AF The Naysayer, one of the pre-eminent producers in the city’s instrumental electronic and hip-hop worlds, is today (March 19) releasing the first installment of a three-part series.

In the current issue of OffBeat (March 2019), AF The Naysayer (born Amahl Abdul-Khaliq) discussed the significance of PARTS: Act 1, which is the first of AF’s releases to feature guest vocals (from Baton Rouge native Darby Capital, and Taiwanese hip-hop artists Formo Sir and Ill Mo).

“I’ve been sitting on it for a minute but I feel like now is the right time to release it,” he said of PARTS, Act 1. “Before, I was trying to do things the proper way, I guess you could say. I was trying to build a team around me to help me out to push this record, from management, to a booking agent, PR. I’ve been doing it all alone pretty much for the majority of my career. So I wanted to do something different. I had a falling out with my last manager and the booking agency and realized I could do that all by myself.”

Inspired in part by the music of arcade and video games and old-school hip-hop, the four-track EP is currently available on iTunes and can be streamed on Spotify here. “I believe music is an art, in general,” he says. “It’s an extension of your personality. So my music is literally just me, myself. It’s all of me. The things I repress, the things I push forward. A lot of people say I’m pretty optimistic, but sometimes I can be really sad. So I like to think a lot of that comes out in music and in words.”

PARTS: Act 1 arrives via Sinking City Records and will have its performance debuts at BUKU Music + Art Project on Friday, March 22 as part of the festival’s VIP experience as well as on Friday, March 29 at the official release party at Gasa Gasa. Tickets for the release party, which will also feature performances from Cavalier, Charm Taylor and Mykia Jovan, are available here.