Kenyon Dixon

With undeniably smooth vocals, intimate lyrics, and extraordinary amount of soul, Keyon Dixon has firmly cemented themselves as one of the leading voices of R&B today. Fresh off a Grammy nomination in 2021, Dixon has yet to slow down, releasing project after project. Born and raised in South Central Los Angeles, Dixon’s upbringing in the church led them to R&B, which they describe as “the rebellious church kid’s genre.”

This week, we're featuring “ISLY” from their 2022 album “Closer”. As an album, “Closer” is Dixon’s dissertation on R&B - deconstructing the stylistic pillars of the genre, embracing what made them fall in love with the genre as a child, and communicating that to the listener. The album is full of deeply personal tracks filled with Dixon’s trademark lyricism. “ISLY” - short for “I Still Love You” is a proclamation of Dixon’s undying love for their partner and a subtle nod to the lyricism prevalent in 90’s and 00’s R&B.

Muzi

As one of the leading names in modern African music, Muzi effortlessly combines modern musical touches with the influences of his youth. By weaving together local genres like Maskandi, Kwaito, Iscathamiya, pop music of the 80’s and 90’s, and contemporary electronic and hip-hop, Muzi creates a truly unique and authentic sound. Even with one foot in the future, and one in the past, Muzi is still truly a voice for the present moment.

This week, we're featuring their 2022 single “A Day in Chicago”. Featuring a high-energy pulse, the track builds into an incredible vibe with a breathy chant, catchy samples, and perfectly layered rhythms. In many ways, “A Day in Chicago” is a perfect example of how less is more - a masterclass is restraint. Muzi’s innate musicality and skill as a songwriter shine as they carefully select, mix, and harmonize each sample.

Amber-Simone

Featuring a personal twist on classic soul, funk, and R&B vibes, Amber-Simone’s impeccably crafted music is an absolutely dynamic force. Sweeping instrumentals and classic beats have her own authentic stamp on them, but it’s her outstandingly soulful voice that lifts every beat to atmospheric heights.

This week, we’re featuring their 2021 single “Potential”, now featured on the EP “Black, No Sugar”. Amber-Simone describes the EP as “my proudest, most honest work, exploring themes like race and identity, love and the general growing pains of change. Sonically it’s taken a new energy marking my steps into womanhood, exploring a new found empowerment in writing.”

Keys Open Doors

Featuring a smooth flow, creative beats, and undeniable volumes of vibe, Keys Open Doors is rapidly appearing on everyone's radar. Pulling influences from a myriad of musical genres, the Tacoma, Washington based artist elegantly and eloquently finds their own voice to truly stand out in an ocean of music. Whether it’s the gospel influence bringing a vibrancy to every track, or Keys Open Doors’ masterful songwriting skills, every track packs a sonic punch that you won’t want to miss.

This week, we're featuring their 2022 single “Slip n Slide”. Evoking some 90’s West Coast vibes, Keys Open Doors makes the track entirely theirs by melding their contemporary R&B sensibilities to create a uniquely relaxed vibe. At the end of the day, it just goes down smooth.

WurlD

There are few things more musically exciting than listening to an artist who is not only at the forefront of their scene, but also stands as an architect of the genre itself. WurlD, who coined his unique blend of Nigerian Fuji, Afrobeat, and Afrobeats (the former being funk-inspired genre exemplified by Fela Kuti, the latter being the cross-continental pop/soul/R&B scene) as “Fuji Pop”. Every track is a stunningly beautiful mosaic, with the most striking color that of WurlD’s dynamic, sweet, voice and how it carries these contemporary melodies.

This week, we’re featuring his 2022 single “Never Alone”. A soft, generously musical, and sonically lush track, WurlD displays with an effortless mastery how he incorporates elements of pop with emotional depth, his Nigerian roots, and everything in between. In the process, he creates an extraordinary peaceful, deeply meditative track with a simple but powerful message.

Cisco Swank

Swank’s skills on multiple instruments paired with his velvety vocals makes every track a tonal adventure. With heavy jazz influences like Keith Jarrett, Herbie Hancock, and Robert Glasper, the melodies, harmonies, solos, and song-structures frequently defy convention in an almost acrobatic way. There’s a “high-flying-trapeze-act” happening with every track, as Swank constantly stitches together distinctly jazz-influenced elements to contemporary R&B music and lyrics. But at no time does the tapestry ever feel like it’s in danger of falling apart. Swanks stunning musicianship blends everything seamlessly.

