Tensei is a Japanese word that translates to reincarnation in English. Reincarnation is what this playlist is all about, and the group named Tensei is the author of this week’s addition to the playlist, an R&B infused track, “What If”.
Tensei is the producer/beatmaker duo of Chris Kramer and Midas Wells. Repping the Chi, their style is a fusion of jazz and soul, wrapped in a hip hop bow. Much like Tensei’s previous releases, their latest album, Constellate, features artists that are able to help narrate the journey of sounds. On this track, the tour guide is Liv Warfield, formerly part of Prince’s New Power Generation and is currently creating music with members of the classic rock band, Heart. So yeah, eclectic.
The song opens with an ethereal vibe (are those flutes I hear?), then quickly shifts into a traditional hip hop beat for Liv to pose the question we have all heard our entire life, but few of us actually act upon. It’s gotta be a top ten insomnia question:
“What if your life had changed and you took the chance to do the things your way?”
She runs through different scenarios, articulates the pros and cons of action/inaction before closing out the track with some sage advice:
“Keep those voices out of your ear, what’s the point in living in fear? Let it go.”
The breakdown at the end of the track is a soothing reminder that everything will work out. On their website, tensei is translated to “Heaven Star”. Keep your head up and focused on your destiny. Let everything else go.
You can learn more about Tensei here:
About the Curator - Ben Young:
Ben Young lives a life of polarity. He has split his life between the coasts: half his life on the West (California) and half on the East (Georgia and Virginia). He has pursued careers in the art world (film school graduate) and the corporate world (executive with Fortune 500 companies). And he is Biracial, the personification of being two things at once.
Ben’s musical influences were formed by music loving parents, raised in a world of John Coltrane and John Lennon, James Taylor and James Ingram, Huey Lewis and the News and Prince and the Revolution. Saxophones, electric guitars, synthesizers, and breakbeats filled the air Ben breathed from birth. And being born one year after the birth of Hip Hop, Ben has been joined at the hip with the genre his entire life.
Check out Ben’s blog where you can get more recommendations on great music, presented from a Biracial point of view: www.khameleonkurator.com.
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