On her second album, R&B singer Jamila Woods grapples with the present by looking to the past. Each track is an ode to one of her inspirations, most of them women of color. Sometimes she writes directly from their perspective, but more often she draws from her subjects’ lives and adapts their words to her own life. She channels Eartha Kitt’s self-assuredness, then Frida Kahlo’s sense of balance in romantic relationships; Zora Neale Hurston reminds her that she is allowed to contain multitudes. Pulling from so many texts and thinkers, LEGACY! LEGACY! is theoretically dense, but it flows like honey. Woods’ voice is rich and velvety, and the album’s grounding in emotional truths makes it accessible and immediate.

Betty
Zora
Giovanni
Sonia (Feat. Nitty Scott)
Frida
Eartha
Miles
Muddy
Basquiat (Feat. Saba)
Sun Ra (Feat. TheMind and Jasminfire)
Octavia
Baldwin (Feat. Nico Segal)
Betty (For Boogie)