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HUEM_N

by Def Sound

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harkmadley
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harkmadley this album is a beautiful coalescence of conscious art and genre blending productions, with stellar performances from all the musicians involved Favorite track: STRUCK!.
Ben Harris
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Ben Harris "The virus is racism, The virus is much like vibration. Although you can’t hold it you know it’s real, you know it’s here..."
And that's just a line from the opening song titled A Poem Called Here... and it sends shivers down my spine. Def Sound is a profound a poet as the likes Safiyah Sinclair and Ishion Hutchinson. Favorite track: MISKEEN TEE.
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1.
The name of this poem is “Here” The name of this poem is Haiti The name of this poem is Palestine The name of this poem is America The name is Flint, Michigan The name is China The name is South Central The name is Minnesotta The name is Johannesburg The name is Panama The name is Belize The name is Here Here is a strategy Here we can’t run away from we Here needs new imagination There’s nothing performative about Here Here has no guestlist or RSVP We are here whether we want to be or not Since I been here I’ve been reminded that freedom is health now Freedom is breathing now Freedom is not hating your roommate You know the simple shit Like a good meal* Here is the re-examination The doing of the deep work of the unavoidable An inventory of the soul Here is An everyday choreography of the possible Dwelling in the wounds Dwelling in the wounds The deconstruction of fiction of the stable Here in messy entanglements of empathy and apathy an assemblage of a fragmented people Here We water dancer of the mundane We wake up scribble scripture scroll a lil bit like a picture sip a tincture made a smoothie watched a movie and let the stillness really move me we living life through cell phone accept cookies before ourselves though We laugh at meme’s but fear stuck to us like velcro the world is so different the veil has been lifted this show is unscripted but the camera’s are still rolling now who’s hand are you holding now Restless in the wreckage We unravel undoing entangled unfolding All in the open now Here we can see what your hairline REALLY look like How much your mouth really do Unlearning silence used as survival tactic Here is a current event Here theory takes place at home This is what we are at play with Imagining new playgrounds Here we must move the people while staying put The revolution will be collaborative Here the urgency in which one must express themselves, an urge that one must remain artist even without an audience *The threat we face is invisible A virus can’t vote Can’t enslave The virus has no age The virus has no borders The virus is here the virus is a mirror The virus is racism The virus is much like vibration Although you can’t hold it you know it’s real You know it’s here When yourself threatens to smother you, You will open your mouth not to yell or to scream, but to find your way to song Some way of breaking Some way to upheaval Some form of magic Some form of music Melanin filled resilience Here We have to imagine what we are if we are not producing products If given a break Here we break Here we sanctuary new forms of family kinships used as resistance Here is a form of improvised connectedness New framework in a place of isolation solidarity is a weapon A support immune system if you will If you won’t that’s fine this work here is as necessary as much as it is invisible *Here we chorus, swarm ensemble, mutual aid society Louder than the endless record of struggle on repeat ready to be sampled, and resampled and resampled over and over meant to be passed on like generational mixtape Here is soundtrack to a history that hurts Here we chorus In concert We blueprint We work song Collectively Calypso Organized Orchestra Techno spiritual JuJu apparatus We move here in stillness The best musicians listen more than they play* Here we Black noise finding a listening in one another Today is what I have Here is where I am Today is where I am Here is what I have From Here Me and my mother hug from 10 ft away Sighs filled w/ working from home Me and my mother hug from 10 ft away Eyes look like levy’s Hearts weigh glaciers Hunger for touch Me and my mother hug from 10 ft away cerfuwed into confusion Letting a smile peek through the uncertainty Me and my mother hug from 10 ft away Mouths miming I miss you’s through facemasks Longing for a time not so long ago Me and my mother hug from 10 ft away Like Like Like last week
2.
:: [ hook ] :: (Eye wanna) Give flowers before you Nipsey Memories before you miss me You know the water than the glass is never empty Eye splash get nothing on me no no ain't got no worries Eye know that It’s above me Eye know that It’s above Me :: [ verse ]:: How is your pulse today? How did it go to today? How can we grow today? My ears are yours today My heart is open face We gotta cultivate My soul is a solar ray I need my folks today Put that on Cimarron This is a marathon That’s such a holy phrase We gotta organize This is a (w)holey rage 21 21 it’s been A lot As thick as the plot Masks on our face running the block From the top of our lungs Abolish the cops No kumbaya We don’t need no new Jordans I’m reading up on June Jordan Need a new day w/ a new morning My eyes wet but I’m through mourning Home grown in a war-zone Warden’s vs poor folks I be on my grown man I be like let’s own land That’s a capitalist cadence I am just saying Fist in the air like Angela Davis My newest ability that’s vulnerability Skin come w/ history (yea) I don’t need a black out That’s telling me you tapped out I am not a hashtag I am gonna live loud All up in the mix now the Violence is so loud Sirens cant silence this We Living a shift now By door like Spook like Eye see ya shook like we move by moonlight We live through verse like :: [ hook ]::
