Ch-check It Out! My Man Shafe Unveils Nex Millen-produced "Soul of My Life" & "Stalker" with Live Band Diverse Magnetic (Street Funk/Soul Rap)
My Man Shafe (@MyManShafe) is a South Philly Soul magnate, Funk buster, crowd rocker, and self-proclaimed "Street Funk/Soul rapper." Shafe self-released a FREE mixtape/street album entitled "Who's That?!" recorded and mixed by Zilla Rocca and has since unveiled material with Nex Millen, Wrecking Crew on Wu-Tang Pulp, Curly Castro, Zilla Rocca & Has-Lo, Small Professor for World Around Records, Son Raw, and most recently, Career Crooks' "Mike Milligan (Kitchen Brothers)" with Curly Castro & ALASKA. "I make Soul music. Even though I rap and came up as an emcee, my music is Soul. It's Soul because of the place that it comes from," My Man Shafe profoundly writes within his on-site Bio.
"Soul music comes from the gut; the bottom, the pit of your stomach. It's a feeling. It's a vibe. It's the notion that we've all been through things and together, we can overcome," he continues. Since last year, My Man Shafe has self-released a series of Soundcloud singles including: "Love/Hate," "Proud Of," Jason Griff-produced "Called You," and "Soul of My Life" produced by Nex Millen. Not only has Shafe been actively releasing solo singles, he's also, part of Collingswood, NJ-based Neo-Soul/Hip-Hop/Funk/Psych-Rock band Diverse Magnetic. Along with emcee Shafe, Diverse Magnetic features vocalist Jackie, guitarist John, bassist Chris, DJ Micah, sax player Matt, and drummer/percussionist Doug. Just about two weeks ago, Diverse Magnetic let loose their first proper single, "Stalker," as well as improvised in-studio jam session cuts, "Even The Way You Smile At Me" and "The Fierce Jam of Doug's Laugh & Johnnie Jupiter's Moon." Diverse Magnetic are currently booking shows throughout The Tri-State Area.
While nearly all of My Man Shafe's material is oozing with Soul, Funk, and Hip-Hop effortless cool, for the purposes of this write-up, I'm gonna focus primarily on "Soul of My Life" and Diverse Magnetic's "Stalker" from here on out... Nex Millen-produced "Soul of My Life" is a beautifully constructed Hip-Hop Slow Jam—think D'Angelo, Redman & Method Man's "Left & Right"—with vocal and instrumental assists from Sarah Kane, guitarist Todd Pritchard, and DJ Nex Millen himself. It's hard to explain, but My Man Shafe's "Soul of My Life" really, just gives you ALL THE FEELS! Diverse Magnetic's "Stalker," on the other hand, is a similarly-minded Street Funk/Soul Rap entity with an added dash of Neo-Soul, Funk, and Psychedelic Rock that lasts for nearly 7 minutes!
While I've never heard anything quite like My Man Shafe/Diverse Magnetic's collective output, I would compare it, if pressed, to something along the lines of Asher Roth's Blended Babies-produced Pabst & Jazz (2011-12,) some of Action Bronson's early Blues/Jazz-minded freestyles, Common's deeply Soulful, thought-provoking output, or even The Roots' storied genre-eschewing back catalog. My Man Shafe is currently, planning to drop a new Jason Griff-produced single entitled "Lonely," as well as a couple loose singles "from the vault," within the next month or two. Diverse Magnetic will be dropping an EP song-by-song, starting with "Stalker," to be slowly released over the course of the next 2-3 months. "Soul of My Life" and Diverse Magnetic's "Stalker" are both available on Apple Music, Soundcloud, Spotify, YouTube, and like-minded digital streaming services.
