KAMASI WASHINGTON
releases new album
HEAVEN AND EARTH
+ shares video ‘STREET FIGHTER MAS‘
KAMASI WASHINGTON – Heaven and Earth
Multi-instrumentalist artist Kamasi Washington’s sophomore album Heaven and Earth is out now under Young Turks / Remote Control Records. The long-awaited follow up from previous album debut The Epic is comprised of two halves that explores reckoning with current global chaos and visions for the future.
“The reality we experience is a mere creation of our consciousness, but our consciousness creates this reality based on those very same experiences. We are simultaneously the creators of our personal universe and creations of our personal universe. The Earth side of this album represents the world as I see it outwardly, the world that I am a part of. The Heaven side of this album represents the world as I see it inwardly, the world that is a part of me. Who I am and the choices I make lie somewhere in between.” – Kamasi Washington
Washington’s band, The Next Step, as well as members of the long running collective The West Coast Get Down at Henson Studios in Los Angeles, record the 16 tracks on Heaven and Earth. Written, composed and arranged by Washington and collaboratively arranged by jazz and bebop legend Freddie Hubbard include tracks ‘Hubtones‘ and iconic kung fu film theme ‘Fists of Fury’. Also featuring on the album: Thundercat, Terrace Martin, Ronald Bruner, Jr., Cameron Graves, Brandon Coleman, Miles Mosley, Patrice Quinn and Tony Austin.
To celebrate the release, Washington this week shared his music video for ‘Street Fighter Mas‘, directed byA.G. Rojas. Featuring cameos by legendary Street Fighter players Gootecks and Combofiend and one of Washington’s Los Angles heroes, hip-hop producer Kevin Gilliam a.k.a. BattleCat, the video is inspired by Washington’s love for the video game Street Fighter and depicts Washington’s adventure en route to an epic battle against champion Combofiend. Rojas and Washington have previously collaborated on a short film titled ‘Truth‘ for Washington’s 2017 EP Harmony of Difference.
Talking about the ‘Street Fighter Mas’ video, A.G. Rojas says:
“I love inhabiting Kamasi’s world, and Street Fighter Mas was an opportunity to take a left turn and explore the surreal qualities of that world. When Kamasi told me the background of the song, how Street Fighter was a safe space for him it took me back to the supermarket down the street from my childhood home where my brother and I would try and get in as many games before our mother was finished shopping. It was a true labor of love for everyone involved, coming from a desire to interpret the cinematic qualities of the track into something equally unpredictable, familiar, absurd, and ultimately triumphant.”
Heaven and Earth is available now on double deluxe CD and four piece vinyl, in addition to all digital services.
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