Goya Gumbani: Rebirth Of The Cool

One thing's for certain: Goya Gumbani's got style.

Naturally, hip-hop has long had its share of certified fashion killers, from the Dapper Dan-donning emcees flouting intellectual property law to the millennial streetwear elites sporting the latest season's pieces. Yet even as luxe European brands serve as flexes for rappers with money burning rack-shaped holes in their oversized pockets, footwear remains largely confined to the sneakers-and-occasionally-boots category.

So when the Brooklyn-born, South London-based Gumbani dubs himself (and his latest album for Ghostly International) Warlord Of The Weejuns, a bespoke appellation first bestowed on Miles Davis by Esquire jazzbo George Frazier some six decades ago, that goes beyond mere love for the loafer. "I want to pay homage to this before it just becomes one of these trendy things that comes and then goes," he says.

First introduced to him while at one of the various shops and boutiques he's worked in over the years, he initially sought to understand them in order to better sell them, that genuine interest soon informing his own closet. "I always got dressed thinking like, yo, I'm about to just swag out on some shit that feels lit to me," Gumbani says, justifying their inclusion in his outfits. Still, his sartorial shoe selections contrasted with the silhouettes and colorways preferred by some of his peers, initially leading to confusion. "There was a time I was wearing loafers when people used to be like, bro, what you wearing? Are you going to church?"

Gumbani's instincts proved prescient, though, as the loafer eventually increased in prominence as menswear media and influencers made the case for it as a must-own wardrobe staple. He recommends London-based brand Horatio for those curious about copping their first pair. "Obviously you got your Gucci, you got your fucking red bottoms," he says, rattling off examples though favoring the horsebit style easily identified by its ornamental metal tassel. "I just personally like the gold ones. I feel like it is the statement of the shoe, and that gets recognized before someone might even recognize the shoe itself."

Beyond their both being natty dressers, Gumbani takes direct influence from other aspects of fellow bon vivant Davis' life and craft. Some eight years ago, he received a copy of the trumpeter's infamous autobiography as a gift, its impact on him a significant one. "At the time I was reading a lot of Malcolm X and a lot of these important Black figures," he says. "Miles Davis is just as revolutionary as these guys, you feel me? It really put music in a whole different aspect for me when I started reading that book."

CABBAGES: Do you see parallels between your fashionable side and your sensibilities as a rapper/vocalist?

Goya Gumbani: I feel like they both are a reflection of self. They coexist so closely that they are part of what makes me, me. Even just explaining what the title is, I feel like that's a whole thing within itself, but [for] someone to really know what the name of the title [Warlord Of The Weejuns] represents, you kind of have to know. I feel grateful to be coming from the perspective of someone that's kind of almost, not retelling the story, but bringing it back around to those that may have missed that wave. But yeah, it definitely ties in. The sense of style and fashion and the existence with me as a musician is just the full embodiment of me, as well as a few other things. But to know where you're going, you got to know where you came from.

When I made [2023's] When The Past Bloomed, the single on that was called "Cloth & Polish." That was when I was really in my loafer bag. I had been wearing loafers for a long time, probably like 10 years. I kind of wanted to pay my homage to the art of just cleaning your shoes, something that's kind of taken for granted. Not only just brushing it clean, but polishing it, shining it with the cloth after, then hitting it with the brush to give it that sort of look that, when light hits it, it reflects and it bounces off.

On most of your projects, you worked with a single producer. On this new album, by your assessment 10 years in the making, you've got different instrumentalists, arrangers, and beatmakers. Was it challenging with these various producers to get this thing that's been in your head all this time out?

Definitely, definitely. The music I was doing before was a lot of sample-based music, and I feel like, with sample-based music, you're quite boxed in to the sample. I really wanted to do something that I can say we started from scratch. There was no sample; we just felt some chords and they got played. And then we just built off of that.

So I'm chilling in London, and I'm about to go to the countryside. I bumped into my cousin, he was like, yo, your uncle got a studio around the corner. My uncle been making music forever, but my uncle is one of them uncles, that Rasta man. He speaks real cryptic, you only seen him at Christmas, catch him maybe at Thanksgiving. And even when you see him, he don't talk about himself at all. I end up going to the countryside, rocking it out with him. He takes me to the studio. I'm like, damn, bro, you got everything in here. You're not playing. He's like, look, I'm going to leave you here for however long you need. I'm going to go to work for a week. He don't stay at the studio. So I sat down in the crib and I literally just listened to Jay Dilla, D'Angelo and Questlove, mad documentaries for three days. One of my other mans came over to the studio and he played every instrument. He sat down with me for another two days, so that's five days. We sat down for five days just trying to gauge inspiration. We played Miles, we played jazz, we played soul, we played funk–we played everything. If D'Angelo could take three years, five years to make Voodoo, let's really encapsulate ourself with the music and just offer inspiration. That was how the whole album started. I feel like I got the spirit of all of these greats just coming in my ear. That helped me get it over the line and start the process.

It's coming from somewhere that's genuine. I'm not doing it for no clickbait. I've never done anything to try and appease anyone. I'm literally just doing this to really connect and really make something that can tell not only my story, but a story or the story or stories in general. All of those things came in and they ended up striking at the perfect time and it just kind of all just rose from the ground and rose out of the dirt like a tree.

