At what may have been Sorority Noise's last concert, I found a new side to the music I normally listen to. Without knowing who Jelani Sei was before that night, I went in blind like I normally do with opening acts. But this time, it was different. They didn't play the usual indie/emo/punk music I had been used to hearing. Their music had a groove to it.
Jelani Sei refuses to conform to a single genre, blending indie, funk, emo, alt-rock, psychedelic, hip-hop, and R&B. They describe their music to be "future-soul X alt-rock quintet that doesn't f*** up time signatures n chromatic harmony." Their songs have to ability bring you from just swaying to the music to aggressively moshing in the pit.
You can't help but move to the beat when you hear that deep bass guitar and the perfectly fused voices of Kayana Guity and Evan Lawrence. Then beyond the music notes, their lyrics are precisely selected to portray their view on present-day America.
In the song "Message" Jelani Sei is doing just that when Guity and Lawrence sing:
This is a message for the youth
Who don't know what to do
When our actions are misconstrued...
A message for the blue
You're not gonna tell me how to feel, how to scream, how to breathe
Message for the youth
Despite chaos stay true to yourself
They are speaking about all the deaths of African Americans, particularly at the hands of the police, and the little that has been done to put a stop to this. Before performing "Message" in Connecticut, Lawrence took the time to say, "it's tiring to turn the news on and see that someone else like you is dead. They're dead, they're not coming back and it happens over and over again. This one for them." You can go here to listen to "Message."
Another noteworthy song is "Rep. Maxine Waters." Named after the Representative of Los Angeles, California Maxine Waters is using her platform to stand against President Trump and his administration. Waters "not only challenge[s] him but encourage[s] others to see him for what he is: basically a bully, an egotistical maniac, a liar and someone who did not need to be president."
Recently she has also been encouraging the public to do their part by telling Trump's administration that "they're not welcome," which has lead to Sarah Huckabee Sanders being asked to leave The Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia and Kirstjen Nielson leaving a Mexican restaurant when protestors spoke out about the immigrant children being separated at the border.
So of course, using her name as the title of their song was only fitting. Like Waters, they are speaking out against injustice through their platform. They also use "Rep. Maxine Waters" to speak about what happens in the media. Particularly with the Kardashians, when Guity sings "how does what we mention become your creation? Stolen stolen from us, lost and distorted ya fame is rewarded," which I believe to be about when Kim Kardashian wore cornrows and called them "Bo Derek" braids, that then lead to then also being called Kim K braids. By doing this, she was giving the credit of cornrows to a white woman when they originated in Africa around the nineteenth century.
Jelani Sei goes on to sing, "and I can tell, that you don't care when all our girls, go MIA and I can tell, that you don't care when all our curls, are burned straightened." These lyrics go on to push the point that people like the Kardashians only care about borrowing African hairstyles to further their fame while forgetting to acknowledge where these hairstyles came from and the struggles of the people who wear them. You can go here to listen to "Rep. Maxine Waters."
In other words, the band does not and will not hold back on expressing what they believe in and neither should you. They are one of the best bands I have seen live and you should never pass up the chance to see them in concert. They don't play that often, but when they do you can find information about their shows here.
