New Single, Different, Shares Experiences Of Navigating The World As A Black Person Growing Up In America

On The Table Read, “the best entertainment magazine in the UK“, Gyasi Ross has released a new single, Different, with a powerful message to his younger self about experiences of growing up as a black person in America.

Different

Gyasi Ross has released a powerful and emotive new single and visuals, Different. He describes the track as “a song but also a message that I’ve written to my younger self. Different is me giving younger me advice about how to navigate the world as a black person growing up in America. The music video features a series of tableaus based on life experiences I’ve had.”

Ross, who grew up in the Bay Area and now lives in Los Angeles, collaborated with CatBeach Music to release his most recent single, Different. This compelling story of a young black child growing up amid the racial and cultural tensions that are typical of urban America is produced by Bobby Hartry. Gyasi uses his lyrical acoustic hip-hop style to tell a personal story about his life and build tension as the song evolves into an earthy, soulful tune with a rock edge. Different eventually builds up to a declaration about the hope that exists in this life.

“Different” is a song but also a message that I’ve written to my younger self,” explained Gyasi Ross. “‘Different’ is me giving younger me advice about how to navigate the world as a black person growing up in America. The music video features a series of tableaus based on life experiences I’ve had.”

Gyasi Ross

Gyasi Ross creates a distinctive sound by combining acoustic guitar, hip-hop lyrics, and R&B/Soul vocals. His sound has been compared to that of John Legend, Jason Mraz, and The Roots.

“I idolized my brother and his friends as they created music in circle, they called it a cipher,” explained Gyasi Ross of his days around high school gangsters, musicians and poets in Pasadena, California. “I was a fly on the wall in the 7th grade and desperately wanted to participate. At the time I didn’t understand how. My voice didn’t move or sound the way theirs did and I nearly gave up.”

A friend convinced him to join the marching band in high school by asking, “Hey, can you come up to school and hold some instruments?” The band director did everything in his power to make the marching band appear full in a school where the majority of students did not play a musical instrument. However, Gyasi Ross wasn’t the kind of person to pretend to be anything.

He started taking jazz trumpet lessons from Nolan Shaeed, a phenomenal trumpet player who was Marvin Gaye’s musical director. He switched to guitar then and hasn’t stopped playing it since. Gyasi released two studio albums, “By Any Means” and “If You Really Knew Me,” following his San Francisco State University graduation with a BA in Jazz Guitar and World Music.

Find more from Gyasi Ross now:

https://www.instagram.com/gyasirossmusic

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