Few independent Hip Hop music artists and groups can rival the inventiveness, creativity and dedication to their craft that Solillaquists of Sound have displayed over the past decade plus. Even more impressive is each group members’ willingness to step outside of the boundaries of Solilla and try new musical and artistic adventures. That’s exactly what we receive with the new collaborative project between SOS members Alexandra Love and DiViNCi as the new duo Chakra Khan on Love Is At The Core.
The factors that immediately stand out with Love Is At The Core are both artists’ uncanny talent to seem almost more than human, Alexandra Love with her flexible, beautifully growling pipes and DiViNCi with his wide-ranging musical landscapes inspired by everything from garage rock to symphony orchestras. Love has moments of signature in-depth vulnerability in her writing, touching on themes ranging from overcoming fear and self worth to unity, enlightenment and self-acceptance. Coupled with the sonic adventurousness of DiViNCi, we receive tracks like the luscious flow and playful staccato of “Joga”. While “Becoming” presents a darker but no less beautiful combination of Love and DiViNCi’s ability to make transcendent, spiritual that captures the emotions that we all feel but many times will not outwardly express. Lines like “I accept myself for who I am/I accept that I am different and I understand…” paired with the sinuous movement of DiViNCi’s production are hard to resist.
From the artists regarding the song Pulse:
This song, from the debut album of Chakra Khan, was recorded and titled on January 9, 2016 in Orlando, FL and performed for the first time less than five miles away and just a few hours before the attack at Pulse Nightclub. We offer this as a song of love.
Other moments of triumph include the meditative “Pulse” and the pristine shininess of “I Am Light.” And just when you believe you fully know the direction Love… will take, you’re hit with renditions of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “Take My Breath Away” that show the wide-reaching, genre-bashing range of two artists that aren’t afraid to put their own spin on the classics of yesteryear. The first displays Love making the lyrics of Kurt Cobain sound nostalgic, but re-energized, while the latter has Love and DiViNCi giving a greater depth to the 80s masterpiece.
In the end, Love Is At The Core is sonically cosmic and otherworldly. We get much of what we expect from veterans like Love and DiViNCi, and even a few surprises now and then.
Pick up a physical copy of the album here.
Ron Grant is a Hip Hop and music blogger/journalist who has covered Hip Hop music for HipHopDX.com, Sosoactive.com and Shows I Go To and has traveled to the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival, SXSW, North Coast Music Festival and Essence Music Festival. He became deeply involved in the Orlando Hip Hop community through his writing in 2013. He now resides in Atlanta, GA.
