Took Time Like Duck Confit

Jean Grae & Quelle Chris “Gold Purple Orange”

Quelle Chris produced this track, and it really knocks me out – the repetition of that creeping bass line, the organ drones and vamps, the flute, the sax, the wordless vocal, the way the high hat sounds a bit off in the mix. It’s like a funky jazz tune that’s been ripped up and flipped sideways, broken and awkward but still retaining some groove and grace. Quelle Chris and Jean Grae’s verses sharply contrast their styles – he’s laid back and sarcastic, she’s more aggressive and technically precise – but mirror each other in structure. They spend the first half of their respective verses meditating on stereotypes and the ways one’s control over their own identity and personal narrative is limited by other people’s perceptions. “You can be the things they say to be and get killed,” as Grae puts it. But regardless of that, their verses reach the same conclusion: “I ain’t gotta be nothing for you but me.”

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