Professionally known as Thundercat, Stephen Lee Bruner, 35, is set to release his new album “It Is What It Is” on Brainfeeder Records on April 3, 2020. He recently shares the album’s first track “Black Qualls” featuring R&B band The Internet guitarist Steve Lacy, 21, and funk band Slave drummer and percussionist Steve Arrington, 63.
Steven Ellison, 36, who is professionally known as Flying Lotus, produced “It Is What It Is” with Thundercat. The album features musical contributions not only from Lacy and Arrington but also from Kamasi Washington, 38, Louis Cole, 36, Zack Fox, 29, and instrumental music group BADBADNOTGOOD as well as Tyrone William Griffin Jr., 34, Donald Glover, 36, and Brandon Christopher McCartney, 30, whose respective stage names are Ty Dolla $ign, Childish Gambino and Lil B.
“It Is What It Is” follows Thundercat’s game-changing third album “Drunk,” which was released in 2017. That record completed his transition from virtuoso bassist to bonafide star and cemented his reputation as a unique voice that transcends genre.
“This album is about love, loss, life and the ups and downs that come with that,” Thundercat said. “It’s a bit tongue-in-cheek, but at different points in life you come across places that you don’t necessarily understand. Some things just aren’t meant to be understood.”
The unruly bounce of new single “Black Qualls” is classic Thundercat, teaming up with Lacy and Arrington. It is another example of Thundercat’s desire to highlight the lineage of his music and pay his respects to the musicians who inspired him.
“The tone of the bass, the way his stuff feels and moves, it resonated through my whole body,” Thundercat said of Arrington’s music. Thundercat was in his late teens when he discovered Slave drummer and percussionist’s output and fell in love with his music immediately.
“Black Qualls” emerged from writing sessions with Lacy, whom Thundercat describes as “the physical incarnate of the Ohio Players in one person. For Thundercat, the Slave member “genuinely is a funky ass dude.”
It references what it means to be a black American with a young mindset. Thundercat shared “what it feels like to be in this position right now.”
“The weird ins and outs, we’re talking about those feelings,” Thundercat said. He added that part of him knew “Black Qualls” was where Arrington left us.
Thundercat forms a cornerstone of the Brainfeeder label. He released “Golden Age of Apocalypse” in 2011, “Apocalypse” in 2013, and the extended play “The Beyond / Where The Giants Roam” in 2015 featuring the modern classic “Them Changes.” He was later at the creative epicenter of the 21st century’s most influential hip-hop album “To Pimp A Butterfly” by Kendrick Lamar, 32, collaborating on the track “These Walls” before releasing “Drunk.”
In 2016, Thundercat won a Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Performance for “These Walls.” In 2018, he and Flying Lotus composed an original score for an episode of Golden Globe and Emmy award winning TV series “Atlanta,” which was created and written by Gambino.
Born in Los Angeles, California, United States on October 19, 1984, Thundercat was 15 years old when he became a member of the boy band No Curfew. When he was 16, he and his brother Ronald Bruner Jr. joined the punk band Suicidal Tendencies.
Stream “Black Qualls” on Thundercat’s website and follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Spotify. Meanwhile, here is the “These Walls” music video:
CONAN Daily 