09/2/19
5:25 PM
Chicago’s artists have been on the up and up for the last few years, and much of that can be traced and accredited to a number of hip-hop, jazz, and R&B artists that the Windy City cultivates. A central piece of this musical movement draws from independent artists and their collaborations with one another, mainly revolving around Chance the Rapper and The Social Experiment- a congregate of artists based around Chicago that focuses on music, art, literature and the culture of the city.
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Jamila Woods is an artist that caters to a large portion of the writing and vocals to The Social Experiment’s projects, and while commercial and mainstream success is not always present for the Chicagoan Singer/Poet/Songwriter, Jamila Woods receives critical acclaim and regard for her works. Released quietly around a month before Chance the Rapper’s much awaited and much publicized The Big Day, Jamila Woods’ cross-genre sophomore album speaks volumes about its author.
LEGACY! LEGACY! phases Jamila through the perspectives of figures that molded her views of cultural enrichment, especially those of colored and minority backgrounds that reveal many walks of life and artforms. With each track in the album titled after an esteemed artist, Jamila channels her influences, inspirations, and correlations of her life— past and present— to paint a portrait with her words. In the way that she feels, sees, and becomes multiple personas that she draws from, the listener/ reader can see the intimacy between the writer’s experiences and images depicted of these individuals that she tributes to. In an interview with Pitchfork (link below), Jamila Woods expounds on the premise of each song and what they have meant to her as a writer and a musician, as well as a minority individual living amongst the majorities that she’d faced.
The album’s tonality seems to have transcended the confines of being a singular genre collection; culminating the individual elements of genres that stem from Black Heritage such as jazz, soul, hip-hop, blues, funk, gospel, and R&B, Jamila then arrives to a mixture of all of the above. Likewise, appropriate to the many artists that the album revolves around, each track is shaped to fit the titled person’s crafts— taking their stories, personalities, quotes, and life stories, LEGACY! LEGACY! seems to tell a narrative of historical figures and connect their legacies into a methodical way of how it played a part in Jamila Woods’ own life and works.
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Relatively quiet, reserved, and meek, Jamila breaks out of her preconceived self for what seems to be a momentary glimpse of becoming a medium as a storyteller for these notable figures in our artistic world. Her modest attitude shifts to bold, fearless, and keen as she personifies each story. The album empowers not only the history of our past artists, but the present, and in LEGACY! LEGACY!, one hopes that Jamila leaves behind her own piece to contribute to future generations as well.
Read Jamila’s interview with Pitchfork
Listen to the album below: