Brew Your Soul

Brew your soul, the same way it sounds. Music is life and is like blood pumping through.

The language of music is complex yet simple. Rather it’s the intrinsic rap lyrics that leaves you studying the dictionary or jazz music with no words but the colorful notes.

When I grew up Jazz was my meditation. The words were not there, I just made them up.

The station was WNUA 95.5. I still sing the stations’ intro song. “WNUA 95.5555555.” If you’re from Chicago you know.

Being a trumpet player myself, I fall in love with music all the time. 5th grade was where it started. Hearing Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie had me wanting to jump right to the main stage and headline.

Louis with his raspy voice and Dizzy’s cheeks blowing up as if he had the jawbreakers from Ed, Edd, and Eddy in his mouth.

As the years went on I began to listen to other greats such as Duke Ellington, Winston Marsalis, Kenny G, and so forth.

That’s where my case resides, Brew Your Soul is not just about food, it’s music touching your soul making you want to sing, dance, and clap along.

Let me share a few.

Gawvi’s style is very interesting. In this piece, I loved how he intertwined salsa with rap. He made it his own and it’s organic.

With Canon, this song is very simple. The lyrics are the same throughout. But the beat progresses and the background makes it seems as if it’s more layers to it. Makes me think of classics like Sawg Surfin’ and the song brings the crowd on a journey. The producing on this track is awesome. This proves you do not need to say much to have a great song. He has other songs where he uses more lyrics and it’s dope, but because of the production behind this one, this song is one of my favorites by him.

Tobe is a legend. The wordplay is sick and the production level is as well. Shouting out Houston and speaking truth about how the world plays its cards will make you smile and make you think. Am I the villain or the hero in this song? His videos are unique as well. I remember watching one and the way it ended it was like a mic drop moment. It was not too long and it ended like a cliffhanger keeping you wanting more.

The first time I heard this song was at my friends’ wedding. It’s so beautiful. It’s a love letter and one part talks about how the sun keeps its promise to rise, I will keep mine to love you for the rest of my life. That love is not perfect and there are bumps, but the love in the journey is worth it.

As you can see my playlist is diverse. Some will get you up and moving and others like Darlin’ will keep you snugged up at the fireplace with your love.

When I focus and relax, this music helps me get through. While in college when I would get mad or be deep in thought I would write poems. The music playing in my ears as my fingers fly.

Music is a language like I stated earlier. It speaks the words you wish you could. It dances the dances you wish you knew how to.

Music is the world, the universe. It’s not just one, two, three verses. It’s a pathway to a new place. A place where you can be by yourself and be one with the lyrics you hear.