EN
WAKE UP SLEEP RELEASES NEW ALBUM
‘YOU DON’T KNOW ME, I’M NOT YOUR HOMIE’
JULY 17
Design by Gonçalo Sousa
Photography by Joana Patrício
Photo-manipulation by Phlowgraphy
Wake Up Sleep releases new album, 'You Don't Know Me, I'm Not Your Homie' (YDKMINYH).
After releasing ‘What’s New’ in February 2020 (a beat tape with a few works from the artist), this time, Wake Up Sleep presents us with different content than usual.
Based on his background, it can be said that Cláudio is in an expansion phase in which he presents himself with greater preparation and affirmation at a creative level, escaping the obvious and predictability, perhaps due to the influence of decisions and paths taken during the period of creation of 'YDKMINYH'.
This vision of editing an album in which the approach to the themes is no longer merely instrumental is quite natural, in this process the artist bridges the beginnings of his contact with Hip Hop and his current phase, this time, more aware of his methods now explores the universe of the rhythm of words in conjunction with the ability to produce his own beats, unifying the two strands in a sound narrative it is possible to contextualize his work as being very reflective and introspective of an intrapersonal and interpersonal character as a human being and artist in this world.
Wake Up Sleep is the author of the 18 tracks that make up this new album, the entire project was conceived by the artist himself, from production to the composition of the themes, from mixing to master, thus reinforcing an important topic as an independent artist that comes under the influence of their own means and ways of achieving their goals, 'YDKMINYH' then becomes a very personal task, which reveals an intimate relationship with music in the transcription of his experiences and perspectives on the world and human relations, a distinct project, unique and innovative that involves the listener in the words debited as if it were an interior manifest, assuming a deconstructive and consequently progressive character, opens doors to new approaches and sounds. It is an album with some emotional charge that reveals phases of the artist, such as depression, emptiness and sadness, expresses his fears and insecurities, projecting and channeling all this energy, his openness in freeing himself from emotional plaguing, thus moving towards a future with more clarity, between the lines it is possible to transpose some of the ideas based on the abstractionism of Wake Up Sleep, expressing the lack and importance of companionship today and also addresses concepts such as collectivity and the sense of intervention for the good of a community, interpersonal relationships, the duality of pain and awareness, anxiety as a source of many physical and psychological problems, anger, motivation, euphoria and dysphoria states, all this reflection is translated in the contradiction of human existence, the paradox of being alive and witnessing the world in such different and yet similar ways, this is the bridge that connects the album to the artist in a process of constant self-knowledge, in search for the balance of mind and the improvement of its capacities, it is a work full of parallels and poetic meanings.
In a first analysis, the work seems somewhat abstract, however, the more heard and absorbed, the more it seems concrete and full of meanings, being a project written about the artist's POV (Point Of View) it is naturally required some auditions to fully understand the whole concept of the album, however there is a magic intentionally generated by himself in giving the listener a permanence in the state of imagination in some aspects (what is abstract music if not thought kept and not expressed verbally between people), Wake Up Sleep finally wanted to share this creation so that he also wanted to make his listeners aware of his variant in music as an interpreter and MC, encouraging and fostering belief in the 'me', in personal identity, valuing originality and creativity as the main focus on personality development, what really stands out in each of us and that in a way makes us what we are today, Wake Up Sleep assumes that there is a great deal of importance in the way we pride ourselves and our achievements.
- "The magic of Art is in what you do with yourself, believing in ourselves and in the construction process is extremely important." - Wake Up Sleep
In this respect, the album is also a compilation of memories of things that Sleep wanted to have happened and didn’t happen and at the same time those that actually happened, face the morality of the means and the ways that they resort to in the process of building something, making reference to personal and artistic growth as an object of constructive and influential study in culture and daily life. Perhaps few know, but since the age of 15 that Wake Up Sleep wrote lyrics and interpreted them, it was from Rap that his first contact with Hip Hop culture arose, it was from that same contact that the need to produce his own instrumentals emerged, extending later to something more serious, thus isolating this facet that in fact was manifested in specific and random circumstances, in freestyles with friends this inherent desire to use words as a form of momentary expression has always been reactivated, creating enough motivation when at home or in the studio to develop lyrics that appeared in those same moments or due to the influence of other events.
