Heems Announces New Album ‘VEENA LP’ & Shares First Single
Heems is set to release his second album of 2024, and he has kickstarted its rollout with a cut down that explores the complexities of write-up-colonialism.
The Indian American MC’s 11-observe VEENA LP will go reside on August 23, and he has launched a new solitary titled ‘MANTO’ to established the tone for the forthcoming bundle. The song dissects the rapper’s heritage in the context of Britain’s imperial pursuits in India and the 1947 partition prompted by their departure from the place.
“My only inheritance is broken tongues inside me/ Generational trauma for Punjabis and the Sindhis/ What’s in a line, I could attract 1 each and every time/ I stand in line in court docket when they bag me for a crime/ A sword or a great utilized to tear and divide/ They took what’s ours, now they say that is not mine,” he spits, reflecting on a society even now crippled by the lingering consequences of “divide and rule” tactics executed by reported empire.
About the audio-visible give, audio-video clip director Nardeep Khurmi stated: “‘MANTO’ started out as a like letter to a person of Heems’s favored artists, Joseph Cornell, and his movie The Aviary, and advanced into an exploration of inherited trauma and sharing our love for the ladies who made sacrifices in purchase to elevate us, all to a unwell conquer.”
To that level, Heems added: “These two inspirations, these pieces of me creatively, Joseph Cornell’s The Aviary and Expert Dutt’s Mr. and Mrs. 55 ended up released the identical 1955. This wasn’t that long immediately after 1947’s Partition. So together with S.H. Manto and Amrita Pritam, all these feelings were heading around in my head.”
The 38-yr-prior rapper dropped LAFANDAR in partnership with studio chef Lapgan earlier this year.
All by means of an interview with HipHopDX prior to the album’s release in mid-February, the Queens native described how he started out creating one particular undertaking and completed up with two.
Heems & Lapgan’s Distinct Rapport On ‘LAFANDAR’ Provides New Shades To No-Nonsense Hip Hop
“There ended up some cuts that did not in shape in with the other album I’m doing work on, VEENA, and they form of just sat on the facet,” he began. “I was likely to get like 8 men and women on one observe, but then I resolved to start splitting it up. From there, it just grew into LAFANDAR.
“On VEENA, I get into healing, growing more mature, vulnerability and a separation I went as a result of, but this one particular is just a lot more in my old vein. Like sketches, actually, though my sketches have gotten a good deal superior.”
Regarding the variance amongst each equally LPs, he shared: “With VEENA, [producer] Sid Vashi and I are exploring instrumentation — guitars and bass — due to the fact we had been pondering more about seem layout and the musicality of it. There’s a tune with Panda Bear where I just rap and he sings, then there is a person with Blood Cultures that I sing on fully … there is also one with me, Patrick Wemberly and Lee Ranaldo [of Sonic Youth].
“LAFANDAR is far more rooted in common rap. Though some music on VEENA are driven by bars, I’m also singing and executing other stuff on it. I believe LAFANDAR is who I am at my core as a rapper whilst Veena is who I am as an artist and songwriter.”
