The sensational hip-hop artist, rapper, songwriter, and producer ThisIsGnosis releases a lively and meaningful bop with his recent hit, "Race Erase."
ThisIsGnosis is an artist who never fails to wow his audience with rich sounds, meaningful lyricism, and irresistible backup vocals from artists that redefine contemporary hip-hop. His latest EP, 'The Sleepwalker,' has landed a top spot above CMJ hip-hop Top 40 champions like Lauryn Hill, Ab-Soul, The Roots, Underachievers, Madlib, Run The Jewels, Jeezy, and more.
Now highlighting his flaming and upbeat single, "Race Erase," ThisIsGnosis teams up with the powerful vocal stylings of singer-songwriter Sara Santilli to deliver a needed message. With samples of Martin Luther King Jr. and an overall empowering vibe, the song offers a breath of fresh air from each and every aspect.
Listening to "Race Erase," the track opens with a powerful and jazzy instrumental that sets the song's energetic and groovy tone. We love the deep bass licks that drive the song to this well-rounded and thorough listening experience. As ThisIsGnosis jumps into the track, he offers this charismatic and theatrical flow that brings instant similarities to powerhouse acts from the 90s and 00s.
Sara Santilli's vocals are another intriguing aspect of this bouncy single, as she fluidly sings with the utmost heart and soul while emphasizing the song's exciting atmosphere. As ThisIsGnosis continues to touch on putting our differences aside, samples of MLK Jr. drift through our speakers to amplify the song's meaningful concept.
Do yourself a favor and check out the dynamic and versatile stylings of ThisIsGnosis, especially his recent hit "Race Erase," now available on all digital streaming platforms.
Welcome to BuzzMusic ThisIsGnosis. We adore the energy and passion you've delivered in your recent single, "Race Erase." What inspired you to make this meaningful and exciting piece?
My music is a visual manifestation of my inner thoughts. The question has always plagued me of what the world would be like if the human race did not exist? Often, I have thought about how the hate we create as humans is cancerous to our world - waging wars, cutting down the forest, killing animals, spilling oil into our oceans, using up natural resources, constantly divided in location, thought, word and action and having little regard for each other's well being are just some of the things that brought forth the ideas in this song. I was inspired by this song is a conversation piece, a way for us to celebrate the pain we are causing and consuming while hopefully gaining a message of responsibility. Much like “We Are The World”, it's a song of celebration but a reminder that we have a real responsibility to make it a better place, starting inside.
What was your collaborative experience like with singer-songwriter Sara Santilli for "Race Erase?" Might you work together again in the future?
Sara Santilli has such an infectious spirit that is full of love for the world and a powerful voice that demands action to go with it. She came in the studio session and I remember getting goosebumps hearing her hit the first note of the song during recording, and knew she was exactly what we needed to deliver it. At that point, we were still writing and hadn’t even finished before bringing her in so she was just doing adlibs, but what she brought was so effortlessly delivered that Robohemoth and I knew her voice was it. Sara and I share such a passion for humanity, so it felt like a moment in time we could record an honest conversation and look at our place in the world with the questions we often ask ourselves and each other. Sara knows she can call me at any time and I would be there to collaborate with her again - she’s a star that our world needs more of!
Could you break down how you went about creating the dense and groovy instrumentals for "Race Erase?" How do you begin such a thorough process like this?
I spent a year in pre-production working with the brilliant Robohemoth in his studio headquarters talking about our aspirations for this album, the topics we felt important to touch on, and the way we wanted the world to experience our thoughts. We tracked additional guitar, bass, and keys to fill out the stereo environment to give it a more modern feel, while still trying to preserve as much of the “classic” motif as possible in the sample. Being born on Martin Luther King’s birthday, it felt appropriate to include his dream for humanity in there and eerily is put there to remind us that we still have more work to do as the sound has a very “old school” feel to it with a modern-day tone. Our goal was for this song to celebrate how far we have come, and begin to identify how we can heal the pain we have caused on the journey to where we must go. We used the sound of a record, in the beginning, to make the track feel nostalgic, the Motown vibe reminds us of the group atmosphere of coming together and the power of music, while the track itself was designed to make you reminisce with the overlay of heavy lyrics that talk about humanity in 3rd person, as though we do not actually exist in the experience.
Do you usually touch on such meaningful and compelling subjects within your songs, similar to "Race Erase?' How do songs like these represent you and what you stand for?
My entire life has been spent writing music to help me understand existence. I remember being young and being told I was a reflection of God, so I have always felt like I was God, reflecting God to understand God -a mirror so to speak. As a kid, the thought that so many words existed to tell individual stories in a single library made me feel like I had a voice and was searching for the same thing we all are - love and acceptance. As I got older and researched things like the African Griots, being an MC became easier to accept because I realized I was not doing something original but continuing expression through my roots or again, reflecting something bigger than myself to understand myself. These types of songs represent my quest for understanding, my vision for the world to be more, and my stand for speaking up to fight for us - all of us. I have always had a fascination with dialect as far back as I can remember and my music is just mood music or conversations I have had at one point or another in my life with someone else, or with myself. All of my music makes you face yourself or your thoughts and I believe if I am going to spend my time or ask for yours, it better be worth the conversation.