''The Feeling of Flying'' is the debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American producer Markis Precise. It was released on July 28, 2015, under Ineffable Records. The album is produced entirely by Markis Precise, and features guest appearances by

Brother Ali Ali Douglas Newman (born Jason Douglas Newman, July 30, 1977), better known by his stage name Brother Ali, is an American rapper, community activist, and member of the Rhymesayers Entertainment hip hop collective. He has released seven albums, ...

Fashawn Santiago Leyva (born October 19, 1988), known by his stage name Fashawn, is an American hip hop recording artist from Fresno, California. He first gained major attention after releasing his debut album '' Boy Meets World'' in 2009, which was pr ...

Elzhi Jason Powers (born May 12, 1978), better known by his stage name Elzhi (stylized as eLZhi), is an American Rapping, rapper from Detroit, Michigan. He is a former member of Slum Village and now records as a solo artist. In his youth, he made nume ...

Oddisee Amir Mohamed el Khalifa (born February 24, 1985), better known by his stage name Oddisee, is an American rapper and record producer from Washington, D.C. He is one third of rap trio Diamond District. He was also part of the Low Budget Crew. He is ...

Ras Kass John R. Austin II (born September 26, 1973), better known by his stage name Ras Kass, is an American rapper. He is a member of the hip hop Supergroup (music), supergroup The HRSMN, along with Canibus, Killah Priest, and Kurupt in 2014. He is als ...

, Strong Arm Steady,

Zion I Zion I was an American hip hop project founded by MC and producer Baba Zumbi (real name Stephen Gaines) in Oakland, California. K-Genius and Amp Live were also project members. Career Originally formed as a group, Zion I released the debut s ...

, The Grouch,

Eligh Eli Nathan Nachowitz (born February 28, 1978), better known as Eligh, is an American rapper and producer from Los Angeles. He is a member of the underground hip hop group Living Legends. Biography Eligh's inspiration for making hip hop musi ...

, Gift of Gab (of

Blackalicious Blackalicious was an American hip-hop duo from Sacramento, California, made up of rapper Gift of Gab and DJ/producer Chief Xcel. They are noted for Gift of Gab's often tongue-twisting, multisyllabic, complex rhymes and Chief Xcel's soulful pr ...

), Sol, and

Chuuwee Dionte Hunter, better known by his stage name Chuuwee (born September 7, 1990) is an American hip hop artist from Sacramento, California. Chuuwee spent many years of his life moving around as a child. He lived in nearly every neighborhood of Sac ...

. Cover art for the album was designed by contemporary painter and street artist Shai Dahan, who painted all of the featured artists' names to form the shape of a flying bird.

Critical reception

In its first week of release, ''The Feeling of Flying'' became the number one "most added" album on the national

CMJ CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

Hip-Hop Charts, with various tracks receiving steady airplay on both commercial and non-commercial radio stations, as well as placements on weekly top ten lists throughout the following weeks. RESPECT. magazine described the album as "a 13-track exploration of lyricism, sound, and vivid storytelling that returns hip-hop to an organic state, blending new wave content with the idealogical foundation on which hip-hop was built ...

he album He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

demonstrates the power of the pen while implementing various instrumentation and scratching, and positions the focus on crafting lasting records that will ultimately benefit the culture ... Markis Precise and ''The Feeling of Flying'' reminds us of one thing: what hip-hop is supposed to feel like."

Amoeba Music Amoeba Music is an American independent music store chain with locations in Berkeley, San Francisco, and Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1990 in Berkeley, California, and remains in operation, having survived the decline o ...

commented, "Noteworthy of the collaborative album is the Fresno producer's gift at pairing just the right music with each of his vocal collaborators. He manages to bring out the very best in his guest emcees." The first single and title track of the album, "The Feeling of Flying" featuring

, was praised by legendary rapper Chuck D, who included it on his list of Songs That Mean Something. The track also remained on the Top 10 Select list of Chuck D's

WBAI WBAI (99.5 FM) is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station licensed to New York, New York. Its programming is a mixture of political news, talk and opinion from a left-leaning, liberal or progressive viewpoint, and eclectic music. ...

radio show for several weeks, peaking at number two. On July 31, 2015, Chuck D recognized another song from the album, "Leaving the Hood" featuring Gift of Gab, as the Spit of The Week.

Track listing

*All tracks produced by Markis Precise

References

External links

Markis Precise "The Feeling of Flying" on iTunes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Feeling of Flying 2015 debut albums