Kassa Overall announces Brownswood debut

Kassa Overall makes his first offering for Brownswood with new single I Know You See Me.

One of the fastest rising stars of NYC’s legendary jazz scene and a self-described “backpack jazz” artist, he melds the praxis of avant-garde improvisation with hip-hop production techniques. The track brilliantly showcases the Seattle-raised, Brooklyn-residing artist’s formidable, wide-ranging talents — including emceeing, singing, producing and drumming — while fusing the sounds of hip-hop, jazz, and soul to convey the gravity and hope of struggle of an African-American artist grappling with mental illness while trying to make it.

“Me against the world like Pac in his prime,” Kassa rhymes on the track, which also deals with the injustice of the American carceral system, the struggle for artistic authenticity, as well as the highs and lows of bipolar disorder.

Accompanying Kassa’s hard-hitting message are the haunting vocals of two other rising stars from New York, J Hoard (Anna Wise, Sonnymoon) and Melanie Charles, as well as a heavy bassline loop evocative of west-coast G Funk, contributed by BIGYUKI (J Cole, Kamasi Washington). Melanie Charles and J Hoard’s intertwined vocals weave a rich, yet ethereal soundscape atop Kassa’s multifaceted production style, which blends deep hip-hop basslines and harmonically complex jazz sections with Mellotron organ. 

As Time Out New York frames his talent, Overall is “a Renaissance man: part chopsy, super-funky jazz drummer, and part rising producer-MC.” Since the January 2019 release of his critically acclaimed debut album Go Get Ice Cream and Listen to Jazz, NYC and global audiences have had the opportunity to experience Overall’s singular brilliance, which has been embraced with rave reviews from Afropunk to the New York Times. 

Check out I Know You See Me here.

Kassa Overall will release a project on Brownswood Recordings in early 2020.