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Innocent Country 2

by Quelle Chris & Chris Keys

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  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 9 Quelle Chris releases available on Bandcamp and save 30%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of DEATHFAME, Innocent Country 2, Guns, Everything's Fine, Being You Is Great, I Wish I Could Be You More Often, Lullabies for the Broken Brain, Innocent Country, Ghost At The Finish Line, and 1 more. , and , .

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  • Quelle Chris & Chris Keys - Innocent Country 2 (LP - CandyLand Edition)
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Quelle Chris & Chris Keys - Innocent Country 2 (LP - CandyLand Edition)

    TRACK LISTING

    01. INTRO / ReCAP
    02. OUTRO/Honest (feat. Marcella Arguela)
    03. LIVING HAPPY ( feat. Joseph Chilliams & Cavalier)
    04. SACRED SAFE (feat. Merrill Garbus, Cavalier & Homeboy Sandman)
    05. HORIZON
    06. MOMENTS (feat. Josh Gondelman)
    07. Bottle Black Power BUY THE BUSINESS
    08. GREASE FROM THE ELBOWS (feat. Pink Siifu & Billy Woods)
    09. BLACK TWITTER (feat. MosEL & Nelson Bandela)
    10. SUDDEN DEATH
    11. GRAPHIC BLEED OUTS (feat. Merrill Garbus & Melanie St. Charles)
    12. MIRAGE (feat. Earl Sweatshirt, Denmark Vessey, Merrill Garbus & Big Sen)
    13. FIFOALSA / CREDITS

