free download: experimental hip-hop artist obongjayar mesmorizes with surprising ‘home ep’

By Nathan Leigh, AFROPUNK contributor

Pacing the floorboards, the beat creaks, synths fade in and out of consciousness. The worry and strain ricochet you back awake amid half-remembered samples, while Obongjayar sings elegies to home and spits out lines of homesickness and uncertainty. His latest EP is the soundtrack to staring at the streetlights on your block at 3 am. The mood over 5 carefully produced track is heavy, determined, and uncertain. Lead single “Creeping” is the thesis, while soul overtones haunt the surprising and optimistic “Blue Skies.” The EP closes with the frustrated generational anthem of “Live.” It’s an intoxicating raging against the dying bullshit. “Don’t do what we’re told / Just cause we’re told to / A paradox of a culture / With no direction / We’re just traveling in circles.”
Stream/download the EP for free here.

Follow Obongjayar: Facebook | Soundcloud