Starting off with a gentle piano and sweet summer banter among personified flowers and trees, Queens‘ new album, California Wildflower, is no less than magic bursting on the back of rockets straddled by goddesses planting wisdom along the infinite universe. We pulled a couple unreleased images from our underwater shoot to set the backdrop for your ears. The album drops in alignment with the new moon, “It’s like a birth,” says Queens.

And if this baby could cry, it would be the chants of our elders, the poetry of transcendence, and the rhythm of timelessness.

We’ve been waiting for this drop for a while, and to hear the album in it’s entirety is like a reincarnation of all that is good in hip hop. Tracks like “Supreme Flavors” remind me of Shabazz Palaces, and I love how it leans humorously in story- ending on a roll call of her crew Them Hellas. The track “California Wildflower” pins Queens as our “tour guide and funky resident” as she paints a portrait of our great state.

Her poetry in songs like “No Stranger” and “Sacred Geometry” conceptualize love and courtship in sci-fi mythical metaphors. “Love Pistol” is a mantra for the sacred feminine and a nod to embracing sexuality, “lest not forget I can still freak tho.”

That Queens is a filmmaker translates in how visually rich her construction of narrative is- from flowers chatting in a field to samples of ambient environments. Shoutout to the producers on this album for stitching some amazing beats together for this Queen (Auk 5, Half Black, Ras G, Asonic Garcia, Ze brainchild, Wildkatz and Ackryte ). We’re excited for this album and what is in store for the future.

Listen and download here.

-h