Six years to this day. 2011, to be exact.
Six years ago, JAY-Z and Kanye West were still close friends, and that partnership resulted in Watch The Throne. In the six years since both Beyoncé and Bruno Mars performed at the Super Bowl halftime show — twice. And six years ago the CunninLynguists released their last album, Oneirology.
Deacon the Villain, Kno, and Natti have finally broken that six-year hiatus* with their sixth album, Rose Azura Njano. A concept album, the project is an “exploration of Black music in America and its history in pain, loss, hardships and socio-political movements as personified by the album’s titular character, the chromesthesia-afflicted Rose.”
Clocking in at 12 tracks, Rose Azura Njano includes the songs featured from their previous EPs (Azura and Rose, both of which are no longer available), as well as a handful of new songs such as “Violet (The Upper Room)” and “Oh Honey.” Most important of all, it’s just great to see them back in action after so long.
Stream Rose Azura Njano below. Cop a copy iTunes.
* SHAKE EDIT: To be clear, the hiatus was only from an official CunninLynguists full-length. Since Oneirology in 2011, the trio released Strange Journey Vol. 3, which was basically a CL album with a boatload of features (Blu, Murs, Apathy, Aesop Rock, etc). We also got solo albums from Natti (Still Motion) and Deacon (Peace Or Power), while Kno had his hand in several projects — including To Dust, as part of Built To Fade with Dane Ferguson, Zoe Wick and Anna Wise, Phantom Limbs with Sadistik, and an instrumental album called Bones.
