South London’s multi-talented rapper, composer, and instrumentalist Roseland En Why Cee makes a powerful debut with B-Side Soul, a genre-blurring album that seamlessly fuses alternative hip-hop and soul. This 13-track album serves as a personal reflection of the dualities and tensions that define Roseland’s life and artistry, exploring love, loss, inherited trauma, and the emotional weight of existing outside societal norms.
Opening with previously released singles like “Hands of Men” and “Ways of Seeing,” B-Side Soul also introduces standout new tracks like “Past Life,” which showcase the rapper’s deft storytelling and rich sonic textures. Roseland explains the personal nature of the album: “It chronicles the inside of my head over the past two years—love, lust, loss, the weight of inherited trauma, otherness, and the pressure to conform.” The project is deeply reflective, offering both a cathartic release for the artist and an empathetic space for listeners who also feel “stuck on the outside.”
What truly sets B-Side Soul apart is Roseland’s commitment to blending live instrumentation with classic hip-hop production techniques. While many artists in the genre lean heavily on digital sounds, Roseland’s hands-on approach brings a richness and depth to the music. His use of live bass, piano, and guitar—recorded through amps for that warm, analog texture—infuses the album with a raw authenticity, drawing on his jazz training and love for organic soundscapes.
The conceptual heart of B-Side Soul lies in its title. Inspired by Johny Pitts’ “B-side aesthetic,” Roseland embraces the idea that B-sides—those overlooked, often experimental tracks on vinyl records—are where true artistic freedom lives. “The A-side of a record had to be acceptable to as many people as possible,” Roseland explains. “The B-side was where the artist could be themselves and go wherever they want, not worrying about whether the average listener could follow.”
B-Side Soul is an ambitious and deeply personal debut, marking Roseland En Why Cee as a distinct and important voice in alternative hip-hop. With its blend of live instrumentation, raw emotion, and intellectual depth, the album invites listeners to connect with their own experiences of otherness and find solace in its soulful, introspective sound. Roseland’s bold exploration of duality, conformity, and identity ensures B-Side Soul is not just an album for hip-hop fans but for anyone seeking music that speaks to the human experience in all its complexity.