    Includes unlimited streaming of Innocent Country 2 via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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1.
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Chorus: Not exactly what you think of as flawless. But it’s gonna be ok cause I’m honest. Do you think that we could kick it beyond this? Do you promise? I always learn the hard way. I’m telling you don’t forget me. I’m honest. Verse (Quelle): What up gurl? You not the young world you used to be. So I can no longer be your roni exclusively. We came up together why you was hiding the truth from me. A fool am I thinking nothing stays what it used to be. Shit I’ve grown. I was wishing you would with me. You bear scars from other affairs unfair for me to blame you but what was once you being cool is ice cold now. And when you heated, straight left eye, burning the homes down. As valid rage. You back hanging with them same lames that had my great grand and grand cropping like the slave days. You in denial. And ya friends fickle and fake. You was Kim K’in, flaunting ya new black friends and they 2 black kids for like 8 straight years. Then you switched up like bitch I don’t know them niggas. Cyrus. I shed tears, you stood there in silence. Gaslighting. Talking you the best and I’d something less if I left. How you made me and introduced me to everything that made me QC. Them mind games you play why I stay faded boosie. With the fresh cut. You talk like me. Your kids call me poppy now. You still tell em don’t trust me when I come around. Ridiculous. Honeymoon phase feeling distant like the moons gaze. Plus the tension. Can cut with dull blades. Not to mention you document errthang but stay acting like you don’t pay attention. Playing dumb. We no longer young. You should know better. But stay bragging how you hanging out with go getters. Boot strap 6 job bread winners and so and sos. Hit that robin harris gotta go gotta go. Find somebody on the islands or up north in snow. Hoping you ain’t thinking I still got cha number cause I don’t. Plus I wrote a song about it. Like to hear it? Hear it go. But you already know.
3.
Cavalier Verse These are rough diamonds we mine Through the much and the mire I don't have to tuck in my shine I'm good in my shire Got a comb stuck in my lion's mane fuck it you right Got a pair of J's the colorway JJ messiah My hair laid pink lotion like strawberry milk These kinda waves gotta work it with the Burberry silk Then badabing she started twerk twerk I'm uppin' the price they want our spice Pet her pussy for luck these fuzzy dice I see the God in us incredibly clear must be their fear To be young, rich, and Black I'm a melaninaire My record clean they run reports But they can't clone the source The crowd roared I wore my church suit to court That's how I walked Joseph Verse That 1st shower after being out for hours how my spirit feel On a mission building with my niggas just like key and peele Dancing with this shorty at this party feel like glory road Godly til somebody started shooting now we gotta go Running up the block like those cameramen on the Maury show Showing love to everyone I come across like glory holes Happy that we made it home can’t believe I’m still alive Life or death decision when I simply plan to step outside Move my feet for all the slaves that got theirs taken Face down ass up watching Netflix naked Clouds swaying I can clearly hear god saying Quelle Verse I died the other night. Couldn’t fi nd the energy to fight the call of the tunnels light. So I just rode that wave. And at the epicenter of this euphoric transfer a choir of angels awaited me. A joy like no other swelled in my spirit as the choir began to sang. Face Down Ass up Doo doo Brown Monastery Chicken head Bust the juke Hit the jit Cabbage patch Bankhead Butterfly Tootsie roll Lean wit it rock wit it Do the jerk hit the woah Pee wee Herman Charlie Brown Raise the roof Running man Roger rabbit dougie Thizz Stanky leg Cat daddy Ambulance Back when it was black and milds styling when the tip was wood. One titty of e&j. Living broke and feeling good. Work was only time to play lazing bout the neighborhood. Now i live no looking back wouldn’t change it if I could. Uncle say come holla at me I got something you should know. If you want for living happy gotta let some feelings go. Lock it cause I love it Nappy. Let my armor grow for times them black white ratios look like dominos. In this bitch no vamanos. Know the ledge. we cut it all kinds of close. Taco neck fake wokes. Used to chasing bank roll for gold spokes, gold teeth, green leaf and a freak. Re up re up (beat it beat up) go Debo. Clean up clean up no PO. Learn em lead em my neo. Get up get out nat geo. Chilly chillin stay frio. Meet up read up take TO. Keep it funky straight BO stay bout ya money casino.
4.
