We seem to be undergoing a fruitful period of collaborative albums in rap, and the latest pairs Detroit beat icon Tall Black Guy with Lansing-via-Seattle emcee Ozay Moore, formerly known as Othello. Though there’s no release date yet for their forthcoming record Of Process and Progression, it makes sense for them to drop their latest single, “Black Is…,” while we’re still in the middle of Black History Month, as its lyrics (from Ozay, as well as guest spots from future-soul vocalist DSTL, rapper Sareem Poems, and a spoken-word epilogue from renowned DJ Rich Medina) hone in on the struggle that is being Black in America.
“Pops prepared the living room for schoolin’,” Ozay raps at the top of his verse after a spoken-word intro from DSTL, “To get me where I understood what it meant to be human / And unfortunately in my life I’d have to fight to prove it.” He continues on to recall where he developed “the tools for the revolution” before making way for a killer verse from Poems, involving the affirmation “I love being Black, ain’t nothing changing that.” The track closes with an extended outro courtesy of Medina: “The old narrative about who the Black man is must die.”
Hear the track below (or save it here), and anticipate more from TBG and Ozay soon.
