(June 30, 2019) Once upon a time, we were all little boys and girls who couldn't wait to grow up: every new candle on the birthday cake signified to all that we were getting closer to running our own lives and calling all the shots. But then, when it finally happens, we realize that 'being grown' is hard work, a full-time job with no breaks, few do-overs and issues developing in-between. That reality is what Grammy-award-winning Tony Toni Tone alum, multi-instrumentalist and soul man, Raphael Saadiq, is ruminating about on his latest groove, "Something Is Calling Me."
(June 30, 2019) Once upon a time, we were all little boys and girls who couldn't wait to grow up: every new candle on the birthday cake signified to all that we were getting closer to running our own lives and calling all the shots. But then, when it finally happens, we realize that 'being grown' is hard work, a full-time job with no breaks, few do-overs and issues developing in-between. That reality is what Grammy-award-winning Tony Toni Tone alum, multi-instrumentalist and soul man, Raphael Saadiq, is ruminating about on his latest groove, "Something Is Calling Me."
The first single from his upcoming August opus, Jimmy Lee, the blues-dipped and guitar-threaded mid-tempo purposely leaves the subject matter vague, so each listener can relate to it on their own terms. Whether it's an addiction, a first love or a dream that had to be deferred Just Because. Sounds deep doesn't it? Oh, it is... But the bouncy bassline and Raphael's glib, flexible tenor help the musical message along and keeps the anguish from becoming too raw: "My kids say I'll never come home again, and I know they're right, at least tonight/If I fail, my whole life goes to hell, and it don't seem right, I need help tonight."
It's seems like forever since 2011's Stone Rollin', but one listen is all it takes for soul lovers to realize how much they've missed Saadiq, and how we can't wait to put Jimmy Lee, which pairs him with Kendrick Lamar and A Tribe Called Quest's Ali Shaheed Muhammad, for starters, in our playlists for dozens of replays. No one told us that "adulting" was so rough, or could expose so much vulnerability and pain...but Saadiq makes the quandary sound OH so smooth as he contemplates the next step.
By Melody Charles
Raphael Saadiq feat. Rob Bacon
"Something is Calling Me"