Album Notes

Blues wail, tone poems, mama-moans and ehhthing in between, nahmeen? The Low Arkansas/Bedstuy/Northcakalak attack on Tim'm T. West's first solo effort includes production by ENS, Ashley Allen, and Manny Black. In 2002, the EP "Bayou Sessions" had began to create a buzz nationally and internationally due to Tim'm's work as an emcee with Deep Dickollective, whose most recent "Famous Outlaw League of Proto Negroes" has won multiple indie awards. The debut album "Songs from Red Dirt" is a journey in sound and soul. While D/DC are the underground conscious homiesexual mavericks of a movement being affectionately referenced as Homohop, Tim'm's solo work is an attempt to move from the political to the personal: to talk about life, love, origins, the streets, the clubs, the rites of passage growing up a black man in America.

Tim'm is an artist who melodically combines the elements of rap, spoken word, and jazz vocals with everything from Hip Hop to House music. An artist who chooses not to choose between genres, he is a unique member of a generation working to reclaim house music as music that originated in black gay subcultures and who simultaneously acknowledges the influence of Hip Hop culture. Says Tim'm, "My b-boyism was informed by both hip hop and house music cultures, and unfortunately, at various points in my journey, I have felt the need to choose one over the other...which suffocated my creative process altogether. I'm happy to be finally making music that I love and that people are responding to with enthusiasm. "Songs from Red Dirt" is about soul music ultimately, and soul spans many musical genres."

"Songs from Red Dirt" is the musical complement to Tim'm's first book, "Red Dirt Revival: a poetic memoir in 6 Breaths" (released in February of 2002). Nationally recognized for his poetry, he has read alongside G. Winston James, Marvin K. White, Jessica Care Moore, Ursula Rucker, and Jewel Gomez. An eclectic, Renaissance man, he is known as a poet, educator, activist, emcee, journalist, scholar, vocalist, among other things. He is a seasoned performer who has captivated audiences for years; now he has the product to compliment and support his various artistic projects.

"Songs from Red Dirt" features collaborations with vocalist Matthew, Cava Menzies, Chase One, and Manny Black and a cast of others. An eclectic sole experience, Tim'm challenges the boundaries of hip hop by engaging trip-hop, deep house, and classic soul with his sharp and witty lyricism, baritone wailin, and Spoken Word. Check the breath on "Change" (Seasons Remix), "Playboys", "Elemental", and the title track "Red Dirt."