Just two days just before Sinkane hopped on Zoom to speak with Billboard about his beautiful new We Belong LP – a 46-minute ode to the music of the Black diaspora and the undying legacy of the Black Arts Movement – the NYPD stormed the campus of Columbia University and arrested almost 100 students who had been occupying 1 of the school’s halls in memory of Hind Rajab, a young Palestinian girl murdered by Israeli military forces. With a historic moment in U.S. protest history in the background, a conversation about an album laser-focused on international Black liberation and solidarity is as disorienting as it is essential. 

As guest vocalist Tru Osborne beautifully sings on standout track “Everything Is Everything”: “That’s the problem with tomorrow/ Always one day away/ I wanna be free in this moment/ And this is what I pray.” 

We Belong, the eighth studio album from Sudanese-American musician born Ahmed Gallab, arrived on April 5 through City Slang. At a brisk 10 tracks, the ‘70s funk-rooted record pulls collectively a bevy of standout vocalists which includes Osborne, Stout, Hollie Cook and Bilal for a journey by means of the sounds of quiet storm, Afrobeats, reggae, jazz, gospel and disco. With a catalog that stretches back more than a decade, Sinkane chose to each pour into himself and step away from the spotlight to craft We Belong. 

“I came into this album with one singular vision: I wasn’t going to make it about me,” he declares. “Every other album is about me, my identity issues, that stuff. Music is essentially therapy to allow me to figure out who I am. In the last five years, I did all that self-work on my own. I went to therapy, went back to music school [and] took time off from playing music.” 

Not only does We Belong mark Sinkane’s 1st LP due to the fact the COVID-19 pandemic, but it also stands as his 1st record due to the fact going back to music college. In 2022, he graduated with a master’s degree in studio composition from SUNY Purchase, an achievement that radiates across the boundless, intricate arrangements that comprise We Belong. It was by means of this self-operate that Sinkane could constructed the neighborhood he necessary to build an album committed to collective freedom in the spirit of the interconnected poetic operates of Black Arts Movement writers such as Sonia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni and Audre Lorde. 

“My grandma on my dad’s side was a poet,” he muses. “My dad was a creative writer. My grandfather on my mom’s side had religious gatherings in our house where he would recite stories of the Prophet Mohammed, essentially spiritual Sufi poetry, so it’s all existed in my life since I was born. We drew a lot of influence from the ‘70s Black Arts Movement.” 

Between a deeper level of understanding of his craft and years of introspection, Sinkane ended up with this beautiful new record, which he’s supporting with a series of electric reside shows across the U.S. and U.K. Below, Sinkane unpacks the Afrofuturist influences on his new record and the worth of quick albums — and at the finish of our discussion, the genre-bending artist shares the stories behind 3 essential tracks from We Belong.

Did you go into the studio with a pre-current notion for We Belong, or did the album naturally come collectively by means of each and every studio session? 

I got definitely bored of writing Sinkane music since it just became as well uncomplicated. I could sit down and create this song that sounded like “Sinkane” quite speedily. I [wasn’t] challenged any longer. So I’m like, How can I build anything new? Let me not make it about me. Let me appear at distinct genres of music that I’m not usually connected to or that I do not necessarily draw my influence from. I became definitely obsessed with Afrobeats, dancehall, the American sound sounds that I like [such as] funk and soul how reggae songs are constructed and how they harmonize, straight-up jazz. I definitely threw myself into that stuff and I realized [that I was] connecting with Black music in a way that I haven’t just before. 

Another major inspiration was the Black music coming out of the U.K., like Sault and Michael Kiwanuka and Little Simz and Moses Boyd. They all definitely inspired me. They’re undertaking this definitely exciting point with electronic music, and it seemed connected to Africa in a way that Black music in the United States is not fairly connected to Africa. It was distinct and it piqued my curiosity, and I definitely delved into it. 

As I began formulating music that began to make sense to me, it came time to create about anything. When you are listening to Sault and Burna Boy and Bob Marley and Parliament and Stevie Wonder, all of their songs are about the Black knowledge in 1 way, shape or kind. It was a excellent chance for me to not make this about me [and] figure out how I respond to this collective knowledge. It was definitely, definitely cathartic and quite affirming for me.  

It connected me to a definitely huge network of men and women that had been type of hidden in plain sight in New York and in the U.K., who I could tap to assist me build this point. It connected me to Stout, Tru Osborne, Casey Benjamin, Kenyatta Beasley, Hollie Cook, Corey Wallace and Sheddrick Mitchell — all these definitely awesome Black artists who had been capable to assist me make it about all of us collectively. 

Talk to me about going back to music college shifted your strategy to We Belong in comparison to your prior records. 

Before, the way I would create songs is I’d listen obsessively to music that I was inspired by, and I would primarily bring it to my studio and rip it off in some way. I’d be like, Oh, man, I definitely really like this baseline, let me replay it, and then I’d go from there. It was definitely terrific to create like that, but right after a when, I could really feel and see how blocky every thing was. It didn’t really feel like it was telling a story. I was [just] showcasing what I was listening to. I was capable to build definitely great music out of it, but it just got definitely boring. 

