Listen to Shane Eagle’s New Mixtape ‘Dark Moon Flower’
Shane Eagle's highly anticipated mixtape is here.
Fans have been waiting for the release of Shane Eagle's mixtape Dark Moon Flower since it was announced three weeks ago.. The South African rapper's project is finally live on all streaming platforms. The project is a follow-up to Never Grow Up., an EP Shane Eagle dropped in the last days of 2018. Shane Eagle released his debut album, Yellow, in 2017, and has been successfully running in his own lane ever since.
Dark Moon Flower, unlike the rapper's previous projects, is heavy on features. "It's a bridge between two worlds", Shane Eagle told Apple Music on the album's liner notes. "It shows that there's no measurable level of what you can achieve, just 'cause of where you're from."
Artists from the continent and abroad appear on the mixtape to assist Shane in telling his story. Each song on the project, says the 23-year-old, represents a year of his life. Nasty C appears on "PARIS," one of the strongest songs on the project, which is generally a great listen. Other guests include Santi, PatricKxxLee, theMIND, Bas and many others.
About the features, the rapper says:
"Even though it all ties in together, the whole project isn't just one sound. The production is so layered that each sound peaks depending on your mood. There are different textures because of the features and that gives it different moods. Like, "Whispering To the Moon" with The Hics just adds that pop of colour to the record. With my first two projects I had no features, I probably had one feature across my debut album and EP. Approaching these features was kind of like going outside and playing with my friends. I feature everybody off an organic process and I had to experience a real moment with you. These are some of my favourite artists in the world and I think it's just ridiculous that it all happened on my project. Then the producers. Some who've worked on some of the greatest projects like Forest Hills Drive or Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, alongside producers that worked on Yellow by Shane Eagle. Having them all on one project has some significance. This is basically me saying 'When I do features, look who I want to be around.'"
Dark Moon Flower sees Shane rapping about a range of topics, meandering between sentimental and egotistical. Speaking on the personal subject matter, the emcee says:
"Instead of letting my experiences become my downfall, I kind of use them as my strength. On songs like "Evolve", being able to scream and let that out means when I'm done recording it doesn't affect me. It's therapeutic, and being able to rap those lyrics empowers me and also empowers the listener at the end of the day. It does take something for me to create those records 'cause sometimes you need to say the right thing for someone to get the message. On 'Story Time' especially, the production is very hard and there's almost this futuristic way of telling a story. I'm tapping into that when I say 'I had to lose my father in order to find the keys to the cage.' So the thing that I lost actually gave me direction. I just tell my true life story and put it into the music, that's what's gotten me to this point."
Listen to Dark Moon Flower below: