MATT B, Alkebulan II

A voice as surreal, soaring and emotionally compelling as Matt B’s has the power to take listeners on journeys full of wild imaginings – and for the first decade or so of his extraordinary recording career, he built a substantial following grounding his artistry in the realm of mainstream R&B/hip-hop. From 301B, an album he made in his college dorm room that was later released exclusively in Japan, through Eden in 2021, the multi-talented singer/songwriter found himself on a respectable career trajectory defined by a blend of innovative sounds and soulful melodies.

Yet at Matt B’s spiritual core, something was missing. As it did for countless artists and “civilians” alike, the pandemic downtime gave him a chance to look more introspectively into who he was and the music and legacy he was creating as an artist. He had long wanted to explore the Afrobeats genre, and the pandemic break allowed him the creative space to take an extraordinary leap of faith. He didn’t just dive in blindly, though. He spent nearly two years studying the culture and learning more about Afrobeats and African music before composing or recording. In 2022, he emerged in his newly adapted genre with a major bang, with his first single “Gimme Love” (featuring Eddy Kenzo) charting at #36 on Billboard’s US Afrobeats Songs chart and earning a Grammy nomination for Best Global Music Performance.

“At that moment, I knew I was doing something right,” Matt B says. “I found my path and it was off to the races. Creating int the space came naturally to me, and in a lot of ways more than R&B did. There’s a level of freedom in Afrobeats and African music that I tapped into that I wanted to really expand on and explore a bit deeper.”

Matt B explored all right, but not merely a bit deeper. he bore full throttle into the epic one-two punch of Alkebulan (2023) and now Alkebulan II, a powerfully exotic yet sweetly enchanting and infectiously melodic immersion into the music of his African heritage. Weaving in English language preludes and interludes by Johannesburg spoken word artist Nomfundo Khambule to help build the narrative, the singer – ever aware of the way listeners consume music in the 2020s - showcases the dynamic expression of his discoveries in two volumes that total less than an hour. As sonically impactful as the first volume is, II is an even richer artistic statement featuring the majestic caress and excitement of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, whose presence was for Matt B a true bucket list moment, a lifelong dream fulfilled. He loved classical music growing up, and feels that sonically, the strings create a texture that complemented the African elements that include djembe, conga, shakers and cora.

A little background on the title: Alkebulan is an indigenous term that some say was the ancient, indigenous name for Africa before colonization. It has multiple meanings, most notably “mother of mankind,” “Garden of Eden” and “The Ones Before.” On the first volume, Matt B shared his personal feelings of joy and homecoming after discovering his ancestral roots and “who I am.” In 2020, he set out on a journey to discover his origins. He took an ancestry DNA test that showed he is over 70 percent Nigerian, along with various other mixes of African countries. He began researching and absorbing more about the culture, and when he finally set foot on African soil, it was a lifechanging experience that, among other things, inspired him to create music far more intense and personal than he could have dreamed even a few years before.

“Alkebulan sonically illustrates those feelings and scratches the surface of blending my own sound with traditional African music,” he says. “Alkebulan II builds on this story and dives a bit deeper, discussing the struggles of our ancestors and how those align with my own. Now that I celebrated finding my roots, I wanted to discover my ‘why’? The album is a journey of struggle and triumph. It reflects my innermost thoughts and feelings in a way I have never done before. I wanted this album to feel big, impactful and give people the courage to pursue something greater than oneself.”

One of Matt B’s major questions to self through this process was, “What is my purpose?” Though it’s just the single minute final spoken word interlude on II, the dramatic piece s“Purpose” makes for a unique, offbeat entry point into the whole experience, with Khambule speaking of a broken mirror calling “me to look into myself, harness every fiber that weaves my existence” over subtle yet persistent drums and gentle strings. At the end of the piece, the voices of children ask “Dada can you tell me a story?”, which leads seamlessly into the beautiful polyrhythmic and ultimately liberating and whimsical closing English and African language ballad that celebrates his relationship with “The Creator.”

Why start at the end? Because from the first strains of the bustling opening prelude “Uhambo Olungawiza” through his soul soothing declaration (over bubbling guitar and percussion) on “Wambile” that ‘I know my ancestors. . .” and an adventurous, high energy, chanting choir driven ride aboard the “Midnight Train,” every melody, every groove, every sonic nuance, is part and parcel of an ongoing, everlasting, ever-evolving excursion into his soul. One of the unique elements that sets II apart from the first volume is the seamless segueing from one track to another, which makes a straight through listen the best way to experience the whole.

So - the colorful nature sounds that close “Midnight Train” ease into “Renewal,” where the narrator speaks of wanting to “immerse myself into the music of living things,” including many aspects of the natural world. The dreamy orchestral swell at the end of that piece breezes into the lush, sensual soulfulness of “Kholwani,” which complements Matt B’s elegant vocals with sweet flute touches, a buoyant choir and the sweeping excitement of the Royal Phil. Other tracks include the fast paced call and response jam “No Wahala” and the urgent primal call of “Lost Drums,” which also pairs the singer’s African accented lead vocals with intense percussion and rousing choral chants.   

Matt B’s evolution from engaging emerging R&B/hip hop star to budding Afrobeats/African music icon sharing his glorious ancestry in song is a revelation that should inspire other artists to follow not only their muse, but their heart as well.