SOULEYE
Like a mixed martial artist, Souleye rhymes with an artful ferocity like he's eloquently dancing between words, sounds, and silence, intuitively and spontaneously landing each sick beat and verse in a rhythmically mesmerizing flow.
Souleye’s brilliantly crafted rap lyrics are a tapestry of cosmic consciousness woven with the everyday realities of life. Like a well-lubricated twin-clutch, Souleye can just as effortlessly and swiftly shift from observational daily musings to mystic rumination, reflecting on past life events while mindfully meditating on the present, and contemplating the mysteries of the future and the beyond.
Growing up in New England the acclaimed hip-hop artist had a fascination with hip hop music going back to his childhood. At the dawn of the 90s, amidst a backdrop of grungy flannel and the fall of the wall, Souleye would jump off his school bus, hightailing it home in time so that he could catch the latest episode of ‘Yo! MTV Raps,’ capturing them all on his boombox to listen to later. Souleye credits his mother with gifting him his very first rap album, Rap Beginnings – Volume I.
By his mid-teens, Souleye began freestyling and writing his first songs. At 20, while practicing a shamanic visualization meditation, Souleye was bestowed with his name 'Souleye' by a divine figure under the glow of a bright golden light.
A couple of years later, after touring and performing with a collective of likeminded hip-hop artists known as the Transcendental Alliance, Souleye released his debut album, Soul Sessions, with underground artist Campaign.
Since then Souleye has released nearly a dozen dynamic albums, including 2003’s Flexible Morality, which he wrote alone in the woods of Massachusetts following the death of his best friend to cancer; and 2004’s Universal Alchemy, after learning of his brother’s tragic suicide.
In 2006, Souleye released Intergalactic Vibes, which he wrote in collaboration with producer Sleepyhead. The album won a Relix contest honoring new music, leading the two to perform on a weeklong Jamcruise, where Souleye freestyled with Michael Franti. A year later, Souleye became the latest member of the Bay Area-based electronic band BLVD, with which Souleye toured and recorded the album, Music For People.
In 2009, while attending a private meditation ceremony, Souleye met his wife and kindred spirit, Canadian American singer-songwriter, actress, and recovery and self-empowerment leader, Alanis Morissette, with whom Souleye has collaborated on songs such as 'Jekyll and Hyde,' 'Snow Angel' and 'Emergency.'
Souleye’s most recent album, Disguised As Tomorrow, was released in March 2023, and follows his other recent albums, including 2021’s hunting teardrops, 2019’s Soul School, 2017’s Wildman, 2015’s Shapeshifting, and 2013’s Iron Horse Running. He is getting ready to release his forthcoming album, Floating in Plasma, this summer.