Shafiq Husayn’s first solo album “Shafiq En’ A-Free-Ka” represents the culmination of a 30 year journey. He learnt to cut from Afrika Bambaattaa and Afrika Islam, cooled out in L.A. with Egyptian Lover, and did a stint with Ice-T’s Rhyme Syndicate. Today, he is part of the Sa-Ra triumvirate and the only person Erykah Badu allows to write for her. What he makes isn’t hip-hop, isn’t soul, isn’t rock, isn’t jazz. It’s a weke-up call. He carefully arranges his drums like hieroglyphs. Taking the hip-hop beat somewhere else, to a place it’s always been before – thru ancient rhyhthms of the Ethiops, Eastern modalities, dark matter freek1cies and the reverb/delay of our forefathers’ voices. The album is composed with an armoury of outboard gear, effects, synthesizers, electric guitars, strings, horns, a lot of modulation and a lot of weird stuff. “Hip-hop mastered the beat, but they didn’t do nothing with the changes,” says Shafiq. Check out “Lil Girl” featuring UK’s favorite queen – Fatima – and don’t forget to get “En’ A-Free-Ka” when it drops on Plug Research this October!