I first heard traces of his Into Nebula EP that day, during my studio visit, as I like to put it, and I knew then, with certainty, that it would touch people in a special way. Into Nebula's got a soul to it that is very Black, how it moves between house, hip-hop, R&B and the blues, sampling Donnie Hathaway, Will Downing, and Kerri Chandler. It's notable to mention that the tape was made while Blu was completing school. He is quite the exemplary student in the halls of academia and to the rigor of art making. The tape is thus a living thesis as it world-builds and leads us towards a future space, talking through topics of race, gender, socioeconomic status and sexuality. The artist has surrendered to the air, and the possibility of spaces unknown, and he's surely riding it, as depicted in the album cover art. What a pleasure to witness him fly and this work two years later.
We bring it all full circle, chatting on the phone how we do about life, excavation and what's ahead. A star is surely born.
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I am a black trans femme, happy to be alive and grateful that a man’s desire for my body has not led to violence, which is all too common for trans women and gender-nonconforming people of color.

And to complicate this even further: Black, fat and gender-deviant are the targets I wear on my back as I move throughout the world. People feel a sense of entitlement toward my body — whether they are random men on the street, goofy teenagers in Brooklyn, police officers, women and children on the subway, or people on the internet.

I often wonder, when is my body my own?

[…]

People are often ashamed that trans and gender-nonconforming bodies produce pleasure for them, and they’re also fearful that others might find out. This is similar to something the poet Claudia Rankine wrote about police violence: “Because white men can’t police their imagination, black people are dying.” Similarly, trans women and gender-nonconforming people of color are dying because people, especially cisgender men and women, cannot police their imaginations.

Rapper Blu Bone Brings Fatima Jamal 'Into Nebula'

The Thrill and Fear of ‘Hey, Beautiful’