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African Black: The Unreleased Anthems & Ballads. This year, I am not only publishing the 6th volume of “The Sandmann’s Journal,” but I’m also re-releasing “Stay True.” While digging in my cache of unreleased music, I found a few interesting unreleased songs. I will call it “African Black: The Unreleased Anthems and Ballads.” There are brand new Krio songs and unreleased tunes from the “While I’m Still Young” and “Laboramus Exspectantes Vol. 1” albums. The known songs are different versions from previous recordings. You will have the same song with a different rhythm and an unlikely flow. I had recorded them, but we did not include them in the original album.
This is Swift Nightz’s first release from Berlin, Germany.”
There are fifteen tracks on this record. New Krio records like “Tonight feat. Reebz, & Specikinging,” “IV U feat. Tru Raw & King Boss L.A.,” and “Superstar feat. Nes Mburu & Afrikan Diamond.” Calypso and Soca crossovers, “Oh La La & Maria feat. Delee,” and Zimba, Calypso, and Rap versions of “City Boy feat. Winnie Culture.” This is Swift Nightz’s first release from Berlin, Germany. Be sure to also look for the Rock and Roll Crossover, “Demodogs feat. T. I. M. & Rene Guillot.” Its accompanying book, “Crime Rhymes” came out of St. George’s, Grenada, in 2019. I have slated this record as a November 2020 release.
One of my best friends called me African-Black in New Jersey. I grew up in Liberia. There we spoke Americo-Liberian English. It is very similar to American English. I’ve always lived an African-American-ish lifestyle. Being one of the earliest Hip Hop heads in West Africa, I was an experienced Hiphoppa when I moved to the States. That was unusual since the typical immigrants from that part of Africa spoke British English. That made it easy for me to adjust. Was that why L called me African-Black? I never really asked. In Jersey, my close circle comprised Africans, Jamaicans, and African Americans.
In the U.S., the majority of my friends are African Americans. When I look back on my time in New Jersey, I am filled with fond memories. I always wished I could move around and live there again. When people ask me where I’m from, I typically say New Jersey. My grandparents have lived there for more than 50 years. My parents resettled and established our family there. I have uncles, aunts, and cousins there. I landed and naturalized after that, relocating from Dakar, Senegal. This album speaks to my New Jersey roots while encapsulating my musical works in Canada and western Europe.
2020 is a particular year. Look out for back to back launches…”
Spotify, Tidal, or iTunes gets my newly recorded Krio songs, never-released pre-recorded numbers, and a couple of other joints. I’m African-Black; these are some of my unreleased anthems and ballads. I am giving my fans three new releases while preparing volume seven and the tenth-anniversary second edition of my second book. I will also release a brand new Krio album sometime in 2021. I’ve mixed, revamped, and remastered this album and set it in a classic book plus album package. As I’ve said, 2020 is a particular year. Look out for some back-to-back launches from the Swift Nightz Camp.
You will find an unreleased R&B version with Nigel Woodz that music producer Rob Scandrett produced at the CBC Studios in Toronto, Canada (during the fall of 2007). The “City Boy” track is a Calypso and Hip Hop crossover ballad I recorded with Winnie Culture. I meant this song for my debut album, “While I’m Still Young.” It was the single leading back then. However, after recording several track versions, the label went with the Calypso/Hip Hop version. Now it will be one of the tunes on “African Black: The Unreleased Anthems & Ballads.” I thank everyone for their support and hope you enjoy this record.
Next, I edited and republished my first book. That first book is, “My Book Of Chrymes,” its accompanying music is the album…”
Here is how I came up with this album. In 2009 Soul Asylum Poetry & Publishing, I issued my first book. The New York Coalition for Healthy School Foods worked on their children’s album that same year. That record garnered a Grammy nomination. That year (2010), Soul Asylum Poetry and Publishing published my second book. I released a full-length studio album with each of those books as the companying music. Since 2019 and 2020 are the tenth-year anniversaries of my first and second books and albums, plus the Grammy nomination, I am doing some things to commemorate those events.
I call these my soft rollout since I only promote them for my fans on Facebook. And my Facebook page is closed to the public. Last year, we lost my ride-or-die homie, Prince Will, CTC. May his soul rest in peace!!! He was the most trusted lieutenant on my team, The Chill Town Crew, in Sierra Leone. As a result, I’ve changed my second record label’s name from Swift Nightz Entertainment to Swift Nightz. That’s the start of this rollout. Next, I edited and republished my first book. The first book is “My Book Of Chrymes,” Its accompanying music was the album, “While I’m Still Young… The Talking Drums 1.2V.”
That is why I put the lyrics from that album in the book. As I’ve stated earlier, I’ve republished a tenth-anniversary edition (of the first book), which is also an updated version called “Crime Rhymes.” This new record, which I am promoting as “African Black: The Unreleased Anthems & Ballads,” comprises unreleased versions of a few songs from the studio sessions for “While I’m Still Young… The Talking Drums 1.2V.” I had recorded some of the songs multiple times, with numerous featuring artists and beats, but we ended up releasing the versions on the albums currently in stores.
What you’re getting are those never before heard sessions or songs. However, please get a genuine vibe from those studio sessions. Therefore, I am not remixing or editing them to the 2020 standard. I am releasing them “as is,” with the belief that fans will get an authentic listening experience in doing so. Don’t worry, and the mixes were not bad at all. Another bonus is that you will get unreleased sessions from songs from another album I dropped after the 2008 record, plus brand-new Krio songs. And I will feature all this jabber in the seventh and final volume of The Sandmann’s Journal.*
