So stepping into the world of the Hip-Hop/R&B culture, we are taking a step back in time to some classic sounding Vibes with Daraja Hakizimanas Art Music. Raised in Southern Houston, Texas he has strong roots with the Pan African Orthodox church (where he was given his name) and was nurtured by the warm and sophisticated tones of such artists like Marvin Gaye, 2Pac and Sade. The sound he has developed since he was young is very much his own. Combined elements of R&B and Hip-Hop, Jazz and a little Dance, Darajas unique blend makes him sound like a true artist. The lyrical content is poetically rich and uses life experiences of love, politics, self-reflection and other themes to create interesting and emotion driven music. Over the years from his early projects, he has fallen, jumped back and due to the state of the industry, turned to going at composing, producing and launching his music independently with his own label My Block Recordz. Nine or so albums later we are in 2014 and Daraja is back with a new slab of smooth and sleek tracks in the form of Art Music.
Art music is an interesting collection of songs with some fantastic tunes including the brilliant highlight tracks Im Diggin It ft En Sane Produced by Jon Black and Sunshine Wine feat. Kato The Creation Produced by Flying Lotus. These tracks are beautifully textured, elegant and sophisticated . The first of the two makes me think summer time, cruising the coast, open topped car enjoying life. Calm and with the warm breeze of piano notes floating into your ears, into your mind ,this feels like a classic. The second has a bit of a mysterious steady feel to it, with plenty of warm tones drifting through it. Ive come to notice that listening to these songs , Daraja is great with lyrics and you can see his poetical background clearly shine through.
Powerful in feel with great production, you can easily see Daraja being up there with the greats. I could see this being on the shelves in many record stores across the states, the rest of the world and be a hit with many! Being someone who primarily comes from a rock background, I have to say listening to Art Music was an enjoyable experience. Being someone who had his father play him stuff like De La Soul and Michael Jackson, I was able to latch on to infectious grooves and catchy melodies throughout the album. Daraja should continue the way he is going because his sound is something I think people will catch on to very quickly! Great artist with great music indeed.

PureVolume Review: www.purevolume.com/artmusicreviewdarajahakizimana