Essay Tiger

Essay Tiger A creative spirit working to spread love through music

08/01/2025
A mini-music video for In the Shadow of God.
07/15/2025

A mini-music video for In the Shadow of God.

This song is for anyone who’s ever needed a reminder that you’re never truly alone. His love surrounds you, even when you can’t see it.💬 How does this track...

52 Frequencies - Week 4 - "Pink Skates"https://essaytiger.fanlink.tv/pink-skatesGenre: Nu-Disco, Soul DiscoSo in my four...
05/08/2025

52 Frequencies - Week 4 - "Pink Skates"
https://essaytiger.fanlink.tv/pink-skates

Genre: Nu-Disco, Soul Disco

So in my fourth week in, I was working on a track and stumbled upon a sound in one of my Pro Tools instruments — a Rhodes patch with a vintage feel. I started messing around with some chords, and suddenly a lightbulb went off.

As I began building the melody and shaping the overall feel of the song, it started turning into something people could actually dance to. I don’t usually make dance tracks, so this was uncharted territory for me. I thought, Who in the world am I even making this for? Who would be dancing to this?

As luck (or favor) would have it, the very next day I jumped on social media and saw a video of my cousin Sean — an avid skater — at his favorite skating rink. Another lightbulb moment. Why not create a track as an homage to the skate community?

That’s when the momentum picked up. From Monday to Wednesday, the music began to take shape. By Thursday, I was humming a melody. And by Friday, the full idea had arrived.

I wanted to make a song that invites people not just to come out and skate, but to come out and be social — no matter who they are or what their skin tone is. I wanted it to feel like an audible throwback to those old Soul Train clips, where Black, white, and Asian folks were all wearing their grooviest outfits, dancing, vibing, and simply enjoying each other’s company.

About the Cover Art:
I wanted the artwork to reflect the “skin tones” mentioned in the chorus: Pink Skates & Brown Skin, Pink Skates & Light Skin, Pink Skates & Olive Skin. The three women on the cover represent those ideas. I designed the image with them facing away to suggest forward motion — they’re moving ahead, progressing. They’re also in the same skating pose to symbolize unity and harmony as they move together.

Let me know what you think.

Me: AI, create an image of me playing the piano:AI: (see image below)Me: 🤣😏 Fail! (And who is this? This look like if Jo...
04/30/2025

Me: AI, create an image of me playing the piano:

AI: (see image below)

Me: 🤣😏 Fail! (And who is this? This look like if Joe and Teddy Riley had a baby. And why am in in the piano?)

52 Frequencies - Week 3 - "Indigo Blue"https://essaytiger.fanlink.tv/indigo-blueGenre: Jazz Chill, Chill Music, Chillhop...
04/16/2025

52 Frequencies - Week 3 - "Indigo Blue"
https://essaytiger.fanlink.tv/indigo-blue

Genre: Jazz Chill, Chill Music, Chillhop, Lounge

So on my third week in, I was walking down the street, heading home from the gym. I was exhausted—just wanted to eat and relax. As I walked, I started humming a melody. Just something random that popped into my head. (This happens often.)

I didn’t think much of it at first. I figured it was probably a tune I’d heard before. But when I got home, I realized I was still humming the same thing—over and over in my head. I quickly grabbed my phone and recorded it.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to stop what I’m doing when a song or melody drops into my head. It’s exciting, but honestly, a little scary too. Sometimes I can hear the full song in my mind—every part, every movement—but when I sit down to translate it, it just doesn’t come out the same.

That can be disappointing. Every musical idea feels like growing a baby made of notes, rhythms, and melodies. You nurture it in the womb of your mind, hoping one day you can give birth to it. But sometimes that birth is stunted.

Thankfully, this wasn’t one of those times.

The song I was hearing felt like a flashback to the first time I ever stepped into a jazz club. The intricate timing of the melodies. Four-part harmonies. A simple beat that keeps time and makes your head bop without even trying.

This track is an homage to the “cool cat” era. Brassy. Big. Blue.

