Entertainment

Solange shares her Houston state of mind on ‘When I Get Home’

ROLLINGOUT.COM — This project represents an electronic exercise in expression.

Published

6 years ago

March 3, 2019

By Eddy “Precise” Lamarre

Solange has released her most ambitious effort yet with When I Get Home. This project represents an electronic exercise in expression and takes the listener through different portals of Solange’s mind.

Solange dropped her previous project, A Seat at the Table, at the peak of the Black Lives Matter movement, and it represents a cultural touchstone. When I Get Home has Houston, Blackness and spirituality at its center. The songs emanate from a thoughtfulness that is deliberate, and each song flows as one stream of consciousness for 39 minutes.

The project features 19 songs and a who’s who of the culture shows up to support. Gucci Mane, Scarface, Devin The Dude, The-Dream and Tyler, the Creator lend their talents to the endeavor. Pharrell Williams, Raphael Saadiq, Earl Sweatshirt, Metro Boomin, Panda Bear and John Key add their ingredients to the stew and create a delicious and sonically robust gumbo.

When I Get Home opens the door to the mind of an artist who is not constrained. On the “Can I Hold the Mic (interlude)” Solange muses, “I can’t be a singular expression of myself there’s too many parts, too many spaces, too many manifestations, too many lines, too many curves, too many troubles, too many journeys, too many mountains, too many rivers, so many….”

A standout song on the album, “Binz,” may resonate with Solange’s more casual fans. She spits a bouncy cadence to a rhythmic baseline while she laments driving down this popular street in Houston. On the Pharrell-produced “Almeda,” we hear Solange celebrating all things Black unapologetically and serve as a reminder of the greatness that Black people possess.

The two songs mentioned above sound great standing alone, but the true power of this project is hearing those songs in the context of the album. In a singles-driven industry, Solange has managed to provide us with a project that makes it necessary to sit with it to tap into the full scope of her genius.

When I Get Home is to Solange what Electric Circus was to Common. It is a bold experimentation that will enrich her and her fan base as she continues to evolve as an artist and a human being.

This article originally appeared in Rollingout.com.

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Oakland Post: Week of October 30 – November 5, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of October 30 – November 5, 2024

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23 hours ago

November 1, 2024

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Love Life Organization Shows Love

As part of Love Life Week, the Love Life Foundation was honored to produce the 1974-75 World Champion Golden State Warrior Day. It’s a shame that our first Bay Area World Championship team’s unique accolades had been lost in the pre social media era and the cultural revolution of the 1970s.

Published

5 days ago

October 28, 2024

Oakland Post

Members of the 1975 NBA championship team, Charles Dudley (left) and Clifford Ray (right) embrace Love Life Foundation leader Donald Lacy for his antiviolence mission. Courtesy photo.

City of Oakland Celebrates 1975 NBA World Championship Team

By Donald Lacy

Special to The Post

As part of Love Life Week, the Love Life Foundation was honored to produce the 1974-75 World Champion Golden State Warrior Day.

It’s a shame that our first Bay Area World Championship team’s unique accolades had been lost in the pre social media era and the cultural revolution of the 1970s.

The 1975 NBA World Championship team were invited back to the City of Oakland last Friday, to be properly celebrated for their ground-breaking performance in 1975.

The heartwarming ceremony highlighted the recent passing of the legendary coach of that team, Al Attlles, and his former players Clifford Ray and Charles Dudley were on hand to represent the “Cardiac Kids” as they were called back then for their ability to make great comeback victories during their run for the title.

Warriors great Chris Mullin and former spiritual advisor Gary Reeves gave heartfelt testimonies of their experiences under Attles’ leadership and their relationship with the inspiration they received from the NBA 1975 World Champion Golden State Warriors.

The City of Oakland provided proclamations to all parties with speeches made by city leadership including Mayor Sheng Thao and Deputy Mayor Dr. Kimberly Mayfield and activity host Love Life non-profit founder and Executive Director Donald E. Lacy Jr..

There will be a celebration of life event Nov. 9 honoring Attles’ legacy at Alameda College.