Queens D.Light Ze Cool Out (Ft. Brandon Rayson)

Queens' recent debut album, California Wildflower, is thick with earnest boom-bap and cosmic exploration. It would be simple to call it a 90's throwback sound, but it's more than that.

Queens' to-the-point lyrics and delivery are less about yesterday than they are about tomorrow. The music is endearing to me because it's human, transparent, and refreshingly self-aware -- without being self-conscious. 

"Ze Cool Out" is just that: straightforward cool. Queens and Brandon Rayson tag team playing the modern griot. Since our country and national culture does its best to squeeze the humanity out of its people, through deification or destruction, it's rebellious to see nuanced human self-representations like Queens. Plus, it's dope.