Some individuals are just blessed with an amazing amount of music inside of them. The goal of these musicians should be to get this music out into the world. It isn’t always easy to have this music escape your head but when the valve opens, it often pours. This seems to be the case with our recent find SmartBlackKid.
The Brooklyn, New York based project is the brainchild of Hakhi Alakhun. The singer-songwriter and producer first fell in love with music at the age of 9 when he self taught himself to play keyboards. Hakhi dove into writing and composing and started churning out songs with wild abandon. To further develop his skills he hooked up with some R&B artists around Brooklyn and also became lead singer for the Jazz-Funk band Copasetic playing throughout NYC. When he decided it was time to take his own show on the road SmartBlackKid was born. The songs came fast and furious and 10 albums were released within 2 years.
Last month was the release of his 11th album The Best Of SmartBlackKid Vol. 1. The 17 track record is his selections of the greatest songs from his massive output. The opener “Stand Up” will let you know right from the start that this in a truly original musician. The mass of sounds provides a punk vibe that draws the listener deep into his world. On “Powerful” some impressive guitar skill leads the way as the rock track drives along in seemingly multiple directions at once. The funk side shows its head on “Chill” with a distinct R&B vibe sprinkled in. SmartBlackKid can go in and out of genres at will. There is a darkness on “Sell, Sell, Sell” with an anger creeping into the sound as it grinds along sharing a message that can hit home for many artists. The journey is very varied leading to the closer “Persevere” which touches on Hakhi’s spoken word past while adding an experimental sound behind to act multiple layers to this impressive album. Go enjoy a listen for yourself at: http://thesmartblackkid.bandcamp.com/
