Changing – ARLO ft. Mick Jenkins

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Change is the only constant of life. And yet it always seems to come as a surprise when it hits. All living beings have an instinctual desire to be safe, and safety usually equates to all the things change is not. At the same time, life without change is boring. Stale. Safety is something we need, not necessarily something we want. Quitting your job can be a sign of wanted change to break out of safety in order to grow.

ARLO’s “Changing” is a British alt-pop record, something you’d hear vibrating out of a London club at 2am. ARLO is a relatively new artist, with only nine released songs to his name. His soul comes through in his lyrics, and his Nigerian heritage is audible on this afrobeat track. He has the winning formula for sustained, crossover success.

The featured artist on this track is Mick Jenkins, another respected newcomer, this time from the Chicago hip hop scene. A rapper whose name I knew before I heard any of his songs. You won’t hear a Mick Jenkins track on the radio, but you may hear his name spoken in the same breath as Chance The Rapper, Noname, Vic Mensa, or Saba. His contribution to “Changing” is a nice, well, change-up from ARLO’s flow while keeping the theme of the need to change: “I'm tryna grow when you sleep under security blankets / I keep it true, don't get mad at me, you should thank it.” His short verse blends back into the central message to close out the song: “You can stay the same but I'm changing.” Do you.

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You can learn more about ARLO here:

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About the Curator - Ben Young:

Ben Young lives a life of polarity. He has split his life between the coasts: half his life on the West (California) and half on the East (Georgia and Virginia). He has pursued careers in the art world (film school graduate) and the corporate world (executive with Fortune 500 companies). And he is Biracial, the personification of being two things at once.

Ben’s musical influences were formed by music loving parents, raised in a world of John Coltrane and John Lennon, James Taylor and James Ingram, Huey Lewis and the News and Prince and the Revolution. Saxophones, electric guitars, synthesizers, and breakbeats filled the air Ben breathed from birth. And being born one year after the birth of Hip Hop, Ben has been joined at the hip with the genre his entire life.

Check out Ben’s blog where you can get more recommendations on great music, presented from a Biracial point of view: www.khameleonkurator.com.