(Dan's Note: This article will be approximately 100x more enjoyable if you Watch ALL The Videos. Thank you for your cooperation... :)
Who are The Bullitts? I realized the other day that there's never been a single post on our lovely site about the music of this very unique artist. That's right Artist, singular. The proper question would actually be, "Who is The Bullitts?"
So, now that you know who The Bullitts is, musician/producer/director Jeymes Samuel, you're probably thinking, "Wow, that's one talented dude!" Or, "How have I not heard of this guy before?" If this is your introduction to Samuel's work, well, like I said, we've never posted anything from The Bullitts before--something I really should've corrected awhile ago, but I kept putting off writing this artist profile because I knew it would have to be something epic--and other blogs cover Samuel's music, but, even with that, he has been really economical with his releases. He's either a master of building up hype or he just doesn't care too much about his presence in the current musical landscape.
As time goes on though, The Bullitts' story just keeps getting more and more interesting. If you can't tell from the two videos you've seen so far, he's well-connected. He didn't just surprise Rosario Dawson on the street, he's her personal friend and she was a part of the act the whole time. And as you heard in the second video, he's also got Lucy Liu narrating his debut album They Die By Dawn & Other Short Stories, in which she plays the main character who is telling the story of how she committed a murder.
Also, as he mentioned in the "Conversation with The Bullitts" video, he's got Jay Electronica featured on his album and, rumor has it, he is the main producer of Jay E's debut album, Act II: The Patents Of Nobility. Yes, the one that's been delayed for about three years and counting now. Jay E is, in my opinion, the best rapper making music right now, and one of the best artists out there, but, as far as his releases go, he seems to have turned into a ghost. For me, it just makes him even more fascinating, but I know a lot of people are losing hope in him. It's a huge testament to the talent of Samuel though that one of the most talented, mysterious major label artists alive has done the majority of his work with him. Samuel talks about his unique chemistry with Jay E, along with many other things, in his recent interview with Jay-Z's Life + Times.
Oh, I'm not done yet. There's plenty more. Did I mention that Samuel is rumored to be working closely with Jay-Z on The Great Gatsby soundtrack? Did I mention he just premiered a film of his own, They Die By Dawn, at SXSW two weeks ago, based partly on his debut album? Yep, he's a busy guy. As he's mentioned in multiple interviews, he rarely sleeps. They Die By Dawn the film is a western set in Langston, Oklahoma in 1890, one of the first Black settlements post-slavery, near the area in Tulsa, OK once known as "Black Wall Street". The film has an all-star cast that includes Rosario Dawson, Harry Lennix, Isaiah Washington, Jesse Williams, Michael K. Williams, Nate Parker, Giancarlo Esposito, and Erykah Badu playing the roles of famous African-American cowboys and outlaws such as Ben Hodges, Rufus Buck, Nat Love, and Stagecoach Larry.
On the film Samuel said, "The portrayal of Black people in cinema disturbed me anyway, but watch the Westerns. The reason why Westerns used to bug the hell out of me was because they never, ever show Black people and when they would, they’ll give a reason for us being there ... Lincoln did what he did in 1865. Decades [after] that in the old West where Black people were chilling! They were chilling! We were cowboys! There was Rufus Buck, Nat Love, Stagecoach Larry, Ben Hodges, John Taylor, all of these cowboys and cowgirls that we have never, ever learned about that weren’t slaves. They were free and law-abiding citizens making a name for themselves that people can read about over a hundred years later." Watch the preview for They Die By Dawn below.
And finally, let me rap it up with the latest release, and possibly the best so far, from The Bullitts that just dropped last week. The song, "They Die By Dawn" ft. Jay Electronica, Lucy Liu, and Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def), which serves as the film's theme song and is also featured on The Bullitts's debut album They Die By Dawn & Other Short Stories, which, according to Life + Times, is coming soon. Get caught up with all of The Bullitts amazing work, go see the film, and get excited for this album!
Fresh?
