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Artist......: Naeem
Album.......: Startisha
Label.......: 37d03d
Genre.......: Hip-Hop
Catnr.......: 37d010
Source......: CD
Rip.date....: 2020-10-28
Str.date....: 2020-06-12
Quality.....: 853 kbps avg / 44.1kHz / 2 channels
Url.........: http://naeem-music.bandcamp.com
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\ / \ /
\ / # title time \ /
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1. You and I 2:39
2. Simulation feat. - Swamp Dogg, Justin Vernon 4:03
3. Let Us Rave feat. - Velvet Negroni 2:39
4. Woo Woo Woo feat. - Amanda Blank, Micah James 3:50
5. Us 3:19
6. Stone Harbor 3:26
7. Right Here 2:46
8. Startisha 5:43
9. Tiger Song 4:44
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\ / ________ Runtime 33:09
,\ /... . . .... .... \ / ' Size 212.67______
:\/ ', \ / , \ /
' '... ..\ /.. .. .....:. .. .... .. . ..\ /.
: Release Notes: \/ , \/ ,
' '
,: Startisha introduces Naeem as a restlessly creative artist with :,
: an impressionistic, genre-bending album. As a complete work, :
:' Startisha exemplifies artistic daring and emotional ':
,: intelligence while exploring new ideas and sounds, and :,
: philosophically excavating the artistÆs histories. Startisha may :
:' be loaded with impressive collaborations and left-field sounds, ':
,: but don't get it twistedùthis music comes straight from Naeem's :,
: heart, representing the journey he's taken to get to this point :
:' as well as what lies in the future for him. ':
,: :,
: Baltimore-hailing Naeem Juwan has spent much of the last decade :
:' stretching his creative legs in a variety of ways: he's hit the ':
,: road with artists ranging from the Avalanches and Bon Iver to :,
: Big Red Machine and Mouse on Mars, took part in a 37d03d :
:' residency in Berlin, and was selected as the music resident in ':
,: 2019 for New York's Pioneer Works space. Through it all, he's :,
: been building the songs that make up Startisha, a record a :
:' half-decade in the making that featured Juwan pulling from ':
,: creative circles all across the U.S. to craft a truly unique :,
: document of sound. :
:' ':
,: Studio work on Startisha started four years ago after Juwan :,
: linked up with producers Sam Green and Grave Goods in :
:' Philadelphia. "I was always working with people all over the ':
,: world, and it became a bit stressful," he explains. "I :,
: challenged myself to find new talent in Philadelphia and create :
:' with them. We started writing music not knowing we were working ':
,: on anythingùwe were just building a rapport with each other." :,
: :
:' In JuwanÆs words, Startisha presented an opportunity to move on ':
,: from past work under different monikers, and strike out under :,
: his own name, with the experimentation in the music a parallel :
:' to the personalization of its subject matter. "It was really ':
,: important for me to find people I could really count on to :,
: explore as many genres and do whatever I wanted to doùto walk :
:' into a studio with people who would let you try something new, ':
,: or even try nothing at all. Every time I worked with them, I :,
: didn't give any guidance at all about what the production should :
:' sound like. I just let them do what they do." ':
,: :,
: After studio sessions in Philadelphia and New York, Juwan :
:' decamped to Minneapolis and holed up in Justin Vernon's home ':
,: studio, where Startisha continued to come together with :,
: contributions from Vernon, Ryan Olson (Gayngs, Polica), Swamp :
:' Dogg, Velvet Negroni, and Francis and the Lights. In addition ':
,: to these impressive contributions, regular collaborators Amanda :,
: Blank and Micah James throw down on the clubby "Woo Woo Woo"ùbut :
:' Juwan stresses that the guest spots came together " very ':
,: organically. I originally didn't want any features at all. Over :,
: time, meeting people and sharing the record with them, things :
:' just kind of happened." ':
,: :,
: For Juwan, the challenge inherent in Startisha was to ôwrite :
:' songs from a personal place, and to write love songs û both ':
,: things IÆve never done before. The album kicks off with a :,
: gorgeous cover of the Silver Apples classic "You and I," :
:' reinterpreted for today's fraught times. "It sounds like a ':
,: James Brown song to me, but if he sang it, he'd sing it as a :,
: slow song, and then I imagined myself crooning it," he explains :
:' on how the cover came to fruition. "It's an important song for ':
,: people to hear right now, especially in terms of the ideas of :,
: self-care and the attention economy. The song's about how we :
:' don't have time for the little things, which feels really heavy ':
,: and makes so much sense right now." He continues to describe :,
: ôStone Harbor,ö an album standout, as ôa simple love song to my :
:' boyfriend, written in and name after the shore town he and his ':
,: family spend their summers, Stone Harbor, NJ.ö :,
: :
:' Then there's the bubbling electro-pop gem of a title track, ':
,: which draws deep from Juwan's personal well of experience. "I :,
: was thinking about this moment when I was a kid and we had a :
:' family get-together," he remembers. "A friend of ours who lived ':
,: in the neighborhood was named Startisha, and she came over when :,
: someone put on some Baltimore club music. She came through the :
:' living room and started freaking on me in front of all my aunts ':
,: and uncles, and they were cheering her on." :,
: :
:' While this humorous moment of joy is captured in the song's ':
,: lyrics, "Startisha" introduces a reflective theme to the album :,
: that perfectly encapsulates where Juwan is at in this stage of :
:' his personal and professional existence. "I wanted to focus on ':
,: that moment and turn it into a song about all the friends I've :,
: lost over the years," he explains. "A lot of my peers have died, :
:' and I came to this realization that I've lost more peers than ':
,: my other friends had. This person who I haven't thought about in :,
: foreverùI have no idea whether they're dead or alive. I hope :
:' that, in this time that I'm here, I can still give people ':
,: moments of joy, dancing, and laughterùthe same way this friend :,
: did for me so long ago." :
:' ':
,: On ôSimulation,ö the albumÆs first proper single, Juwan offers a :,
: kind of treatise of creative resistance on art and culture. ôI :
:' had been reading a few books, such as Trickster Makes This ':
,: World: Mischief, Myth, and Art, and they helped me solidify :,
: feelings IÆve had all of my life about surviving a society of :
:' institutions that presents fictions as fact, and often use ':
,: these fictions to diminish my worth, or to convince me to join :,
: their gangs. So I wrote this song to remind myself, and :
:' hopefully everyone that hears it, that nothing is real, and our ':
,: greatest defense in this life is our own creativity, and finding :,
: great faith in whatever sigils and icons we choose to guide us.ö :
:' ':
: '
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\ / \ /
\ / Shout out to all our homies from: \ /
\ / \ /
\ / iPC BOSS HiT2000 1way UKi i8 RNS \ /
\ / RAGEMP3 MANDY DV8 pLAN9 BUTT \ /
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\/ ____ ____ \/
\ / H O U N D \ /
\/ 2 0 2 0 \/