This week, we’re featuring “Could It Be You” featuring Luke Titus from his 2022 album “Some Things Take Time”. A heavily jazz influenced track with an incredibly energetic beat, “Could It Be You” is like a free jazz exploration topped off with a smooth, contemporary R&B melody. In lesser hands, this could just feel like two disparate parts playing together, Swank and Titus meld the two in a stunning way. Dreamy, Low-fi melodies and harmonies drape elegantly on every single stroke of the drum beat, creating this extremely interesting combination of two very different energies. From free jazz solos to classic back-beats, Cisco Swank knows exactly how to bring everyone to the table.

D Smoke

D Smoke is everywhere right now - for good reason - and it’s been a long time coming. Deep gospel influences permeate each track, a sonic memento of the musical family he grew up in. His mother sang backup for artists like Tina Turner and Anita Baker and his uncle played bass with Chaka Khan and Prince. He, his brothers, and his cousin (the incredible Tiffany “TGooch” Gouché), wrote tracks for Ginuwine, The Pussycat Dolls, and Jaheim. Now, after rocketing to the top of the genre, he’s taking his lifetime of experiences as a teacher, producer, writer, and performer, and doing everything he can - from touring and producing to acting in “Bel Air”. Whatever D Smoke does next is bound to be spectacular, but he’s incredibly proud of the path he took to get here.

This week, we’re featuring his 2022 single “Glide” featuring Andre Harris. A testament to the strength it takes to simply keep going on, “Glide” alternates between a self-assured hook and verses filled with moments of doubt. In what may be somewhat autobiographical, “Glide” culminates into testament to the power of encouragement from those around you. D Smoke’s flow, effortless shifting from one style to another, finds an explosive connection with Andre Harris’s production choices.

LAYA

With a style that’s constantly shifting and evolving, LAYA is an unstoppable creative force. A singer, songwriter, producer, and visual artist, LAYA is always bringing her vibrant, authentic take and making it work. From lyrics to cover art and everything in between, LAYA is constantly learning, creating, and refining her sound.

This week, we’re featuring “Calling Me” from her 2022 EP “Um, Hello”. An ambient, atmospheric, space-influenced (peep the classic Star Trek sound effect at 0:19) opening gives way to an almost meditative chant with a bass and tambourine led beat. Gradually, the track builds to euphoric heights, showcasing LAYA’s incredible range as a vocalist with layers upon layers of tight harmony and gorgeous stratospheric riffing. Not to be outdone, LAYA’s lyrics dance between self-affirmation and a warning to anyone who doubts her.

Beau Diako

Featuring swift, intricate melodies, an incredible sense of groove, and dynamic songwriting, Beau Diako has crafted a truly authentic sound out of a wide swath of influences. From Radiohead to neo soul and everything in between, Diako has rocketed from bedroom beats to one of the most captivating songwriters in the scene today.

This week, we’re featuring “The Care” from his 2022 album “Nylon”. Featuring Tobi Tunis. Tunis’ smooth vocals and graceful melody pair perfectly with Diako’s sweeping, percussive guitar work. Diako gives the track the right amount of pulsing bass and drums, but knows exactly when to pull it back to let Tunis shine.

Disclosure

With a deep love of pop, funk, and hip-hop, and a penchant for writing impeccable house-pop anthems, Disclosure is indisputably one of the best in the game. While their influences run deep, Disclosure (comprised of siblings Guy and Howard Lawrence), have meticulously carved out their own sound, setting them distinctly apart from the ocean of house and EDM inspired pop in the 2010’s. Over a decade after their debut, the duo still drops delicious new tracks and incredible beats. What might be more impressive, is that they might just now be coming into their own. A groove and looseness has begun to permeate their music. Each track is still surgically precise and constructed, but there is a new sense of natural energy that might make the next decade of Disclosure even better than the first.

This week, we’re featuring their 2022 single “Waterfall”. Featuring singer-songwriter RAYE, “Waterfall” is clubby in all the best ways. Bursting at the seams with energy, Disclosure’s beat here is sonic adrenaline. RAYE’s soulful take on a fun, pop-inspired melody turns the track into an absolute delight, creating a duet of incredible digital and natural elements.

Haile Supreme

With velvety vocals, a spiritual energy, and a penchant for incredibly tight beats and catchy basslines, Haile Supreme is an artist who absolutely deserves a spot in your daily rotation. Supreme brings a palpable vibrancy to every track - like listening to pure sunshine. While a lesser artist may coast on a solidly constructed groove, Supreme instead immerses their sound seamlessly. The music isn’t delineated into “melody, rhythm, harmony”, but instead bursts with life as a single, unified vibe.

This week, we’re featuring the 2020 single “Elsewhere”. It’s clear that Haile Supreme’s sound has evolved even further since their last Black Tea appearance (2019’s “Danjahrous”). While “Danjahrous” featured Supreme flexing their retro, low-fi, 90’s hip hop muscles, “Elsewhere” is a trip to the future. An incredibly funky bassline anchors the track, while the empty spaces in between Supreme’s silky melodies are punctuated with haunting digital noises. From past, to present, to future, Haile Supreme is a voice you definitely want to hear.

