Become Universe — Live. Aspire. Thrive.

To the left, to the left…Hadley Street, in Houston, TX., is a long road to travel but one member of the Knowles clan is taking a different path than any one could’ve ever guessed. The War in the Middle East. Global and Econcomical Hardships. And the movement of a strong black politician beating the odds. We haven’t experienced times that echoed the sixties since, well, the sixties. Now we can feel the rhythms of the music in our ears with a Supreme, Marvellete lovechild who also happens to be the sister of Beyonce.

“Can you turn me up a little louder?” Miss Knowles requests before she takes on her modern Diana Ross style performance. Not to be confused with “Bootyliscious” or “Say My Name,” Solange Knowles has left the pop, lock, and drop it beats to the women of Hip-Hop. Her sophmore album, Sol-Angel and the Hadley Street Dreams is a satisfying buffet to the sizzling hit ”I Decided,”a Neptunes-produced joint that carries Solange through smokey mirrors and snaps. The song’s intro platforms the singers sophistication, creativity and intelligence. “I Decided” starts off with a simple piano chords, a group of hand claps, and symbols. You can’t hate on the strategics behind such a great song. Clearly homegirl knew the only way to achieve the soul that truly fosters this album was through taking things back to basics of Black gospel music.

Shagalelic, fierce, with a sense of hippie. Solange’s artistry appears to be no stranger to being outside of the cookie cutter family image. “This Bird” and “ChampagneChronicKnightCap” really makes you wonder was our new child of destiny blowing grass when she conceptualized a “Cosmic Journey.” You’ll be elevated on levels of extreme when she sexed up lyrics “I wanna go so high. I wanna get so high.” Traveling Hadley will leave you in a stoned spiral of gospel, motown, Hindrixsm. The sweetest treat is her collaboration with a piece of Motown songwriting history, HDH member Lamont Dozier.

Solange holds no bar on her music and in her public persona. Quick to give insightful views of her raw honesty, she’s not one to let the public give her a pre-concieved image of a cardbon product due to her famous family. The singer has shared her opinion and her thoughts on the music industry often posting her take on politics and the entertainment industry through her personal blog. Listening to Hadley Street also lets us know she’s not too technical on what her voice should sound like recorded, the arrangements and story telling of the record in well orchistrasted. When listening to the record you’ll often forget the images of who Solange the celebrity is and the music itself takes you on a ride.

“I reached out to producers I felt like could capture this sound right on, but it definitely didn’t come without a lot of persistency. Because of my past associations and ties people tend to cast me away easily, Solange mentions on her personal artist biography.” ”It was so important to actually play the music for these producers and not go the traditional way. I reached out numerous times through managers and agents but it wasn’t until the producers actually heard my new music that they wanted to be apart of it, and I understood that.”

The musical direction of Sol-Angel gives you hope of mainstream music in a back to basics form as it began in the Motown era. Its almost as if she knows what the industry was lacking and she made this album with hopes of reaching people who knew it too. She uses a vibrant flair of producers and collaborated with Q-Tip, Cee-Lo, and Bilial.

Solange is a breakthrough artist of 2008. Despite 2002’s Solo Star, we now all want to know what next on the travels on Hadley. 

Solange – Sandcastle Disco

Solange – I Decided (Part 1)