Hailing from Toronto, Ayah is a soul singer I was introduced to when Elzhi’s “The Leak” dropped on which she featured. After a quick google search, I discovered this amazing artist and her incredible (FREE) mixtape Problem Woman.
Ayah (Arabic word for sign or miracle) is a self taught singer/songwriter/composer who calls on her many influences to create her own musical style. Born in the Hip Hop generation, Ayah’s unique take on music fuses together Soul, Funk, R&B and Hip Hop which is perfectly demonstrated throughout Problem Woman.
Straight up, I cannot tell you how much I have rinsed this mixtape! Simply put, it’s dope! And with every listen I seem to love it more and more. It’s so, so fresh. Her melodies are ridiculous and her ability as songwriter and a vocalist will, I’m sure, blow your mind (as it has mine!).
Ayah Feat Tona - “Pusha Man”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_ayntTx0Wc&eurl=http://www.myspace.com/ayahmusic&feature=player_embedded]
Over the course of the 22 track mixtape, you really get a sense of who Ayah is. I’m not a big fan of interludes, but the ‘AyahLudes’ (snippets of an interview) are pretty cool. During these sound bites, she shares her opinions, influences and speaks about her Middle Eastern background and more; Which I think adds a real personal touch to the whole project.
As I listen to Problem Woman (as I am right now), I can’t help but think of Marsha Ambroious and even Jill Scott. Don’t get me wrong, Ayah most certainly has her own style, but I know anyone who likes those artists (as I do) will love, love, love this lady.
So I think I’ve gushed enough. I can’t say anymore on how much I love Problem Woman and how much respect I have for Ayah as an artist. I will be checkin’ this lady for a long time to come and I cannot wait for her full album to drop.
Make sure you download Ayah’s Problem Woman mixtape via her Myspace and of course, show her some crazy love while you’re over there!
Peace, Love & Ayah - one to watch.
Speeakz
this girl has talent for days, check here for more http://therealfrequency.podbus.com/blog/2008/09/24/differently-still-guy-episode-4-wayah/
Just came across this! Thought I’d let you know Ayah’s new album, ’4:15′, is out now at http://www.ayahmusic.com!
[...] to do so now. I featured Ayah a while back as a part of our “One to Watch” feature, remember that? Well, she’s got a new album out now 4:15 and here she is acoustically performing a couple [...]
[...] seems like forever ago that we featured Ayah as one of our ‘Ones to Watch’. Man, that was like back in January when she dropped her Problem Woman mixtape which I rinsed quite [...]