Real Bad Man, Adam Weissman, founded his label by starting as a merch-making company for bands that blossomed into a label with his own produced projects. Real Bad Man has now fused his passions into a streetwear fashion and music-producing label with collaborations with artists such as Boldy James, Black Soprano Family, Pink Siifu, ElCamino and many more.
Real Bad Man’s music stands out for its blend of psychedelic elements, incorporating vibrant basslines as the foundation for hip-hop lyricists. His unique fusion of robust musical elements and dynamic beats is showcased in his most recent album, “Temple Needs Water. Village Needs Peace.”
Real Bad Man’s newest work is in collaboration with husband, father of two and Memphis rapper Lukah, an album with a philosophical journey into the nature of community, spirituality and transformation.
Coming from a musically inclined family with his father being a DJ and his mother being a professional singer, Lukah got his start in music at a young age.
“When I was younger, my mother used to sing to me when I would be sad or in a fussy mode, and at first I was a singer but rap kind of took over my life,” Lukah said. “They played [hip-hop group] Crucial Conflict in the middle of the school ball and that song was just like, man, I wanna do that. So, elementary is when I fell in love with hip-hop and began wanting to be an MC.”
Lukah and Real Bad Man’s new album was released on March 29, with 15 tracks that take you on a journey with contributions from Billy Woods of hip-hop duo Armand Hammer, Adrian Utley of Portishead and Shabaka Hutchings. This album dives deep into emotion, vulnerability and the cyclical parts one must go through in life.
“Traveling from realm to realm, that’s where I was with this album,” Lukah said. “It is full of metaphors for finding peace within oneself. Once you master all that goes on in the mind, then you can conquer anything, and that’s what I was taught.”
The project’s track listing is organized in an order of different characters or obstacles one might encounter, like in the second track, “The Facilitator,” or the sixth track, “The Cleansing.” Each song represents an experience to be had and learned from when someone is going through their passage through life and mastering their mind.
“When you listen, just listen with a clear mind, and even if that’s impossible, the music should help clear your mind,” Lukah said. “Usually, my music caters to a specific demographic, but this one I made specifically so we all could tap in and hopefully learn something from it.”
Lukah is currently finishing up another project with Statik Selektah and plans to work on two more projects, one with producer Preservation and the other with his team. In these future projects, Lukah will continue to write about communal healing in neighborhoods and use his platform to promote change.
“I am Memphis. The good, the bad and the ugly, and in my music, I like to display that with dark messages that have people take a look at themselves, whether white or Black,” Lukah said. “I just want people to hold a mirror up to themselves and realize that for things to change, we have to change ourselves. We can’t change the world until we change ourselves.”
