Their first new album in three years, following 2021's "Understand What Black Is" — their first in 21 years, released just before member Jalal Mansur Nurriddin passed away. Built around the two remaining Last Poets, Abiodun Oyewole and Umar Bin Hassan, the record revisits their landmark past work while breathing a powerful new soundscape into it for a new era, chasing fresh possibilities. The backing cast is almost too good to be true: the late Tony Allen, the great drummer of Fela Kuti's legendary band who created Afrobeat itself; Egypt 80 guitarist/bassist Akinola Adio Oyebola; Kunle Justice; master jazz keyboardist Kaidi Tatham; horns from the leading current UK Afro-jazz outfit The Soothsayers; Joe Armon-Jones on Rhodes; and Courtney Pine on saxophone.
The fruit of live sessions in Brooklyn and London, recorded and mixed once again by Prince Fatty, aka Mike Pelanconi.
The three Last Poets' words — sharp, seasoned beyond mere maturity — groove their message with real thrills over a bold fusion of Afrobeat with contemporary modern jazz and funk, faintly scented with Caribbean/reggae/dubwise flavor: a mature urban black masterpiece.
Even if you already picked up the record, don't let this one slip by. Check the audio samples and the tracklist!!! (Original Japanese text by COMPUMA)