Zenith | ˈzēnəTH |       
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1: the point in the sky directly above an observer.
2: the height of something's intensity, success or power.
 3: the apex, culmination or climax in the development of a being.

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Zenith is a journey through space and time, brought to you by infinite potential and endless possibilities.

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The second full length release by Zen Tempest, this album is an ode to the creative impulse that animates reality - an urban prayer for purity, power, peace, purpose, alignment, innovation, and resilience.

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May it shine a light in the darkness.

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Music:

Instrumentals Produced by MP Beats
Lyrics written, rapped, recorded, and mixed by Zen Tempest

Album Art:

Photo by Nick Onken
Graphic Design by Amanda Wolf

Zenith

Yo!

What's up family.

I don’t know about all of you… 
But I am feeling inspired right now! 

🔥 🔥 🔥 

It feels like I’ve been sitting on a near infinite wellspring of artistic and creative energy.  So much so that I just gotta do something with it. So, I am.

I’m going to make music.

More specifically, I’m going to record an album, one track at a time, and release it in real time.    This track is the first track in that series of releases. {Credit to MP Beats on the track.}

For the next 16 days, I’m going to record, mix, and release a new song every other day, such that by the end of this month I will have a brand new album of music.

~~~

Why am I doing this?

Because music is awesome. And I am a musician. A rapper to be more specific.

Or at least, I say I am, haha.   But the truth is, that even though I feel like I am constantly creating new music, I’ve been in a bit of an artistic rut.

Too much of my my time, money, and artistic energy is going into the processes of coordinating with mixing and mastering engineers, listening to mixes again and again, working with graphic designers, making beats, etc.

Now, don’t get me wrong, these things are important! But the truth is, I’m impatient. While I have A LOT of good things on the way, there is a part of me that just wants to give you all something to hear right NOW.

I’m ready, willing, and present to do the damn thing I’m here to do, which is not only to create music, but to share what I have created with the world, so that it can be received and cherished.

I want to inspire and move you with music. In order to do that though, I have to put it out there.

I want you to hear what I make. I want you to hear what I make as if I am a small child who just wants to show you the painting I made at school today, yes. A part of me wants to be seen and appreciated for the beauty I create.

But I also want you to hear the music I am making FOR YOU.   

Because I believe the music I make has VALUE to offer the world. Because I believe music can actually help you, heal you, uplift you, inspire you, rekindle something inside of you, or stoke that flame which is already burning brightly.

~~~

So, it goes like this.   I responded to a call from the universe. I bought a mixtape of beats from a producer online (at an incredibly reasonable price, I might add) and I am about to let loose on it. I’m about to paint my heart out.

I am going to do my best to bring you a polished product, yes, but I will also be allowing myself to fully disregard the over analytical inner critic that so often sabotages my creative nature. I am going to allow myself to express myself in an inhabited fashion, and share it with you all in its rawest most pure form.

~~~

So, if you love me, if you love music, if you love the unfolding of the artistic process, then come on this journey with me. Listen to what I put out there in the coming two weeks.

Like it. Engage with it. Share it with somebody you love. And, if you don’t like it, that’s cool too.

I can’t expect to hit a home run every time. I accept that what I make may not be medicine for everyone out there.

Thanks for your time, attention and energy.  Wishing you love and alignment on your life journey.

Peace,  ZT

Source Codes

I promised to release a song every other day for the next two weeks.

This is song number 2 in that series: Common Wealth.

An ode to the possibility of a higher vibing environment.

Shoutout to MP Beats on the track.

🙏

Common Wealth

And the saga continues…  

This is the 3rd installment in my challenge to record, mix, and release a new song every other day for a two week period. 

And I gotta say, this is the first song so far that has actually felt like it was a 'challenge' for me.   

This song was definitely a journey for me to create, but I feel really stoked about what ultimately emerged.

This song isn’t perfect… But fuck it. 

  My goal in this life is participation, not perfectionism. 

That’s the whole point of this challenge in the first place -

To simply create.

~~~

Without further ado, may I present to you:  

The Magician

~~~

{Shoutout to MP Beats on the track.}  

~~~

  Much love y’all.

🙏 ❣ 🔥

The Magician

This track is the truth, the medicine, the cure.

Track #4 in my challenge to record, mix, and release a new song every 48 hours for a period of two weeks.

Shoutout to MP Beats on the track.

The Cure

This is track #5 in my challenge to record and release a new track every 48 hours for a two week period.

