Artist/Activist Akua Naru Releases Her New LP, The Blackest Joy
On April 27th, singer, rapper, poet, social activist, Akua Naru releases her highly anticipated, soulful new album The Blackest Joy.
The 11-track project is her third studio album and the follow up to 2015’s The Miner's Canary.
The American raised and now Germany-based artist and activist, Naru, intertwines elements of African traditional music with her modern Jazz rap style.The Blackest Joy is a stunning musical journey with themes of race, identity, the role of women and femininity. It takes the listener through compelling stories of triumph through tribulation and the arrival at power and joy through struggle. It is a composition of music to celebrate black joy and an aesthetic homage to the power of the human spirit in its strength to overcome.
Each track brings in references from pop culture figures like Serena Williams in the song “Serena”:, “Lost in a fever got me queening like Serena.” Other tracks such as “Baldwin’s Crown” succeeds in mixing elements of Jazz and African drum beats as well as using funk and soul rhythms. Akua empowers listeners on tracks like “Black Genius” and “Made It”, the latter featuring Grammy-nominated Soul veteran Eric Benét.