Chicago stays winning and bringing dopeness to the world… The latest local artist that is well on his way to turn heads nationwide, Ric Wilson has announced his new EP, BANBA and is set to be released on May 18th via Innovative Leisure.
BANBA is Wilson’s first release since 2017’s acclaimed Negrow Disco EP. “When I dropped out of college to do music, I caught myself trying to explain the music I do in a different light than what it really was because I was scared of other people’s perception of my ‘rap music,’ Ric says. “I feel like people don’t appreciate rap as an actual art form, which is insane because there’s an art to rhyming, every beat is a colorful canvas and every lyric and rhyme is a stroke of mine.”
The inspiration to the cover art for the EP, it’s “an ode to Basiqaut and Hebru Brantley who are my favorite visual artists,” says Ric. “I want people to feel like they’re in a Basiqaut and Brantley-inspired painting when they’re listening to this EP.”
Ric is celebrating the announcement by sharing the EP’s first single, “Split,” premiered earlier this morning via Noisey. The track features Sen Morimoto. Ric Wilson opened up about his new song in a press release:
“I wrote ‘Split’ in the middle of a relationship that was going south… The song is about how sometimes the best decisions you’ll make in life are the ugliest and hardest, but the healthiest for you.”
Hear “Split” below.
Wilson, a community activist and artist based on the Southside of Chicago, is a product of the iconic YCA (Young Chicago Authors), the organization that helped launch the likes Saba, Jamila Woods, Chance The Rapper, Vic Mensa, Mick Jenkins, and Noname, among others.
Pre-order BANBA —
https://ricwilson.bandcamp.