About the Cover Art:
I knew I wanted to incorporate the title visually. I decided one side of the artwork would be painted indigo and the other blue. As for the imagery, I created a composite of the actual instruments used in the song. I wanted them to be the centerpiece.

Let me know what you think.

04/16/2025

So the last couple of weeks have been tough. It's been sapping my creative energy. But without music, I would have broken.

52 Frequencies - Week 2 - "A Sunset in Harlem"https://essaytiger.fanlink.tv/a-sunset-in-harlemGenre: Downtempo, Chill Mu...
04/01/2025

52 Frequencies - Week 2 - "A Sunset in Harlem"
https://essaytiger.fanlink.tv/a-sunset-in-harlem

Genre: Downtempo, Chill Music, Chillhop, Lounge

On my second week, I was driving home from playing at a church service when I started humming a melody. It wasn’t anything major—just something that popped into my head.

As I kept driving, the melody started to remind me of the feeling I get when cruising through Harlem on a Sunday, with the sun out and every shade of skin walking the pavement. If you're not from New York, you might not know those magical moments when spring or summer rolls in and the streets come alive with color.

Colorful people. Colorful places. Colorful attitudes—both good and bad. Colorful expressions of artistic individuality. That’s what Harlem means to me. I wanted to write music that takes a melodic snapshot of that visual experience.

About the Cover Art:
I had this vision of a shot of Harlem at sunset—streets framed by brownstones and lined with parked cars. I fed that idea into Midjourney and refined the details until it matched what I had in mind.

For the titling, I used a font I’ve had for the longest time called Dirty Headline. It has that gritty, metro-style vibe, and I never had a reason to use it—until now. I felt like its aesthetic fit perfectly with the overall visual.

Let me know what you think.

04/01/2025

Being creative, while being stressed, is hard. Sometimes you have put in the work, with what energy you have.

52 Frequencies - Week 1 - "Space Gyrl"https://essaytiger.fanlink.tv/space-gyrlGenre: Downtempo, Lo-Fi, Space Chill Music...
03/21/2025

52 Frequencies - Week 1 - "Space Gyrl"
https://essaytiger.fanlink.tv/space-gyrl

Genre: Downtempo, Lo-Fi, Space Chill Music, Chillwave

So, the first week I started this journey, my wife and I were going through bad news after bad news. It just felt like we couldn't catch a break. I feel like I'm a little more resilient when things happen to me—but I'm far less durable when things happen to her. Her job doesn't appreciate the hard work she puts in and doesn't give her a place to grow. On top of that, it saps her creativity and stops her from doing the things she really should be doing.

I'm sure some of us can attest to those same feelings.

This is when I started thinking of my wife as a space traveler, constantly visiting distant places, only to be rejected or disappointed when those places don’t feel like home. That’s when the idea for "Space Gyrl" came to me—a female space traveler who realizes that her current home isn't where she truly belongs. So, she sets out across the universe in search of a place to call home.

Eventually, she lands on a distant planet, where she finds an oasis and a single house in the middle of it all. When she knocks on the door, the person who opens it... is herself. It symbolizes that the sense of “home” she’s always been searching for is actually within herself—and can never be found in others.

As I sat down to write the music, I envisioned a soundscape that captured what it might feel like for Space Gyrl to leave home and journey through the cosmos. By the end of the song, I wanted to create an audible sense of revelation.

Let me know what you think.

So, it's been a while since I last posted, and I realized that, for the most part, I started to feel stuck—caught up in ...
03/21/2025

So, it's been a while since I last posted, and I realized that, for the most part, I started to feel stuck—caught up in the day-to-day of life and forgetting the joy of creating music. So, I gave myself a challenge:

Every week.
Write a song.
Release a song.

I started last month, and now I’m going to begin sharing them as I release them. But first, I’ll be posting the tracks I’ve already released.

This isn’t just about putting songs out there. I want to dive into the thoughts behind the music and the cover art (which I also create), turning each release into a kind of mini music documentary—an inside look at the creative process.

I am calling it "52 Frequencies". It's my attempt to do 52 songs in a year.

Yup.
10/31/2024

Yup.

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New York, NY

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