Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Adrian Younge Share Black Beacon Single

Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Adrian Younge share “Black Beacon” from their forthcoming Midnight Hour album. The instrumental jazz piece is moody and ideal for a car ride or a brainstorming session. However, Muhammad and Younge say that their intentions were about change:

“‘Black Beacon,’ is a call to action for our brothers and sisters to unite against police brutality, inequality and social injustice. Like our jazz forefathers of the civil rights movement, we’re using our horns for unity.”

The Midnight Hour is inspired by the Harlem Renaissance and the achievements of Black people. The album has a June 8th release date. 




Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Adrian Younge Share Questions Feat. CeeLo Green From The Midnight Hour

Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Adrian Younge will soon release their collaborative debut album The Midnight Hour. The duo previously worked together on The Souls Of Mischief’s There Is Only Now and score work for Marvel’s Luke Cage. “Questions” featuring CeeLo Green sports his cavalier delivery, Latin rhythm and orchestration. The song is the first single from the album that has appearances from Questlove, Raphael Saadiq, Marsha Ambrosius and more. Kendrick Lamar had plans to sample “Questions” for his To Pimp A Butterfly album but the song later appeared on his untitled unmastered album. The Midnight Hour comes out June 8th and can be pre-ordered now.  

                                             The Midnight Hour Tracklisting

1. Black Beacon

2. Mare ft. Ladybug Mecca

3. It’s You ft. Raphael Saadiq

4. Questions ft. CeeLo Green

5. So Amazing ft. Luther Vandross

6. Gate 54

7. Do It Together ft. Bilal

8. Redneph in B Minor

9. Better Endeavor

10. Smiling For Me ft. Karolina

11. Don’t Keep Me Waiting ft. Marsha Ambrosius

12. Bitches Do Voodoo ft. Angela Muno

13. Possibilities ft. Eryn Allen Kane

14. Mission

15. Dans Un Moment D’errance ft. Laetitia Sadier, Questlove & Keyon Harrold

16. Love is Free ft. Eryn Allen Kane

17. Together Again ft. No I

18. Feel Alive ft. Karolina & Loren Oden

19. There Is No Greater Love ft. Loren Oden & Saudia Yasmein

20. Ravens




Throwback: Da Bush Babees-We Run Things (It’s Like Dat)

DaBushBabeesAmbushed

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Da Bush Babees were a three-man (Mr. Man, Lee Majors and Y-Tee) group from Brooklyn via Jamaica and Trinidad with affiliation to the Native Tongue collective. Ali Shaheed Muhammad produced “We Run Things (It’s Like Dat)” which was from their debut album, Ambushed. The influence of their Caribbean backgrounds, jazzy horns and their promise to make hip-hop instead of rap made the song a representative moment of The Golden Era. Jermaine Dupri and Salaam Remi also produced songs for Ambushed which had a second single to get radio play with “Remember We.” Gravity followed Ambushed and “The Love Song” featuring Mos Def was a high point of the album that had production from The Ummah, Posdnous and Rahzel. Mos Def made appearances on three songs and it was one of his first introductions to the public. Q-Tip was also a guest rapper on Gravity and lent his skills to “3 MC’s.” Da Bush Babees’s contract with Warner Brothers ended, they disbanded and Mr. Man became Mr. Khaliyl. In 2012 they started performing under the Dub Rock All-Stars and Mr. Khaliyl has produced for Fabolous and was also behind “Ice King” for Res.