Philly Emcee Ai-Que Unveils Socially-conscious & Politically-poignant Debut Full-length The American Dream (Ai-Que MCBoogie)
Still riding high on the success of his recent single with
Rolled Gold & Reef The Lost Cauze
,
Ai-Que
AKA
Ai-Que MCBoogie
AKA
"The Multi-faceted Rap Machine"
has returned with his debut full-length,
The American Dream
.
Ai-Que
is a
Philly
-based emcee "heavily focused on the cultural impact and unification of global communities."
Ai-Que
also, moonlights as co-host of
(@bangersandmashtheshow)
along with
Ali Miller
FKA
Truck North
of
The Legendary Roots Crew
. On the eve prior to
The American Dream
's Saturday, July 21st release,
Ai-Que
played a monumentous show with
dead prez
,
Reef The Lost Cauze & DJ ANTLIVE
at
hosted by
D.R.E.S. Tha Beatnik
. When asked what his greatest sources of inspiration and influence behind
The American Dream
were,
Ai-Que
stated he wanted to "create something that was sonically, more contemporary without compromising the integrity of the lyrics;" with the full intention from the get-go of making "an album that cohesively blended together [that] addressed our social climate and history, but people could play at night or going to the club, or before a game, or on a road-trip."
Diligently working with his go-to studio engineers,
Ai-Que
hand-selected beat stems from a slew of producers, including
Eric Wortham, Aarun Simon, Thorn
and
E.N.O.N. Jacobs
, as well as
Ai-Que
himself on
"Escapism."
"I picked beats that [sounded] like they could be on the radio. The projects I've released in the past have always been more
Boom-Bap
, whereas, this sounds like it was made in 2018,"
Ai-Que
explained within an email to
The Witzard
.
The American Dream
has an underlying theme of social consciousness and political poignancy running through, similar stylistically, to
"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"
from
Gil Scott-Heron
's critically-acclaimed 1971 studio debut,
Pieces of a Man
. On his
American Dream
,
Ai-Que
is assisted by
Arianna Cash
on opener
"The Savages,"
I-be4ever
on
"Cowboys&Indians,"
and his
BANGERS & MASH PODCAST
co-host
Ali Miller
(FKA
Truck North
) on appropriately-tilted Bonus Cut,
"Bangers&Mash."
The American Dream
is available directly from
Ai-Que
's
via
PayPal
for $11.00 or on
Apple Music
, Google Play,
Soundcloud
, Spotify,
TIDAL
, and like-minded digital retailers.
"The studio debut of Ai-Que, The American Dream is a concept album masterfully scripted and arranged, rich with clever lyrics and a sonic sophistication that provides listeners with an enjoyable experience, without departing from the raw messages of the songs. It is a contemporary soundscape drawing parallels between the African-American experience and American History, as well as the general American philosophy of "Get Money.'"
- Ai-Que (Soundcloud)
