Invincible, the Detroit battle MC who has beguiled her fans for nearly a decade, is finally releasing her debut album after years of false starts. It’s titled Shape Shifters, and she’ll issue it via her Emergence label on June 17.
Since launching her career as a teenager with the all-female crew Anomalies in the late 90s, Invincible has earned kudos as a fiercely talented rapper. She’s been scouted by major labels and feted by music journalists; XXL ran a profile on her a few years ago, even though she didn’t have an album out. She was mostly known for her live performances than her recorded material until recently, when she appeared on Dabrye’s acclaimed Two/Three and Waajeed’s The War LP. Still, until now, her discography has consisted of appearances on other people’s records.
Guests on Shapeshifters include the aforementioned Anomalies, Wordsworth, Tiombe Lockhart and Finale. Producers include Black Milk, Apex, Belief and Waajeed.
“I’ve always been real adaptable and able to shape shift,” Invincible told Shook magazine earlier this year. “My sound is very versatile. I’m really into storytelling. At the same time I came up when battling was really big. So in that sense I’m an emcee’s emcee, with patterns and wordplay. This album is showing that versatility.
You can download three tracks from the album from her website. The track listing for Shapeshifters is below.
- 1. “State of Emergency” (intro)
- 2. “Looongawaited”
- 3. “Sledgehammer!”
- 4. “People Not Places” (feat. Abeer)
- 5. “Spacious Skies”
- 6. “No Easy Answers”
- 7. “Deuce/Ypsi” (feat. Buff1, Sun & PL)
- 8. “Recognize” (feat. Finale)
- 9. “Ransom Notes” (feat. Anomolies)
- 10. “Grace Shift” (interlude) (feat. Grace Lee Boggs)
- 11. “Ropes” (feat. Tiombe Lockhart)
- 12. “Keep Goin'” (feat. Wordsworth & Indeed)
- 13. “In the Mourning”
- 14. “Locusts” (feat. Finale)
Photo by Erik V. Stephens
