From the upcoming project:
"Free From Our Isms"
“Free from Our Ism’s" is the debut collaboration album between Adriohn Richardson (songwriter, Hip Hop artist, vocalist, producer, teaching artist, and actor) and Eliseo Vega-Darson (multi-instrumentalist, composer, and arranger). The project is a series of musical recordings and performances that combine interactive theatre, visual art, and dance that speak to the consequences of our societal ism's and offers hope through community connections. The original songs blend Hip Hop, Jazz, and Classical exploring themes of social justice, spirituality, and a deeper self-awareness.
This project takes inspiration from Stevie Wonder's song, "A Time to Love"
‘We have time for racism
We have time for criticism
Held bondage by our ism's'
Our first production will focus on institutionalized racism as we discuss our nation’s mass incarceration/prison-industrial complex or as we call it "PICism". The concept of the album explores the idea of what it means to be free. Not just free from physical chains and bondage, but becoming free of preconceived viewpoints and prejudices that we have been influenced by the people and systems of our environment.
The musical highways of Hip Hop, Jazz, and Classical are merged into one vehicle to drive home the power that music has to bring together people of different generations, socioeconomic status, and ethnicities.