It’s been 8 years since Raphael Saadiq has released an album. The Grammy Award-winning musician, songwriter, and go-to collaborator/producer for some of the biggest names in R&B, including Solange, John Legend, Mary J. Blige, and D’Angelo — released Jimmy Lee, on August 23, 2019.
Jimmy Lee is a deeply personal, musically ambitious work inspired by his brother’s struggles with addiction that explores the razor’s edge people walk as they pursue pleasure that leads to pain — an incisive and empathetic work from a master at the peak of his art.
The follow-up to 2011’s Stone Rollin’, Jimmy Lee is a deeply personal journey of discovery and a rumination on contemporary life. Raphael Saadiq takes us on a walk through his elements, from Oakland to Rikers Island, with some of the most captivating music he has ever recorded. Inspired in part by his brother’s addiction, Saadiq explores universal themes of craving that which feels good but is also destructive. Some resist, some relent.
There’s pain, there’s pleasure, and of course consequences — all of which inform the songs and stories this brilliant work so richly reveals.
Jimmy Lee was self-produced by Raphael Saadiq and recorded at Blakeslee Recording Co. in North Hollywood.
Jimmy Lee is available now.
1. Sinners Prayer
2. So Ready
3. This World Is Drunk
4. Something Keeps Calling
5. Kings Fall
6. I’m Feeling Love
7. My Walk
8. Belongs to God
9. Dottie’s Interlude
10. Glory to the Veins
11. Rikers Island
12. Rikers Island Redux
13. Rearview
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