JAMAEL DEAN DEBUT ALBUM "PRIMORDIAL WATERS" OUT NOW

amael Dean’s new “Primordial Waters” video is a 7-minute suite of four tracks from the album – “Ọṣun”, “Lake Corcoran”, “Ba'Ra'Ka”, and “Galaxy in Leimert”, featuring Sharada Shashidhar and Mickey. Jamael and director Eric Coleman worked together to create symbolism in imagery interspersed with historical information on the ancestral significance of Leimert Park, Los Angeles' center of black experience and expression.

Primordial Waters is out now. The album’s title refers to the creation story of the Yoruba people, a West African ethnic group with a revered tradition. The first half of the album tells stories of deities and divinities, with Jamael drawing a through line between his tradition’s origins and contemporary spiritual jazz. A hip-hop influence comes through in the album’s second half, with Jamael assuming his hip-hop alter ego Jasik to rap over beats he created entirely by sampling the jazz material on the first half of the album.

Jamael invited his regular collaborator, vocalist Sharada Shashidar, and Mekala Session from his local music community to perform on Primordial Waters. Jamael is a seasoned collaborator: he currently leads music collective The Afronauts, has participated in the Pan Afrikan People’s Arkestra, and has played with the likes of Kamasi Washington, Thundercat, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and Carlos Niño.