Chorus Sacred safe. Are your keys encaged. Chase those saints away. Sacred safe. Are your hearts engaged. Keep thos saints away. Cavalier verse Born of a sufferer might die a sufferer Fight like a sufferer might rise as a sufferer Took me a couple of lifetimes to toughen up Each life like one hell of a ride buckle up Keep on trucking we Einsteins of fuckin up These are the breaks you shake it off or suck it up Or sabotage through self-destruct We camouflage with healthy blunts I'm finding comfort in my personal space of pain I'm just a sculpture getting shaped by mistakes I've made Got performative friends weasels need to weed out my life I'm praying to the voice of Morgan Freeman at night Just when I thought I'm peaking seeing the light Off the strength of a few Kegels she gonna squeeze out a tyke And that's my baby boy I'm making bricks out the clay and soil To pave my way to my greatest joy Sandman verse Today I’m feeling even worse b Even single person on earth irks me Lawdamercy The skin affliction to my pigments now extended to my upper arm I have no idea whattagworn And normally if chicks approach wit a come on I might nod But now they like “come on” I’m like nah I mourn the age before the gods conspired The era when I was not tired Blood clot fire Feel like I’m being burned on a pyre Feel like I’m being turned to a bird on a wire It’s way too much to swallow When a part of me like follow me to wallow in the mire I’m like yes iyah And regularly on edge Here’s another shot at tryna be honest Vital part of makin omelettes is break eggs Despite all of it I still remember that Jah bless Quelle verse Been sipping light rum in the dark all day. Tell my fam run when they come by to pray. Be by the grace of I find my way. Said if I must die then I’ll die my way. Come the world scream get up. The late up and wakes the wounds need stitch up. Body aches the wait til break of dawn. A song sings wait be strong. When arms give shake hold on. The goal seem far throw long. Seek. The call of dreams beyond sleep. That same ol you can’t lose when ya track record o and o. You can’t win when you trying to chase so and so. But if the storm must stay. The wind gives warn and the sky goes grey. I’ll bite sharp tongue while I spark my j what a biddy bum bum
5.
HORIZON 02:35
Well in my younger days it used to be a drag. Odd ball out old rpgs and Apple Jacks still to this day the outfits that ain’t got to match. A gang of lady friends that I aint have to smash. My shoulders still like boulders from the recoil. Shit was madness he had to rehab. Then tried to recoup the coup just to rehash. Quelle with them same okie dooks again. Been running from since them brick Nokias was in. Been catch messages from the ancestors said don’t set yourself to repeat. Repeat low peaks. Top shelf. bail bonds back seats. Surf sports low weight no keeps. Black fades cracked jade repeat. Repeat repeat Feedbacks echos sometimes you gotta let it end and let go. Don’t just try to see the win. Be the win. Used to try to skate around tip toe. How you lie to ya self. Can’t bro. Achilles heels head hearts to the ankles. Trying to turn these bad thoughts into bank rolls. I been bout that me and mine since Ricky lake hosted. They ain’t really let me in just left the gate open. It’s hard you gotta see ya self you wanna be ya self. Yet reflections and perceptions hardly eye to eye. On leveled shelf. Caught that message from somebody else. That’s been my nigga. This ain’t over night that scope of life is plenty bigger. Ain’t got time for riding on your vibe. Gone have a nigga stuck on repeat
6.
7.
I said if I don’t make it rich then I’ll make it my bitch. If it ain’t talking us then don’t make it my business. This ain’t bout the pen muthafucka this physics. This the dead and living mufucka this kismet. Niggas trying to bottle black power by the business. Bless the baby bathed in gun power with the fitness. You ain’t trying to martyr bout it you just trying to witness Fuckers ain’t bout it bout it they just trying to witness. Most them niggas talking bout it pro black and distant. You copped you an outfit stay protesting for the pictures. You don’t get no likes you might decide to switch yo image. Be on tinder singing tarrus Riley to some mistress She don’t let you hit it go from queen to hoe to biznitch This ain’t bout no scene this is life or death by inches. This about ya next of kin. This about ya rib said if I dont Back on the p house niggas OD. For the buck getting fucked daddy dick Jody. Kids can’t read but the whip so clean. Crib got the wiz but the lab got lean. They made you tha plug and the clubs got fiends lf you tryin to keep that money up don’t try to get free. Ay You don’t pay that cash back back to the working rate. Face down mask up time for the percolator. I don’t need a review. I already know they haters they don’t need to see you they just need to see you famous. Skin you down to Hebrew Frank I don’t need to lie. You might catch a redo. You may not come back alive. Jay z on the seedoo. Sean k on the GTI. Mo buttah than kedo or you spreading like two to 5 (country crock) inner thighs. Read em and weep you think you iconic you just king for the week.
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11.
SUDDEN DEATH (free) 03:41 video
It cant all be all sudden death. We’re so much different than the rest. Just clear that desktop start fresh. Just let your seat back take a breath. You’ll find it’s worth it cause life ain’t perfect. It cant all be sudden death. We’re so much different than the rest. Just clear that desktop and start fresh. Just let your seat back take a breath. You’ll find it’s worth it cause life ain’t perfect.
12.
