top the DANTE project:
official release && thank yous

The DANTE Project has been such a journey and I've once again, learnt so much about myself that I didn't know I was capable of. I didn't lose myself in the music, I am the music. These 3 parts are my interpretations through my own fears, the way I've traversed through discovering it, embracing it then accepting that there is nothing I truly need to be afraid of. And if there is, it's what reminds me that fear makes me so incredibly angry, and anger is what makes me feel so alive ~

bandcamp digital album / merch

lyrics

act 1: Inferno

i ain’t got no royalty in my dna
my loyalty been loyally involved with shit like play by plays
my royalties don’t notice me when i’m focusing on my day by day
my modesty can’t fuck w me when i’m moving like i’m JID
and i’m slaying shit like ce la vie

everybody only love me when i’m a bad bitch
everybody only love me when i’m a bad bitch

the incompetence pocketed so i’m swinging like i’m peter parker
power poisoned press and pouring favours i could preach for prouder
parents like appearances the most important piece of prowess
presidential suites been pressuring on people we empowered

we allowed them, we contributed to the problems
evil all over your faces yea well we allowed them
demons all over the places yea well we allowed them
now we complaining how the world be better off without them

ck said it’s getting scary outside
well we made it scary outside
everybody only love me when i’m a bad bitch

has it been one minute?
tell the king come and get it
i might just hit it, let it slip,
that the queen ain’t with it
he looking up, squaring up like he been fighting for freedom
fair enough, don’t interrupt me when i said i ain’t with them

R-E-S-P-E-C-T i expect that shit like third degrees
are we hearing all the tea? cos destiny ain’t heard of me
i’m boutta be our legacy, my company’s your luxury
i’m the angel you don’t notice, not your token for diversity
your reality as real as my reality shows
and your morality stolen from miss morale and her toes
and the audacity to tell me i don’t move like a pro
if you’re apologetic about it, why do i do the most?
why the fuck am i youngest but i’m making the dough?
why you talking about the greatest when you ain’t even close?
why you praying to your god like you just seen a ghost
when you been villain all this time while i been smoking your dope

you see,
everybody only love me when i’m a bad bitch
you gonn get a bad, get a bad bad

---

act 2: Purgatory

purgatory, purgatory
what’s your story?
tell me what’s your story?

i told you that i’m not perfect, and i told you i’m not your queen
i told you i dont respond to disrespect or anything between
the boldness of self control and the audacity of sweet sixteens
baby the fucked up world ain’t to blame for all these things you been!

go pray to your god, tell them you been doing a lot
tell them to forgive and forget your sins like how you forgot them
tell them bout the person you were when you caught them
tell them bout the good that you had when you bought them
tell them that the worst of your nerves been all you deserve
and the truth feels like a curse

it’s like the evil won’t leave you
it’s like your people won’t need you
it’s like the world in your hands and all of these friends
but no one could free you
it’s like “the ones who demand just dont understand”
they don’t wanna be you
it’s like you lonely when you ain’t alone
and only your mama can see you

your stories of euphoria like it’s your glory days
you pour me a glass of kool aid with a territorial gaze
to be human is too womanly for your manipulative ways
consume it with some comedy then wash it down with some kinda hate!
“indispensable without contraceptions”, i wish you could have a taste
your intellect strong as your internet connection, you aint a special case
i’m independent like the first amendment, i’m better off being on my way
my miss incredible running interceptions, i pray that you’ll never see the day

purgatory, like it’s mandatory
i’m just a category to you
tell me what’s your story to prove
that your purgatory isn’t mandatory
tell me what’s your story

what is a woman without a man?
what is a woman if she can’t smile no more?
what’s a daughter without her daddy?
what is a woman without her body?
and what is a man without his money?
what is a man if he can’t provide?
what is a man without the stick in his pants and his head circling my thighs?

start thinking with your pants up,
stand up for the ones who can’t speak up,
hands up for ones who can’t stand up,
show up, so you really been grown up
grow up, i dont really need a glow up
look up, nah i ain’t about to shut up
push up, yea you really gotta pack up
back up, i dont really need a backup
i just got my high

i dont want your loving or congratulations
i dont want excuses of your complications
i’m a poet living in your constellations
i’m a
get your ass back to kindergarden, baby i don’t think your ass been graduated
all these problems you been generating,
that’s on you to think that we’re animated

purgatory,
so what’s your story?

