Co-produced by akua naru and Stephan Kondert, with a string and horn arrangement by the latter, ‘Falling (All About Love Version)’ is a new recording of a song originally included on naru’s 2015 album ‘The Miner’s Canary’.
A rapper whose brand of hip-hop incorporates soul, jazz and blues, naru’s just released new album, ‘All About Love: New Visions’, is both inspired by and an ode to the late Black feminist icon bell hooks and her classic text ‘All About Love’, which examines society and its ideals of love.
To honour and take up hooks’ understanding of ‘love as a practice of freedom’, naru has realised a new vision for her love songs, which have been recorded live by a Big band with additional embellishment from Ensemble Resonanz, one of the world’s best known chamber orchestras. The album sees naru reimagine fan favourites and deep cuts as well as include new tracks that explore all the various iterations of love and celebrate the enduring power of unconditional love through the tenderness of motherhood. An emotional audio experience for those who understand the fortifying power of love and its urgency, the album is intended to provide a sonic balm to listeners, especially during these dark and troubled times.
ALL ABOUT LOVE: NEW VISIONS
TRACKLISTING
1 Urgency 1:09
2 (Love) Right Now [All About Love Version] 3:44
3 Joy [All About Love Version] 4:24
4 Sugar (Honeyicetea) [All About Love Version] 5:09
5 Falling [All About Love Version] 5:21
6 Run Away [All About Love Version] 3:50
7 Somebody Mama 4:32
8 Surrender (Masi’s Joint) 1:05
9 The Question 3:24
10 Mr. Brownskin [All About Love Version] 3:54
11 Seraphim [All About Love Version] 5:24
12 Poetry: How Does It Feel??? [All About Love Version] 7:29
13 Affirmation 0:55
Perhaps best described as a global poet, naru entered the music scene with ‘The Journey Aflame’, her 2011 debut album that revealed a titanic force of Liberation politics with beats, a true wordsmith whose deeply nuanced, poetic and wise music centred the experience of Black women through rhyme via a sonic spectrum from Jazz to Soul. Dubbed the ‘Toni Morrison of Hip-Hop’ by American philosopher Cornel West, who recognised a kinship with the acclaimed novelist, naru’s subsequent journey has indeed been set aflame and she has to date issued two more acclaimed studio albums: ‘The Miner’s Canary’ (2015) and ‘The Blackest Joy’ (2018).
naru has also collaborated with fellow musical luminaries that include Tony Allen, Eric Benét, Angelique Kidjo, Tuneyards, Questlove, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Christian Scott, Rah Digga, Mulatu Astatke, Bernard Purdie and Cody ChesnuTT. Known for her electrifying live shows, she has performed in 50+ countries across five continents with her band. Her lyrical and musical artistry is a testament to the legacy of the powerful and trailblazing Black female artist tradition upon which it builds.