Jack Dine

Jack Dine (left, pictured here with artist Alex Isley) might be featured on more Black Tea playlists than any other artist. As one of the leading producers in the scene today, Dine has helped craft tracks with Black Tea staples Alex Isley, Lucky Daye, Robert Glasper, Masego and more. With an incredible sensitivity towards contemporary R&B, everything from Dine’s beats, background vocals, and production choices always lifts the artist and the track to new heights. Whether Dine is molding dreamy atmospheres or industrial beats, they’re always tapped in to a unique kind of tonal magic.

This week we’re featuring “Too Bad I Forget” from Alex Isley’s 2022 album “Marigold”. Dine is a major part of this album, adding their particular flair to every track. Isley’s vocals float ethereally over the top of this twinkling windchime soundscape. The beat, soft and delicate, is punctuated by rimshots on the snare - a move straight out of the contemporary R&B playbook. Here however, it’s recontextualized as a texture to highlight Isley’s choruses.

Rae Khalil

With an incredibly versatile flow combined with powerful, potent, and poetic lyrics, Rae Khalil is undoubtedly one of the most dynamic artists featured on Black Tea. Khalil’s flow is incredibly unique, effortlessly bending into jazzy melodies from complex, meter-shifting bars. Whether navigating densely packed verses or enjoying the inherent funkiness of more laid back vibes, you’re never lost in the journey Khalil wants to take you on.

This week, we’re featuring the new CARRTOONS x Rae Khalil collab “Lighta”. Featuring clear homages to 90’s west-coast vibes in the bassline and organ sample, Khalil delivers a incredible performance, their mastery of flow fully on display. Khalil’s smooth vocals glide through every part of their range, but all with clear intent.There’s never a moment of “doing something because they can” - every choice, regardless of complexity is all in service of the track.

Levin Kali

With an unbridled energy, lush harmonies, and bold style, Leven Kali’s music is an explosion of vibes. Each track is like a painting filled with vibrant hues and dynamic motion, but balanced with subtlety and nods to influences past and present. Effortlessly blending genres, Kali’s tracks mix in classic and contemporary R&B, funk, pop, and hip-hop. Whether musing on relationships or urging you to shed the weight of the world and bask in the emotional freedom, Level Kali’s music is a call to life - one you’re absolutely going to want to answer.

This week, we’re featuring their brand new single “LET IT RAIN”. With an infectious energy, a wickedly fun bass line, and the lush, layered harmonies we’ve come to expect from Kali, “LET IT RAIN” is nothing short of an absolute blast to listen to. The lyrics are a reassurance that everything will be okay - to let your worries fall away like rain - and enjoy the moment in whatever way you need to. There is a beauty in the earnestness of the lyrics, and how much Kali just wants you to enjoy yourself.

Trapo

With a constantly evolving, incredibly versatile, and truly distinct flow, Trapo has - deservedly - garnered a massive audience in an incredibly short time. Flow is nothing with our lyrics, and Trapo’s tracks feature wickedly clever rhymes, witty rejoinders, and wizened reflections. Their musicality and lyricism meld in an indescribable manner, each one amplifying the other in a feedback loop that produces hours of authentic, one-of-a-kind, prodigious music. The beats can be industrial and raw, but in the way a vintage item might be painstakingly reliced in order to make it as valuable as possible. Every single beat and syllable is crafted and cared for with such purpose; to make sure the message is never obfuscated or clouded. On every track, Trapo has something to say - and you’re definitely going to want to start listening.

This week, we’re featuring their brand new single “Refills”. Immediately apparent is the chromatic jazz trumpet sample, setting the mood as simultaneously relaxing but slightly on edge. After a couple repetitions though, Trapo comes in dropping serious bars. Each verse is lyrically packed to the brim, but not a single word is extraneous, making “Refills” a masterclass in lyricism.

Robert Glasper

I mean - it’s Robert Glasper. What can we say here that hasn’t already been said thousands of times before? Glasper is a visionary, a virtuoso, and an incredibly prolific songwriter, performer, producer, but this just barely scratches the surface of what Glasper means to the musical community at large. Glaspers sound, inspired by growing up in jazz clubs and molded by performing at churches, mixes gospel, jazz, hip-hop, and R&B in a wholly fresh way. Glasper has breathed new life and vitality into a genre, breaking down the boundaries between genres to become one of the preeminent musical voices of our time.

