Indianapolis Star

Indianapolis-based musician Carrington Clinton has released several albums under the name Clint Breeze, but none is quite as socially and politically focused as his latest release, “Nappy Head.”

Breeze created all the instrumentals and beats for the album but collaborated with a handful of Indianapolis artists to bring this socially conscious album to life. The album deals with themes of police brutality, white privilege and racial oppression.

IndyStar got a chance to talk to Breeze about the creation of the album, his bold album artwork and creating a project with an explicit message. Portions have been edited for brevity.

Question: How and when did this project start?

Answer: I’ve been working on it for most of the year. I’ve been wanting to make some sort of album that is politically and socially aware of the times our society lives in with racism and oppression. I’ve been wanting to do something like that for a little while, and with more things that popped up throughout the media — police brutality or social injustice — I wanted to pinpoint it basically, do some sort of collective consciousness through the artists that collaborated. I wanted to pinpoint these things and raise awareness or show people this is how I feel about these things.

Q: How did you decide which artists you wanted to collaborate with? What was the collaboration process like?

A: A lot of people I wanted to collaborate with, I really enjoy their artistry. So everyone on the album is someone that I enjoy listening to or seeing perform. I thought with having a socially aware album with subject matter of racial oppression, social injustice, being a young black person in America, I wanted to have an eclectic group of artists to tell different stories or elude to ideas relating to that motif throughout the album but with a different spin on it with each artist. Each artist that you find on “Nappy Head” I find to be in their own way quite prolific.

Q: The album artwork features a black-and-white image of a person sitting on an American flag with a broken noose above the person’s head. Tell me more about that.

A: I definitely wanted something eye-popping. Around the time I wanted to get the art going, friend Jacob Gardner, who did the art, he was working on a lot of black-and-white imagery, and he had some ideas going with oppression, as well. I had this idea of having this sort of raw, uncut image of what I think might be the ultimate encompassing view of what oppression has been and is for black people in America. ... That’s how I came up with the idea of putting the American flag under the figure and having the noose in the background. The noose is broken to symbolize that the person overcame it, and they are sitting on top of American oppression.

And ‘nappy head’ is an expression that has been used negatively against black people, and it has been used as a description that black people use for other black people. Similar to the N-word, how it can be used negatively or as a descriptor.

Q: Did you have an intended audience you were thinking of while creating the album? Who is the intended audience now that the album has been released?

A: This album is for everyone and can be for everyone. It is so often that when we get opinionated on these topics — racial oppression or social injustice against people of color — it is usually widely considered “black music” or centered around black people, which a good chunk of it is. It feels like black music. But at the same time there are people on the record who give their perspective of racial oppression and social injustice from the other side of the coin: white privilege. If you listen to it with open ears, it might provoke you to think a little more about certain things for those who are on the fence or indecisive. Or it’s for the people that are already aware and it can give them some sort of sense of closure. I’ve had people say that in a weird good way, this album was powerful enough that it made them sad about everything. When you think about it, if it’s powerful enough to make you realize these are the things really happening in the world, that’s a strong reaction in itself that I swayed someone’s point of view.

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Q: Do you have a favorite song on the album?

A: I made all the beats, and I like them all. But there are a couple that I particularly like. I like “Blood Splatter.” I like the last song (“Love You, Love You Too”). It’s the longest song on the album. It goes into a 3½-three and a half minute instrumental. It starts off with some commentary that I took from online of Black Lives Matter protestors at this rally for the KKK (Ku Klux Klan), and they were both kind of battling each other, going back and forth.

Q: How would you describe this album for someone who hasn’t listened to it or doesn’t know what it’s about?

A: “Nappy Head” is an album that you need to hear right now. It’s blunt, in your face, hopeful, but real. I think it’s something that music listeners and appreciators across the land need to hear. I tried my best to encompass different styles of music. It’s musically, sound, and sonically, I think it’s my best piece yet. Lyrically and intellectually there is a lot that is said that needs to be heard.

Bekah Pollard is a 2016 Arts Journalism Fellow. The fellowship is a partnership between the Arts Council of Indianapolis and IndyStar.