GRAMMY-nominated trumpeter, composer, producer, and artist THEO CROKER has announced a new album BLK2LIFE || A FUTURE PAST, his first since the critically acclaimed Star People Nation, the album that earned him the nomination. The album was produced by Theo Croker and features Wyclef Jean, Ari Lennox, Gary Bartz, Charlotte Dos Santos, Iman Omari, Malaya, and Kassa Overall.
A contemporary oratorio, the 13 tracks that make BLK2LIFE || A FUTURE PAST are inspired by the forgotten hero's journey towards self-actualization within the universal origins of blackness. It's a sonic celebration of Afro-origin, and ultimately a reclamation of the culture, for the culture. "Our hero receives a transmission from his ancestors while in meditation that sets him on a mission to raise the planet's vibrations through music that defies the confines of a 'genre' and frees the culture from the imminent threat of commercial gentrification," says Theo.
Written in the solitude of his childhood home in Leesburg, Florida, during the pandemic much of the album was informed by psilocybin meditations and astral travels. By retreating inward, Theo extracted a universal story with major implications and spiritual resonances. "In the beginning, the universe was birthed out of a black hole," he says. "Everything came from blackness. Black is every color combined. So, all cultures are full of this rich blackness. It isn't a racial statement; it's about understanding and accepting that this is not a new cultural phenomenon or new science, that we can reclaim our origins, traditions, and culture to better the future. I'm making a statement with the title and project, 'I can be an artist first before I am a black artist'. I can be a musician, creator, and producer without category."
Theo will hit the road in support of the new album starting with a two-week residence at San Francisco's Black Cat this August. Other dates will take him to select cities in the U.S. with more dates across the world - stops including Oslo, Prague, Milan, Paris, London, Berlin, and more.
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