Salaam Remi unveils new album ‘Black On Purpose’
The project sees a wealth of assists from Black Thought, Common, and more.
Back in January, Salaam Remi blessed the masses with a new project titled Do It For The Culture 2, a 25-track body of work that the producer essentially described as an emptying of his hard drive. That release also acted as a sequel to 2016’s Do It For The Culture. Following that, fans then got to see new socially charged singles from Remi, including “Say It Loud (Everybody Black Re-Flip)” with CeeLo Green, “Home Vacation (FamilyOverEverything)” with Mack Wilds, “Comin’ Outta The Rain” with Bilal, “Black Love” with Teedra Moses and D-Nice, and “Is It Because I’m Black” with Black Thought, Syleena Johnson, Anthony Hamilton, Green, and Stephen Marley.
Today, those tracks finally culminate into Salaam Remi’s new album Black On Purpose, which altogether sees 17 tracks and additional assistance from Busta Rhymes, Doug E. Fresh, Jennifer Hudson, Chronixx, Spragga Benz, Common, James Poyser, and more. The project is also bookended with recordings of Malcolm X and Sandra Bland, adding to the album’s powerful themes about Black power, justice, and freedom.
Via press release, Salaam Remi further explained the album’s meaning:
“We couldn’t gather in the way we were used to when we needed each other most… Now we are more than likely going to be in for another round of quarantine and we will need each other and music more than ever. … We were black before the election and we will be black after the election.”
Over the past four decades, Salaam Remi has been behind some of the most important hip hop and R&B records to date, including those by Nas, Amy Winehouse, Craig G, Ms. Dynamite, Jazmine Sullivan, and Nelly Furtado. In addition, he’s provided his skill set to the big screen, contributing to classics like Rush Hour 3 and Sex and The City.
Press play on Black On Purpose below.