Shafiq Husayn’s Latest: Shafiq En’ A-Free-Ka

THIS WEEK IN HIP HOP
Hip-hop concept albums are walking contradictions (well, spinning contradictions if heard on CD or vinyl; streaming contradictions on your mp3 player). Even though the artists put so much effort into cohesiveness and sticking to the concept, the albums are rarely enjoyable as front-to-back listens. The album suffers from the artists’ stubborn dedication to the concept. It starts coming off kinda corny. Thankfully, sometimes the music is good enough so that if you just give in to that corniness, you can get some enjoyment out of it.

Shafiq Husayn’s latest, Shafiq En’ A-Free-Ka, is one such concept album. Shafiq is one half of Sa-Ra Creative Partners, a production duo who frequents the Okayplayer Soulquarians set, even having produced much of Erykah Badu’s New Amerykah pt. 1 album. Coming from such a “conscious” background, it was inevitable that one of them would fuck around and go to Africa. But in case the weird spelling and punctuation of the title didn’t tip you off, the album has a double meaning. “Ka” is a word from an ancient Egyptian language referring to one’s soul, mind, or spirit. So at the same time that Shafiq hearkens back to the Motherland, he’s also letting us know he has “a free spirit” No, seriously.

Once you get over the indulgence of it all, you find out that this instrumental album is basically just the late J Dilla filtered through free jazz with some African tribal signifiers thrown in for good measure. Which is pretty good. Dilla-esque drums abound, forming a solid foundation for the entire album, keeping Shafiq relatively grounded as he travels to Africa, space, the U.N. building, and, oftentimes, through to something resembling enlightenment.

Wherever the album goes, there’s a lot to like. “The U.N. Plan” starts out with some synth-heavy bumps that beg to be looped for freestyle rap purposes. Eventually, it morphs into some deeply tribal freak-out shit before making its way to space. “Lil’ Girl” continues where Dilla left off with his obsessive vocal chopping techniques, cutting voice samples into blips and beeps and utilizing them like any other instrument in the background. The deep low-end of “Lost & Found” knocks. The free jazz ebbs and tides of “No Moor” are beautifully chaotic. The different instruments come in sorta randomly but then also sorta at the perfect time.

Enjoyable as they are, these elements are presented through a vague lens of hippie free love and pseudo-politicism. Exactly what statement Shafiq seeks to make about American blackness, Africa’s place on the world stage, or the U.N.’s responsibilities are unclear. Vagueness is a common trapping in “conscious” hip-hop but that doesn’t excuse it. Shafiq seems content just telling us we need to love one another more and go to Africa and make beautiful music and everything will be alright. This naïveté is something that you can ignore mostly, but never completely. And it keeps nagging at you in the back of your mind. Shafiq En’ A-Free-Ka is a solid album but it is geared towards those who can believe in its innocence. Pragmatists, stay away.

by Quan Vu