[youtube id=”G5MdD9NLXg4″] YC The Cynic has reinvented himself as KEMBA and “The New Black” is the first single from his upcoming Negus debut album. The song references Pharrell Williams’s term that positions Blackness as a mentality that is free from victimhood and asserts itself through mental stamnia. KEMBA is  also talking about respectability politics and uses the likeness of Raven Symone for the artwork as an example. He describes it as “A portrait of the oft tone-deaf, oft-offensive, torch bearer of the New Black theory Raven-Symoné.” Negus comes out independently on July 22nd via all digital platforms.

“Hunt’s Point Diaspora” is a song that is not included on YC The Cynic’s GNK debut album.

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“The Heaviest Cross” is YC The Cynic’s life story of how he became a rapper. GNK is out now.

YC The Cynic is playing off the N-word phonetically with “Negus” but instead of a derogatory context the actual word means King in Amharic, one language of the Ethiopians. He also also shared the artwork his initial solo album GNK which has an expected release of August 26th.