Dope Sagittarius is proof that opposites do attract, at least in the musical world, and Black Empress is a great example of the art of genre-bending, and in doing so it creates music that is hard to place but easy to love. It is both full of off-kilter jazz intricacies and rock and roll groove. There is a pop immediacy to the song and also a confident swagger that comes from knowing that it turns heads and confounds expectation. It is cool and contagious and also inventive and left field. It raps and soothes, it is highly original, forward-thinking and creative yet full of past musical references which spiral back down the years as well as across the genres.
If you like music to follow neat lines or that is easy to label, then Black Empress might be a bit of a challenge for you but if you still thinking about music in such a way in the 21st century, then you are probably what is wrong with the modern music scene. Such lines of thought can only hold everything back.
Dope Sagittarius’ music is about breaking new ground, about musical fun and creative fusion, about leaping sonic boundaries, kicking down generic barriers and storming the barricades. Black Empress does all that and more. Get on board, it’s the way forward.
[…] though Define Love signalled that the album to follow from New York’s Dope Sagittarius was going to be a wonderfully eclectic affair, few could have predicted such a sweet and […]