It’s really hard to capture the experience of this record in words. Temple Needs Water. Village Needs Peace. is the new collaboration between producer Real Bad Man and rapper Lukah, and it feels like both sonically and lyrically they’ve written an epic with this album. Each song brings in millennia with beats that could have been played for generations all over the diaspora, but it’s all interpreted through the lens of today. The production on this record is next level, and while it’s intellectual it’s also catchy as fuck and never loses the bump.
Lukah has the ability to break down complex ideas beautifully with his poetry. These are songs I’ll listen to for years and discover new ideas and lines that stand out in my mind every time. I hear Lukah speaking to the possibility of a future where our communities are healing through self-reflection and spiritual seeking instead of outer stimulation. It kind of feels like he’s figured it out; like if we all listened to carefully to the knowledge and ideas he’s sharing with us on Temple Needs Water. Village Needs Peace., we could actually experience the peace we’re hungry for.
The samples are jewels of knowledge lovingly wrapped in timeless melodies. Each one speaks to history that’s been obfuscated or hidden so that the system can keep crushing humanity under its wheels. What does it mean about human history that the people who’s scholarship is at the foundations of our very civilizations are the very same people who were and are stolen, murdered, and exploited?
This is a record that will teach you without lecturing you. Like I said, I can’t really put into words a body of sonic and lyrical work as expansive as this. Make sure you listen to Temple Needs Water. Village Needs Peace. and give Real Bad Man and Lukah their flowers. Get it here.
With contributions from billy woods (Armand Hammer), Adrian Utley (Portishead), and Shabaka Hutchings, this album ascends through personal and spiritual achievements, delves into the duality of knowledge, the unseen forces, and the cyclical nature of life and death. The album reflects on growth, resilience, duty, ancestral wisdom, and the healing power of words, culminating in a celebration of inner peace and communal harmony.
