The American Negro [Tri-Gatefold 2LP with Post Card] vinylsbase

Adrian Younge - The American Negro (2×12″ Vinyl, Tri‑Gatefold)

Genre‑blurring, analog soul meets spoken‑word manifesto.

Adrian Younge’s 2021 release crafts a powerful, cinematic journey through Black history, identity, and systemic injustice. Across 26 tracks—with lush orchestration, vintage Rhodes and Hammond keyboards, sweeping strings, beats, and haunting spoken‑word interludes—Younge channels the spirit of Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, Curtis Mayfield’s Super Fly, and Gil Scott‑Heron. Critics call it “a bold, politicized, riveting” work, even as Pitchfork notes occasional lyrical missteps amid its musical grandeur.

This package doubles as a multimedia project: the vinyl coincides with a short film and four‑part podcast ("Invisible Blackness"), deepening its role as both artistic statement and educational tool. 

The iconic cover—depicting Younge symbolically lynched—sets a somber tone, confronting America’s past and present with unabashed honesty.
As Flood Magazine describes, it’s Younge’s most stirring and grounded album yet.