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The black swan, a symbol of rarity and unpredictability, is reimagined here as the embodiment of those whose lives are forever altered by events beyond their control. It represents the oppressed and impoverished—those who bear the brunt of geopolitical power struggles. Displacement due to war, famine, and illness becomes the backdrop against which this metaphor unfolds, transforming individual stories of survival into a universal call for empathy and action. Black swan serves as an assertion of presence, an artistic rebellion, and an acceptance of the self in all its fracture.
produced, mixed, mastered and engineered by yakubu bello.
artistic direction & photography led by Ingrid zimcenco.
special thanks to adriel, christine, mirren, pat, clintion, muhammad na'allah for your inspirations.
all power to the oppressed.
The image on the right was originally intended as the album’s official cover. My goal was to capture evolution—to reflect time in motion. At the time, I was two months into my loc journey, drawn to the idea that my hair carries history, weight, and memory, always recalling. Growth has always been central to me, and YÆKS is a reflection of my truest self.
Every track on this album was written by hand. The challenge wasn’t just the writing itself but the period I was living through, which led to an introspective process. Recording wasn’t always an option, and I resisted punching in (freestyling) because the subject matter demanded deliberate writing, unlike my previous work. Many of these ideas began as poems or fragmented thoughts, which naturally shaped my shift toward a stream-of-consciousness style.
Two albums that deeply inspired this project were Some Rap Songs by Earl Sweatshirt and Revelator by ELUCID. Some Rap Songs influenced my approach to raw, fragmented storytelling and the use of loops to create a hypnotic, immersive atmosphere. Revelator pushed me to explore abstraction and density in both sound and lyricism, encouraging me to lean into the textures of my production and the stream-of-consciousness style that shaped this album.
One of the album’s earliest tracks, I Am the Darkness Exhumed by Blank Space, started as a poem in February 2024. The instrumental had been sitting in my drive for three years, waiting for the right moment. It only felt right to use it for this record oddly. I challenged myself as a producer, and while I know there’s still much room for growth, I’m proud of how far I’ve come. It was an area I wasn’t well-versed in, but I’m glad I took that step. It showed me that the choice of samples matters—they reinforce the recurring themes in the music. This album emphasizes the idea of loops and cycles, and in the context of war, the chaos of history repeating itself. To reflect this, I incorporated loops, reversed samples, and distortion to shape the sound.
I began working on this project in October 2024, marking one year since the war in Gaza began. My biggest inspiration was the desire to create something bigger than myself. Through deep reflection on the ongoing wars in Palestine, Ukraine, and the Congo, I tapped into something artistically that I hadn’t discovered before.
Tracklist
1, we are all the fallen
2. spook
3. get by the blues
4. black kazakh
5. what i told mirren
6. chain gang
7. thank you
8. forbidden fruit
9. disillusioned
10. i wont close my eyes
11. i am the darkness exhumed by blank space
12. save yourself
13. pray to jesus
14. skyline
15. ingrids tattoo
16. storm darragh
17. discharge (bonus)
Credits and Inspirations
sun ra, kendrick lamar, pharaoh sanders, thelma jones, death grips, bjork, dionne warwick, ub40, mach-hommy, billy woods, elucid, lonnie holley, nina simone, otis redding, felicia atinkson, klein, moor mother, earl sweatshirt
black swan produced by yakubu bello
00:00 / 38:39
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