What do you think? is the artist's first foray into music composition. It aims to deconstruct three primary concepts to his musical and personal self; biracial identity, love, and what it means to be a musician. Biracial identity: Musically, this project examines a crossover of historically Black music styles: jazz, R&B, and hip-hop. The album examines the issue of biracial identity as it relates to him, with a focus on the ethics of practicing black art forms as a non-Black person, and how to take part in a cultural tradition that is not his own. Love: From childhood, he has had an obsession with love. From love songs to love stories and romance films he has always been fascinated by the way human beings conceptualize and experience love. As a result, the lyrics of each piece examine the topic of love, but embody different individual experience, either true or fantastic. What it means to be a musician: Often there is a stark dichotomy placed between musicians and non-musicians, and his work seeks to deconstruct that idea by including as many self identified non-musicians as possible in the recording process to show that anyone can contribute to this artistic tradition, regardless of any formal training.
Notes:
Honors thesis in Music (AB)--Brown University (2016)
Enriquez, Peter,
"What do you think?:
musical reflections on identity
"
(2016).
Music Theses and Dissertations.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.7301/Z0NG4P2G
Relations
Has Parts:
What do you think?:
musical reflections on identity