"My last Shad album, Flying Colours, felt to me like the end of something. I think you can kinda hear it on there too. My music, to that point, told the story of my journey, unpacking some of my ideas and experiences over a good decade of growing up. I felt deeply content after releasing and touring that album. Not like I was done making rap music— I still played some shows and recorded for some of my favourites ... but since then I’ve felt increasingly inspired to just help, and to grow in other ways. And In the past 5 years, I think I’ve been able to do some of that.... I felt like there was a story that ended with Flying Colours and I didn’t feel inspired to write a sequel to it just yet. So this is the story I wrote. Inspired by a vision. And brought to life musically over a year of honest, consistent effort. This is just a short story. My best sketch. And it was my joy to create. It’s an album about this moment, yea, but it’s really about something timeless. I’d like to end by saying a few things about hope, because this album is darker and more intense than any project I’ve made before and if there’s one thing I don’t want people to misunderstand, it’s this: This album, like all of my work, is an attempt to find and share hope. But the way hope works, in my experience, is similar to the way that it unfolds on this album: A glimmer, a flash. And otherwise, darkness. But there’s also hope in seeing darkness for what it truly is: Not a vague, endless cloud but something with a defined nature, size, and power. So that it might be understood and possibly overcome. This album aims to provide hope in this way too." In closing, a final word from Shad, "The truth is bulletproof."
