MP3 Stream: F.Stokes – “Mission”
Windy City Poet Celebrates Release of New Album Fearless Beauty With Heartfelt Single “Mission”
06.17.2013
Critical Praise for F.Stokes:
F.Stokes is a “gifted lyricist.” – Potholes In My Blog
The Song:
Album releases are usually joyous moments for the artist who has poured his or her heart and soul into the intricacies of the music, as F.Stokes has done on his new project Fearless Beauty, which is available today. The Chicago poet and lyricist is no different, letting loose the standout track “Mission” as he celebrates the unleashing of the new album. Yet, even in his celebration, he remains tied to the painful stories and contradictions of family, city, and culture. “Mission” maintains an underlying sense of empathy, and he urges his listener to try to feel the same–though he himself may not have felt the pull of the addicts, or “hit the liquor store and took the bank,” he sees the demons of his people, and is trying to understand their paths in an effort to, as he puts it, “signify the circle of life through the eyes of a young warrior in search of peace.”
From his godfather’s tale of migration from Arkansas to Chicago on “1954,” to the ubiquitous narrative of the Windy City pimp who idolizes Don Juan on “Carpe Diem,” F.Stokes makes sure that no character fades to the periphery of his Fearless Beauty panorama. With a musical backdrop painted by producers like Paper Tiger of the Minneapolis hip-hop collective Doomtree, each piece weaves together, simultaneously bringing both the details and broad brushstrokes of his exploration into focus.
Listen to the song here: https://soundcloud.com/f-stokes/mission-feat-i-ced
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/95633065″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]Download the album from iTunes here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/fearless-beauty/id661376476
Please contact Michelle or Dan if interested in talking with F.Stokes.
F.Stokes Background:
F.Stokes is a Chicago born and bred rapper and spoken word poet now based out of New York City. He tells his story with punctuating imagery and glass-like clarity as he looks at the world through the lens of his family’s shared experiences. Growing up as one of six children to a single mother in the South Side of Chicago, he shared his home with people who lived on the edge of violent death, poverty, and ghosts of abuse and addiction. He found solace in writing early on in childhood and soon began to express himself creatively through verse and spoken word poetry as he grew into adolescene and early adulthood. In 2009 he began touring in Europe in preparation for the release of his first album, 2010′s Death of a Handsome Bride. He quickly grew as a prolific artist, releasing the Baked Goods Mixtape in 2011 and Love Always in 2012. F.Stokes has performed at the Montreal Jazz Festival, The Essence Festival, and the Metropolis Festival in Holland. He has also cultivated a particularly strong fan base in the UK, where he recorded an EP with the band Bastille, and in Paris, where has sold out multiple shows and has been featured on Nova Radio. Stateside he has been featured in XXL Magazine, Source Online and HipHopDX, among others, and has toured with the likes of Ryan Leslie, Chall Tuna, Mac Lethal, Arrested Developed and Nas. Today sees the release of his new album Fearless Beauty, which features production by Paper Tiger of Minneapolis indie hip-hop collective Doomtree, his most personal and political record to date, and more tour dates in Europe, including the Independence Day Festival in France on July 4th.
Links:
official website | twitter | facebook |
Fearless Beauty: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/fearless-beauty/id661376476
“Mission”: https://soundcloud.com/f-stokes/mission-feat-i-ced
“Carpe Diem”: https://soundcloud.com/f-stokes/carpe-diem
“1954″: http://soundcloud.com/f-stokes/1954-1/
“Decades”: http://soundcloud.com/f-stokes/decades/
“The Band”: http://soundcloud.com/f-stokes/the-band/
“Shaka Zulu”: http://soundcloud.com/f-stokes/shaka-zulu-1/
“Blessings”: http://soundcloud.com/f-stokes/blessings/
Bio, pictures, and streams available here: http://www.audibletreats.com/fstokes