Topaz Jones Debuts Sophomore Album ‘ARCADE’

2016 is definitely the year of expansive music options. Artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Anderson .Paak, KAYTRANDA, and Solange give music lovers texture to black music. Each artists infuses historical socio-policial themes mixed with deep influences from the 70s and 80s to deliver a gumbo of music that reaches to the depths of the soul. Catching onto that wave, almost, instinctively is the young Topaz Jones, 23, from Montclair, NJ. The mutli-dimenionsal singer/songwriter/rapper delivers his sophomore project Arcade.

Arcade is an compilation of influences from Jones’ upbringing. Son of a 70s funk musicians, his mother, an activist and Harvard scholar, and his grandmother created a Motown group, it’s without question Earth, Wind, & Fire, Marvin Gaye, and George Clinton are ingrained onto his smorgasbord of sounds. Arcade is a genre bending project bridging the gap between hip hop, R&B, rock, funk, and psychedelic vibes.

The 10 – track project is genuinely structured for movement. Opening Arcade with, “Howling’ To The Moon,” it sets the tone of what’s to be expected. Danceable productions, catchy hooks, and passion is traced from beginning to end on this project without trying to hard carve out his own lane. 80’s music was the soundtrack to our grandparents and parents adolescents, yet Topaz Jones seamlessly redefines who he is as an artist and what hip hop sounds and feels like for him.