When I went back to music college, even although I was undertaking a master’s plan, I took all of the undergrad theory classes that I could take. I was a comprehensive sponge. It created me realize how significantly I currently knew, but also bridged the gap of the factors that I didn’t know to get to exactly where I wanted to go. The cause why I created music the way that I did just before is since I just didn’t know how to make it. Now, I can take this musical concept and see what it would sound like inside the framework of my inventive workflow. 

I took distinct independent research on Afrobeat music, Afro-Cuban music, and Afro-Brazilian music, and definitely understood the science behind [those styles.] You find out music theory, and then you find out how Beethoven and Bach and Mozart all broke these guidelines and developed what they developed. And then you find out how jazz music primarily did the very same point. It created me so significantly far more confident as a songwriter, since I knew I ultimately had the tools, and knew how to implement them. 

Nearly every single higher-profile album this year boasts a lengthy tracklist of more than 20 songs. Was the brevity of We Belong intentional? 

I wrote 30 songs for this album. I did that since I study about how Michael Jackson, when he created Thriller, wrote like 900 songs amongst him and his songwriters. That album has, what, nine songs on it?! They had been capable to sift by means of 900 songs to make an album with nine songs that had seven top rated 10 singles. In the previous, [I’d] create like 10 songs and choose nine of them. [This time,] I definitely pushed myself to create as a lot of [songs] as I could, to see if that helped bring out the finest — and it did it. To be sincere, I had to quit writing when I completed recording, I wrote 5 far more that may possibly or may possibly not have created the record if they had been accomplished just before. 

I really feel like my consideration span, as far as records, is pretty quick. [Beyoncé‘s] Cowboy Carter is a great record. It has so many songs and I listened to it quite a bit on my tour last month ‘cause you’re driving on the highway, you just want to place it on and listen to it all the way by means of. But an album like Brittany Howard‘s is so tight and easy to listen to. You can really dig into it because it’s so concise. I like that about records. I like generating it quick and sweet and tight.  

Also, your record label usually desires you to make it quick, sweet and tight. Everything requires to be like 3 seconds or much less, otherwise men and women just move on to anything else. So, there was that type of influence — but also, 10 songs got the point across. 

What’s been the knowledge of crafting and advertising an album that is caked in the legacy of the Black radical music tradition when the globe about us is attempting to stifle that type of solidarity for liberation at every single turn? 

It’s inspiring to make that music it is 1 way of political protest to have a soapbox like I do and use that to speak about these factors, so that we do not let the erasure of our identities to continue. That’s primarily what men and women are undertaking, and that is why we’re not speaking about Congo. It’s why we’re not speaking about Sudan. People do not definitely care about Africa, and it is quite, quite unfortunate. It usually appears to be up to us to continue the conversation. There really should be far more of us on the news and far more of our story on the news, and it is just not there.  

Ultimately, I believe even although it is depressing, it also instigates a spark inside us. We all connect to 1 an additional by speaking about this stuff, [which] is why the album is referred to as We Belong. 

How do you believe we could appear back on this era of music as it relates to the existing international struggles for liberation? 

There’s a lot of factors that are cyclical. We’re in a spot now exactly where we’re seeing a lot of our Black artists, [LGBTQIA+ artists, etc.] generating it quite clear by means of their art who they are and what their identity is. I also believe that there is [a lot of music] that is just not undertaking that. 

There’s a Brittany Howard record exactly where she talks about somebody carving a swastika on her dad’s car or truck and placing a goat head in the back seat. At the very same time, there is a Taylor Swift record winning [album] of the year that is all about her relationships with guys. An artist is going to get inspiration from your previous relationships or from the trauma that you deal with for getting a individual of colour or what have you. It all sits with each and every other definitely neatly these days, and I believe that juxtaposition will be observed in 20/20 vision 10 years from now. Like there’s LCD Soundsystem, and then there’s Sault. Right subsequent to each and every other. Boom. 

I believe it’ll be definitely terrific to appear back at a individual like Beyoncé and be like, At her most inventive and strong, she chose to be political. She could have written an additional “Single Ladies,” she could have revamped Destiny’s Child, but she didn’t. She chose to be political, and that is definitely, definitely awesome that a individual like that is undertaking anything like that now. 

Stout is a actually formidable presence on We Belong. How did your connection with her steer records like “Another Day” and the album as a entire? 

Stout is like a force of nature, it is criminal how underrated she is. She was introduced to me by my pal Alex – he books at The Blue Note and she plays [there] a bit — and I was searching for a female singer to sing lead on some songs. My thoughts was set on Brittany Howard. I know that she’s way out of my league, but her voice is just magical and I could hear her [crushing] these songs. Obviously, I didn’t have that type of access, and [Alex] was like, You really should verify [Stout] out. 

