Algebra Blessett: On ‘Purpose’
Atlanta soul singer makes her debut for the last time
Algebra Blessett doesn’t really remember meeting Kedar Massenburg for the first time. Massenburg, founder and CEO of Kedar Entertainment, Algebra’s label home, says they first met in New York, when she was helping her friend India.Arie record the vocals to “Talk to Her,” a song Blessett had written for India’s second album, Voyage to India.
“I don’t remember that,” she reiterates with a short frown. “But I know it was somewhere around that time.”
She does, however, remember the exact moment she got the call in 2004 that Massenburg, who was then the president of Motown, had left the label. It had taken him well more than a year of coaxing to convince her to sign with the legendary imprint, and just 10 months after she finally signed the deal, he was gone.
“I got a phone call like, ‘Kedar just left Motown.’ I’m looking at my phone like ‘huh?’” she remembers. “I was just stunned. Then two days later he called and said he wanted me to come with him and that’s how I got to where I am now. That’s how I got to telling folks my debut album was coming out in 2006!”
She laughs, a short melodic sound that’s a mixture of relief and frustration. For years, Algebra’s name has been synonymous with Atlanta’s soul scene – brought to life by her electric live performances. And for years, she’s repeatedly been asked the same question: “When is your album coming out?”
When she made the decision to leave Motown with Massenburg and become his flagship artist, she didn’t know it would take four long years for her debut project, Purpose, to drop.
“I was disappointed and I feel like other people that were looking forward to that ‘06 album were disappointed,” she says of her last phantom release date. Although she pressed up an untitled EP that she handed out for free at shows, she was still anxious for the real thing to drop. “When it didn’t happen it was like, ‘OK, what do I say to the people?’ I think that was the hardest thing.”
Already accustomed to playing the waiting game, Algebra signed her first deal with Dallas Austin’s Rowdy Records in the late ’90s, fresh out of North Atlanta High School. But she still hadn’t found her sound.
About a year later, she left the label (though she remains cool with Austin), started writing her own songs and picked up a guitar. She hit the open mic scene – or rather, the Apache Café, since that was the only spot she really knew – and started performing her material.
“The closest I had come to an open mic was when the preacher would call me up to the pulpit to sing,” she says, laughing about what she now calls a “learning experience.”
Cultivating her sound, she began building a buzz and forming relationships with producers and songwriters along the way. Eventually she started touring extensively across the country, and even in Europe and Japan. That was nearly eight years ago. Now, with the label business finally situated and a stable staff in place, her day has finally come.
Her debut, Purpose, was released in early March and features work from friends including producer Bryan-Michael Cox, Johnta Austin and Eric Roberson, along with a few self-produced tracks, such as “At This Time.”
While she kept some of the songs that were supposed to be on her unreleased ‘06 album, much of the project is new. Pushed along by her current single, “Halfway,” a soulful track defined by a grooving bassline and strong horns, the album has strong soul, R&B and gospel influences.
Although she’s associated with the man who coined the term “neo-soul,” her sound doesn’t fit readily into any one box, which is exactly how she likes it.
“Sometimes you really don’t know what you’re getting until you open the book,” she says, while waving a hand over her deceptive hipster attire, which includes a pair of busy purple-and-black plaid pants and a printed red shawl. “But all the feedback I’ve gotten back from the album has been pleasant,” she says. “I feel like my fans are very honest.”
Just like her.
Raised in a strict household in Atlanta’s Summerhill area by a mother who is a bass-guitar-playing minister, Algebra’s upbringing is evidenced by both the veracity of her lyrics and her open-ended sound.
In her house it was OK to ask questions, and her curiosity seeped into her musical taste. She’s written a gospel song for Debra Killings, yet she isn’t afraid to “shake a tail feather or two” during her own shows.
Now that her debut is finally available, her mission is to let people know it’s out and further develop and define her ever-expanding audience.
“It’s like now I can work. Now when people ask me if I have the CD, I can actually say yes,” she says, before releasing a quick grin. “Now I can answer the question differently, with a smile on my face.”