Adrian Younge


Adrian Younge is an American composer, arranger and music producer based in the Los Angeles area.
𝕏 AdrianYoungeFB adrian.younge

Background

Younge grew up in Fontana, California, United States. His father is a lawyer and Younge himself earned a Juris Doctor degree from the American College of Law in Orange County. Younge has worked as a lawyer and law professor—having taught entertainment law at his alma mater. Early in his career, Younge worked for the legal department of MTV.

Music career

Younge edits and scores films. He played bass and keyboards in a band during the late 1990s, and began composing after sampling records with an MPC. He quickly learned to play several instruments and experimented with analog recordings which resulted in the Italian influenced Venice Dawn, which he released on EP. In 2009, his soundtrack for the film Black Dynamite was released on the Wax Poetics label. In 2011, Younge revived and expanded Venice Dawn into a longer work called Something about April. In 2013, he released Adrian Younge Presents the Delfonics and Twelve Reasons to Die with Ghostface Killah. Younge also operates a vinyl record store in Los Angeles called Artform Studio.
Younge, along with Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest, produced Kendrick Lamar's "untitled 06" song featuring CeeLo Green, which was later reworked into the track "Questions" from the 2018 album The Midnight Hour. Younge and Ali also co-founded the Jazz [Is Dead (record label)|Jazz Is Dead] record label in 2017.
Younge also released Something About April II and Something About April III.
In 2021, Younge released the album The American Negro, as well as produced the podcast "Invisible Blackness". Both projects were launched during Black History Month and each seeks to highlight the systemic racism that African Americans have endured in the United States and the psychological toll that results. The podcast features speakers such as Chuck D, Ladybug Mecca, Keyon Harrold, and Michael Jai White.

Discography

Studio albums

Something about April The Delfonics Something About April II Voices of Gemma The Midnight Hour Jack Waterson Jazz Is Dead 001 Roy Ayres JID002 Marcos Valle JID003 Azymuth JID004 Doug Carn JID005 The American Negro Gary Bartz JID006 João Donato JID007 Brian Jackson JID008 Instrumentals JID009 Remixes JID010 Jazz Is Dead 011 Jean Carne JID012 Katalyst JID013 Henry Franklin JID014 Garrett Saracho JID015 Phil Ranelin & Wendel Harrison JID016 Lonnie Liston Smith JID017 Tony Allen JID018 Instrumentals JID019 Remixes JID020 Samantha e Adrian Something About April III
  • ''Jazz Is Dead 025''

Live albums

  • ''Live at Linear Labs''

Compilation albums

  • ''Linear Labs: São Paulo''

Mixes

  • ''Dark Soul Mix''

Score albums

Black Dynamite Luke Cage Luke Cage: Season 2 Run This Town Reasonable Doubt

EPs

Venice Dawn EP
  • ''Produced by Adrian Younge''

Production

Remixes