So, I hit her up and she’s like, Yeah, no difficulty, I’ll do it! and we booked her. I try to remember her coming into the studio, [and] it was 1 of these moments that you hear musicians speak about exactly where your eyes light up and you are like, This individual is seriously amazing. “Another Day” is a excellent instance since I just gave her the lyric sheet [and] my demo track, told her to do [her] point, and she just nailed it. We had been in the studio for a day and a half and [she did] 15 songs. It wasn’t just that [she was] capable to do it so speedily, it is the finesse and colour and creativity.  

“We Belong,” in distinct, is a definitely exciting song since my singer, Ifedayo, was basically supposed to do the ad-lib at the finish. She listened to [the song,] looked at me and stated, This is the 1. Let me go in true swift. She was about to leave and she did that point in 1 take. She didn’t have any concern. She crushed every single single bit, and there are weird melodies in some of these harmonies that would take men and women a extended time to digest how to sing it. She had no concern. 

I really feel so grateful to have a individual like her. We’re continuing to operate with each and every other and she’s a element of a musical neighborhood that I can tap into for music now. 

When I listen to We Belong, I choose up a quite powerful Afrofuturist bent. What’s your understanding of Afrofuturism? 

Ishmael Reed’s Mumbo Jumbo is an awesome Afrofuturist operate. I’m obsessed with Sun Ra, who is like the godfather of Afrofuturism. Janelle Monáe, Parliament, and so forth. I knew I wanted to bring all of these components that I’ve come to realize is Afrofuturism in music — like synthesizers, electronic components, and so forth. — and speak about these visceral, poetic factors about African identity. I was following a tradition in Black music in that way. I am far more conscious of [Afrofuturism] now than I was just before, but it was usually there. It’s usually been a element of who I’ve been.

“We Belong” 

[We Belong] is my most completely realized musical project that I’ve ever created. My voice rings accurate in a way that it under no circumstances has just before. One of the essential factors about this album is [that] there’s resolve. Every record just before this didn’t have any resolve it was just questioning and experimenting, and you can hear it in my voice, the music, [and] the themes. It was just me traveling about aimlessly figuring it out. [On this record], I’ve I figured it out and [“We Belong”] is exactly that. 

I’m a definitely major Parliament-Funkadelic fan, and I usually aim to create my version of “One Nation Under a Groove” or “Wizard of Finance.” There’s this George Duke motif that I was playing in 1 of my music applications, and it reminded me a lot of Parliament [and] Brittany Howard and Alabama Shakes — my greatest influence ever, and my most modern day influence. 

Then, I began music college. Every week I’d bring in a distinct song or an artist that I was admiring and we would analyze and extract the science of the music. [My professor] would give me homework and [explain] what they’re undertaking in music theory terms. [“We Belong”] gradually began taking me to these distinct locations that I under no circumstances knew I’d get to. It begins in a quite distinct spot than it ends. 

The 1 point that is definitely significant about this is the song embodies every thing that that this album is about: a really like letter to Black music, Black men and women and Black culture. It took me into writing songs that Black artists traditionally create, in particular when you are influenced by the 70s, Parliament, Sly Stone, and so forth. Funnily sufficient, by means of Jorge Ben Jor’s “Errare Humanum Est,” [it] took me to Alexander Pope [and his] “An Essay On Criticism” poem, exactly where he says, “To err is to be human, to forgive is to be divine.” 

All of a sudden, every thing in my life began to make sense. The intellectual side connected to the spiritual side and all of these influences. It all fits into this superb song. 

“Come Together” 

[This track] embodies a bridge amongst what Sinkane was and what it is now. If [people] went back to something just before, they would see the linear progression amongst the previous and the present with the disco and funk and African syncopation in the song. 

Yet once more, it is the theme about getting a foreigner in a foreign land, a displaced individual, a third-culture kid. It’s about a Black individual living in the globe anyplace other than Africa. We deal with difficulties all the time about our identity. But this album is about resolve. This song has a quite powerful resolve. [We sing,] “Don’t know where we come from,” and then it goes back to “Africa,” which is anything that was definitely enjoyable for me to discover. 

“The Anthem” 

It’s the final song of the album, [and] an absolute celebration of us, of Black men and women. As significantly as there is beauty in the struggle and our way of transmuting our discomfort into making superb art, we also are quite very good at celebrating for the sake of celebration. For the sake of just loving the self, and there’s a tradition of that in Black culture and Black art. I wanted to add to that and make a quite straight-up song that celebrates us [and] how significantly we really like each and every other. Every generation could say this, but we need to have that correct now right after every thing that we’ve gone by means of in the final 400 years, but particularly the final 10 years. It’s definitely significant to say, Yes, I really like myself, I really like getting black, I really like what we have.  

I try to remember sending [Amanda Khiri] a text and getting like, “Send me a list of things that Black people have that make white people mad.” We began coming up [with things] like the way we stroll, the way we speak, our style sense, and so forth. It became quite inspiring to create a song with that prompt, and I discovered it to be a quite cathartic song for us to listen to reside. I [also] discovered it to be definitely exciting — since, though it is certain to Black men and women, it is quite magnetic to other men and women.