WE OUT HERE

The Story

It started Friday night at the Kapor Center in Oakland. Fourth floor roof deck. Bosko Kante, Grammy-winning producer, hands out a worksheet: write a track that represents your venture. He says he'll turn a few into real songs with AI.

Something clicked. I opened Claude on my phone. Loaded our families' testimonials. Named the artists on our campground cookout playlists. Kendrick. SZA. Bad Bunny. Frankie Beverly. How might they write about what our families experience on camping trips?

First track comes back. Too country. But there's a line that hits:

“They built fences around the forest
But the trees were always ours”

More R&B. More soul. 50+ drafts. Then I realize I can write the lyrics myself. Claude drafts. I edit. Back into Suno. 1am before I look up.

I keep thinking about Big Bend, 2024. Hiking with Boyz N The Wood. Three days in nature with other Black men. We crest the Chisos Basin rim and hear music. Two guys up on the rocks strumming a guitar. The kind you hear at any American campground.

That's the soundtrack of our public lands. I love it for what it is. But it's never been mine.

Now here are 14 tracks in my cultural register. The goal was never to replace artists. It was to give voice to something that didn't have one yet.

Imperfect, AI-assisted, deeply personal. Not a statement. A question. What do you hear when you listen?

Lyrics by Justin + Claude. Production by Suno.