tuneage : everyone deserves good music

Shafiq Husayn ft. Fatima - “Lil’ Girl”

One could spend quite a few paragraphs detailing the artists that Shafiq Husayn has produced and written for during his career, but I’ll just do a quick run-down for ya: Ice-T (on O.G. Original Gangster… yeah), Jurassic 5, John Legend, Erykah Badu etc. His main role in the past decade has been as a songwriter and member of Sa-Ra Creative Partners (G.O.O.D. Music), creating boundary-pushing hip-hop and soul.

Shocking, then, as the Tuneage-endorsed En’ A-Free-Ka is his official debut album. With so much influence and reach - whether writing for Erykah Badu’s excellent 2007 return New Amerykah: Part One or behind the boards for so many others; he clearly could have a number of solo albums under his belt right now. But you have to assume that’s just the way he likes it.

En’ A-Free-Ka exemplifies the burgeoning and magnetic Los Angeles music scene right now: forward-thinking, style-melding, unabashedly original. “Lil’ Girl” finds Husayn linked with up-and-coming U.K. songstress Fatima. It’s perhaps the most straightforward song on the album but give it a deep listen, and you’ll hear skittish samples in the same vein as Flying Lotus and dynamic, slightly off-beat percussion. After a bit of vocal interplay between him and Fatima, she comes on top of the subtle brass crescendos with “Eventually you shall embrace the last day/Time is running, better choose the fast way.”