Announcing Three New Albums!

Hello all, my name is Yende Mangum. On December 25th, I released my debut solo album, entitled "Reverse Psychology." It tells the honest story of my personal journey through the art of hip hop. The music is largely sample-based, stressing the value and importance of creating new directions out of elements that already exist. The samples I used came from old beats I'd made that I originally thought had no future value. As it turns out, their time had simply not come yet. The journey to releasing this work was tremendously difficult, but showed me that who I truly am is a representation of all of those who have influenced me. Though all of the words, melodies, and rhythms of the album are my own, they would quite literally not have been possible without the influence of those around me. "Reverse Psychology" is available on all streaming platforms and digital music stores. The Spotify link is here: https://open.spotify.com/album/5KXkSls7CJcNDTXdz30nzN?si=cEtY0YwHQWm60CSmYQ-fFQ

In the spirit of full honesty that this album demands, I have additionally released the album "opus," which was the first I'd ever intended to create in full. It is available on SoundCloud exclusively. I completed this album around a year ago, yet I was disappointed with its contents, so I hid it from the world. In reality, I was only hiding a piece of my true self, evidencing my previous fixation on perfection. Now that I have seen that this work documents honestly the person I was at the time, I have much more of an appreciation for the truth it provides. This album began the journey toward releasing "Reverse Psychology," and the sonic differences between these two albums shows my progression over the year 2021, as an artist and a human.

Finally, I'd like to officially announce a third album, entitled "studies." The vision for this album came to me while I was doing household chores. I woke up on December 31st and challenged myself to create an entire album in one day. For those who celebrate Kwanzaa, this day is associated with the principle "Kuumba," or creativity. I wrote a series of seven short poems: severance, expectation, truth, illusion, memory, confusion, and system. I then recorded instruments I found around my house, improvising with little predetermined structure. The lyrics combine practices of spoken word poetry and jazz instrumental phrasing. This album is also available on all streaming platforms, under the artist name "Yende Richard Mangum."

I hope that my music is able to resonate with you. I would love to hear your thoughts on it. More information about me can be found on my website at https://yendemangum.com. Thank you, and I hope that 2022 brings you much joy.

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