---

act 3: Paradise

monologue:
“ladies and gentlemen,
i want to show you what it feels like to be free, to be free of all these people of disbelief and all this needing to be seen when really it’s your energy, it’s your peace and your mind that needs protecting, your time and your presence that craves respecting. that’s what you deserve and what you should be checking”

it’s cinematic
real as fuck to feel like magic
don’t wanna wake up
don’t wanna wake up for you to tell me
love ain’t really how it’s supposed to be
love ain’t real without some tragedy (really?)
heaven just the other side of me
it’s my cinema, your seat’s a luxury

you looking up at me to look down
you sitting up dont wanna sit down
i said to hold me tight, not to hold me down,
i said to love me right, not to love me now

but that’s okay
we all make some mistakes and as long as you give what you taken,
i ain’t about to wish you hell
cos i aint hallucinating
i just been thinking on the regular
you treat me like an angel
when i’ve only been your messenger

are you for real when you say you love me are you for real?

disconnect from my connections they been taking too much imagination
the disrespect disguised as their congratulations
communications never been in their conversations
but reputations never been my motivation

first of all, I might’ve been the worst of all
I might’ve called your bluff and played it rough but I been standing tall
Sometimes we just had enough, sometimes gotta fuck it all up
trust my intuition i got perfect vision on the climb up

are you for real
dont wanna wake up for you to say that you love me
cos you aint for real when you say that you love me
cos you can don't mean it, and say

---

transcripts

the Tigress

The main Tigress motif is inspired by my mother's zodiac animal, the Tiger. It represents my channeling of her fierceness in my own image. My zodiac animal is the rabbit, so my intention here was to embody the opposite of “Wolf in Sheep's clothing”, where my original spiritual being “wears” the tigress as my form of protection and expression (i.e. putting on the red glasses is how i “wear” the tigress)

Inferno as Anger & Insecurity between parts of myself -

I've always received backhanded compliments from people that I respected and loved, ‘I won’t like you as much if you weren't a musician'; ‘You’re so lucky I love you'. It separated me from iiARA, who at the time was this other part of myself that I was always jealous of, like the ‘real me’ was just a sidekick, and my ‘talent’ was the hero.

Inferno as Acknowledgement and Ownership that our existence can never be blameless -

“we made it scary outside” - how many times have I been by-standing because I didn't have enough courage to stand up for someone else, and more importantly, for my own beliefs?

How many times have I knowingly lived in ignorance and take advantage of my privilege? And worse, take it for granted?

Safety is only achieved with our collaboration and community, and this call outs to realize how separated and individualistic we are now

Purgatory as Challenging Belief Systems & Traditions -

“What's your story?”
The blatant dependence on our beliefs and lack of accountability especially when something incredibly good or bad happens to us:
If something bad happened out of nowhere, ‘I must have done something to upset the higher power’;
If something good happened out of nowhere, ‘I must be doing something right’

What are we without a God then?
What are we without something to believe in?

calling out our ways of dehumanization & objectification -
“what is a woman without her body?” - a woman!
“what is a man without his money?” - a man!

Purgatory as a Reckoning -

“Go pray to your God, tell them you've been doing a lot”
Is our evil rid of once we pray it away? Or is praying just something we do to remove our guilt?

‘Reverse praying’ - my wording of praying ill on others

“What is a hunt without any violence?”
~ Yellowjackets: what would we resort to for our own survival?

And in this context, what are the things we would do to others for our own benefit? “Rat Race”, “Empires”, all the things we destroy each other for

Paradiso as Acceptance & Freedom -

“It's cinematic” - where the end almost feels unreal journeying through the 2 previous parts, like we're still in a dream sequence

Strength in taking high roads: “i ain't about to wish you hell cos i ain't hallucinating”

and in being the ‘villain’ in some peoples' stories although standing by my own principles: “i might've been the worst of all…, but i like standing tall”

Paradiso as the Realities of Love -

Recalls to backhanded compliments in Act 1: “Are you for real”

“Love ain't real without some tragedy”
inspired by: “If it's love, then why the fuck it come with pain?” ~ Mac Miller in Dang! ft. Anderson Paak

Feeling suffocated from love: “hold me tight but don't hold me down”
and impatience: “love me right, not to love me now”

Paradiso as the End of a Cycle -

Understanding that even though I've arrived at the end of the road, the journey continues on with new cycles and attained growth

Embracing new beginnings by leaving “happy endings” unfinished: “you can don't mean it and say -”

And to the person reading this - thank you for your support.
I hope you know that each and every purchase and/or download motivates me to keep doing what I do.
I want you to know that to me, this isn't really a dream or an ambition anymore, it feels more like activism - that I won't stop until artists are paid what they're due, until we arrive at a time where the world stops ignoring and normalizing the flaws in our systems and instead moves to fix them.

this, this is the DANTE Project