AMOR FATI BY COLDXMAN EMBRACES GRATITUDE, LOVE AND HERESY
Coldxman (aka, jazz prodigy and famed applied ethics podcaster/writer Coleman Hughes’) new hip hop album, AMOR FATI, is infused with a fierce sense of gratitude and love of life. Creatively interspersed with audio cuts from Frank Capra’s iconic film, “It’s A Wonderful Life,” the album’s 10 tracks underscore the title’s theme—taken from the Latin—“love your fate.”
“It’s A Wonderful Life is about loving the life that you actually have, rather than pining after the imagined life that you could have had,” says Coldxman. “And that’s the theme of the album: Amor Fati. Love of Fate. It’s about loving the way things have, in fact, turned out—as if your life were fated—rather than wasting time thinking about what could have turned out differently.
“It’s A Wonderful Life was my mother’s favorite movie. As a kid, she would make our whole family watch it every New Year’s Eve. My mom died when I was 18, and I am always looking for ways to connect my art to her.”
AMOR FATI’s 10 tracks were influenced by hip hop superstars, including
Drake, Trippie Redd, J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Chance the Rapper, Lil Peep, Kid Cudi, Eminem, Earl Sweatshirt, Frank Ocean, MF Doom, Madlib, Childish Gambino, The Alchemist, Ye, and Jay-Z. However, Coldxman’s exceptional musicality makes the album a standout in the genre—and its heretical underpinnings implore us all to, in Coldxman’s words, “…be kinder to the heretics of our age, and consider being a heretic yourself.”
3. All to Myself
4. Take
5. Alibi
7. Forward (music video featuring Neil deGrasse Tyson)
8. Chinos
9. What Doesn’t Kill U
10. Fruit
Whether it’s sharp drum patters, woozy guitars, colorful brass, or resonant keys, there’s a world to discover in each beat.
Some of the album’s best tracks are “What Doesn’t Kill U,” “25,” and “Blasphemy.” While it’s clearly rooted in current sounds and genre styles, what brings everything together is Hughes’s perspective.
Even with the quality of the beats and genre fusions, they’re crucially supported by his message.
Coldxman is also a talented trombone player and jazz soloist who’s played worldwide with the likes of the Mingus Big Band and Rihanna.
Also, he played since he was 3 (started with Violin), grew up as a passionate listener and musician, and received full scholarship offering from Juilliard to study jazz.
NAME: The ‘x’ is silent in Coldxman.
Expert Commentator: Coleman’s writing and expert opinions have been published in Quillette, New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, National Review, City Journal, Washington Examiner, The Spectator, and the Heterdox Academy blog.
BLASPHEMY: In the culture right now, there's so much dismissal of opposing viewpoints without first understanding them or taking them seriously.
So, you can dismiss something, once you've understood it and taken it seriously, but there's just so much knee-jerk rejection of ideas in the culture right now. And there is very little serious engagement with someone you disagree with or with someone you dislike. And so, I do feel when I was writing “Blasphemy,” I wanted to model that. And I always want to model that on my podcast as well.
PRO-HUMAN: What being pro-human means is that you must strip down your conception of people to what's most fundamental, what's most universal.
You must strip away all the superficial differences of gender and race and all these things, and just deal with the person that you're encountering. And so, I found that to be a very interesting practice. And I think that's something that you can apply to your everyday life that serves the pro-human agenda if you will…It's not about getting rid of cultural differences or losing the elements of the culture that you love. It's about recognizing that at the end of the day, there is one human race. And it's possible to be brothers and sisters with anyone of any race. And to not let the superficial differences come between us.
BIO:
Coleman Hughes has launched his fiery hip hop persona, Coldxman.
Embodying the essence of hustle in its purest form, his debut album “Amor fati” is a curation of carefully crafted rap songs about life, identity, relationships, and struggle.
With intensive training in jazz and classical music (a child musical prodigy who began playing at the age of 3), Coldxman melds slick production with penetrating, thought-provoking lyrics.
Coldxman’s passion for music began as a young child, when he learned to play classical music, drums, and trombone.
By age 20, he had performed on stages in New York, Los Angeles, Japan, with the Mingus Big Band, as well as in Rihanna’s back-up band at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards. As a young jazz trombonist, he was selected as a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts for exceptional talent in music and academia (see highlights from his earlier years at the Newark Academy—Writing, Art & Music).
Simultaneously immersing himself in the academic world, Coldxman graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in philosophy and became a fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
With an ambition to unite his love for jazz and rap, Amor fati provides a unique insight into the life of a young Black man who is willing to question the perceived wisdom of the prevailing cultural narrative. In his spare time, he still plays with the Mingus Big Band. And he hosts the popular podcast, “Conversations with Coleman,” which was recently nominated for a Signal Award.
He is a member of the Christian McBride Big Band, and also a Davidson Scholar (a coveted award). He was recently honored with the Omni-American Young Leaders Award for his role as a staunch champion of free speech, free thought, and open debate. At the ceremony, he challenged attendees to “…be kinder to the heretics of our age, and consider being a heretic yourself…”
Chameleon Radio's podcast Host Barbara Ackles is having a sit down with him for an interview, They will be discussing about his up comming projects and goals for the future.
If you have any questions for him, fell free to comment on this post. or message us directly.
Stay tuned for details about the podcast that will be released by the end of this month.
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