What be worth the wait and what amounts to nothing. Better than 9 to 5s or pushing weight or something. These was two for 5 bruh ain’t no way he buffin. Bugging. Used to losing dozens used to booze for buzzin. This a body of water ain’t no wave buddy. Shit I put that on eerbody. What type of dude say that q ain’t dope ooh the nerve of em. Type of dude see you q what’s up put the swerve on him. That’s living legend that’s the usual. Qs a living headache also usual. We ain’t eye to eye what you gone do me fo. I be in the cridib wit the wiz watching judge Judy bro. This no place for quitters quitters duly note. When life ties you down beloved chew the rope. If you swimming in lemons get em by the throat. squeeze em to the pulp a fill a cup of sumtin for ya folks. It seems the grass grow where the haves go. It seems the asphalt full of assholes. What will be will be and come to pass. if you heed the need you take to task. What you mad fo. I done seen the best of em quit just shy of winning I done seen the least of these chumps dipped out like Reggie Kenneth. Ol bidness cliche fake friends fame body image. First they dread it now they get it a regular rocky Dennis. Quelle Chris his chosen name no gimmicks. Why rock wrist and neck if the wrist and neck all rented. Why rock Colgates and crests when the disrespect authentic. Now what they call abstract is what we simply called lyrics. Chorus : if I can imagine it better it will be better. Put my hands in the earth. Learn the ways of work. Uncover the treasure. There’s no use in crying over what ifs. It’s not forever. It’s all in my mind I know. As I set my daily intentions. I know that they’re coming. So I get ready to mention all the things that I want. And how I’ll live it when I get off of front street . Change my residence to winners way. Never believe a lie told em right that’s what my mamma say. Nothing between me and my desire just me and the liar I give enough rope to hang himself on. Never been a reason to think that I’m less than a god. Brown skin bright eyes pure gold between my thighs. Shining diamonds between my ears. Singing loud for you to hear. What you thinking bout me ain’t got no say in how I win. No. I set my thoughts on higher things like driving a Mercedes Benz. Scratch that. I’d rather jet to an island. Do my own thing. I own it like Oprah showing up in my dreams. Saying what up cousin? When we gone kick it? When’s the next party?
13.
One delivered the cut then begged please do not spill out. Every word sincere as all get out. When hick ups turn to spit ups you Linda blaring the shit out. Fam turn to foes all nighters turn into sit outs. You used to be beside now when tables turning you bid ounced. Not all solace moments get caught on camera we got backs like Bayer. The easy rinse away bound to partner pain like nair. Part Indian mama tried to halt the rain with prayer the b line between sentence and seance in sage filled rooms still couldn’t consume beams from the exposed moons. At awe with the gauze it took to bring pause. The horror the horror the scars that shook to the core. Once thought a gift from the gods you mistook for amor. Most end up right with the lord or end up seeking allah. A faith in leaders abroad easier than believing in this nigga or that broad. Cause ultimately all flawed. The thief who greets burlap sack full of hearts. He wishes he could pawn but they still beat while apart now that’s a living soul collabos with the shadows and dance routines with the ghosts cause not that many mistreatments get deleted in post. So folks carry heat besides the seat at all costs. Some get em cremates some get em lamented it’s a toss I’ve seen the crossroads of hood and goth the foot in jaw. The tag no take backs. Friends turn to villains and feelings turn into drinks. Some fetishized the drama. The armor covered in chinks. The weight of this world I fed and had to tug ten folds. The weatherman in green the newsroom is cluttered with info. The wrong words heard by the heart can weather your skin folds. Have ya black cracking regretting times you was involved. But know wounds heal but scar. Arms grow. Rain drops from sunlit skies. Clouds float. The I O Us and I know I but yous we wrote. No golden rule within so many cools we broke. To qoute a wise man in ways no wiser than me. Who’s oats were sowed and sold out he sifts through pictures of peace. Don’t let em sell your soul and stay faithful loving and grief. Let it out and if need be let it. Don’t blow with the when’s wherevers and what’s. Some openings never shut once one delivers the cut.
14.
Quelle Verse Stepped out like scoobie doo and the gang. With a sack of treats as the case completes the villains knew the name we was stuffing chillums with lame. Back when dime sacks was a thing. Now we glide cross the sky’s like lu kang. No shame. We carried the state on our back like new quarter change. Rats was at em like Elmira to Maximilian. I was focused on the craft I knew racks was in the cards. Sorta mutant I seemed to see though the ceilings. Some homies hid under tables. My head was up in the stars. The real large know niggas that caved in but still gods some said it’s pre programmed some state it’s up to allah. You ask me it’s all part the mirage. Who’s that. It’s Chris and q in the Subaru Denmark Vessey Verse O yeah I hit me in the heart one day it’s just words a string of letter I smashed together ....a random sequence culture casts the weather inshallah could last forever I don’t have to be here but I made it through ... through a maelstrom the directors cut might not even make the album that’s where the melanated melancholy styles from fly birdie fly be as wise as the owl Keep the eye of a falcon that’s eyeing the sparrow eye know my daughters watching I know you watch me I know the times is rocky I know it’s hard to remember it blurred December was brrr....my ten toes dig in the dirt feeling the earth I’m willing to merch, fourth quarter finals moxy.. it was dark like the light forgot me o lord then a spark Then a scent of singed rosemary, when reality bit it pierced my heart.. but lifted hardships my soul carried... a voice close near me said don’t be so scary enjoy yo 30’s listen I’m still looking for father figures around me in even niggas who clowned me the last laugh is a nectar but the sweetest getback is being completely free (facts) completely me... the smell of burnt sage let the seasons reek don’t over think it breathe deep frequently
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16.

