TL;DR - I might never release music again, let alone make it. 

I’m tired, in a desperate way, a pale way. This project is what it is, not what it could have been. It’s the shadow of a vision I grew too impatient and enflamed to manifest in flesh. The word became shadow. 

Yell Pretty means I can’t sing, but then singing is just yelling pretty, and I can do that.  It was also me drawing strength from my favorite yellers: Nina Simone, James Brown, Van Morrison, Tracy Chapman, etc. You know, just having raw soul and emotion. Yell Pretty means use what you have. Yell Pretty also presents the juxtaposition brought on by extreme paranoia and anxiety. I think we’ve all dealt with that. We live in a beautiful world, but often times my voice wouldn’t reflect it. Conversely, we live in a chilling world, and on the right day, listening to the right person Yell Pretty, you’d think it was utopia. 

If you helped me at all on this, in whatever the way, thank you. 

If you came to the listening party, thank you. Forgive me for putting out a project that isn’t what I promised. There was more, but I couldn’t bring it all together.  

Some of my closest friends know me to have a strange dilemma. I’ll share it with you now. I’ve never been able to discern if the roadblocks I’ve encountered while pursing my dream of being an artist are a test, or a sign. A test to see how bad you want it, or a sign to abandon the road you’re on, because it’s not for you. 

From the beginning I perceived everything as a test. I’m not studious, but intellect doesn’t depend solely on study habits. I’ve been passing tests since the beginning, since I lived a 3 hour public transit trip away from the poetry slam but hustled my way there anyway. Since senior year recording with Kritta in the garage. Since releasing song after song. Since paying for studio time with money from rap competitions I’d win. Since working for McDonalds. Since sneaking on trains to get to shows. Since having no dedicated producers or musicians to work with. Since moving to Chicago with $700 and a bag of self published books in 2012. Since community college class after class, all the way to graduating with my Bachelors Degree on a full ride. Since recording songs on garage band in my bath tub using apple headphones and a high thread count comforter to sound treat the space. I been seeing everything as tests. Thinking I’m passing. 

But I think, now, that creating this project has been a sign. This fall I’ll go to graduate school, I’ll write, I’ll travel. I won’t make music. 

If I’m given a sign that I should be, it will be a welcomed one. 

#peace. #YellPretty

Yell Pretty

Antioch

Antioch ft. Archduke (Prod. by UrbanNerdBeats)

a dude making things. multi hyphenate, hyphy hippy shit.

Ngumfwethu wase Dubane, Inlove sound waves, of all frequency. Supporting any sound that pleases my ear at that TIME. Full on MUSIC LOVA.

Antioch ft. Archduke (Prod. by UrbanNerdBeats)

Benjamin Earl Turner