Tanya Morgan 'Moonlighting' album

Who is Tanya Morgan? Although the name evokes something of a neo-soul songstress, the music is overtly hip-hop. Making matters even more complicated, this woman’s name is actually the pseudonym for a group of three male MCs. Not confused yet? Well try this on for size: Tanya Morgan is a group comprised of Von Pea and Ilwil (Ilyas and Donwill) - two totally separate acts. Now, relax that furrowed brow while I get you up to speed on the future of the culture.

Tanya Morgan was born in 2003 when MC/Producer Von Pea and MC Donwill decided to combine their collaborative efforts into a full-length album. With MC Ilyas locked in and along for the ride, the trio leaned on the production talent of Brickbeats to round out the album’s production. They began shuffling demos of songs back and forth as wav and mp3 files via AOL Instant Messenger© and email between takes on their other projects. Oh right. I forgot to mention that Von Pea lives in Brooklyn while both Ilwil and Brickbeats call Cincinnati home. They actually met online originally and didn’t get together in person until halfway through the album’s completion. There goes that brow again. I hope I’m not moving too fast for you.

The initial collaborations of the 'Brooklinnati' quartet resulted in two projects; Sunlighting and the Sunset EP. The bandwidth-busting download that is Sunlighting showcases the group’s personality and presence while the Sunset EP boasts original production by Von Pea and Brickbeats and foreshadows the sound that would emerge on their first full-length album. Within the span of a year, the collective of four recorded all the material that is their debut, Moonlighting. The tightly knit 13-song set is bound together by the story of a misled record shopper and his unwanted purchase. The album’s title is a nod to the fact that Tanya Morgan is really two acts in a group together that are, in a sense, moonlighting on their respective ‘jobs’ by working with each other. “Take The L” is an up-tempo romp through which Tanya Morgan remind us that music for the club doesn’t have to suck. On the second single “We Be”, the trio gives an insightful introduction to themselves as people while paying homage to the classic boom bap sound of early-mid 90s hip-hop. “Ode To Tanya” is one of the album’s highlights – a clever song where the three emcees playfully hate on one another in an effort to win the heart of a woman they’ve met at a club. The group gets serious with “Want U 2 Want Me” in which their individual stories of love-gone-wrong are accented by a clean vocal-driven two-step soundscape. Throughout the record, the songs capture a timeless sound. As Von Pea says, “10 years later it’ll still sound brand new”.

And what sound should one expect from three men who named their group after a fictitious woman? Expect the unexpected. There are no neo-soul/rap/R&B hybrid songs on the album. There is actually no crooning whatsoever. Tanya Morgan is the sound of a non-violent M.O.P. who took charm classes at the Handsome Boy Modeling School and had to record an album over the beats that class professor Madlib assigned for their final exam. Lyrically the three saturate their clever content with enough personality to push the listener through songs at rewind button-breaking speeds. Tanya Morgan has, in effect, dubbed their sound “Running Man Music”, and that descriptor works on two levels: When the BPMs aren’t cranked up to a pitch frenetic enough to induce the dance itself, the emotion evoked by the music is enough to remind the listener of a time when hip-hop was urgent. The album is a clever tongue-in-cheek look at what it means to be a consumer in today’s single-driven market where the album format is slowly dissolving altogether.
Collectively and individually, Tanya Morgan has worked with Nicolay (of Foreign Exchange fame), The Justus League, Fat Jon, Main Flow, and a long list of others. Along with getting a nod of approval from peers such as Bobbito, Sucio Smash, J-Live, Kay of The Foundation, and Phonte of Little Brother, Tanya is now making her rounds in various publications and websites such as XXL, RIME, XLR8R, AllHipHop.com, PitchforkMedia.com, and OkayPlayer.com as the buzz-worthy group to watch.

So when can we expect to meet Tanya Morgan? Well, following a gorgeous sunset, Moonlighting is tentatively scheduled to drop on a clear cloudless night in the spring of 2006 (March 7th to be exact). Make sure to watch. The stars will be shining brightly that night.

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Tanya Morgan - Moonlighting