“Written over four years the COLORED project became so dense we felt the need to create a space for each movement,” says def.sound. “Disc 1ne taps into the idea of returning home, ancestry, and understanding your value. It’s a walk through a rose garden, thorns and all, and at the end, you still leave with a bouquet. In contrast, Disc 2wo represents where we are going next, but where we go next isn’t ignoring where we have been. We have to know what our chains are in order to break them. The second disc starts with a song called ‘Revolution’ and ends with ‘Fresh,’ a full-circle representation of the journey and transition between each part of the project.”

Inspired by Zora Neale Hurston’s 1928 groundbreaking essay, How It Feels to Be Colored Me, def.sound’s COLORED is a sonic tapestry of triumph, trauma, ancestry, and power. These cultural influences have helped shape def.’s vision for COLORED, engaging two artists in conversation, spanning time to form a dialogue on identity. Echoing Hurston’s language in service of establishing his own, COLORED is a living lexicon, letting listeners consider their own complexity and complexion. Being all at once timeless and unapologetically now — the project is a meditation on the past that points forward to the future. C rafted with care to transport and awaken, the two-disc album is a proud and unapologetic product of Los Angeles. Rhythms and lyrics take listeners through def.’s LA, dropping pins from 12th Ave. and Jefferson to Leimert Park; from 54th St. Church to The Slauson Supermall. Moving, funny, thoughtful, and bold, the poetry and sounds of COLORED lives with listeners long after its final note plays.