The legendary Billy Preston once asked us “Will It Go ‘Round in Circles?” In the deft hands of Miami based emerging alt R&B/hip-hop artist/producer Speakea5y, the answer is a resounding absolutely! Emerging as a powerful, socially conscious voice of the millennial generation, the artist uses his debut album Circles as a means to showcase his extraordinary musical artistry around an incisive message.
Throughout the seven single world titled tracks (“Apollo,” “Mercury,” “Venus,” “Mars,” “Terra,” “Luna,” “Terminus”), he fuses an inventive, electronic based retro-synth/trap/R&B flow with hypnotic, metaphor rich rapping about the cosmos and our place in it. Though we can enjoy his music as a vibey slice of hypnotic entertainment, he urges us to train our brains in something deeper. Speakea5y’s sociopolitical goal is to address and speak to power about the messy issues we’re still caught up in. Racisim, sexism, imperialism, war – no subject is safe from his incisive rhymes and groundbreaking messaging.
Tackling those entrenched systemic issues that hinder humanity from reaching its full potential, he’s less interested in lamenting about society’s problems than fashioning bold, inviting narratives with provocative words that offer a way forward with a hope towards finding ways to bridge our minor differences. In the past, his vibe as been described “like 2Pac, mixed with 2Chainz, add lil’ Tunechi, crew 2 damn live…”
But any attempt to capture what Speakea5y does with comparisons to other artists from the past lessens the impact of what he’s doing in the present – and the future, as he is currently working on a more expansive project driven by the Circles concept. Try this tonight – if the sky is clear, put Circles in your headphones and gaze out towards the moon, stars and planets. See if you feel a connection…that’s a good first step.