Bulletproof Soul on The Influences That Made ‘Grasping Things at the Root’

Neo-Soul and genre-bending group Bulletproof Soul releases their latest project effort, Grasping Things at the Root. from the. BPS (the group’s acronym) features Nyyjerya, Austin Moore-Farrow, DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ, Lofty305, Amouranth, Angela Davis, and a host of other talents list many cultural references in their inspiration for this summer’s epic album, Grasping Things at the Root, also referred to as GTATR by the group. The most obvious influence on the group may be A Tribe Called Quest and their cover for Midnight Marauders (1993). The cover was designed in a similar design according to the group.

“The influence from Midnight Marauders is meaningful. There was such a vibrant and beautiful sense of community and culture in the 90s. We want to bring back that feeling. We need each other more than ever these days,” the group states.”

The group also notes the immense influence and support from within to make the album happen from DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ, Amouranth, Angela Davis, Nyyjerya, Austin Moore-Farrow, Lofty305, Shintek Beats, Ed Gage, Keith Lawson, FK Garland, Wolvenoir, PlaySHADO, Alek Oni, Lauren Ashcraft, Clark the Healer, JACOB SONGS, Unkwnexposure, TWENTYN9NE, SLWJMZ, eqobKING, Kengeta, and Ali Wisdom. Bulletproof Soul entertainment conglomerate founder Austin, music collective cofounder Nyyjerya, Shintek Beats and Lofty305 executive produced the album.

Bulletproof Soul point to A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, J Dilla, Radiohead, Erykah Badu, David Bowie, Cocteau Twins, CunninLynguists, Mos Def, Prince, Tupac Shakur, Michael Jackson, Aaliyah, BTS, MF DOOM, Jodeci, Janet Jackson, Sade, The Dream, Zhané, DJ Quik, Todd Rundgren, and more as similar sounds and key figures that inspired a movement like Bulletproof Soul. They emphasize these artists as the type of variety in voices, sound, and talent the culture needs. Many of these artists were known for the depth of sound and meaning in their music.

Meaning is something far from lacking on Grasping Things at the Root. The album stresses factors such as material conditions and social conditioning as well as how systemic realities impact our everyday lives. Another major influence for the album is that of a sociopolitical nature, including from member Angela Davis for her dedicated, decade-traversing activism. The album title was named after a quote of Davis’. Angela Davis once stated, “Radical simply means grasping things at the root.” The album cover is also lined with a poem from 1800s activist and poet William Morris, who spoke about similar realities. The adapted poem is from his poem The Earthly Paradise: Apology.

“The heavy trouble, the bewildering care
That weighs us down who live and earn our bread,
These idle verses have no power to bear;
So let em sing of names remembered,
Because they, living not, can never be dead,
Or long time take their memory quite away
From us poor singers of an empty day.
Dreamer of dreams, born out of my due time,
Why should I strive to set the crooked straight?
Let it suffice me that my murmuring rhyme
Beats with light wing against the ivory gate,
Telling a tale not too importunate
To those who in the sleepy region stay,
Lulled by the singer of an empty day,” the poem reads.

The poem helps illustrate many storylines and concepts from the album including material conditions, dialectical materialism, a fractured culture, corruption, and the endless pursuit of a livelihood in a plutocratic system. This distills what the music and art collective’s album is about in a culturally referential way. Meanwhile it also honors one of earth’s oldest art forms, intrinsic to music, poetry. For more information on Bulletproof Soul stay connected here.