Jamila Woods
On Woods' 2016 debut HEAVN, her acerbic wit was literally child's play—transposing the clapping game "Miss Mary Mack" for stark lyrics about police brutality on "VRY BLK," for example. Those kernels have now ripened on her second album, one that is richer and fuller in every respect. Evocative of Mos Def's landmark album Black on Both Sides, LEGACY! LEGACY! marries incisive political commentary with deep introspection. The result is an album full of wordplay, anger, and wry humor. Woods returns to us a brazen young artist and woman, keenly aware of the backlash she could face for her transparency.
Each track on LEGACY! LEGACY! highlights a legendary artist of color, spanning disciplines, genres, and decades—Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, Frida Kahlo, Miles Davis. For Woods, collectively, they become examples of how to unapologetically navigate life as a person of color. Each song's subject is treated with the same reverence and warmth as Woods' own ancestors, who are also referenced throughout. While she assumes responsibility for mining sociopolitical issues in her music, she also stands on the shoulders of these figures in search of her own humanity.
On Woods' 2016 debut HEAVN, her acerbic wit was literally child's play—transposing the clapping game "Miss Mary Mack" for stark lyrics about police brutality on "VRY BLK," for example. Those kernels have now ripened on her second album, one that is richer and fuller in every respect. Evocative of Mos Def's landmark album Black on Both Sides, LEGACY! LEGACY! marries incisive political commentary with deep introspection. The result is an album full of wordplay, anger, and wry humor. Woods returns to us a brazen young artist and woman, keenly aware of the backlash she could face for her transparency.
Each track on LEGACY! LEGACY! highlights a legendary artist of color, spanning disciplines, genres, and decades—Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, Frida Kahlo, Miles Davis. For Woods, collectively, they become examples of how to unapologetically navigate life as a person of color. Each song's subject is treated with the same reverence and warmth as Woods' own ancestors, who are also referenced throughout. While she assumes responsibility for mining sociopolitical issues in her music, she also stands on the shoulders of these figures in search of her own humanity.
