New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Yuzima Official Website) - Singer songwriter Yuzima has completed 'It's Wonderful', his independently released debut solo album, with a release date of February 16, 2010. Preceded by two well-received EPs in 2008 and 2009 ('Yuzima the EP' and 'The Cosmonaut'), 'Its Wonderful' was three years in the making. The EPs and the nine songs on the album were conceived and recorded in Yuzima's tiny garret Greenwich Village apartment once home to Paul Simon's road manager. He shares a piano with his wedding singer neighbor across the hallway and fills his evenings and weekends performing his music at local watering holes.
Yuzima is a native and started life in New York's rough Gun Hill projects in the Bronx. At the age of nine he was mesmerizing his neighbors and local music talents with his unparalleled ability to tell his young story in verse and danced circles around the older rappers he so admired. At fourteen he was courted by several major labels looking to sign new talent. That same year found New York in the midst of a major inner city drug epidemic. Yuzima's aunt had become a drug user and his mother was determined not to loose her only child to the violence and tough streets her son found so appealing. She bought a car, packed their belongings in the trunk and relocated to a small Vermont town. For the 14-year-old Yuzima the rural life was anything but idyllic. Being the only black family for miles around posed another challenge for Yuzima but he was soon bridging the prejudices of the locals with his innate ability to charm and entertain. Any venue with a stage found Yuzima front and center and he soon became a well-known local celebrity. As he approached his junior year in high school his mother felt the tug of Africa and left her son to fend for himself. Shuttling between newly found friends and a one-room apartment his musical ear began to expand. U2, Oasis, Bob Marley and Tracy Chapman became his new mentors and when he unexpectedly received a job offer that would bring him back to New York, he bought a bus ticket and began anew his New York story.
'It's Wonderful' draws inspiration from Yuzima's young journey. The title has an ironic twist given the distrust, paranoia and anger expressed on the album. Yuzima uses his 'song-writing characters', plots, villains and heroes to tell his tales. From 'Lies Lies Lies' which shakes a fist at corrupt religious leaders and politicians, to 'Bring Down This House', a song about tearing down and starting over - a subject Yuzima is all too familiar with. On a recent trip to Venice Beach in Los Angeles Yuzima found himself once again confronted with the drug pushers and motley characters that played a pivotal role in his childhood. 'Speedway 1200' is his response. 'Manic' and 'It's The Music Cupid' are subtle experiments in sound with fuzzed out guitars and a heavy beat.
Yuzima's unique understanding of the human experience brings a fresh and layered note to his music and his disparate music influences have resulted in a wholly unique style. Yuzima says his music 'is a personal message from me to the listener. When I write a song I focus on the story I want to tell and the music follows naturally. I try to express a strong message rather than focus on a hook or something unnatural and over produced.' His powerful voice runs from boastful blasts of sound to the tender remembrances of pain and a light filled today. 'She's the Boss' toys with an electro-folk sound while the sublime title track 'It's Wonderful', features a spare guitar under a vocal arrangement unlike most. Yuzima's sound is intricate, story based and grounded in authentic music. Yuzima will be supporting the release of his debut album with local performances and appearances sporting his trademark big hats and tight jeans. He is releasing from his own imprint Uzee Records and produces under the Flying Man Competition moniker.
