Ezrakh kicks us off with a funky cover to a timeless record by Nu Shooz.

[#ART #PARTY] HYCIDE, The Survival Issue Release Party + Performances, Art, Music, Food, Drinks & More.  Music Provided by EZRAKH and DJ Hard Hitting Harry Saturday, February 27 | 6-9pm | After Party to Follow The Newark Museum | 49 Washington Street, Downtown Newark, NJ 07102 ADMISSION: FREE and open to the public  The entire Newark Museum, 3 floors and Over 80 galleries Will Be Open. 

On February 27th in conjunction with the Newark Museum and Rutgers University-Newark, photojournalist and filmmaker Akintola Hanif will introduce the 8th print issue of HYCIDE, a photography magazine dedicated to subculture, art and conflict. This issue features stories on the notorious Georgia King Village housing projects in Newark, the favelas of Brazil, the Tenderloin District of San Francisco (a haven for the homeless), C-Blaze (alleged leader of the Grape Street Crips), the story of Aziza Kibibi, who bore four children by her biological father, and much more. “HYCIDE is about challenging elitist ideals and illustrating what's really going on in the minds, hearts and lives of some of America's finest yet forgotten people,'' Akintola Hanif explains. “Through stories of survival and freedom our goal is to create understanding and empathy for the misunderstood while providing a visual and literary voice for the voiceless.”

Guests can also enjoy tours of the museum's galleries, including their latest exhibition: Wondrous Worlds, Art & Islam Through Time & Place. Featuring more than 100 outstanding works of art showcasing the long history, vast geographic expanse and amazing diversity of works of art in the Islamic world.

With a special event for the Islamic community and the community at large (come one come all) #allraces #allreligions

Limited editions of HYCIDE in Print will be available for purchase.

(ezrakh)

Starting from the swirling fireside guitar and tribal chanting on "One”, Present is a rapturously liberated peak into the singer, producer, and DJ’s possible futures. Despite its title and its taunting 35 minute running time, this latest project from Ezrakh (which happens to be released on his birthday) is a sonic palette that is anything but localized. “I n U,” co-produced by Iman Omari, is chest thumping bravado that is refreshingly inclusive on a galactic scale. Ezrakh invites us to join him in his revelry of self (“I see the I in you”) by making his birthday celebration truly about us and even word-smithing tungsten before the song closes. Present's sounds are ambitious not just in scope, but detail; “Little Things” deep house groove accentuated with spoken word, the acoustic hop of “Somethin Bout Love’s” smilingly juvenile ‘who smelt it dealt it’ lyric or the gender binary rejecting reflection on “Him (Her Words)”. The wide scope perspective is essential to the emotional drive of Ezrakh's encouragement to embrace the moment  and fall in love with the minutia of the momentous: Present.

-Michael Cardigan