New Jersey's Topaz Jones shares his latest project Arcade today (Oct. 28). The 22-year-old rapper/singer employed all of his influences from the jazz and funk world for this new 10-track effort. The mixtape was executive produced by New York collective Late Night Episode and boasts a guest feature from Pell. Prior to today's release, Topaz dropped the single "Tropicana" six months ago as a taster to his matured future funk sound.
Arcade features silky melodies, live instrumentation and some pretty dope storytelling on the part of Topaz. Aside from "Tropicana," early standouts are "Powerball," "Sports Car," and "Winona" featuring Pell.
When XXL spoke with Montclair, N.J.'s "Black Bon Jovi" for The Break, Topaz shared that he draws his musical influences from many different factors—and family members—in his life.
"I grew up in a musical household. My father, uncles and aunts were all musicians," explained Topaz. "My father was in some funk bands in the 70’s and 80’s that were pretty popular. My aunts used to be in a development group at Motown. We always had a lot of funk and soul playing around the house along with psychedelic rock. I was into Jimmy Hendrix, Sly and the Family Stone, AC/DC and then I started to come into my own. It moved into Ray Charles and Michael Jackson then into more hip-hop."
Check out the groovy new Arcade above and feel free to buy it on iTunes now.