Body Feeling is the new EP from NYC rapper/producer AKAI SOLO, out now on Backwoodz Studioz. With AKAI’s debut full-length on the label slated for November, Body Feeling is a preamble of sorts, substantive enough to be judged on its own merits while serving as a gateway to the larger work.

“This is an assessment of what has splintered me/what splinters people.I have gone through a lot between my last album True Sky and now. I have been blessed, stressed, relieved, and cursed on a loop,” AKAI explains. “While I watch the world around me burn, I am unable to garner a response of merit simply because my internal world was on fire first. My gaze is strongest there. Much to the body’s chagrin, it is feeling everything. Each crease in the brain reinforced, each ache in the flesh personified.”

There are no voices on Body Feeling besides our protagonist, but there are plenty of head-turning collaborations. Producers Preservation, Nicolas Craven, Child Actor, and Argov each provide a stirring canvas for AKAI to paint as only he can. Explaining the title, he says: “Before the Spirit Roams, the body feels. I heard that empathy is a strength, but we can certainly feel too much, right? Some people spend their entire lives walking that border searching for stability. Others abandon the search. I have fallen during my walk and have realized that getting up this time is daunting and exhausting. That terrifies me. You always think you have felt all you can feel until your heart surprises you.”