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Shafiq Husayn – Shafiq En’ A-Free-Ka
Plug Research Records
Rating: 4/5
Words by: Andres Reyes

You’ve probably heard this ad nauseam at this point, but Los Angeles is the current musical mecca of the western world. While the rest of the domestic musical climate is stuck on tight jeans, soul-less snares, auto-tune and the death of auto-tune, the city of Angels has its collective vision on the future. Shafiq Husayn, of the much buzzed about Sa-Ra Creative Partners, is the next L.A. resident to break through to the surface with his debut solo album Shafiq En’ A-Free-Ka coming out on Plug Research October 6th.

Rather than present you a collection of songs made over a given time, Shafiq would like to take you on an experience. The title of the record draws on ideas of freedom and exploration, Ka means mind or spirit in Kemetic, so being in A-Free-Ka literally means a free state of mind. From the first couple of bass lines and snares, it is apparent Shafiq En’ A-Free-Ka is coming from, and headed to, a different place. The urgency in the percussion of “U.N. Plan” is electrifying and there is something unnerving about the space in which “Cheeba” exists, with its haunting vocal feature from underground powerhouse Bilal. The lead single “Lil’ Girl” featuring UK newcomer Fatima is perhaps the closest the record gets to a straight-forward song, but even beneath the aesthetic sweetness of the ballad the songs lyrics cry to something more complicated, “eventually you shall embrace the last day/ time is running, better choose the fast way.”

“No Moor” plays like a musical history lesson, chronicling the hardly-mentioned Moorish history in North America. The journey that is En A-Free-Ka hits its darkest points with “All Dead” and “Evil Man,” two songs that seem to accompany each other in theme and structure. Another highlight is “Major Heavy,” a tune so sweet that if ever clouds were assigned a melody, this song is where it would happen. The ballad boasts a sung chorus by underground Hip Hop veteran Count Bass D and verses by L.A.’s Sonny Coates.

Classifying Shafiq’s music is self-defeating. The album spans the range from R&B to soul to electronic to afro-beat. There’s hardly any rapping on the album yet the sound is firmly rooted in Hip Hop aesthetics, but Shafiq also enlists the help of numerous talented instrumentalists on the album like Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner and his fellow Sa-Ra partner, Om’Mas Keith. The list of collaborators on the album is large, yet there is somehow more cohesion on this than most modern albums. It is as if Shafiq gathered a village of musicians and singers and led them with his MPC. While many are stuck looking towards the past or each other for direction, Shafiq enlists the best of the past to craft a bold new sonic future for himself and those around him. Truly a Master Teacher.

Words by: Joseph Poakwa

After the well received debut of Hollywood Recordings and the construction of a production catalogue as deep and obscure as the analog bass slaps that reside in their music, the trinity of fresh is back!  As rumors of a breakup began to circulate,  Sa-Ra (Om’Mas Keith, Taz Arnold, and Shafiq Husayn) was away in the studio producing hit after hit for artists such as Erykah Badu, John Legend, and Fonzworth Bentley among others.  With a wider fan base and time to relax to put their all into each strike of the Moog “The Source” synthesizer, Sa-Ra has returned to the surface to deliver their sophomore album, Nuclear Evolution: The Age of Love.  With a strong body of work ready to present to the masses and a college tour in the works, Sa-Ra sat down with Vapors to discuss how they continue to produce quality music, working with Dilla in his last days, and why sex is the key to their success.

JP: How do you guys manage to stay consistent through the years?
Sa-Ra:   We listen to that good shit! Steely Dan, Roy Ayers, Bob James, Michael, and David Bowie. Thank God for David Bowie! What would the world have done without David Bowie?  The only thing we can do is display what’s inside.  Most people don’t get it initially because, most people cannot put content as extensive as the repertoire we keep into their stream and know first how to aggregate it and then deliver it.  So if it sounds crazy, that’s cuz nigga, we crazy!  We are crazy dudes.  We hang with billionaires and we hang with your favorite drug dealer on 54^th and Crenshaw.  That’s the diversity of our lifestyle.  White trash in a trailer park, that’s our fans.  Billionaires that own fuckin’ Facebook, that’s our fans.  Niggas on Crenshaw, those are our fans. 

JP:  What is your most memorable studio session?
Sa-Ra:  Herbie Hancock by far!  Were so in the world that getting Herbie Hancock ultimately wound up not being a  problem, but we had no idea homeboy was gonna roll up in the brand new yellow corvette that the Grammys had lent him for two weeks cuz he’s a fuckin’ God!  He showed up to our house at like 9 o’clock at night and was like “Hey, it’s Herbie!” To our House!  There he was by himself. No crew, No entourage, just Herbie Hancock at our lavish studio house in Silver Lake.  He was like “I’m ready to do what y’all want me to do”, and that was a night where we spent six hours producing and recording, talking with and learning from Herbie Hancock.  The song that we did with him, called “Fantastic Vampire,” is gonna be on our next record “Black Fuzz.” Sa-Ra featuring Herbie Hancock and Erykah Badu. That was probably the most memorable session cause you’re talking about somebody who is just a true Master Teacher.  The second most memorable one is Bambaataa.  He passed us the torch and made us all Zulu Kings.

JP:  What was it like working with Dilla on “Thrilla” right before his death?
Sa-Ra:  He stayed at our house for about three or four days.  We went to go pick up Dilla from Common’s house and we came to the studio; for three days we crafted blunts, beats, verses and food.  We picked his brain, he picked our brain. Dude immediately gravitated to us because he saw our show at the Temple bar that night.  He and Madlib watched our show that night; right while they were making Jaylib.  Dilla was like “Wow, I get it”.  The process was just the most organic and beautiful thing.  He’s so talented.  He didn’t want to leave our house without finishing the record.  Dude was in pain the whole time, but his interaction with us was what was keeping him out the pain. I can assure you of that; interaction with brethren that were just like him.  Sa-Ra loves J Dilla.

JP: The lyrical content on Nuclear Evolution is very sex driven as is much of the Sa-Ra catalogue.  What is Sa-Ra’s infatuation with the sexual conquest?
Sa-Ra:  There is no Sa-Ra without sex.  We exude sexual energy.  Sex is creation.  It’s nature at its finest.  It’s one of the most natural things you can do, and we are natural men.  Take that for what you may, but that term encompasses so much.  It means you’re in charge; unaffected by the system.  You’re natural.  You’re not property of or a member of anything other than what you decide.  That goes right over to the sexual realm where we do a show and there’s some skinny black girls with big titties and fat asses on leashes that we walk out.  And why don’t these women feel like they’re being marginalized?  Because it’s just a natural game of courtship and play that plays out on record.  Records are one of the most amazing vessels to play out your fantasies and your realities.  Demonstrate reality because people don’t get the opportunity to be around you.  We’re so focused on hiding everything.  We gon’ dispel the myth and reveal the truth.  That is one of our primary goals. 

JP: What’s next for Sa-Ra?
Sa-Ra:  We got this whole other record [Black Fuzz] that ain’t got nothing to do with this shit [Nuclear Evolution] that’s got Iggy Pop on it, Afrika Bambaataa, Bilal, John Legend, and Herbie Hancock.  We’re putting out this Ubiquity record and then we are all putting out solo records before the end of the year.  Then we’re gonna drop Black Fuzz.  That’s five unique pieces of product from the Sa-Ra entity within a year period.  It’s gonna change the world. It’s gonna change shit up.  We’re gonna inundate, overwhelm, and collect. Ha! Flood, Stun ya, and Take ya Money! That’s some Johnny Cochran Shit!