3.
[Def Opening Verse] :: Third eye my birds eye let’s look around sunrays my hand raised i trace cloud hood raised me Crenshaw my windows down Land scapes my dna you see it now 12 steps I’m addicted to the kick drum While ya out here Posing like you Bikram That’s the vibe that I’m really sick of Had to cut it off hit em w/ the nip tuck room small the vibe is ginormous Need a whole pie chart not a portion Standing still but my mind still touring Nothing really matters at all like Lauryn Once I know what the songs about I kill it like a victim of a haunted house I’m not rapping actually I’m thinking loud Annabelle break it down what I’m talking about Annabelle [HOOK]:: Something to round the city’s edges Let me float away To another place Where I’m not just chasin feathers Best stay away from all these ledges Predisposed to play Wanna liberate But I should be safe for the better Lafemmebear [Fire Verse] :: Feels like we lit tha flame, let the sun ray down on da melanin, so good when you in your lane , feel fly dis life sometimes its great¿, let it free u just let go, its a vibe its a feel your feet they know, its cool boo do it da beat said so, it on time it dont cmon lie lets float Annabelle [HOOK] Outro ✨🌳🌍
4.
STRUCK! 04:55
5.
It took till my mid 30’s To get what don’t water me Only makes me thirsty hung us like jury Spit Jewelry Dipped like waves w/ the murrays all my enemies and my mini me’s keep taking an L I’m sure you’ve seen em they ain't taking it well like bad casting director they playing themselves how you looking for love that you don’t display to yourself Hmmmm Are those actions or just captions Hmmm Are you balding or just capping Oooh I like my currency w/ accents Bring the light to the Aperture Some niggas out here cancerous We ain’t from the same diaspora Twerking w/ the devil Dance w/ it We just reaping what they sew out we grew like a grow opp collectively like a co opp’s This is one for thee griots we grew like a grow opp collectively like a co opp’s Verse 2 :: things got heavy w/ my ex I mean real real deep It was heavy on my chest like Miskeen tee Miss Missing me That’s Birds eye third cc’ed me Divinity ain’t dividends Learning how to forgive again European standards Sure are limiting Ever forgot you were powerful Resent who you handed power to? Went from time be malleable To time being valuable But Money gives the illusion of choice I’m the reflection that you trying to avoid The importance of presence the importance of poise I ain’t trying to bootstrap niggas but success is a choice Verse 3 Middle passing you the message South Central I gotta rep it Know my minds a lethal weapon We aint buying what they sold to us Done w/ the hip hop homophobia Listen Black liberation mean no transphobia I’m really bout that freedom bruh Don’t let it go way over you heads like Yamukkah over dreds Like top bunk over bed I said if we Black Lives matter then we really gotta live if we Black Lives matter then we really gotta live
6.
[ Opening Mantra ] Let me see you move if you really on fire if ya in the air let me see you get higher Let me see you move if you really on fire if ya in the air let me see you get higher let me see you do it when you twerk art it seems automatic work that hard [ Verse 1ne ] shake what ya motherland gave ya I don’t know what you came from every morning I wake up do a dance that I made up I show love my hater Aren’t you tired of enslavement wake up get you some paper wake up get reparations (put the rhodes here) from the roof to the walls to the roots to the flower from the feet to palm from the few to the all from the beach to the shore seed important from to the world to the tour from the heat to the core from the free to the war all thee kids say ahhhhhh let me hear you say ahhhhhh [ Hook ] from the rain to the dance let me yo hands where the universe expands we aint never gonna land x2 It’s a revolution it’s a revolution Hook Again from the rain to the dance let me yo hands where the universe expands we aint never gonna land It’s a revolution x2 Let me see you move if you really on fire if ya in the air let me see you get higher from the roof to the walls to the roots to the flower from the feet to palm from the few to the all from the beach to the shore to the world to the tour from the heat to the core from the free to the war all thee kids say ahhhhhh let me hear you say ahhhhhh [ Hook ] from the rain to the dance let me yo hands where the universe expands we aint never gonna land It’s a revolution x2 Verse 2wo: and thee beat so healing I just want you to feel it go dumb with thee dumb dumb diddy aren't you kinda done w/ thee hum drum living? float w/ your vibe open No parachute get ya mind open Show up shine out Liberation Liberate [Outro a Word by Cooper Moore]
7.
