This is an EP which I composed to accompany a Music and Philosophy essay early this year, with the title: 'How does Billie Holiday’s ‘Strange Fruit’ illustrate Freudian concepts of mourning and melancholia and how are these concepts re-appropriated for our contemporary commercial society?'.

Here is a short extract of this essay, explaining my motivations behind these beats: 
"“Strange Fruit” contains striking examples of mourning and melancholia through its lyrical content, harmonic structure and the vocal methods which can repress the instincts of those listening to it – ‘fans of the song do not say they like it’ .  By sampling various versions which I believe contain the original latent content Meeropol and Holiday intended, I will rework this content into a new composition within the hip-hop style, which represent a vicissitude into joy while still combining melancholic elements. By using and sampling the original content (lyrics, melodic and harmonic content) of people ‘who’ve really lived them and understand them’ , these instrumental compositions will contain the melancholic content (as provided by some of the metaphorical lyrics, as well as the accompanying music and interplay that content with a sense of joy. 

I will be trying to put the original compositions and related covers through their vicissitudes. Within my compositions, I will try to combine aspects of the melancholia and joy, not necessarily switching or replacing either emotion as one is not necessarily better (nor is anything lost when just one is used). The interplay of these relations, joy and melancholia, forces the listener to consider the music at a deeper level and draw their own delineations on what element they can get from the music. It creates questions for listeners and facilitates debate, not just producing an answer for the listeners to attach to."

Poplar Trees

Arabic/Middle Eastern vinyl-sampled instrumental hip hop album, composed for a final year submission at Newcastle University.

By The Ocean

Shatila

Fallen Autumn

Meadow Song

Sharian

The Wanderer

Sunken Sense

Bare Hands

Leaving Our Nation

Delicacy

Eyes Open

An Ethiopian-inspired hip hop track with Robinin crafting an intricate  rap and flow over the top.

Robinin - Addis (Prod. Potaito)

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