about

If now the time for voodoo amulets and protective talismans, sharpened swords and unbreakable shields, it’s also a moment for music to assume its highest form as a healing art, a source of benevolent spells, and a refuge from the chaos. After all, the best creators are always those that tap into the telluric current that exists below the surface. Those who delve into the collective unconscious so that timeliness is a happy accident; timelessness was always the intent.

If Quelle Chris and Chris Keys’ Innocent Country 2 sounds like an antidote for a moment of surreal anxiety, the same could be said of it a decade from now. It’s an album best understand in a dialogue with the first volume of the series. Released in 2016, the initial Innocent Country focused on isolation, pessimism, and the notion of finding peace within pain. At a time when those feelings convey the mood of the moment, Quelle and Keys have responded with a soundtrack that offers soothing light in a bleak timeline. A hopeful record in a hopeless moment, precisely when it’s needed most.

The country that Quelle describes is presented in both the individual sense and as a whole, a nation whose hands are stained with blood. It’s about recognizing the complexity of our fractured identity, the good and evil that most of us contain, our ability to acknowledge, grow, heal, help, communicate, live, and learn from one another. It is a subtle and soul-reviving record that reveals its depth in layers and repeated listens. An organic and preternaturally funky album that could’ve emerged from Electric Ladyland Studios during the peak of the Soulquarian movement, yet feels distinctly contemporary. A long-lost Slum Village record excavated from the vaults, except it could only come from Quelle Chris and Chris Keys.

The cast of collaborators is as impressive as any record in recent memory. Earl Sweatshirt, billy woods, Homeboy Sandman, Pink Siifu, Cavalier, and Denmark Vessey all kick indelible laser-eye guide raps. Two of the funniest people on earth, Marcella Arguello and Josh Gondelman (a writer and producer on Desus & Mero) perform skits, including the former’s hilarious rant about the importance of never sending a call straight to voicemail while you’re tweeting. Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs, Starr Busby, and Melanie St. Charles contribute beatific hymns and eternal soul.

Behind the boards, Keys channels the spirit of Dilla with a level of vitality and imagination that transcends the millions of bedroom imitators who think it’s only a matter of chopping samples with an MPC. The truth goes much deeper. The keyboards and drums need to be played with warm and triumphal spirit, an intuitive connection to the organic rhythms of the old earth. It’s a communion with ancestral traditions: jazz, rhythm and blues, funk, gospel, reggae, and of course, the hip-hop titans who preceded them.

Over a decade deep into a sterling career, Quelle Chris continues to evolve and somehow improve. Pitchfork hailed his singular blend “of serious reflection and satire,” which make him one of hip-hop’s most resonant cultural critics. Always fiercely intelligent and a virtuosic MC, he’s become a brilliant arranger of sounds, personalities, and ideas. This is symphonic hip-hop that sidesteps the usual clichés (“get me strings,” “get me Jon Brion,” etc) and obliterates boundaries between genres without relying on watery fusion.

“There is “Living Happy,” which sounds like a lost middle bridge between Midnight Marauders and Beats, Rhymes and Life, which contains the richness and inextinguishable soul of Detroit. It’s hook finds Quelle tossing out every classic dance step from the stanky legg to the running man. “Sudden Death” floats via hypnotic grand pianos, conjuring images of two-stepping in old jazz parlors. It’s the sort of thing you imagine they’re playing in an Ernie Barnes painting. On “Mirage,” Quelle trades bars alongside Earl Sweatshirt and Denmark Vessey; it sounds like a rap clinic held inside a church now converted into a basement speakeasy, where dime sacks and bootlegged rye were given to every parishioner.

As the voice of Big Sen rides out, he issues the declarative that this is for anyone fed up and trying to transmit the anger into beautiful art. This is art that is always the truth. It isn’t here to play “woke” or conscious or some other label that distracts from the music and the message. It is 16 spells of positivity, inviolate and honest, profoundly felt and unfaltering.

credits

released April 24, 2020

All Songs Produced by Chris Keys
All Songs Co-Produced by Quelle Chris

All Instruments Played and Recorded Live by Chris Keys
Mixed By Dane Orr, Quelle Chris, Chris Keys

Mastered by DaneOrr
Album Art by Quelle Chris, Skor Rokswell, Cavalier, Ahmed Arasah

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Quelle Chris Detroit, Michigan

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