Verse: I’ve been moving at thee speed of life This stillness got me thinking like Does a black body ever die if it’s never seen as life ? That’s as dark as my skin is This theory is lived in Fam I’m human plus I’m hopeful My Momma used to homeschool Driving 45 min just to get us all to Whole Foods I would trader Joe’s it all for access way more local I said what I said Office hours is set Lil Def is Little X how I’m speaking direct A chef how I do letters I feed em through food desserts My timings a new measure No leaders lets do better A word from the meek I merchant w/ speech I’m serpentwithfeet Who learned to believe*whew*
8.
GELATO 02:19
Put you phone’s down and pick yourself up I wrestle w/ how I’m so restless been quarantined for 2 months I don’t know why I’m dressed up i feel mess up i gotta get it like i have no choice i spit truth till i have no voice feeling good eating great compassionate flex 2020 so crazy I can’t ask what is next I’m living in the midst irrational mess just Trying not to collapse in my flesh when all I can see is an invisible threat but holding hands with love feels like an elaborate yes the only piece of gaffer tape my life got left I’m from the place where them things blow from same concrete where them things rose Heavy as a continent my conscious is thinking bout how I’m in the game don’t always know what I want from it I’m just done being broke like a promise is but who are are we as a society when money ain’t a part of it What are your raps about? what do your goals look like how can we map that out when everything is ocean of uncertainty when everything you penned w/ so much certainty in agenda and planner everything that’s in your platter feel like gelato tasty but really don’t matter feeling good eating great compassionate flex 2020 so crazy I can’t ask what is next I’m living in the midst irrational mess just Trying not to collapse in my flesh when all I can see is an invisible threat but holding hands with love feels like an elaborate yes the only piece of gaffer tape my life got left I give everything I know Everything Everything Just know you're not alone Just know You’re not alone
9.
Are we Products of product placement or dreams we chasing? Mother Nature is obviously ovulating only god can judge me your honors waiting your honors waiting we starve for sacred vibe heavily wanting more and more of everything telling you telling me why you mad? scribbling penciling what is black? literally what is that? figuratively what is that like? are you awake what’s this life? a series of adjustments seriously be hustling seriously be hassled seriously we something black boy blues black boy views black light high light hues we get slain thats not news we in pain thats not new who they say thats not me thats not you now picture a ppl w/ vision a ppl not pressured no fear and oppression religion or gender they poison thee water religious agenda’s we not buddits of muslim or born again christians we upping thee annie we aint thee systems feel all these feelings and live in this moment my beautiful brothers not tragically colored we are thats prayers unspoken thee few that are chosen thee distance created by difference a race no one’s running who’s winning? who’s winning? i’m tired on fire consumed w/ thee music thee noose has been loosened I got you won’t drop you i love you this moment don’t loose it this moment don’t mute it [ A Word from They Davis ]
10.
Opening Mantra: this is church w/o religion flirting w/ this feeling worth in my persistence this is not earn or our decision This is pure destiny new testament old recipes VERSE 1: Jehovah holding down drums Allah grooving on keys Elohim is on bass we all groove to one beat super infinite on those instruments, all live inside me keeping time outside of time We keeping up at god speed yea! we mixed it down lost thee message everybody got an edit everybody wants a credit everybody just a remix everybody got thee best one, everybody gotta hear it everybody gotta love it, everybody got thee truth, but some like it autotuned Jimetta Rose [Hook]: I know there’s gotta be a way for me to make it over there If only I can fly Maybe I can fly Spread my wings Be who I wanna be Free as I wanna be Brown as I wanna be VERSE 2: I’ve seen Strangers Things I’m so 11 never stressing effervescent broke thee record for being broke thats a broken record I don’t hear no more fear gone he ain’t here no more so gone I aint here no mo fear calling i hit ignore unsubscribe unsubscribe new vibe who dis? I’m a better person when my phone dead w/o a purpose we all dead everybody is so dead, you’re so funny I’m so dead oh this party is so dead look at them they so dead look at them finding signal when my soul drifts been whole since I been homeless spent nights explaining 2 grown friends and they judgements what living out your dreams is when your pockets down to three cents how you got luggage but don’t trip? You don’t trip! Favorite substance called abundance I aint running from it I am running to it got the data in me and i never lose it wipe your trauma on me I would never never do it WE BE GOING THROUGH IT we be glowing through it my catalogues got catalogues I slay like i'm santa clause thats arrogance in thee air again [Hook] losing count of what i'm counting on you be on that yada yada your monologue that hour long that blah blah that shit made me hell yawn Sierra Neoné It’s never too far It’s never too Sierra Neoné It’s never too far Sierra Neoné

