Shane Eagle is one independent rapper that deserves all the props coming his way as a rapper who has achieved a whole lot as an independent rapper. He is a successful, independent rapper who has achieved success without a major music label backing him up but with the help of his record label, Eagle Entertainment.
Shane Eagle’s love from fans is nothing short of organic, it’s not bought and the best part of it all is that he doesn’t chase clout, he is controversial free and lets his music speak for itself, nothing more. He is truly a musical genius if you ask any hip hop connoisseur.
A couple of years ago l, he released his debut album dubbed ‘Yellow’ which has a record dubbed ‘Let It Flow’ which has since gone platinum off the project while his EP ‘Never Grow Up’ enjoying the same accolade of gold status.
This project is Shane Eagle’s first ever mixtape after all the years he has given hip hop, he deemed it right and perfect to release his debut project dubbed ‘Dark Moon Flower’ which the design of the project was designed by his beautiful, super talented girlfriend Nicole Swartz who is an artist.
the official front cover art for Shane Eagle’s debut mixtape ‘Dark Moon Flower’ as designed by his talented artist girlfriend, Nicole Swartz. photo credit: Instagram/shane_eagle
The ‘Dark Moon Flower’ project has features from Shane Eagle’s favorite rappers, both regionally and internationally.
The project features, Dreamville’s very own signee, Lute, Resarn, Nasty C, J-Tek, Patrickxxlee, Caleborate, Themind, Santi, Bas and Kota The Friend.
Shane Eagle has already released the visuals for his first record on the project, ‘Black’ with the fans wanting more of the dynamic duo of Shane Eagle and Nasty C especially after they streamed and listened to their collaborative project ‘Paris’ off the ‘Dark Moon Flower’. It just blew their minds away, Shane Eagle and Nasty C collaborative project might put the rap scene to a whole new level.
The project has 23 tracks on it and it will take you one hour and 19 minutes to listen to the project to its entirety.
Here are the official track list of the ‘Dark Moon Flower’.
1. Black
2. Storytime
3. XXXX
4. Up 1 featuring Lute
5. Let Go featuring The Hics
6. Questionz
7. Round Here featuring Caleborate
8. Paris featuring Nasty C
9. Birdz featuring J-Tek
10. Evolve featuring PatricKxxLee
11. Xen
12. 7
13. have a Little Faith I’ve Been Thinking About Dying
14. Frank featuring theMIND
15. Vanya featuring Santi, Bas
16. June
17. Some Are Fine
18. Lost in the Shade featuring Kota the Friend
19. Zaire featuring J-Tek
20. Whispering to the Moon featuring The Hics
21. Forever Young
22. Wildflower
23. Chef Eagle
The Power of Darkness
“Dark Moon Flower is the next part of my journey, it’s a part of the story. There’s about 23 songs on the project and each is a representation of a year of my life. Each song symbolises my stage of evolution and what I had to understand to get to this point. Some of the records are about me grieving, just letting go or finding my zen in this chaotic world. Yellow was the light that guides you, illuminates you through everything and Never Grow Up. was reminiscent of my favourite memories as a kid. With Dark Moon Flower, this is my ascension—it’s me, using darkness as my strength this time. It’s to remind my fans that darkness isn’t something to be afraid of, it’s something that helps you become stronger at the end of the day. I feel like the experiences I’ve gone through gave me the inspiration and tools to use, so Dark Moon Flower became my outlet to put all that in there and get the craziest results.”
Seeking Balance
“I started the year off having to balance two extremes. One extreme was living through one of the highlights of my career—being blessed enough to go on tour with Bas and Dreamville. The other extreme was having to experience losing my father. Basically, in a nutshell, those two extremes are a metaphor for the instability I’ve experienced my whole life. If anything, it put me in a position where I had to find a middle ground for these conflicting sides of my life. I see it as symbolic of me being a Gemini and also being half-Irish and half-African. I have to be in tune with both sides and it’s always been like that in my life, those two sides, recording ‘Up 1’ with Lute in Dublin and having Bas, Santi and I on ‘Vanya’—three different African artists from three different parts of Africa—so the project’s not overpowered by the other international collaborations.”
Crafting the Artwork
“The visual art was hand-painted by the closest person to me. She was going through everything with me. I was like, ‘You were by my side so it’s only fair for you to put that emotion into the piece and actually paint with those hands that were here with me.’ She basically interpreted the reality I found myself in and transferred our shared experience into the painting. When you look at the album art you can feel that. It represents my zen through this journey—I’m consumed by the dark but not sitting in it, so I tap into my spiritual guides. It’s a little metaphor for when someone’s speaking to you from the spiritual realm. When they speak, you can see in the dark and find new ways to do things.”
Dream Features
“Even though it all ties in together, the whole project isn’t just one sound. The production is so layered that each sound peaks depending on your mood. There are different textures because of the features and that gives it different moods. Like, “Whispering To the Moon” with The Hics just adds that pop of colour to the record. With my first two projects I had no features, I probably had one feature across my debut album and EP. Approaching these features was kind of like going outside and playing with my friends. I feature everybody off an organic process and I had to experience a real moment with you. These are some of my favourite artists in the world and I think it’s just ridiculous that it all happened on my project. Then the producers. Some who’ve worked on some of the greatest projects like Forest Hills Drive or Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, alongside producers that worked on Yellow by Shane Eagle. Having them all on one project has some significance. This is basically me saying ‘When I do features, look who I want to be around.’”
The Personal, The Cathartic
“Instead of letting my experiences become my downfall, I kind of use them as my strength. On songs like “Evolve”, being able to scream and let that out means when I’m done recording it doesn’t affect me. It’s therapeutic, and being able to rap those lyrics empowers me and also empowers the listener at the end of the day. It does take something for me to create those records ‘cause sometimes you need to say the right thing for someone to get the message. On ‘Story Time’ especially, the production is very hard and there’s almost this futuristic way of telling a story. I’m tapping into that when I say ‘I had to lose my father in order to find the keys to the cage.’ So the thing that I lost actually gave me direction. I just tell my true life story and put it into the music, that’s what’s gotten me to this point.”
Stream ‘Dark Moon Flower’ by Shane Eagle released under Eagle Entertainment below