Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer and former law professorADRIAN YOUNGE will release his debut short film T.A.N.later this month via the Amazon Music app and Amazon’s Prime Video. A true Renaissance Man, Younge wrote, directed, edited, filmed and composed the score for the film. T.A.N. is a narrative film that sees five fragile souls, confused and in a haze of consciousness and intolerance, enter an eerie dimension. Piece-by-piece, each person realizes their destiny, and the darkness they’ve left behind. “T.A.N. represents the racial friction that exists between Black and White society,” notes Younge. “As a Black American, it’s my way of synthesizing our discarded history with a new vision for survival.” Today, Younge shares the film’s trailer.
T.A.N. is a companion to Younge’s acclaimed recent album The American Negro: his most ambitious and deeply personal project to-date. The multimedia project sees Younge share an unapologetic critique detailing the systemic and malevolent psychology that afflicts people of color. The American Negro is a powerful, multifaceted statement that reflects perennial injustices and serves to act as a lever of change during a time of mass disillusionment: an album for the people that details the evolution of racism in America.
Younge also recently launched the Amazon Original podcast Invisible Blackness with Adrian Younge to better explain the intricacies of the album’s message. The podcast series analyzes the Black consciousness with new historical parallels to the future and the past. The podcast also includes a series of extended conversations with Black musicians, filmmakers, actors and scholars to reveal, illustrate and make visible the dominant ideologies embedded in America’s culture. To date, featured conversations include the legendary Public Enemy frontman Chuck D, Digable Planets’ LadyBug Mecca, jazz musician Keyon Harrold who discusses his recent run in with “Soho Karen” and, most recently, a discussion with actor Michael Jai White.
Adrian Younge is a member of The Midnight Hour and has produced for entertainment greats ranging from Jay Z, Kendrick Lamar and Wu-Tang Clan. He’s composed for television shows such as Marvel’s Luke Cage, and films including Black Dynamite. He owns the Linear Labs boutique record label and analog studio, and is co-owner of Jazz Is Dead. When he’s not working on scores for major studios or networks, he’s making albums that speak to his own artistry. Most recently, Younge and his The Midnight Hour bandmate / A Tribe Called Quest’s Ali Shaheed Muhammad have teamed up again to compose the music for Queen Latifah’s new CBS show The Equalizer and Eddie Huang’s debut film Boogie.
