Today's Song of the Day, as chosen by Cheryl Waters, host of The Midday Show on KEXP, is "QADIR" by Nick Hakim, from the 2020 album WILL THIS MAKE ME GOOD on ATO Records.
On today's KEXP Song of the Day, New York-based artist Nick Hakim shares a deeply personal tribute to his childhood friend Qadir Imhotep West, who passed away in 2018 at the age of 25. (That's a photo of West that adorns the cover of Hakim's latest album, WILL THIS MAKE ME GOOD.)
“He was a little younger than me, but we had a similar path,” Hakim says in a press release. “We both had trouble in school and switched schools a lot. He was the youngest in his family and his older sisters asked me to watch out for him. The song is my ode to him. It’s my attempt to relate to how he must have been feeling.”
He admits, “When I heard of Qadir’s passing I hadn’t checked in on him in a while. I say ‘we’ in the first verse of ‘QADIR’ but I really feel like I’m talking to myself.” Hakim channels this sadness into this soulful, meditative track, adding guest vocals from KeiyaA, Pink Siifu, and Oyinda. "This is my world; a lot of friends touched this record, and that makes me feel lucky and proud," he adds. "These songs are glimpses into my community. I’m exploring, but I’m not alone. It’s a journey in progress; it’s an experiment, every day.”
