Early years In 2001 he began writing, performing and traveling with a loosely knit collective of
conscious hip hop artists called the Transcendental Alliance; in 2003, he released an album titled
Soul Sessions with
underground hip hop artist Campaign. The album won a new music contest sponsored by
Relix, and as the contest winners, Souleye and Sleepyhead performed on the weeklong Jamcruise 4. While there, Souleye freestyled with
Michael Franti, and was invited to play with Bassnectar. Following the Jamcruise, he performed extensively with Bassnectar. Souleye wrote and recorded the song "Amorphous Form" on Bassnectar's album
Underground Communication. In 2007, Souleye joined the San Francisco-based electronic band BLVD, with whom he recorded the album
Music for People. He toured with the band until 2009, and subsequently began performing once again as Souleye. He met his wife Alanis Morissette at a meditation gathering in a Los Angeles residence in 2009, and they were married in 2010. Souleye opened Morissette's 2012 "
Guardian Angel" tour and has since collaborated with her frequently. He released the album
Iron Horse Running in 2013 and
Identified Time in 2014.
Shapeshifting and WILDMAN (2015–2017) In 2015, Souleye released his album
Shapeshifting. The full-length album featured focus tracks, "The Victim" and "Labeled". The music video for "The Victim" premiered on Yahoo Music and "Labeled" made it to the Top 20 Official European Independent Music Charts. The album featured artwork by visual artist Rob Prior. On November 11, 2016, Souleye released the debut single, "Follow Your Heart", to his forthcoming album
WILDMAN. Following up to his first single, Souleye released "Snow Angel" featuring Alanis Morissette in January 2017. The music video premiered on
Fuse TV and has been reviewed and featured by
The Huffington Post. The album was produced by Crush Effect and was released in September 2017. It featured a number of other hit singles, including the title track featuring Lynx.
Soul School (2019) In 2019, Souleye released
Soul School, featuring his first collaboration with South African vocalist Esjay Jones, as well as other collaborations with
2Mex, Sabi, Donny Arcade, and Chachillie, on tracks like "Sacred Design", "Felicity" and "Come Down".
Hunting Teardrops and Disguised as Tomorrow (since 2021) He followed up that album with 2021's
hunting teardrops, once again working with painter Rob Prior on the cover. The album spun off a number of hit singles and music videos for songs like "Ghost Steps", "Incredible Hulk", "Fireside", "Doorway to the Future" and "Time's Game". The following year, Souleye released the single 'Emergency", featuring Morissette on the song's chorus. Shortly after, he enlisted veteran music producer ill.GATES to make a remix of the song. It became his most streamed song to date. On March 3, 2023, Souleye released his 12th full-length studio album,
Disguised As Tomorrow, which features some of his most dynamic and ambitious tracks yet, including collaborations with Esjay Jones, fellow rappers Big Samir and Main Flow, and singer/songwriter and activist Lila Rose. The album has spurred a half dozen singles, including "Human Spirit", "Letter To The Old Me", "The Unheard", "Protected", "Weight of Your Soul", and "Exit the Maze", as well as "Emergency".
Disguised As Tomorrow was inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic and explores the idea that the 'tomorrow' we may anticipate for ourselves may not always be the one that comes to pass. The sound is a departure from the lighter tone of
hunting teardrops, with much darker and heavier sounds. It received praise from critics. Daily Music Spin called it 'album of the year' and Stero Stickman said it was "a whole-hearted masterpiece". == Personal life ==