With Black History Month feeling like a whirlwind of chaos—ICE wrongfully detaining 21 Savage, Jussie Smollett’s alleged hate crime hoax, Robert Kelly being bailed out by someone’s estranged aunt, and cringely having culture vultures [Kardashians and Yesjulz] be loud and wrong—with perfect timing, we all received hints of an upcoming project from our Sol Angel (Solange). With exclusive visuals and album art surfacing the internet, it felt like what I imagine seeing the bat-signal in the dark Gotham City night sky; a sense of imminent refuge soon coming to save us from the incessant madness. Solange released her anticipated fourth album “When I get Home” midnight of March 1^st, 2019.

If you weren’t obsessed with the tracks “Junie’’, “Where Do We Go”, “Scales”, and “Don’t You Wait” on the last album “A Seat at the Table”, then maybe this album wasn’t for you. “When I Get Home” surprisingly received some mixed reviews. If you were expecting something light and easy* like “Don’t Touch My Hair”–although the song is very beautiful —I  don’t think you would really follow what I sought to be Solange’s intent with her new album. 

I like Solange’s approach on this album. Think about it… the last album told us “as black people, we face adversity, but we remain strong in the end”. “When I Get Home” ultimately expressed to me, “We are more than just the adversity we face; we too are humans going through our own human experience. We have fun, experience emotions, we flex, and we are creative”. Basically, we’re way beyond that fuck shit because we’re out here LIVING!

Another theme I caught on to was Solange hinting to her imagination. Her intro track “Things I Imagined” and “Dreams” made me think a lot about keeping my inner child alive, enjoying the little things in life, to continue creating whilst bringing them to life— I can dream and create from anything I put my mind to. Personally, I feel she was planting the seeds of putting our aspirations on paper.

Her hint to “Florida water” caught my attention on her track  “Almeda”– if you now then you know! Playboi Carti was a very pleasant surprise for me, as well as hearing Gucci Mane on “My Skin My Logo”. Ethereal, light, and still gangsta. On both tracks, she raps with matching flows, was Solange trying to tell us that she be jiggin’ to some Carti? and Guwop? Are we really surprised? She’s from Houston, Texas and has had Bun B cameo in some of her projects. Solange is never afraid to let you know she’s with the shits, which is pretty exciting. 

Tracks like “Way to the Show”, “Stay Flo” , and “Binz” kept us in the ‘feel-good’ mood. While gushy love-tinted ballads like “Jerrod” and “Beltway” kept us feeling dreamy about who ever might be creeping into our thoughts at night. Overall, I feel as though all tracks hit all points of human experience– specifically the black human experience. Solange wouldn’t be the first to humanize it, but it was a great refresher for most.

I understand what Solange was delivering, to people who feel like it isn’t sticking like grits— maybe you’re not aligned, maybe the music out today is just too icky in your brains, or it just wasn’t meant for you. To conclude, her album is available on all platforms and remember, “Do nothing without intention“.

Enjoy!