One of my favorite songs on the project is "Crossroads." What can you tell me about this one in particular and how it fits within the broader themes or goals of your album?

"Crossroads" is a song I made thinking about the miles I've done in some of these shoes that have no sole. I've walked so deep so far on them, the soles have fell apart. I've got them re-soled; they fell apart. Some of these shoes is 10 years old, you know what I'm saying? It made me really appreciate that journey, not necessarily understanding what you're in at the moment, but trusting the process, pushing through.

Shout out Maxwell Owin; he's the producer on that. Really, really nice guy and just an all-around great musician. It was like four in the morning, [in] winter. The window was broken and I'm cold as hell. I'm freezing, and all I got to keep me warm is probably a L and my laptop on my lap while I'm writing this verse. And I'm to the point where I feel like I might just give up. Then I sat back and I was like, bro, are you going to give up now? The first verse sounds so good. Just push through it and you going to be rewarded at the end. A motto for the album that I really, really stuck with. was: embrace the twists and the turns and you'll be rewarded with what you'll be rewarded with, what it returns. You are going to be sad, you're going to be happy, you're going to go through every type of emotion. But when you get to the other side of that, you will learn so much about yourself. You'll learn how resilient you are and the music will be the reward of that. Sometimes you got to be comfortable being uncomfortable.

You've got a couple of songs on the album with lojii out of Philly. He seems like a kindred spirit. Can you speak about your connection?

Anytime I go back home [to New York], the second stop is to Philly and I go spend time at lojii's house. I know lojii's fam; lojii is family to me. I met him through Pink Siifu, probably like 10 summers ago. Pink Siifu was playing a show in Brooklyn and lojii pulled up. We bonded within 20 minutes and we've been in conversational communication ever since then.

When I think of people rapping, nobody makes me want to pick up my pen faster than lojii. The way he writes, he could have came from the seventies, eighties. He could have been in The Last Poets, the way he talks, the way he moves, the way he raps. I'm just like, you make me want to do better. It's nice to have people around you that lift your spirit or lift your motivation. It's never competitive; it's always just love.

A repeat collaborator of yours, Joe Armon-Jones, is on here as well. Why do you think the two of you work so well together?

Me and Joe are very, very, very similar people. Very, very soft spoken. We love eating good, clean food. We love drinking tea, we love smoking, and we love music. I used to go Joe's house back in the day and just watch him. He used to live in this house with a couple of musicians. He'll walk in the room, quiet as a mouse, then just start playing the piano. That's how he gets loud; he talks loud with the way he plays. That's his type of level of communication. So he's just very, very much, he gives space.

He really has mastered the art of producing for an artist. I really admire what he does and he admires what I do, so there's always a level of respect in room and there's a lot of trust. I trust that he's going to do some crazy shit and he trusts that I'm going to say some crazy shit. We've been working together for a long time. I've slept at his house for days on a sofa, slept on that bitch–uncomfortable–woke up to him getting up for breakfast and then just like, yo, should we just make some shit? And if this is the vibe, I'm not leaving for three days.

Top Hooter & MichaelAngelo, Hooter Hyena

(buy it / stream it)

Feed The Family' Top Hooter had some standout moments on the Massachusetts posse's 2024 set ZING LANGUAGE. Following the lead of crewmates BoriRock and Shaykh Hanif, his new solo project Hooter Hyena was done in tandem with likeminded producer MichaelAngelo. Much like his pals did with On Dogz and Wilderness Of North America, respectively, he spits with uncanny precision about a dangerous lifestyle few have the stamina for, at times accompanied by guests like Mickey Diamond and Estee Nack. Where that latter Bay State denizen claimed WWE Legend Jim Duggan on his Griselda debut, Top Hooter embraces the aura another pro-wrestling figure, Tama Tonga, for this one on songs like "Top Tier Hier" and the unflinching title track. Through a somewhat world-weary villain's perspective, he knowingly gazes backwards at the way things were amid the deep jazzy haze of "Shattered Dreams" and the contemplation-prompting loops of "No Crowns."

Bloo Azul & Sherman, Sacré Bloo

(buy it / stream it)

The last time Bloo Azul and Sherman got together, the result was 2023's instantly gratifying Bloojeria. Their shared sensibilities differed from the Bronx rapper's prior work with Spanish Ran, but the wizardly synergies on display proved nonetheless undeniable. Revolving around an intentionally loose francophone concept, their follow-up Sacré Bloo contains incisive bars, spendid grooves, and no shortage of cartoonish wit. Rapping his proverbial ass off, Bloo gets right down to business on rugged opener "No Merci" and more or less refuses to let up all the way through swaggering finale "Loonatick." Between those two bookends, we get primo stuff like the boast-heavy tape decaying "Pry Orities," the murky and mischievous "Sly Fox Mcloud," and the piano blues brooder "Moonshine." Encore amis AJ Suede and Tree Mason make their mic skills matter on "King Of Iron Fist" and "Notre Dame," respectively.

Three new tracks to snack on...

Che Noir & Superior, "Destiny Rose"

Jimmie D & Nicholas Craven, "The Gout (feat. Tha God Fahim)"

Estee Nack & al.divino, "ARTMONEY/DOPEMONEY"