Album Statement

Asili derives its name from the great Pan-African scholar and activist Marimba Ani’s conceptual framework. This swahili word refers to the germinating seed of a people’s culture and it is helps to explain the cohesion that often underlies a diverse people’s myriad forms of expression.

This album represents the spiritual seed that evolved into my major work Black is Beautiful. The songs that comprise this collection represent my practice of crate-digging and sonic experimentation during that period of time.