about

"Huem_n is an urgent anthem album for the local+global resistance to the things that really keep us apart. Def Sound's intimate verses sound the antidote for our socially distant haze. A mnemonic return to the chemistry within and between us. A soul romance manifesto for where we are right now."


- Bridget R. Cooks, PDH and author of Exhibiting Blackness: African Americans and the American Art Museum


"Too many caged birds sing of dream deferred. Too few chance beyond the maya of these HUES."


- Saul Williams

credits

released November 6, 2020

~ It took a whole community to make this work.

~ The title was voted on by everyone who attended an event held at Reparations Club in Los Angeles called #LINKOUTSIDETHEBIO Feb 28th 2020. The options given were "Hueman" , "Huemyn" , "Huemxn", and "Huem_n". The people chose "HUEM_N."
Pre COVID the project was listened to unmixed and unmastered the ppl chose 7 out of 10 songs that resonated w/ and wanted to hear as a part of the final project.
Once the stay at home order was announced Def locked in on building a world around the songs selected. HUEM_N is what we have. H U Ξ M _ N is where I am.


~ All Songs written by Emmanuel "Def Sound" Ricketts
www.instagram.com/def.sound/

~ All Songs Mastered by :: Kelly Hibbert (Almachrome)
www.instagram.com/almachrome/



~ Cover Photo Captured by Romain Laurent
romain-laurent.com


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ALL THINGS AWESOME LLC.

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Def Sound Los Angeles, California

Def Sound is an Afro-Caribbean transdisciplinary artist. born and based in South Central LA. Def is a non binary Grammy Award considered contemporary hip-hop artist, producer, published poet, and award winning academic. Def is currently teaching Hip Hop Critical Theory & Practice at the California Institute of the Arts. ... more

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