{Shoutout to MP Beats on the track}

Osmosis is a term describing a tendency in the molecules of a solvent, such as water, to pass through a semipermeable membrane from a less concentrated solution into a more concentrated one, thus equalizing the concentrations on each side of the membrane.

It is a chemical process that occurs in order to achieve balance, stability, equalization, and harmony.

Since we are mostly water, this term applies to us. As living beings, we are constantly inhaling and exhaling hydrogen and oxygen, losing and gaining appropriate molecules in order to find equanimity within our constantly shifting human organism.

The term is often applied in regard to our capacity as human beings to absorb knowledge and information from our surrounding environment.

In a metaphoric sense, it speaks to our longing and desire for proper alignment with the universal force that has been described as the Tao, or the ever evolving flux of the present moment. To exist in harmony with the natural order of the Tao is to be constantly engaged in this dance of harmonious equilibrium.

We receive, and so we shall give. We live, and so we shall die.

This is an inherent and natural process that occurs in an essentially perfect and coherent manner, one that the logical mind can scarcely comprehend... but it is constantly happening none the less.

🙏

Osmosis

Each track I create allows me to discover something new about myself. 

Every beat invites me into a whole new constellation of archetypes within me.

Some beats invite me into a more playful part of myself, whereas others bring out more of my depth and intensity.

Some tracks expose a more humorous or sensual side of myself, while others evoke a more serious or somber texture within my psyche.

I’m actually getting to know and love myself in deeper ways through each track, which is super cool.  

In some tracks, I get to play the sexy saucy pirate rapper.
 In others, I get to play the mystic guru poet. 
In others still, I get to be the radical revolutionary orator.  

Sometimes, I get to play all 3 in 1 track!!!  

All of them are me, just different sides of me.
 And I like playing all of these parts of me.
  It’s fun. It’s liberating. It’s empowering.  

It’s also the least boring form of therapy I could imagine, haha.

It’s like I’m getting to see what reoccurring themes wind through my mind in real time. 

And then, I get to share that process with the world, and see how people react.  Quite fascinating really.

  ~~~  

Today’s song has a bit of an ancient future feel to it. One foot in the past, one in the present, and one in the yet to be.  

(Yes, my multi-dimensional body has 3 legs… at least.) 🐙   

There are elements of inspiration, peace, playfulness, empowerment, and hope. 

There are also elements of realism, sadness, longing, and frustration.

  But overall, like much of my recent work, the track is rather celebratory, a buoyant ode to our connection with timelessness, and that which transcends all of the pressing issues and intricacies of this mad world.

  ~~~

  If you feel inspired to listen, I think you might just enjoy it.

  I know I enjoyed making it for you.  

~~~

  This is track #6 in my challenge to record and a release a new song every 48 hours for a period of two weeks…  

Without further ado, I proudly present to you:  

Drumroll please…

  ~~~

  Ancestral Vessel

~~~

  {Oooooh, fancy name!!!}  

{No, but in all seriousness, it’s pretty dope}  

{Instrumental by MP Beats}  

~~~  

I pray that it serves you well my friends.
  Much love.

  🙏

P.S. 

Image credit to Autumn Skye:

'Wisdom of Ages'

What a brilliant artist!!!

Ancestral Vessel

This track is an ode to the nomad inside all of us.

Because every one of us is on an odyssey...

{Shoutout to MP Beats on the track}

Odyssey

The word Apotheosis refers to the highest point in the development of something; the pinnacle, apex, culmination or climax. 

It often refers particularly to a human being having a direct experience of their divinity or God/Goddess Nature.

Visual Art:
'Apotheosis of Hope'  by Michael Divine

Apotheosis

Almost every CD I loved growing up had a bonus track on it...

A hidden gem, a special extra moment at the end of the 'actual' album as a treat and surprise for everyone who made it to the end of the record.

This song, a molten meditation on the beauty of life, is the 'bonus track' from my forthcoming release 'Zenith' which I recorded this past November. (Watch out for it on all major platforms soon...)

I hope it blesses your day and your life.

Love, 
ZT

Miracle

Somewhere in the space between Alan Watts and Aesop Rock, Atmosphere and Allen Ginsberg, Kahlil Ghibran and Kendrick Lamar...

There is a special place.

A place where the majestic backdrop of boom bap is populated by notions of prosperity and peace, where cityscapes and celestial horizons meet in a glorious display of poetic union.

This is where you’ll find Zen Tempest.