Do We Try Beyond The Edge? follows his 2023 album White Space, and for Youniss, serves as its “direct sequel.”

“Where White Space was the movement against the views of white society on a person of color,” Youniss explains, “Do We Try is the forever existential question of if existing in a capitalist hellscape is better than to go to non-western spaces that get exploited in the most horrific forms of aggression.”

In other words, where White Space is a reaction to the world at large and being misperceived as a Black man with an Arabic name living in Belgium, Do We Try Beyond The Edge? is a self-examination of Youniss’ capacity to continue to exist as he does, where he does. It’s about wondering how true to oneself an artist can be while living in the footprint of a colonial boot. Living in Belgium where the spoils of its robbery and murder of the Congolese provide for the wealth and relative peace of the country, it’s difficult not to see every facet of life as resultant of it, down to social interactions.

Do We Try Beyond The Edge? is a markedly more confrontational record with a visible hip-hop influence, Youniss’ vocal cadences are more specifically syncopated, the drum grooves are a little more straight-foward, and the vocals are shouted where... more
credits
released April 19, 2024

Everything played, composed & produced by Youniss Ahamad
Mixed by Aram Santy
Mastered by Ryan Schwabe

Photos by Adel Setta
Artwork by Youniss Ahamad