Napoleon was one of the real ones. He was that person that everyone loved and you would always see on the dance floor at every good party. We connected pretty deeply on a musical and friend level and we ended up hitting the studio a good bit. When we were writing these tracks we were always swapping instruments, swapping riffs & playing the keyboard together. We would have been making a lot more music together for sure. The last time I saw him, I played him the new beat for ”Hear It” on my phone and he was so pumped on it, he was going to come by the studio a few days later to put the finishing touches on the EP. It was the only track on the EP I played bass on and to have his blessing on my bass playing meant everything. He plays bass on the other two tracks and he is one of the best bass players I ever met. You can hear it when the bass first comes in on “Make it to that,” the way he flicks his fingers over the strings between the notes rhythmically. He was a beast on the bass, if there was a bass around he wore it the entire time you would be hanging out with him. It would be a couple years after we made them before I could really listen to the tracks again, but we both really wanted to release this and were so pumped on it. It was such a pleasure working with him on this EP.

The sessions for this release were so much fun. One of the first times we played together and recorded was a live improv session with Ali Berger in front of a small crowd at an afterparty. Ali was on drum programming and Juno 106, Napoleon on bass and me on guitar. Someone hit record luckily and later Napoleon and I went into the studio to add vocals and flesh out what we played that night into a full track called “You Just Have to Know”. Napoleon and I loved the track so much we then endeavored to work on an EP around it. His vocals, playing and songwriting skills were quite strong. Tracking and layering the vocals was super fun. He performed all the vocals on this EP lead and harmony, and I joined in for a little backup vocals on “Make it to that”

All tracks here are written and produced by Napoleon Kofi and I. “You Just Have To Know” was written written and produced by Napoleon Kofi, Ali Berger and I. All tracks were mixed and mastered by Ali Berger. Artwork was made by Biyeun Buczyk. Special thanks to Bruce Kofi, Biyeun Buczyk and Ali Berger for their guidance and support on this project. I can feel Napoleon through these tracks, I’ll never forget him and I miss him. I hope this release serves as a musical tribute to him and his incredible talents and the profound memories he left with us.

- John Barera
April 7, 2019