars for my verse which I just get this real Anacostia River teal sludge running thru copper pipes.
 
HOTZ 4 ENTERTAINMENT
I just get this institutional chalky white & reddish bronze sand as I stand ball & chained en th center of this colosseum/stadium performing as erryth’ng from trash 2 money 2 flowers are being reigned up me by a broad spectrum of personal invested/interested spectators.
 
HOWL’N CLOWN
Lone youngin with bandana & bindle stiff silhouette walks across th horizon reflecting on that’s lead him 2 this road.
 
GREEN ON ALL SIDES
From th dusty crossroads of th last track  to an emerald maze of talls bushes feeling engulfed by consumerism as well as being overwhelmed from being drained  but th renewal of et all withen each day/turn.
 
ANGELS OF LYT
Both these tracks go back 2 that navy blue/purple abyss with th lyt at th end of et then being pulled ento th light to greater understanding 2 lyv en duty/service of yah purpose as a soldier/preserver of th most hy’s will which reflects from being harmonious with love truth peace freedom & justice for ALL YAH.
 
 
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