Smartblackkid Reissues Newly Remastered Reissue of First Album, Change Reaction, in 12th Anniversary Year of Its Original Release

Brooklyn, NY, August 20, 2024 --(PR.com)-- SmartBlackKid, the flagship project and artist on his own label imprint, 4PJ Music Group, is back after a long hiatus with a newly remastered reissue of his first album, Change Reaction. The album, first released on 4/20/2012, was the first in his series of 10 albums released per month that year. The remastered album features a entirely new song order and one new additional track.

At a time when the music industry was and remains over saturated with pop and rap music, indie artist, SmartBlackKid (Multi-instrumentalist and producer, Hakhi Alakhun) went fully against the grain by releasing a series of rock albums. Change Reaction was his rock manifesto as a former guitarist for local hip hop bands in Brooklyn, NY. The artist, no stranger to song writing and recording, had been recording music for over a decade privately. After touring and traveling the world playing lead guitar for the former Lo Frequency hip hop band; Hakhi went solo to focus entirely on his own sound, music production and vision.

Change Reaction, released on Bandcamp, featured hard driving rock songs with strong and meaningful lyrics. It was the culmination of Hakhi’s many years of experience honing his craft from all walks of his creative life from being a former reporter/journalist (InformationWeek, Blaze Magazine, Latina Magazine) by day and spoken word artist by night mixed in with all his self taught creative powers (songwriting, composition, vocal arrangement and music production).

Originally from Buffalo, NY, (home of Ani DiFranco, The GooGoo Dolls and the late Rick James), Hakhi grew up listening to a wide range of musical influences. “I had a music class in elementary school taught by this woman named Mrs. Young. She was a really nice piano player and I was fascinated with pianos and keyboards at that time. I asked her if she could teach me to play piano and she offered me lessons for $10 for a session on the weekends. But my mother didn’t know her and wouldn’t let me take the lessons. She bought me a Casio keyboard but I don’t think she knew how serious I was about learning. I taught myself by ear to play the songs I liked on the radio. I was 10 years old. By the time I was 14, I had a fully produced single called “Don’t Waste My Time”, Hakhi states.

“I grew up listening to WLBK which was the FM station and 14 Rock which was an AM station. Both stations played a variety of artists who crossed over to both black and white audiences. So on WBLK, you could hear David Bowie, Steve Winwood, or Sting mixed with Prince, Steve Wonder and Chaka Khan. On 14 Rock, you could hear Rick James, Run DMC and Michael Jackson mixed in with Def Leopard, Van Halen and Twisted Sister. I think this exposure to music in this way really shaped how I make music today and how I hear it in my head” Hakhi says.

According to previously reviewed music on TunedLoud; “What SmartBlackKid does so admirably well is the production of charming retro aural candy. Why retro? Well they simply don’t make rock songs this good anymore. Hakhi uses all the classic rock tools that come from the golden era – strong melody, luscious harmonies, colorful lyrical storytelling and a good dose of hard-nosed guitar-driven riffs and rhythms.”

“An absolute pleasure to review; stunning musicianship, professional and attention grabbing arrangement and performances, a cool, husky, gravely vocal, somewhat reminiscent of Lenny Kravitz, but with way more angst. The music has hints of a Prince vibe at times, but maintaining entirely it’s originality” -StereoStickman

With songs that advocate for right to privacy in the age of surveillance like Free Thought and call to action songs with strong messaging like Stand Up and Take Your Power; Change Reaction probably is more relevant in 2024 than it was when it was originally released.

The new addition to the album includes a previously unreleased version of Rock Bottom which the artist calls the rockabilly version. “I originally was going with this version, I liked the twang of the guitar and the swing of the beat. I recorded it and then completely forgot about it since I liked the punk version so much. Many years later, I’m remastering the hardcore punk version and somehow stumbled upon this rockabilly version from like 2008 in my archives. I decided ‘why not feature both?’."

Change Reaction will be available for purchase for $25 on exclusively on the Even website on September 27, 2024. The album will stream exclusively on Bandcamp, Soundcloud and YouTube two weeks after the purchase portal has closed on Even.