The album took three years to be conceived, some of the tracks had already been produced, recorded and even published while Taser (former artistic name of Wake Up Sleep), consequently the cover of the project makes reference to himself as a teenager between 17, 18 years, reinforcing the idea that there was something left to do since that time when contact with Rap was much more present. The album title assumes multiple meanings. First, the choice of this title 'You Don't Know Me, I'm Not Your Homie', is due to the fact that Wake Up Sleep expresses and reveals multiple facets of him, different moods, several lines of thought and reasoning that, in fact, the artist states that possibly some people will not recognise many of these faces, but that in fact they have always been part of their personality and that only those who identify themselves or feel a kind of affront with the choice of the title, the artist also states that people never know each other in their essence, that we create stereotypes and personality analysis so quickly that we forget that we are all composed of different characteristics, subject to constant mutation, that we are phases and we are not necessarily one thing only, we are much more and that is why we must free ourselves in our personal expression and give freedom to those who do it too, we must allow the curiosity to know ourselves as beings, day-by-day becoming able to romanticise one's own life avoiding a fall in negativism and conformism.
- “People today move much more quickly for superfluous interests than for concepts such as familiarity and collectivity, this reveals individualism and we are moving towards an individualistic society, if we are not already, but fortunately still there are people who share and care for the concept of family, mutual aid and community. ” - Wake Up Sleep
‘You Don’t Know Me, I’m Not Your Homie’ is also directed at himself. In the album cover, an image of the artist can be seen with the eyes removed, symbolizing what was left to be seen, to be known.
- "As I don't see myself, I don't know myself yet."
Wake Up Sleep taking this quote, the artist uses the visual factor as a relevant element at the present time and dissects it by explaining:
- “Vision does not only bring the physiological capacity to 'see', it also brings with it the responsibility of 'being', and that for this, every human being needs to go through several stages of self-knowledge throughout their lives so that this vision can be transformed into something capable of transcending the senses and that can finally be incorporated as a source of knowledge about ourselves and not just the outside world, knowing ourselves goes beyond what we see, it is in risking that we find part of ourselves, blindly we live more attentive to what is going on in the mind and this allows us to move forward in the dark even if we stumble, it is based on trial and error that the need for discovery arises, sometimes the necessary thing is to put ourselves in totally new contexts, leave that discomfort arises naturally and use it as a mental and physical unlocking technique. ” - Wake Up Sleep
One of the tracks that most reveals this philosophical and abstract characteristic of the artist in 'YDKMINYH' is called 'Iseeicy', in which the author says it was really a 'discharge of energy', as the sound itself indicates, of thought, about general observation of people. “I see Icy, I see ice around me, people are getting colder, more distant,” says the artist. The sound talks about breaking the monotony and taking risks, it says that due to the general coldness, things can turn into something we don't want, it calls for dedication, love, passion and peace.
The artist says that sometimes he may seem moralistic in the sense that may appear to be teachings but which are not, they are merely conclusions of thoughts, observations and reflections to which he arrived at that moment, revealing a more humanistic part as a thinking person.
- “The fact that sometimes I insist so much on something that may not bear fruit, gives rise to a certain fear of being able to freeze an emotional part of my being, in a way it can be insecure but in the deepest sense of the issue I like to think and feel that I preserve part of what makes me human for the simple fact that I also don't want to be a robot without conscience and without emotions when I enter a creative flow, so I give myself a margin to realize when I reach saturation in the amount I assume is not going to be healthy for me and maybe go on to another idea or really end the day. ” - Wake Up Sleep
- “What is work? What does it mean to believe in something and persist in that something? ” - Wake Up Sleep
Some of the questions asked by the artist about the world of creativity in order to demystify this current trend about the fact that society fosters this need to be in a constant production of content based on futile ideals that do not bring any sense of personal fulfilment for the artists. To persist in an ideological or creative belief must go beyond the surface, this is what Cláudio refers to.
- “To believe is to be able to look inside, to perceive where the light comes from and to know how to reflect it in the best way, in a way that is more identical to what we are without any need for immediate exposure, the light also needs impulsion in its projection, we are the ones that propel it. ” - Wake Up Sleep.
The album features Lily Kashūnattsu, on the tracks 'toofast', 'wont be movin', 'acidacid', 'agora é tarde' and 'iseeicy' in which we can observe the joint harmony generated by the two elements that make up the duo Chakuth and also features Lost Soul on guitar, on the track 'acidacid'. In the cover design we have Gonçalo Sousa in charge of the visual aesthetics of ‘YDKMINYH’, photography by Joana Patricio and photo manipulation by Phlowgraphy. Wake up Sleep adds that the track 'bonsai' is a bridge to another project, another beat album, which Wake Up sleep will release very soon through Slow Habits.
STREAM / BUY
