Witch Prophet and the Brave New Black World

Though it’s only been days since her Polaris Prize Longlist nomination for her 2019 album DNA Activation, Witch Prophet - AKA Ayo Leilani - alongside frequent collaborator, Brooklyn’s  Stas Thee Boss, wastes no time musing around each other. With “Musa (Remix)” both artists open the track with wordless incantations over a floating double bass and xylophone sample.

‍

‍

The saxophone riff that follows brings to mind the trumpet interpolations of A Tribe Called Quest’s “Jazz.” Both brass instruments signal a state of alert in both songs. In “Musa”, the world borders on danger just before Leilani sings, “Where do we go from here when the world is falling through darkness?” Leilani’s uncertainty echoes many of our current sentiments around COVID-19, disaster capitalism, and whether this is the hopeful dawn of an abolitionist society. The fact that this track is titled “Musa,” which is Arabic for Moses as well as the name of Leilani’s grandfather, reflects a similar feeling of bondage (not the sexy kind) many of us are under.

‍

Leilani's question to her grandfather is a direct look at the past to better articulate our present in the midst of our unsure future. Leilani tries to see the future to tell us what’s next. In this way, she embodies her grandfather, Musa. She splits the Red Sea with her vocals and makes a passageway for Stas to question police brutality, culture vultures and the denial of black people’s influence on music. Stas’ dense wordplay trips up oppressors who try to trick her in lines like, “My crew love a true love/We can’t fuck with you love,” and “I black up you blue hug/We sing the blues up/The rapture is soon come.” Stas rallies the idioms of hip hop, the blues, and gospel to inform folks black liberation is on the cusp. It makes lines like, “Too legit I’m never quitting/Put that on MC ham/You be spamming on the gram,” aimed at her detractors all the more potent and hilarious.

To know there’s even time for jokes in the midst of our current chaos makes this remix a personal victory for both Witch Prophet and Stas Thee Boss. This is the sound of black women shaping the future.

Listen and envision.

‍

Lead image for this article taken from the DNA Activated album artwork shot by Brianna Roye.