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House Party Meets Church in Ian Kelly and Drew Banga's 'Soulful of It'

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Ian Kelly in the Town. (Anshil Popli)

Very few rappers in Northern California have shown the persistent discipline and sincerity of Ian Kelly in recent years. And very few hip-hop producers have Drew Banga‘s eclectic musicality.

It’s no surprise then that Soulful of It — the one-off collaboration project between the two Oaklanders — is pure love and rhythmic fun. The new 10-track release is church music flipped into hip-hop that reflects on mortality, Bay Area childhood and family communion. As Ian Kelly explained it to KQED, the effort is a “ghetto gospel.”


“It’s really two Oakland kids coming together with Town and church influences,” Kelly says. “Drew’s church influence is way heavier than mine, but I drew from a place of remembering those moments where East Oakland and spirituality collided for me. The way I look at [Soulful of It] is like a church and a house party got let out at the same time.”

On Sept. 25, the pair of musicians shared their feel-good project with a crowd of first-time listeners at Inner Desires, a sleek, purple-lit streetwear boutique on Grand Avenue in Oakland. The crowd at the release party included members of hip-hop groups Trey Coastal and MacArthur Maze, LaRussell‘s go-to producer Tope and other cultural factors from around the East Bay. As the music played, everyone bobbed in unison, and the venue became so packed that onlookers had to peek in from the sidewalk.

Drew Banga started his career with the goal of becoming a tour bassist but now has ambitions to top the charts.
Drew Banga started his career with the goal of becoming a tour bassist but now has ambitions to top the charts. (Kristina Bakrevski )

Soulful of It is as smooth as advertised — and harmoniously anchored by the vocal additions of Isaiah Mostafa and Death Row Records’ Jane Handcock. Whether it’s a West Coast, synth-heavy cruising jam like “Monday Thru Sunday” or the acoustic riffs on “Distance,” the lyrics are grounded in introspection and romanticized musings.

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There’s also a surfeit of uptempo beats (the Stunnaman02-featuring “Bounce”) and Bay Area braggadociousness (“All This Game”) for those in need of hyphy’s holy ghost. “Off the Porch” is a second-summer anthem, with a slow, sing-along group hook accenting Drew Banga’s bass guitar: “Hop off the porch, no baby boy anymore / I’ve been outside, outside, baby.”

Throughout the album, Kelly’s sharp-witted poetics and Drew Banga’s live instrumentation create a gravitational pull of joy — bringing many circles together in the process.

“It just feels good to connect with the soil and community,” Kelly says.

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