Caleborate Lives for Truth in "Contact (ft. Kota the Friend)"

Nostalgia is an addictive high, and Bay Area rapper Caleborate flows in and out of its haze effortlessly in his newest single “Contact” from his upcoming new album Light Hit My Skin.

Guitar welcome us in like teardrops, before the beat elevates us to Caleborate’s words, spoken with clarity, with feeling, with knowledge a soul feels all too deeply of the struggles faced on the uphill road toward one’s dreams. Testaments to his relationship with his aunt, the friends “who sold [him] good weed,” and musings on his hometown accompany him on this climb. “Contact” gives way to the effortless flow of Kota the Friend and an achingly beautiful violin line before returning to its emotive hook. About the upcoming Light Hit My Skin, Caleborate offers:

“this album is about feeling feelings that black men aren’t usually allowed to feel…it’s about pursuit, within the context of this sort of new American dream…”

Indeed, too often the idealizations and expectations of masculinity are thrust on Black men of all ages, let alone those in the shoes of 27-year-old Caleborate. “Contact” is a testament to sensitivity’s multifaceted nature – the complexity of self worth, self doubt, gratitude, regret, and many other feelings. Their presence throughout the song’s four-and-a-half minute runtime act not so much as different elements through which to weave as much as the varied patterns of a handmade quilt that work in unison to preserve the integrity of Caleborate’s message.

That aforementioned nostalgia flows heavy throughout “Contact,” full-bodied and buzzing even after the song’s end.