[The Future] – ‘Old Souls Part IV’ (2016-2019)

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Stream the mix while you read; download at the bottom of this post.

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The ‘Old Souls‘ series is Musicophilia’s first “in real-time” sequence of mixes, celebrating the resurgence of all-time-quality music happening today, especially as made by young Black and Latinx musicians.  I’ll admit: outside of a few musicians who carried the torch forward for me through the late 90s and the 2000s and the early 2010s (like Erykah Badu, Bjork, Burial, Low, Dilla), “now” music didn’t thrill me in those years, and I mostly spent those years delving into the wide world of the past that informs most of Musicophilia’s mixes.  But in recent years, I’ve continually heard new music that has rekindled my love of music the present-tense.  This music draws on a rich history of boundary-expanding Black music, but isn’t constrained by it, isn’t revivalist.  It’s pop, it’s avant-garde, it’s jazz, it’s singer-songwriter, it’s stylish and honest.  In these dark days, this music is our light forward.

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‘Old Souls Part IV‘ particularly celebrates the brilliance of women who are pushing hip-hop, singer-songwriter, R&B, and electronic music forward and breaking down any supposed barriers between genres–and who are too busy making meaningful art to have time for being anyone’s queen, any man’s rib, any man’s eve.  Musically and personally, none of these artists can be confined.  Equality and endless possibility is understood as a birthright; it’s men in the world who have to catch up to that fact. This music brings joy, swagger, pain, introversion, extroversion, nostalgia, Afrofuturism, anger, drive, loss, fun, laughter, ambition, love: it brings life.  So I’m going to keep it brief, as there’s nothing I can or need to add: this music tells its own story best.

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Download/stream the mix below the tracklist. As with ‘Old Souls,’ parts I, II, and III, this music is made by working artists who all deserve your support. So please, please, buy the music and merch, go to shows, and propagate the art to everyone who needs to hear it. I’ve included links to pages where you can buy the music in the tracklist below. Thank you for listening, and please pass it on to those who need this music in their lives.

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Various – ‘Old Souls Part IV’
2016-2019
01 [0:00:00] Little Simz – “Offence” (‘Grey Area’ 2019)
02 [0:02:50] Nappy Nina – “Naps Jam” (‘The Tree Act’ 2019)
03 [0:05:50] Jamila Woods – “Giovanni” (‘Legacy! Legacy!’ 2019)
04 [0:09:45] Lafawndah – “Daddy” (‘Ancestor Boy’ 2019)
05 [0:13:25] Freddie – “Project X” (‘All Black Trill Shit’ 2017)
06 [0:15:50] Georgia Anne Muldrow – “Vital Transformation” (‘Overload’ 2018)
07 [0:20:15] Noname – “Yesterday” (‘Telefone’ 2016)
08 [0:23:20] Kadhja Bonet – “Imposter” (‘Childqueen Outtakes’ EP 2018)
09 [0:27:10] Manthe Ribane & Okzharp – “Never Thought” (‘Closer Apart’ 2018)
10 [0:30:50] Dominique Fils-Aime – “Where There Is Smoke” (‘Stay Tuned!’ 2019)
11 [0:33:55] K.Raydio – “Hero” (‘2:22’ EP 2019)
12 [0:37:00] JusSol – “Solitude” (‘Solmate’ 2018)
13 [0:39:55] Spellling – “My Other Voice” (‘Hard to Please’ Single 2018)
14 [0:42:25] Solange – “Stay Flo” (‘When I Get Home’ 2019)
15 [0:45:20] FR333 – “Abstrakt” (‘Th3 Mind’ EP 2018)
16 [0:47:50] Ivy Sole – “Bones” (‘Overgrown’ 2018)
17 [0:51:40] Hejira – “Save It For Another” (‘Thread of Gold’ 2019)
18 [0:56:10] SOL Development – “Brother” (‘The SOL of Black Folks’ 2019)
19 [1:01:05] Lin Z – “Juice” (‘Awetumn’ EP 2016)
20 [1:03:45] Ravyn Lenae – “The Night Song” (‘Crush’ EP 2018)
21 [1:07:25] Tierra Whack – “Wasteland” (‘Wasteland’ Single 2019)
22 [1:10:20] Empress Of – “Again” (‘Us’ 2018)
23 [1:13:20] Sudan Archives – “Escape” (‘Sink’ EP 2018)
24 [1:17:00] Jlin – “Annotation” (‘Autobiography’ 2018)
25 [1:21:05] Joy Postell – “Free Black” (‘Diaspora’ 2018)
26 [1:24:00] Oshun – “Me” (‘Bittersweet Vol. 1’ 2018)
27 [1:27:10] Dawn – “New Breed” (‘New Breed’ 2019)
28 [1:30:40] L’Rain – “Heavy (But Not In Wait)” (‘L’Rain’ 2017)
29 [1:35:20] Duendita – “Bury Me” (‘direct line to My Creator’ 2018)
[Total Time: 1:39:55]

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Download ‘Old Souls Part IV’ Here (232MB)

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Stream here:

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