JMSN Has A New Album On The Way

Producer and songwriter JMSN has been turning up on a few TDE projects recently, contributing vocals to four tracks off Kendrick Lamar's good kid, m.A.A.d city and picking up a feature on Ab-Soul's new album These Days..., on the closing track "W.R.O.H." But even though his collaborative project with Soul, Unit 6, was scrapped due to label politics, the Michigan multi-instrumentalist has just completed a new album, the followup to his January 2012 debut Priscilla, set to come out in the next few months.

"I just finished my new album. We're getting ready to put it out soon," JMSN said in a recent phone conversation with XXL. "Not a solid release date—we're trying to see how it's coming out and shit like that—but I'm thinking new music will definitely be in August, for starters. There's no features on the album, it's just all me and the people who played instruments. I'm pretty excited about it."

JMSN most recently dropped an EP, Pllajë, on White Room Records last November, and has also lent his talents to tracks by Game, Tyga, Deniro Farrar and Blue Sky Black Death over the past few years. But he describes this new project as different from everything else he's done.

"It's a big progression, that's why I'm excited, because it doesn't sound like anything I've done, and it doesn't sound like anything anybody's doing," he said. "It's weird, but in a good way."

The album doesn't have an official title yet, though it's got a nickname that he's been tossing around for a while now. "Right now it's just called The Blue Album," he said. "It's been The Blue Album for so long that I might just keep it, I don't know." The title would share a name with Weezer's 1994 debut, not that that's a rarity for color-coded titles (Jay Z's The Black Album, Game's The R.E.D. Album, Gucci Mane's recent three-pronged White Album, Purple Album and Green Album run).

"I knew that [it was the title to a Weezer album], but I didn't remember that," he said. "Somebody brought it up and was like, 'The Blue Album,' and I was like, 'What do you mean The Blue Album, how do you know about The Blue Album?' And they were like, Weezer's Blue Album. And I was like, 'Aw, fuck.' I might [rethink the name], or I might be like, fuck it, who cares."

Keep an eye out for new music this August, at least. —Dan Rys

Previously: Ab-Soul & JMSN "You're Gone"
Ab-Soul and JMSN Announce Joint Project Unit 6