This week, we’re featuring two tracks from the critically acclaimed “Black Radio III”. First is “Heaven’s Here” featuring dynamo vocalist Ant Clemmons. Clemmons stunning vocal’s soar perfectly in tandem with Glasper’s jazz sensibilities, tinged with harmonies evoking contemporary R&B. Second is “Forever” featuring both PJ Morton and the incomparable India.Arie. Filled with Glaspers’s gospel roots, the track builds from a steady shuffle into a euphoric explosion of musical power.

Jvck James

With an incredibly smooth voice, fun lyrics, and an effortless blend of R&B and pop, Jvck James is the up-and-coming phenom that 2022 needs. James, however, almost seems to make his home in the future. Each track always looks to push the boundaries of the genre a little farther forward, with contemporary production choices, fresh beats, and undeniably catchy melodies - all without sacrificing any authenticity or sentiment. This year might be the first time you pick up on Jvck James, but James is already years ahead of the rest of us.

This week, we’re featuring his 2021 single “Love In The Club”. James somehow manages to catch that mid-2000’s dance-pop nostalgia while drenching the track in contemporary R&B vibes. James buttery-smooth vocals, tinged with a hint of influence from artists like D’angelo, float on a hip foundation of synth samples and the clever re-purposing of a classic dance beat. An eminently dance-able track, it’s the perfect choice for any summer celebration.

Lady Wray

Lady Wray has said that her 2022 album, “Piece of Me” is the album she always wanted to make. Turns out, it’s also the album we always wanted to listen to. Lady Wray joins an exclusive club of artists to be double featured on a single episode of Black Tea, and we could not be more excited to shine the spotlight on such an incredible artist. Wray’s dynamite vocals showcase a vulnerable authenticity on “Piece of Me”. Wray’s multitude of artistic dimensions are not only on display, but are so masterfully woven into a beautifully cohesive sound and narrative. Eminently relatable, Lady Wray is the voice we all needed right now.

This week, we’re thrilled to feature two tracks from “Piece of Me” - “Through It All” and “Where Were You”. Both tracks feature Lady Wray at her finest, deftly using her incredibly powerful voice front and center, unencumbered by overproduction.

The tracks are organic: live instruments and classic production choices, but Wray brings her own identity and experiences to create the music she’s always wanted to make. “Through It All” is a meditative love letter, reflecting on the ups and downs that come with a long-term romance. A lyrical reflection, the track features some vintage vibes: a shuffle groove that throws back to the southern rap scene of the 90’s, Wrays vocals elegantly dressed with a radio-esque filter, and the gentle strumming guitar prevalent in so many R&B classics. And while “Through It All” may be a musical reflection of the past “Where Were You” is Wray fully in the present moment. With a more industrial beat and a pop-tinged melody, Wray’s vocals shine as she musically interrogates those in her life who only showed up when things were good.

Emmavie

With powerful vocals, luxurious harmonies, incredible beats, and a signature sound dressed with some 90’s R&B stylings, it’s easy to understand why Emmavie is one of the leading voices in contemporary R&B. To Black Tea fans, Emmavie is no stranger either, as this marks their 8th time on Black Tea. An absolute master of the genre in all its forms, Emmavie has covered swaths of new ground with her 2021 EP “What’s A Diamond To A Baby”. Featuring facets of her not seen on previous releases, Emmavie taps into a “naughty, sexy side” for the EP and each track drips with both retro and new-school vibes.

This week, we’re featuring the track “Trick Me”, featuring multi-talented artist Kojey Radical. The track, absolutely bursting with intricate, clever lyrics, eloquently describes the ecstasy of a romance that may not be all it seems on the surface, and how we’ll push aside any intrusive thought to achieve a higher high. Kojey Radical’s verse pairs magnificently with Emmavie’s sultry, 90’s inspired choruses in a duet that rivals any love song. The lyrics, and a twisting, winding, sensual beat, make for a track that is bound for repeat listens, and one that sneaks back into your mind over again.

Elujay

With a sound that instantly grabs your attention, Elujay’s music and energy is like a dynamite cup of coffee. Immediately awakening, heightening your senses, piping hot, and perfectly smooth. Elujay effortlessly blends varietals of R&B, jazz, soul, and pop in every track. Moreover, Elujay’s stunning lyricism weaves verse after verse of complex ideas and feelings, authentic statements from his soul, spoken directly to the listener. While the energy of the music is undeniable, the lyrics are real, occasionally heavy, and deeply meaningful.

This week we’re featuring his 2021 single “1080p”, featuring Bay Area producer HXNS. A song about our addiction to technology, Elujay muses about unplugging in the same way you might break up with a partner. A hypnotic, driving beat moves the track forward, while Elujay’s gently building, perfectly restrained vocals fill out every centimeter of sonic space. All sharpened by the finesse of HXNS’s production, the track elegantly walks the line between absolute bop and poetry that hits hard in the real world.