Daffi

Jae expands on his production and speaks in the persona of his alter ego to express a darker side. The 16-track self-produced album was recorded in both Chicago and his Los Angeles home studio The Black Light. Contributions by fellow Black Jungle Squad brethren Oliver The 2nd ("Backpacks"), The Koreatown Oddity ("Figure Skating"), Busdriver ("In Da Zone"), KarenBe ("All Me"), and his legendary band leader (for Miles Davis) and musician father Robert Irving III ("Nefertiti") help carry the album to exalted heights and somber lows. It is with much merit for any one to experience such a wide range of emotions, yet return to an even heightened state of artistry with such artistic beauty and grace. With HIT+RUN creating the glorious double vinyl offering (plus 16-page full-color art book featuring stunning supplementary graphic work by Jae) with multiple collectible one-of-a-kind screenprinted & hand-painted artist gatefold jackets, as well as limited-edition cassette tapes available. All vinyl formats of this modern classic include five bonus tracks ("Bells", "Field", "Harpoon", "Know You" ft. Trenttruce, and a Jae remix of "Streetwatchers") not available on the digital release. “I needed to take sometime away from the scene, social media, everything. A lot of stuff happens in life, sometimes good, sometimes bad. I was in a not good period for some years. Although I still continued to create and release things here and there, It felt like this mass of stress and frustration was surrounding me, and weighing me down. I got to points where I wanted to just give up on everything, for different reasons. One of the hard parts for me is opening up and talking about those feelings to anyone. I’ve always been pretty anti social and it doesn’t help to not communicate, hold everything inside, and act like nothings wrong. I did realize though, the blessing of having music and art a part of my life, and that I needed to use that creative outlet to express these feelings. I began focusing on making a record that could hold that weight and make something new from it. Something that could move you through the darkness to find light at the end of the tunnel. Daffi is a character I used to channel this energy. He is able to say and do the things I can’t.” - Jae